James River had a wet and rainy homecoming last week, but only the field (and the people) were dampened, not the spirits. And, just as we did for Lord Botetourt’s homecoming, we have a lot more online, so let’s get to it, shall we?

We have . . . .

* Paparazzi photos from the homecoming dance. That’s Brooke Ware, Courtney Woodson, Taylor Statome and Dakota Kennedy at left, by the way.

* Photos from the homecoming game (including both action on the field and the halftime ceremonies.)

* Photos from the homecoming parade.

* We even have photos from the powderpuff football game.

But let’s not stop there. Do you have homecoming photos of your own? You can share at news@botetourtview.com

Those aren’t the only online extras this week. In each week’s issue of The Botetourt View, we always send readers here for “more.” Here are the links to what we have this week. (And keep in mind, we update this site sometimes a dozen times a day, so, really, we have a lot more!)

* More photos of Botetourt people at the Sarah Palin rally. (By the way, if you still have photos of Botetourt people there, we’ll still take ‘em. And we never got any of Botetourt people at the Barack Obama rally in Botetourt, but we’re still open for those, too.)
* Botetourt’s voting history
* Cathy Benson’s Terrific Tuesday column (she was also at the Palin rally)
* Photos from the Cloverdale Elementary mock election (We also have James River’s mock election, too)
* Photos from Red Ribbon Week at Read Mountain Middle School
* Photos from math mania at Colonial Elementary
* More photos from homeschoolers in Botetourt
* Dog stolen on Reservoir Road
* Photos of Botetourt people at Salem’s Pumpkinfest
* Photos of Botetourt people at Howl-O-Ween
* Troutville woman named homecoming queen at Emory & Henry
* More photos of Girl Scouts and their Quilt It badges
* Photos from our autumn snapshot contest

AND IN SPORTS . . .

* Photo of Mindy Reynolds and the James River cross-country team
* Photos of the Botetourt Crusaders vs. Cave Spring Knights
* Photos of the Buchanan Cyclones vs. Cloverdale Static
* Photos of Botetourt United vs. the Salem Sabres
* Photos of runners-up in the adult fall softball league

So how can you get your news and photos in The Botetourt View? Easy! Just share at news@botetourtview.com.

For more information — including how to advertise and reach more than 90 percent of the households in Botetourt County — see below: Read more »

Fincastle Preschoolers, teachers and parents go on the annual Trick or Treat to local businesses and County offices.

The three-year old class at Fincastle Preschool donned costumes and toted Halloween bags and plastic pumpkins on the annual trek through town to Trick or Treat the businesses and county offices. they may have not been scary, but they sure made up for it in cute. Some of the featured costumes were Thing 1 and Thing 2 from Dr. Seuss, a lion, tigers, Tigger, a power ranger, a fireman, a Queen, Little Bo Peep and numerous others. Fincastle Preschool is the oldest preschool in Central Botetourt County and some of the parents of today began the annual event when they were children at the preschool! The Preschool is located at Fincastle United Methodist Church on Church Street.

Blue Ridge Heat, U10 Boys Soccer South Division Tri-Champions

Pictured on front row: Price Meador, Oakley Gentry, Tyler Chakhachiro, Cale Harned.

Second row: Aaron Jenkins, Dylan Parker, Dylan Thompson, Bryson Sanchez-Huerta, Caleb Franklin, Jacob Mann and Brett Pennington.

Back row: Coaches Kenny Parker, Gary Franklin, Eddie Meador

Submitted by: Renee Parker

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

Rena Worthen sent this photo and messages to us:

“This is a photo of my wonderful little bundle of joy, Elizabeth. Pictured is 4 of the 5 living generations in my family Melissa, Kenny & Brittany with daughter Elizabeth & Me. I’m having a great time. I was so glad to see my 8 month old Elizabeth, that I cried.”

Do you have news or photos to share involving people from Botetourt? You can share at news@botetourtview.com just like Rena did

Katherine Bishop and her husband Jim took this photo at the Peaks of Otter! Also in the photo, is their dogs Yoyo and Polly.

Do you have photos to share involving people (or animals) from Botetourt County? If so, you can share at news@botetourtview.com just like the Bishops did.

Mike Goad teaches the book portion of Behind the Wheel to students at JRHS

Sharon Coleman of the Botetourt County Sheriff’s Department presented two workshops on teen driving, one at James River High School on Oct. 20th and the other at Lord Botetourt High School on Oct. 28 to smaller groups than she wished, but hoped the information will help parents with new drivers.

Here are some basic facts she presented that should interest not only the parents of teens but all drivers on the road:

• Traffic crashes are the number one killer of teens today in the United States. Last year 6,000 teens died across the USA and in Virginia there were 146 teen automobile related deaths in 2006.
• 63% of teen crash deaths involve the driver and 37 % involve a passenger.
• Teens are twice as likely to have a crash as a young person in the age group 20-24.
• 16 year old drivers are most likely to have an accident.
• 1 in 5 students will have a car crash of some type with a few months of receiving their drivers permit.

In 2007 8,783 teens were injured in car crashes and of those 3,308 were passengers. Coleman recommends parental involvement with teen drivers. She also recommends that parents under stand the insurance process regarding youthful drivers. On average a teen driver adds a pretty hefty chunk to the annual cost of the parent’s policy. A quote of liability only for a 16 year old male driver of a 1995 mini van would be $695 per year. The faster and sportier the car model the more the insurance quotes increase Coleman pointed out.

Statistics compiled by the Sheriff’s department revealed that in 2006 there were 640 crashes addressed by the Sheriff’s Department( does not include state police figures) and 82 of those involved drivers ages 16-18. In 2007 citations were issued to 53 teens for speeding, 14 for not wearing a seat belt, 12 for possession of drugs or alcohol, 10 for reckless driving, 7 for DUI and 4 for revoked license. Several dozen more involved improper equipment violations and expired tags or registration.

