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Ruth Everhart sent in these photos from around Fincastle.

Thanks, Ruth!

Do you have photos from around Botetourt? If so, you can share at news@botetourtview.com

Lord Botetourt didn't have any top finishers in the region Cross Country meet. It was held yesterday at the Greenfield course in the shadow of the Botetourt Sports Complex, but they ran with some of the best runners in the state and finished well nonetheless. Micah Luedkte actually ran much of the race  with only one shoe! A team mate picked it up and brought it to him said LBHS Coach Pete Walton who along with assistant coach Kathryn Mills, busily walked Greenfield watching for the Cav's runners.

As host of the meet,  LBHS's Chuck Pound the AD had plenty of helpers like retired coach Jerry Wirtz and Larry Carter the retired AD on site and especially thanked Parks and Recreation at the end of the meet for all of their help. Hundreds of parents, grandparents and friends attended the meet.

Those who ran for LBHS on Wednesday were

Girls: Erin Turney, Sarah Hammer, Jessica Snead, Taylor Cline and Samantha Bailey

Boys: Michael Chesser, Brett Crocker, Mitch Willis, Bennett Witcher, Dylan Turnan, Micah Luedkte and tyler Barnett.

For a story of the official results by Roanoke Times sports writer Mark Taylor.

Here is a photo of Caleb Van Buren's first squirrel. He shot it with a 22 rifle with scope.  He is 7 years old and enjoys hunting and fishing with his dad.  He attends Eagle Rock Elementary school and is in the second grade. Mrs. Hipes is his teacher.

Submitted by Tina Van Buren

Attention all hunters! The first day of rifle season is November 14th. Before you venture out into the woods, why not stop and enjoy a good homemade breakfast? The Troutville Volunteer Rescue Squad will be hosting a hunter's breakfast on Saturday morning, November 14th, from 5 AM to 10 AM. We will be serving sausage gravy, biscuits and pancakes, and carry-out will be available. Donations are welcomed! Not a hunter, just an early bird? No problem! Breakfast is available to those passing by too. Location TBD...just look for the signs! Stop by and see us-we are located at 20 Sunset Ave in Troutville!

Submitted by Ashley Amos.

Call it a midterm review and here is an exam of what goes on at Botetourt Technical Eduction Center (BTEC) as presented by the new principal, Joe Hardin, who came to the school recently to replace Brian Austin  who is now at the Central office in a supervisory position.

The classes held at BTEC are from the website:

Auto Service Technology, Instructor: Chris Frost: Prepares students to diagnose and repair motor vehicles. The course includes instruction in brake systems, engine tune-up and repair, electrical systems, cooling systems and suspensions.

Building Trades, Instructor: Phillip Simmons. Designed to develop skills and training in carpentry, masonry, residential wiring and plumbing. Students learn to use, care for, handle safely, tools, machinery, equipment, and materials commonly used in all building trades areas. Prerequisites - good basic math skills.

Collision Repair, Instructor: Donnie Sale. Prepares students to repair and refinish motor vehicle bodies. The course includes chassis alignment, reconstruction of components and repainting. Prerequisites - good color differentiation, hand-eye coordination, manual dexterity.

Computer Aided Drafting,  Instructor Veronica Spradlin. Prepares students to enter the field of mechanical and architectural drafting. Students will be prepared to read and understand drawings, use equipment of the drafting profession, perform basic drawing procedures, and progress into more specialized work such as technical shop drawings. As students advance in skills training, they are introduced to and develop practical applications on the Computer Aided Drafting (CAD) System.

Cosmetology, Instructor: Phyllis Pratt. Prepares students for state licensing as cosmetologists. The course includes manicuring, shampooing, scalp and hair treatment, chemical services, hair styling and salon management. Prerequisites - hand-eye- coordination, manual dexterity, good color discrimination and ability to follow oral or written instructions.

Health Assistant, Instructor: Mary Agee. Included in the 2 year program is theory and clinical instruction in the sciences and basic nursing arts. Prepares students for state licensure as a certified nursing assistant. Also, assists students who desire for higher level health care career, such as a practical or registered nurse, dental assistant or physical therapist upon graduation.

Horticulture: Instructor, Jan Hendrickson..Prepares students to grow greenhouse plants, to design floral and plant arrangements, and to design and maintain interior and exterior landscapes. Prerequisites - an interest in the life sciences and desire to work with plants both inside and outside. Good "people" skills are a plus.

Plumbing: Instructor, Terry Agee. Plumbing is a 2 year program. Students learn to assemble, install and repair pipes, fittings and fixtures of heating,water,and drainage systems according to specifications of the plumbing code.

