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Salem's Living Well Church of the Nazarene has a member with a God-given talent, and he's looking to help his church grow by putting it to use. Bill Dalton, a retired barber with a knack for woodworking, is hoping to sell his handmade pie safes for a billboard lease and to put towards their building fund."We're looking to expand to another location," said Dalton. "We have lots of children and members in their 30s and 40s. I don't know when we'll go, but the Lord will give us a place somewhere."

So he's doing what he knows best in order to help.

"Even as a child I'd pick up a board and make a bench or a box or something," he said. He made most of the furniture for the home he shares with his wife of 60 years, Freddie, and says that he can make just about anything you'd see at a furniture store or an antique mall as long as he has a sketch or a picture and some measurements.

The only formal training he's had was at his high school woodworking class. He's a member of the Blue Ridge Woodturners and the American Association of Woodturners. He started making furniture at the request of other people when a Snap-On Tools representative saw his work and asked Dalton to make him a cedar rocking chair.

Dalton grew up in West Virginia in a small town between Bluefield and Welch. In 1943, his family moved to Floyd, Virginia just before he went to be a machinist in the Navy at age 17. But even before the Daltons moved out of coal mining country, he knew that he didn't want to have anything to do with the deadly profession that his neighbors and family were in.

"I wrote an essay in high school that I could be a barber and move anywhere that I wanted to. I wouldn't have to worry about coal dust and so forth," he said. So after he left the navy in 1947, he went to barber's school in Roanoke and then ended up working in Bill Littrell's barber shop on Main Street in Salem where Macado's stands now.

Life in Salem drew him in even as a boy, when he came first to visit Lakeside Amusement Park and then came for a boy scout camping trip at Dixie Caverns.

Dalton is giving all of the proceeds from his woodworking to the Living Well Church of the Nazarene in Salem. For more information or to order a pie safe, call Dalton at 389-0581. He can also do custom work that will also go towards the church.

These photos are from the North Salem Tigers U10 girls soccer team of the Salem Parks and Recreation League, and along with them, proud coach Todd Neff sent this account of their great season to go along with the pictures:

"This age group doesn't keep official rankings but our girls did VERY WELL. We lost our first game, made some adjustments then won the next 8 games in a row. Our record was 8-1 and we (unofficially) came in 1st place in our division. The next 2 best teams came in at 5-2-1 by my account.

Our girls were a joy to coach and improved DRASTICALLY as the season progressed. We avenged our only loss (4-2) with a 1-0 victory!

Info on the Coach and assistant coach: My name is Todd Neff and I'm the Mechanical Engineering Manager at ITT Night Vision (coach). My wife, Debbie Neff, was the assistant coach and team coordinator. We loved coaching and look forward to being involved in Salem Parks and Rec league next season."

The team included Alexa Warme (forward), Sydney Willinghan (defense), Molly Willingham (forward), Marlie Gregory (halfback), Isabel Baynum (goalie), Mackenzie Neff (forward), Saylor Bane (defense).

Got local sports team photos? Anybody from the little ones to the adult league are welcome to show off their pictures here! Just send them to news@sosalem.com and we'll post them here.

John Bryant at SuperKicks Karate in Salem had a special treat for kids at Pumpkinfest on Saturday, Oct. 31 at the Salem Farmers Market in coordination with C.H.I.P. He helped them learn some simple tips on how to get away from strangers. Bryant shared these photos from that day.

"In the demonstrations I did, we had an interactive class for all the children that wanted to participate. We got to talk about what to do if a stranger approaches you, how to get away if a bad guy grabs you, and we also spoke about making sure you set a good example in everything you do," Bryant said.

1
This first picture is of us putting our hands together to get away from a stranger.
2 This picture is of us me teaching grabbing the children's hands saying "give me your Halloween candy" and them getting away

Here's a list of events for the Glenvar Library! To go to the Roanoke County Library website for a full selection of classes, events, and to search the card catalog for all of the county locations, click here.

