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These photos were taken at Sherwood Cemetery in Salem in preparation for honoring our Veterans on Veterans Day. As previously documented in So Salem, many of the flags were placed by Boy Scout Troop 2 of Catawba. (You can see those photos here.)

Submitted by Garry Thompson.

Once again, The Roanoke Times and roanoke.com are offering our readers a searchable map and database of holiday lights displays in the Roanoke and New River Valleys -- and beyond. And we need you folks with the lighting displays to populate it for us.

Data dude Matt Chittum tells you how to do this in this entry on his Datasphere blog.

Kroger donated 32 pallets of fresh vegetables and produce and non-perishable goods to the Southwest Virginia Second Harvest Food Bank on November 17. In addition to more than 100,000 lbs. of produce, Kroger also donated $23,000 to the Food Bank as a result of the "Bringing Hope to the Table" promotion which ran through Kroger stores nationwide over the summer. That's the equivalent of nearly 72,000 meals for the hungry!

Harvest of Hope couldn't come at a better time. The economy has forced many individuals and families into poverty situations they have never experienced before. The Food Bank's partner agencies report a 20-30% increase in demand for emergency food assistance. Programs like the Harvest of Hope will help meet that increase in need with fresh, nutritional food!

Here, Barbara Krzysko is celebrating her birthday with her sisters (Ginny Smith and Jo Edwards) and niece, Fay Harlow at Applebee's in Salem.

Do you have a birthday coming up? If so, send your information to news@sosalem.com.

The Junior League held its annual Stocked Market over the weekend. Our paparazzi photo crew was there -- and so were lots of people from Salem. Here are the ones who stepped onto the red carpet:

* Debbie Fail and Ginger Booze
* Krista Matzuga
* Janet Frantz
* Phil Norman

You can view all the photos in the slideshow above, or in this gallery format.

Do you have photos of holiday activities involving people from Salem? If so, you can share at news@sosalem.com.

The Jolly Old Elf from the North Pole made his annual breakfast appearance at Tanglewood Mall on Saturday. So did our paparazzi photo crew -- and some kids from Salem were there to step onto the red carpet. They were:

* Emily Allare
* Emily Allare with Santa
* Rachel Stover
* Rachel Stover with Santa
* Mia Gearhart

You can view all the photos in the slideshow above or in this gallery format.

Do you have photos of holiday-related events involving people from Salem? You can share at news@sosalem.com.

The Salem Prevention Planning team hosted a "town hall" meeting at the Salem YMCA on Tuesday night, November 10, to discuss the results of a youth risk behavior study taken by kids in the sixth, eighth, tenth, and twelfth grades in Salem city schools in the spring.

The team is made up of citizens, parents, and professionals, including Salem City school officials and employees.

Although similar surveys have been administered in the past, this one is identical to the one that Roanoke city and Roanoke, Botetourt, and Craig Counties use and will let RAYSAC compare overall youth risk in the Roanoke Valley. Once the test is used in Salem for a few years, RAYSAC will be able to determine trend data.

"We're all here because we care about our youth so much. We want to be there to help them to move into adulthood as safely as possible," said Brooks Michael, teen pregnancy prevention coordinator in Roanoke city. "Although the survey is given in the school, we don't look at these as school issues, we look at these as community isssues," she said.

The survey measures youth attitude and behaviors in five areas: alcohol, drug, and tobacco use; sexual activity; violence; depression; and other health related behaviors like bicycle and vehicle safety. Some of the results in Salem were alarming but were in line with the figures presented from other school systems' surveys:

-It was easy or very easy for a percentage of high schoolers to: 87% get alcohol, 77% get marijuana. Forty-three percent of middle schoolers said it was easy or very easy to get alcohol.
-One in five high schoolers used alcohol in the past 30 days
-23% of high schoolers engaged in binge drinking (Four to five drinks in a row in a two-hour period)
-28% of high schoolers said they were between 13 and 15 years old when they first tried marijuana

Tobacco use was not as overwhelming: 16% of high schoolers smoked cigarettes in the last 30 days; 9% used smokeless tobacco; 9% of middle schoolers smoked cigarettes.

"The things that kids feel like are dangerous they're going to steer clear of, but then there are these mixed messages in the media about the use of medical marijuana and the healthful benefits of a glass of alcohol a day" said Curtis Hicks, a member of the prevention planning team and secondary education coordinator at Salem city schools. He noted the anti-smoking rhetoric of the last five to ten years that has impacted the perception of tobacco.

The team's and RAYSAC's goal is to make youth and parents as aware of the harmful effects of other risky behaviors as they are of tobacco. Salemites, don't be surprised if you start seeing more anti-risky behavior rhetoric around in the coming months and years.

Basic family behaviors that severely reduced the likelihood of risky behaviors included: having clear rules and expectations, eating dinner together, parents knowing childrens' friends and their childrens' friends' parents, and parents modeling good behaviors.

For more information about RAYSAC and the Salem Prevention Planning team, visit www.raysac.org.

Roanoke County is offering a "Guiding Good Choices Workshop: building strong family ties" in January, April, and June of next year for parents of students in grades three through eight. Workshops are also available for schools, community coalitions, faith based and civic organizations, and health/human services organizations. For more information, email Brooks Michael at Smichael@carilion.com or call 314-5030.

Sandy Cooper and members of Camp 1326 in the Sons of Confederate Veterans spent Saturday, November 7 cleaning up an almost-forgotten cemetery in the forests of western Roanoke County. That day, they cleaned up the small trees and brush, but they'll have to wait until hunting season is over to complete their task.

Cooper says:

"This is a larger than usual community cemetery. There are over 85 burials that have been identified by markers or court records. We uncovered at least 6 or more stalagmite markers.

The oldest grave is of Enos Goodwin my Great-great Grandfather who was born in 1789 and died in 1861. He has a marker but there is only a rock for his wife. His brother Jesse Goodwin who owned land where a cave was located has the larger "stalagmite" marker and died in 1897."

Red Barbour, commander of Camp 1326, is to the left of Cooper. They are well known with their support and cleanup of the Confederate Monument at Hanging Rock as well as the one by the highway exit closest to Hanging Rock.

Anyone interested in helping Cooper and Camp 1326 with clearing out (or researching) this cemetery and a few more located around Salem and western Roanoke County can email her at sandycoopr@gmail.com.

Here are more photos from around Salem showing the soggy mess that the remnants of Ida have created on Mill Lane and Riverside Drive. (You can view them in the slideshow above or in this gallery format; the videos are in the middle of the set.)

There's now a pond beside the playground at Longwood Park, although it's probably not good to swim in (maybe a new duck pond?) and there are also photos from under the bridge near the Hanging Rock Battlefield trail.

How have the Ida leftovers treated you? Feel free to share by sending your photos to news@sosalem.com!

For news on flooding around the region, see the breaking news blog from the newsroom of The Roanoke Times.

OTHER FLOODING UPDATES:
* Curtis Howell shares flood photos from Salem
* Mike Stevens shares photos of flooding on Mill Lane
* The Krzyskos share photos of flooding around Salem
* Sump pumps are big sellers in Salem today
* Colorado Street Bridge is open
* Riverside Trailer Park residents being evacuated
* Salem schools will close two hours early
* Flood warning in effect for Salem and Roanoke County