Senior Seminar: Instructors, Sara Zeek (English) Lindsay Brooks (Government)
Senior Humanities Seminar is an interdisciplinary, dual enrollment offering through BCPS and Virginia Western Community College. Students may earn up to 12 college credits in the program. Students are enrolled in English 111 and Political Science 211 in the first semester; English 112 and Political Science 212 are taught in the second semester. The classes are taught by a team of two teachers, and assignments frequently count in both classes. Students write a variety of essays and frequently complete group and individual projects. The courses are taught at the college level.

Welding, Instructor: Troy Linkenhoker. Welding introduces students to cutting, welding and manufacturing processes. It will provide students instruction in the fundamental principles of joining metals, welding and cutting processes, equipment operation, and safety procedures that are used in today's industrial environment.

With those classes in mind here are some of the things the 300 BTEC students have been accomplishing this fall.

Auto trades has a bid going on for two vehicles serviced by students, a 1981 Mercedes Benz and a 1998 Honda Civic. Bids should be delivered to BTEC by November 30.

Building trades I and II. Picnic tables that do not turnover are being constructed for Breckinridge Elementary School  PTA to place at the school. "The students can put together a table in one block period," said Hardin.

A  1325 modular one floor plan home based on the Moducraft model "Liberty" is being contstructed by Building trades also. On the drawing board is a possibility the Botetourt Education Foundation may purchase a lot for the home to be sold on. Plumbing and CAD have also participated in this project. If the lot is purchased, horticulture students will landscape the lot. The students also had a field trip to ModuCraft in Rocky Mount to see how they construct homes in the factory.

Auto Body students left Tuesday for a trip to the SEMA convention in Las Vegas, Nevada. They will see cutting edge technology and automobile ideas for the future while there.

Cosmetology Class hosted 9th year that BTEC Cosmetology has held an Annual Hair Show and invited other Cosmetology programs from neighboring counties to attend. We usually have between 250-300 Cosmetology students and this year is no exception. Participating schools are Bedford Science and Technology, Roanoke City Gibboney Center, Roanoke County Burton Center for Technology, Pulaski County High School, Blacksburg High School, and Giles County Technology Center. It will be held on Tuesday October 27th at the CAMS Forum," said Phyllis Pratt, instructor.

Health Care students get practical experience as well as classroom experience.  Horticulture students will be holding the annual Poinsettia Sale in early December.

Skills USA is a student organization for the technical trades and every year has a regional competition last year it was held at BTEC but the next one is going to be hosted by Allegheny High School. The organization is hiolding a raffle now for a canoe, a tree stand, GPS and a $50 gift card all courtesy of Gander Mountain. 41 donation and the drawing is November 24.

Skills USA is also sponsoring a food drive for the Botetourt Food Pantry in conjunction with the Kiwanis Club of Botetourt. Troy Linkenhoker and Veronica Spradlin can be contacted at the school at 473-8216 for information on how to make food donations or receive raffle information.

Cathy and Friends offer (2 )Saturdays of Holiday Shopping Fun!

Dates: November 7th and December 5th
Time: 10:00 am - 3:00 pm

Location: Bellacino's Pizza & Grinders 1176 Roanoke Rd., Daleville, VA
Directions: I-81 to exit 150, take 220 North towards Daleville/Fincastle (appx. 1 mile on right)

Cathy Quinn's Jewelry Collection
Diane Taylor's Pampered Chef
Debbie Welch's BeautiControl, Spa Treatments and Skin Care
Donna Hoover's Garden & House Flags
Emma Brown's Ebee's Crafts and More...Presenting Tote Bags
Bobbi Fisher's Mary Kay Products
Pam Thompson's Lighted Creations

Great Gifts or Just For You!

Amber Lester pictured with her mother, Teresa Lester, donated her beautiful blonde pony tail to Locks for Love

Amber Lester donated 10 inches of hair to Locks for Love in late August. She  had her hair cut by Teresa Thomas of Country Cuttin in Eagle Rock. Amber is the daughter of Ronnie and Teresa Lester who are very proud of their daughter's choice to donate hair to make wigs for children who have lost hair through disease.

Animal photos sent by naturalist and outdoor enthusiast Ben Shrader who has delighted us for months with his camera shots of the wild and woolly creatures in the forests of Botetourt County. (A big apology for including a "c" in his last name in previous posts.)
He said along with the photos:

"The rare photo here is 615x that I believe to be a weasel. If so this is my first photo. I had not seen one in over 50 years. Casting doubt is the possibility that it is a white bellied fox squirrel. They sometimes have a white nose like this. The photo is enhanced and cropped. I fail to see a squirrel tail but it is in a shadow."

