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For Friday we'll write about the controversy at William Byrd High School where one parent objected that the school's library carries the novel, "The Perks of Being a Wallflower," by Stephen Chbosky. The parent's child did not check out the book nor was he assigned to read it.

The county policy requiring three librarians to read, review and recommend whether the book should be reshelved is underway. We find it troubling that a teacher might be in trouble for recommending a book found in the library.

For tomorrow: Roanoke City Council in a split vote Monday agreed to spend $1.5 million out of its planned capital bond issuance on improvements to Countryside Golf Course. They needed to make the commitment in order to ink a contract with an undisclosed firm to manage the golf course under undisclosed terms.

Council needs to take a second vote on this expenditure. It would be great if they'd share with the public figures that would explain how much taxpayers will be paying to subsidize this course. City management will, as usual, say it doesn't legally have to disclose anything until it signs a contract. We will, as usual, say that they should.

For tomorrow: There's a frost warning out for tonight so we might as well wrap up the regular baseball season. For Major League Baseball, attendance overall this year dropped 6.5 percent.  The great recession is being blamed for the overall loss and probably contributed to the Orioles 3.3 percent decline. Bad baseball explains the Nationals' 22.8 percent slide.

Here in the Roanoke Valley, though, stats on attendance fared better for the debut season of the Salem Red Sox. During the off season, fans are sure to debate whether to keep the controversial tarps or remove them.

They don't bother us. How about you?

Monday, Roanoke City Council named a new park -- a link in the Roanoke River Greenway -- after the late Del. Vic Thomas, who for 30 years represented parts of the city and county in the state House. Wednesday, we'll write that Thomas more than earned the honor.

For tomorrow we are writing about Roanoke's plan to create a storm water utility to deal with $60 million worth of capital projects that are needed in order to comply with state and federal regulations regarding storm water runoff.

The first of several meetings will be held Wednesday evening at the Roanoke Civic Center to explain the creation and function of the new utility. For residential property owners, the fee is modest, about $36 a year. For all others, the fee could be quite substantial depending on the amount of roof and parking lot square footage. We suggest property owners get involved now, and that the city listen and work with them to phase in the impact.

For tomorrow we are planning an editorial urging Roanokers to speak out on what qualities they desire in a new city manager.

What would you suggest?

During the congressional recess, Republicans are giving another partisan twist to town hall meetings dominated by health care reform. GOP challengers hoping to unseat incumbent Democrats are holding counter-town hall meetings and, given the intense public interest in the debate, are scoring local press coverage they could never hope to see normally, given it's a year before the next House election cycle.

The meetings have served the dual purpose of flushing out some incumbents who had avoided scheduling town hall-style meetings, which often have been raucous, to put the most polite spin on it. Southwest Virginians can't complain that their Democratic incumbents have been avoiding them. Rick Boucher in the 9th District held two three-hour sessions on health care, and 5th District Rep. Tom Perriello held 21. You suppose that's a record?

In the 6th, Republican Bob Goodlatte initially scheduled only "tele-town hall meetings." If he thought his GOP credentials would let him phone it in on this hot issue, he has rethought: Aug. 19, he announced he'd be holding three town hall meetings around the district. The first will be Thursday, 7-9 p.m., at Hidden Valley High School in Roanoke County.

Friday, we'll write that outdoor enthusiasts are making a smart move in organizing a challenging marathon in the Roanoke Valley that will take runners to the top of Roanoke Mountain. Southwest Virginia is an outdoors treasure,  and it's high time that the valley go after this sports market aggressively.

Elisha Strom is no model citizen. The Bedford County resident has ties to white supremacist groups. She even made the Southern Poverty Law Center's 2003 "40 to watch" list as "The Real Feminazi."

Nevertheless, she has the same right to free speech as anyone else, and we can't excuse police who arrested her because of her blog.  On the blog, I HeArTE JADE, she posted photos, names and home addresses of members of the Jefferson Area Drug Enforcement Task Force.

Her actions did not, as far as we can tell, obstruct justice or interfere with ongoing police investigations. If they had, she no doubt would have been arrested on such charges. Instead, she faces one felony charge for identifying a police officer with the intent to harass even though all of the information posted was publicly obtained.

We are writing an editorial for Thursday in which we will urge lawmakers to revisit this law when they convene next year. Its vague restrictions on speech, we suspect, would not pass constitutional muster if challenged, and it is ripe for abuse. It only serves to stifle speech critical of law enforcement, and the government must be open to such criticism. That's one of the core protections of the First Amendment.

In an upcoming editorial, we'll take a look at Roanoke's capital improvement plan that excludes the amphitheater, for now, and is fuzzy on whether Countryside and Washington Park's pool will gain funds.

The plan leaves as much unsettled as settled.