Glenvar Teen Council
6 p.m. Monday, November 10

Teen Creative Writing Club
6 to 7 p.m. Tuesday, November 24

Family Movie "Up"
6 p.m. Tuesday, November 17
-Movie played on a large screen with surround sound. Families Welcome! Free admission! Free freshly popped popcorn too!!

Submitted by Michael Meise, Roanoke County Library

Admission is free to watch Santa Clause 2 at South Salem Elementary School November 20.
Santa pictures will begin at 6 p.m. in the library and are $1 each. Food will be sold starting at 6 p.m. The movie will begin at 7 p.m. Please wear your favorite PJ'S and bring a blanket to sit on.We will also be raffling off a large stocking full of new items and gift cards.

Submitted by Teresa Sizemore

We've just updated our Roanoke Valley crime map with the latest offenses from Salem and Roanoke County -- and Roanoke, as well. This batch covers about two weeks.

From Oct. 20 to Nov. 1, police reported five burglaries, nine larcenies and one aggravated assault in Salem.

Meanwhile, between Oct. 11 and Oct. 31, Roanoke County police reported two burglaries and two larcenies in western Roanoke County.

In all, that'sseven burglaries in and around Salem during that time.

You can see a map of where those incidents took place in Salem or western Roanoke County - or you can search the map yourself, by location, by offense or by date.

Also, the Salem Police Department provides more detailed information than other localities -- so in addition to the Roanoke Valley crime map, we have a more detailed Salem crime map you can search, as well.

Follow the links above and you can see where they were and what they were. Our data delivery editor, Matt Chittum, has more information how you can use the searchable crime maps.

Also on our Datasphere collection of searchable data: Graduation rates for every high school in the state.

After much needed growth, Bethel Baptist Church Preschool is excited to announce that we once again have openings in most classes!!  The Preschool is in it’s 4th year of operation and growing each year.  This year the Preschool has grown to 5 days a week, Monday – Friday and meets from 9-1.  The benefit of Bethel Baptist Church Preschool is there are different attendance options, from 1 day a week to 5 days week and they accept children as young as 12 months old!  Offer your child the advantage of a GREAT Christian Preschool as early as 12 months old!!   Offer your child the advantage of attending a caring, academic, Christian Preschool.  Their experienced staff provides a loving environment for preschoolers to learn basic and necessary skills. Call today, space is limited!!  Bethel Baptist Church Preschool can be reached at 540-389-0550 or bethelbaptistchurchkids@verizon.net.

Submitted by David and Kelly Reese.

Jonathan Tyler and the Northern Lights play at Awful Arthur's in Salem on Friday. Music writer Tad Dickens has an audio interview on his cut'n'scratch music blog.

Sheryl and Hugh Huff from Salem

We have photos of some of the Salem people who were at last weekend's Lyle Lovett concert at the Roanoke Civic Center -- at left and below.

These photos come from Hank Ebert. You can see his entire gallery here.

As always, if you have photos involving people from Salem, you can share at news@sosalem.com.
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The Salem Prevention Planning Team will hold a town hall meeting to present the findings from a Youth Risk Behavior Survey at 6 pm Tuesday, November 10 at the Salem Family YMCA. We encourage parents, educators, professionals, and all members of the Salem community to attend this meeting to learn more about our youth and how we, as a community, can continue to make Salem City a safe and wonderful environment for our children as they navigate the challenging road between childhood and adulthood.

The Salem Prevention Planning Team is a coalition of youth-serving organizations working together to promote the healthy development of youth. In the spring of 2009, the SPPT, in cooperation with the Salem City Schools, administered the YRB survey to students in grades 6, 8, 10, and 12. The survey was developed by the Center for Disease Control and is used locally, regionally, and nationally to assess risky behaviors in youth and a variety of other health and safety related activities among youth.

Submitted by Ray Bemis, Salem Prevention Planning Team

Here's a link to find more information about the RAYSAC Salem Prevention Planning team