Goad with the list of 323 out of 1300 voters that he alleges have anomalies.

Voters better bring ID’s to the polls on November 4. A bit of controversy is brewing at Botetourt precincts. “We will challenge voters at the poll,” says Danny Goad of Cloverdale, who is the local vice chairman of the Republican Party in the county. He has been concerned about the voter fraud news across the US. While he contemplated the national news, he decided on October 20 to go the Botetourt County Registrar’s Office and as a citizen, check for himself to make sure all is well. “I have done what I have done because it is incumbent of a citizen to make sure things are right.”

Goad thought it would be an easy task and expected to find all was well in Botetourt County. What he discovered were 323 out of 1300 voters, about 25 percent that he perused on the voter rolls, were listed at addresses with multiple residents having different last names. From there he narrowed the list down to 12 people who had the same birth date but either a different address or two different state assigned ID numbers. Six of those were duplicates by address and birth date but had different ID numbers.

He and local party chairman Doug Gimbert expressed their concerns to Phyllis Booze the County’s voter registrar. She explained to them and The Botetourt View that duplicates are supposed to be purged every year but the National Change of Address, (NCOA) has not been performed in the past two years by the state. The re-sale of a home for instance would list residents at the same address with numerous different names if the rolls had not been purged recently. “It would not indicate they can vote in two different places,” she said.

Goad was not satisfied however, and contacted both the Sheriff’s Department and the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office. Commonwealth’s Attorney Joel Branscom stated in published reports that he believes all is well in Botetourt and he does not think anyone has been registered under false pretenses, but he is concerned about disenfranchisement or voter suppression. He stated he would keep an eye on the election process.

On Oct. 29, Goad presented to The Botetourt View the list of names he gathered in his perusal of the voter rolls that he deemed problematic. Many of the addresses on his list were recognized as apartments in the Cloverdale area by The Botetourt View. Registrar Booze is on the list of 323 due to personal changes at her home. Others were recognized as youthful voters who have graduated in the past few years from both Lord Botetourt and James River High School. For example, a former star athlete at JRHS is on the list of 323 because he is located at the same address as his mother and they have different last names. Of the 12 duplicates, the Botetourt View noticed the name of one young man who played soccer at Lord Botetourt and is also a recent graduate. On the list of 12, another is former athlete and the son of a local high school coach as well. That young man is also on the list of 6 exact duplicates with exactly the same local address and birth date, but different years of voter registration—2005 and 2008 and different state ID numbers. He is a graduate of James River High School and is a college student. Goad wants explanations on all of those on the list.

Booze said that these situations will be corrected at the polls. She had been in contact with electoral board members including John Rader and Rob Hagan. So far she said in her study of the voter rolls no duplicate social security numbers have been found. She said they are confident the VERIS (Virginia Election and Registration System) will work on Election Day and kick out the duplicate addresses—no one will get to vote twice. If necessary the duplicates will fill out a new registration form at the poll and the poll workers will immediately call the Registrar’s Office.

Danny Goad is not satisfied. He told The Botetourt View, “If multiplied out to the over 22,000 registered voters in the county, those 12 would come up to 246 people and if 25 percent of those turned out to be wrong then that could be 90 votes and across the state it could be 10,000 votes—enough to change an election.”

He paused for a moment and said, “We are going to keep looking through the voter rolls. On Election Day we will have poll watchers and we will challenge voters. They will have to produce ID to prove they are occupants of the residence listed.” He continued, “It is very unfortunate. Botetourt should be in good shape. I am concerned that the person in charge, the voter registrar, doesn’t seem to keep accurate records. Those who have a position of responsibility have to do their job effectively and efficiently.”

Botetourt's Sports Complex in an exhibition by the Virginia Tech Women's softball team

In a press release,it has been announced that the Botetourt County’s Sports Complex recently received top honors from the Virginia Recreation and Parks Society, winning the Best New Facility Award for 2008. The award was given in the population category of 25,000 to 50,000.

Parks, Recreation and tourism director Richard “Pete” Peters, accepted the award at the society’s annual state conference in Richmond. “It’s a great honor to be recognized by your peers across the state,” says Peters. “A lot of hard work went into the design and construction of the facility. We think it shows, and are proud that others feel the same about the complex.”

The Botetourt Sports Complex opened its doors to sports fans on June 16, 2007. Since then the County has hosted over 30 local, regional and national tournaments. The state-of-the-art facility features four championship-level softball and youth baseball fields, all with beautiful views of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

The private, non-profit Virginia Recreation and Park society is professional organization, founded in 1953 to unite all professionals and interested lay persons in the field of recreation, parks and other leisure services in the Commonwealth of Virginia, into one body. The members work together to promote and improve the profession in all its diversity.

submitted photo Angie Crawford, Botetourt Parks and Recreation

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In the second playoff game, the Botetourt Cavaliers Pee Wee team came in “second” in a duel against Franklin County. In other words they lost on their way to the Super Bowl. But they had a great season said Sharon Lisk, a team mom. The team is comprised of the youngest rec players ages 7-8.  Said assistant coach Fred Smith, “These guys are tough.”

Coaches for the team: Head Coach Greg Emerson, Assistants: Chris Kelley, Dean Crump and Fred Smith.

Players: Cody Bryant, Nathan Butler, Takoda Cashion, Christopher Cochran, Jack Cole, Joseph Crump, Charlie Dooley, Hunter Duke, Carlton Emerson, Bryce Kelley, Ben Lisk, Meade Mayo, Tony Underwood, Brain Watts, Damion West, Logan Wood

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