Dr. Darryl Helems has been recommended to the Salem School Board for appointment as Director of Student Services for Salem City Schools. According to Salem school superintendent, Alan Seibert, an interview team met selected Dr. Helms out of several well-qualified applicants for the position.

Seibert recommended him to the position, and the school board is expected to approve the appointment at its next scheduled meeting on May 13. If approved, Helems begins the new job July 1, 2008.

After receiving his Ph.D. in Counselor Education from Virginia Tech, Helems began his career as a school psychologist with Franklin County Public Schools. Since 2001, he has served in a variety of leadership roles including as a school psychologist.

Photo courtesy of Salem City Schools website.

Blake Travitz has sent us some photos from the Kids Fishing Day event that the Kiwanis Club of Roanoke held Saturday at Hopetree Family Center, formerly the Virginia Baptist Children’s Home, in Salem. At left, Lewis Smith instructs a group from the West End Center in Roanoke on how to cast.

Do you have photos to share from an event? Email ‘em to us at news@sosalem.com or click the “share” button you see on www.sosalem.com. Be sure to include your contact info (name, daytime phone number) and a full description of who and what we see in the photo.

We had a previous post about the Kids Fishing Day on April 25.

Below, various scenes from the day.

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Roanoke County Public Schools Education Foundation awarded Overfelt with top honors at their 5th annual Golden Apple reception at the Holiday Inn in Roanoke last Wednesday, April 23.

The program is designed to recognize and honor teachers who have made a positive impact on their students. The Motorsports Technology teacher was chosen from over 100 nominations and three finalists. Each finalist received $500 and the Golden Apple Winner received $3,000.

Left to right: Arnold R. Burton Technology Center principal Andy McClung; 2008 Golden Apple Award winner Chris Overfelt; 2008 Golden Apple Award finalist Ginger Cromer; Superintendent Dr. Lorraine Lange; School Board member David Wymer. Photo courtesy of Roanoke County Schools

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The Salem Sabres girls U11 maroon team is serving up an endless breakfast of pancakes, sausage, and bacon with a choice of orange juice or coffee for the affordable cost of $5 at the Applebee’s on Main St. in Salem.

Breakfast will be cooked by Applebees chefs and brought out by the soccer team, with parents at hand to keep things running smoothly. The girls are raising money for travel, uniforms, and equipment. Applebees is donating $3 out of each $5 back to the Sabres.

Here’s a link to video from the scene of Tuesday’s fatal shooting in Salem — and another to the story.

For more on Salem crime — including links to our Salem crime map, a searchable database of Roanoke Valley crime, and the Roanoke Valley homicide map — click here.

We’ve just updated our Roanoke Valley crime map with the latest offenses from Salem and western Roanoke County.

The Salem offenses go through Sunday, April 27. The Roanoke County offenses go through Saturday, April 26. We got an update from Salem last week, but not from Roanoke County – so this update represents two weeks worth of new data from the Roanoke County Police Department.

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A 45-year-old man was fatally shot in a Salem parking lot this afternoon. For more on this story as it develops, click here.

For a map of Roanoke Valley homicides since 2006, click here.

For a map of Salem crime this year, click here.

Salem Baptist Church is celebrating the National Day of Prayer in the sanctuary from 12 to 12:30 p.m. Everyone is welcome, parking is in the back lot, and there is an elevator available for the elderly or handicapped.

Salem Baptist Church is at 103 North Broad Street in Salem. Never heard of the NDOP (National Day of Prayer)?: Here’s a link to their website.

Admission is free, and the event will be held at the Salem Civic Center from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. with booths from everything on health and wellness to entertainment.

This Saturday, May 3, McAfee will deliver the keynote address at his alma mater to approximately 429 degree recipients and their friends, family, and professors. The commencement ceremony begins at 10 a.m. on the front lawn of the college and will be moved inside, to the Bast Gym, in case of inclement weather.

Roanoke College’s baccalaureate service will be held at 4:30 p.m. on Friday, May 2 in the Bast Center. Rev. Paul Henrickson, Timothy L. Pickle Dean of the Chapel at Roanoke, will be the featured speaker.

McAfee graduated from RC in 1967 with a mathematics degree. On his way to becoming a prominent leader in the field of technology, he founded Interpath Inc. in 1981 (developing the world’s first commercial voice recognition system), McAfee Inc. in 1989 (developing the world’s first virus scanner), and Tribal Voice Inc. in 1996 (developing the world’s first instant messaging program).

He also worked with a number of technology companies, including General Electric, Univac, Lockheed Martin, Xerox, Siemens and IBM in computer technology and management capacities. In between companies he traveled the world and lived for extended periods in Brazil, Germany, England, Mexico, India and Hong Kong. McAfee currently lives in New Mexico and Belize and is developing technology programs for third world countries.

McAfee’s name graced the news last year with an auction on his vacation home in Colorado.