"At this site a bear first destroyed the Cuddeback Camera, # 77 was made after the camera was broken and hanging upside down by the lock. I replaced it later with the BuckeyeCam. It appears it is near a coyote den, as I had 10 different photos of coyotes some of them with 2 or 3 in them. I have heard that coyotes love skunks, note that Coyote #611x is just minutes behind skunk #610x."
"This and the following photos concludes this year's Smithsonian Project. Of my 12 sets, 11 had bears, 11 had raccoons, 11 had deer and 5 had bobcats. One set was near a hickory tree and had nearly 200 photos of gray squirrels discharging the batteries. Even though this ends the Smithsonian project this year I will still keep out some cameras."

Thanks, Ben!

Daleville Town Center was center stage last night at the Chamber of Commerce After Hours and  meet the candidates, but all paled in comparison to the beautiful earth friendly building.

Energy efficient with gorgeous views-- really not a bad view in the house, showcase the brainchild of  CEO Karen Wladron of Fralin and Waldron, the developer for the Town Center. The building is about 90 percent complete said Andy Kelderhouse, president of Fralin and Waldron.  F & W will house their main offices on the second floor of the building which has 26,000 square feet of retail and business space. "Fralin and Waldron hope to occupy their space by November 20," said Kelderhouse.

The windows are operable in the building as well as the use of polished concrete floors with scatter rugs, the chosen color scheme blends with the natural setting surrounding the Town Center building, Kelderhouse noted that Karen Waldron specifically chose the color scheme for that reason. "Cloud" lighting fixtures and windows that display some of the best views of Botetourt County highlight the construction. The grounds are beautifully landscaped and the rock work and sidewalks add to the natural feel of the building.

So far along with F&W,  Williams Supply Company (and a board of supervisors on Tuesday October 27 approval for the medical center) and 20,000 medical imaging center to be built in the Town Center are the fleet of flagship businesses for the site.

Said Steve Claytor, director of development, This is not just the building but the whole project that reflects the efforts of the entire Town Center and TND concept the F&W team has put together."

From 5:30- 7:30 the building hosted the curious and movers and shakers of Botetourt County in the Chamber of Commerce After Hours and meet the candidates night. If the Town Center looks out at Botetourt beauty all day,  it becomes the crown jewel of the night sky in Daleville at night. Food by Schaals Catering and a chance to meet and greet the candidates for  Tuesday November 3 local and state elections  provided a good opportunity for networking and fellowship.

Happy ghosts in front of the Jones at the old Baptist Church in Fincastle.

It's Terrific Tuesday again. How's everything in your neck of the woods?

No you are not wrong. I never got one up last Tuesday. I just didn't feel terrific because of the latest news about another student at Virginia Tech and LBHS graduate to boot. Morgan Harrington must be found, but the fervent hope is that she will be alive. I watched her father on television and well it just broke my heart. Sadly a real nightmare before Halloween just like the pair killed in August at Caldwell Fields off Rt. 621 in Montgomery County. Saw those parents on TV last night as well. May the good Lord assuage their grief and help them find a way a head of the despair. Let's hope law enforcement finds the sicko/s who did both as well and may they get exactly what they deserve!

Speaking of horror I covered the CAMS Ghost Walk on this past Saturday night and the ghosties and goblins of Botetourt will be out and about on Saturday night for a bit Halloween fun. Truly, Halloween was always one of my favorite days of the year when I was a child.

Over at Breckinridge we used to sing, "Witches, pumpkin heads, black cats, scary spooks, Oh! Its Halloween!" I am so sorry you can't hear me sing it.

Would you like to hear a scary story? Why sure you would.

Back in 2004 a friend of mine went to Saipan on business. A ton of soldiers from both sides were killed there during WWII. He landed at the airport in the daylight, rented a car and went to his hotel. He spent several days there on business before he took his leave to go home to the USA.

The weather was cold and dreary and a fog had seeped in over the road. He had to drive very slowly as the airport was far away from where he had been staying. He got in a dark and dare I say it, spooky spot of road. In his headlights he suddenly saw a line of soldiers walking very slowly in front of him. He slammed on the brakes and they were gone just as quickly as he had seen them. Nothing but fog remained! He said to me in an email, "My heart was in my throat. They looked so real until they disappeared!" Way cool!

Upon arrival back in the USA, he looked up the uniforms as they were walking away from him. He also read about the fierce fighting there during the war. "On the night of July 7, 1943 3,000 Japanese charged in the largest suicide rush of the war. Stunned, the Americans fell back, but quickly recovered and wiped out the Japanese in an all-night fight. All but 1,000 of the Japanese military were dead." --WWII database online.

He believes they were lost souls of Japanese soldiers killed in the fighting, still wandering Saipan on foggy nights even 60 years later!

I don't write ‘em, I just repeat ‘em, folks. Happy Halloween! See you next week!