We have a photo gallery of 67 photos of the Botetourt Nationals All-Star team that participated this past weekend (and again tonight) in the Dixie Baseball tournament at Walrond Park in Roanoke County. This particular game was against the North Roanoke All-Stars.

Left: Jack Anderson awaits pitch as Aaron Surgeon waits on deck.

Photos by Jeff Marvin

Do you have sports photos involving teams or players from Botetourt County? If so, you can share them at news@botetourtview.com

Boxley Aggregates today displayed the rare intact head of a stromatolite found last month in the Blue Ridge quarry operation. It looks like a turtle shell.

Matter of fact, that is what Richard Benge the operator of the loader working in the quarry thought it was when he dug the fossil out of the cliff side. Ions ago the sea coast of Virginia was along the ridges of mountains in our area.

“Stromatolites were among the first single cell life forms blue green algae and they ived in a colony,” explained Dr. James Beard of the Virginia Museum of Natural History where the fossil is headed. When we first saw this last week, we were flabbergasted.” He said prior to their development the atmosphere was carbon dioxide and they actually oxygenated the earth.

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Jim Dixon who works for Botetourt County Public Schools in IT drives a Smart car. It’s the itty -bitty blue car tooling off I-81 at exit 150 Monday through Friday.

It is economical. Dixon says it will save him $125 per month in gas and it was relatively cheap. The Smart cars are sold out of Winston Salem, North Carolina and begin at $13,500. His has additional features– satellite radio, sunroof and heated seats.The 1 litre, 3 cyclinder engine has a combo automatic/straight shift transmission and no clutch. The car gets about 50 miles per gallon on the highway and about 40 around town. Inside it is amazingly roomy for a two seater car.

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They do it as a hobby but also for the safety of the public during emergency situations, they are the key to restoring communication and on Saturday and Sunday they practiced their skills at
the home of Ray Crampton off Catawba Road.

Charlie Draper of Salem on the radio and Darin Stultz of Blue Ridge set-up in the Command Center for Field Day.

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Rare find in local Blue Ridge gravel mine:

What? Virginia Museum of Natural History scientists have confirmed that an approximately 500 million-year-old stromatolite was recently discovered at the Boxley Blue Ridge Quarry. These rare fossils are among the earliest evidence for living things.

When: The stromatolite will be on display for the media at the Boxley Blue Ridge Quarry on Monday, June 30 from 11:30 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. Scientists from the Virginia Museum of Natural History and Boxley will be available to answer questions about the fossil and plans for its future.

Why: Although fragments and sections of stromatolites are fairly common, it is very rare for a whole stromatolite “head” to be collected intact. This specimen is the first-ever intact stromatolite head found in Virginia, and is one of the largest complete “heads” in the world. Stromatolites are among the earliest known life forms, and are important in helping scientists understand more about environments that existed in the past.

Who: Virginia Museum of Natural History
Tim Gette, Executive Director
Dr. Jim Beard, Assistant Director of Research and Collections, and Curator of Earth Sciences
Dr. Alton Dooley, Assistant Curator of Paleontology
Boxley
Tom Roller, Geologist

Stromatolite is a viewed as a powerful crystal (or as a rock) by many New Age enthusiasts and formed from ancient blue green algae.

Last Sunday hounds and horses came to the show at Blue Ridge Vineyard. But the contestants were large and small from a Silky Terrier to an Irish Wolfhound. A Dachsund dressed as a hot dog won the costume contest.

Our last post about Blue Ridge Vineyard was June 17.

The Buchanan Carnival got underway last night and runs through July 5. Nightly from about 7 p.m. to 11 p.m.

These two children Chase and Brooke Spangler separate tickets–24 tickets for $20 and this ride took 5 each.
Family nights are Sunday through Thursday nights were it’s ride all night for $20, discount coupons available around Buchanan.

Alex Webb searches for his daddy Vernon Webb.

Our last post about the Buchanan Carnival was June 27.

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The Appalachian Trail brings them through by the dozens this time of year especially to Kroger, Outdoor Trails and Mill Mountain Coffee Shop. Many hikers are about midway on their trek to Maine.

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Fifteen current and former Botetourt United Youth Soccer Club, James River High School, Lord Botetourt High School, Northside High School & Patrick Henry High School players and coaches went to Jackson River Sports Complex in Covington for an all day “Friendly” soccer tournament on June 21. George Ewen shares this photo gallery of six photos from the day’s events.

Do you have sports photos involving teams or players from Botetourt County? If so, you can share them at news@botetourtview.com

Classes were held this week at Read Mountain Middle School and ranged from Art to Spanish to Science to governmental law and a trip to the Chesapeake Bay for one group, but for the gifted and talented middle school students, it was fun to be back in school! One group tackled Censorship and the Internet.

Karen Busher’s class explored censorship and the Internet. Each student was given the opportunity to formulate an opinion on some of the content on the Internet that lawmakers and others have said should not be allowed.

They looked at different sources finding Wikipedia to be an unreliable source of information. Because of their youth the know that the Internet can be a potentially dangerous and terrifying place for children who get into websites and chat rooms that are hurtful in their approach to children.

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