Roanoke County schools has released the following statement about Fort Lewis Elementary. We previously reported the school would be closed Friday for emergency roof repairs:

As part of the ongoing repairs to the roof at Fort Lewis Elementary School, crews will be making repairs to an additional section of the roof adjacent to the portion that collapsed in late December. Due to the very loud nature of this work, classes at Fort Lewis Elementary School will not be held on Friday, January 29. All Roanoke County schools are closed Monday, Feb. 1 for parent-teacher conferences.

This work is taking place now as an additional measure of precaution to ensure the safety of the students and staff at Fort Lewis. Upon a successful inspection of the roof construction, we anticipate reopening the building for normal school operations on Tuesday, Feb. 2.

“We appreciate the patience of the Fort Lewis community as we work to repair the roof at the school. The safety of our students and staff is our highest priority and we are taking additional measures to ensure their safety,” said Roanoke County Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Lorraine Lange.

The Salem Red Sox, Advanced Class-A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox, have introduced a new fundraising program for the 2010. The Salem Red Sox will offer local groups and organizations discounted tickets that can be sold for full ticket value. Both dated and undated tickets can be sold to raise funds for local causes.

Undated general admission tickets can be purchased in books of five at a discounted cost of $5.00 per ticket and sold at face value ($7.50 per ticket) to generate $2.50 per ticket for your club or group. The discounted cost of tickets is lowered to $4.50 per ticket for any group that purchases 50 or more ticket books to generate $3.00 per ticket.

Any group that wishes to sell tickets to a specific game will receive an even higher discount on tickets. In addition to the opportunity to throw out the first pitch and a group welcome announcement, the Salem Red Sox will provide dated reserved seat tickets at $4.00 per ticket which can be sold for face value ($8.00 per ticket) to generate $4.00 per ticket for your club or group. Groups that purchase 250 or more tickets to a dated game will receive tickets at the discounted price of $3.50 per ticket to generate $4.50 per ticket when resold at face value.

Undated Books (5 Tickets per Book)

Dated Tickets

Local groups and organizations can find more information on fundraisers by visiting www.salemsox.com or calling the Salem Red Sox offices at (540) 389-3333.

Roanoke College announces several upcoming events. Roanoke’s theme for the year is “The Challenge of Intellectual Inquiry,” as the College launches a new general education curriculum. Many events will focus, as does the curriculum, on what it means to study something deeply – to explore, inquire and examine. Happenings on the Salem campus in the coming weeks include the following: Read more »

Del. Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, shares his weekly newsletter from the General Assembly, which is now in session:

Newsletter for Jan 25 2010
This week, our second, has proven to move quickly as we get into the real crux of the legislative session. Committees begin to move full speed ahead through hundreds of bills, examining and debated each one carefully.
One of the most vigorous debates we had on the floor of the House was over former Governor Kaine’s proposal for a 1% surtax on all taxable income as a means of balancing the budget. Both the minority leader and I agree that now is not the time to raise taxes and accordingly, the proposal was defeated unanimously.
This office has received many letters of concern over the increase of electric utility rates by Appalachian Power. The Delegates and Senators from Southwestern Virginia recently met with representatives of Appalachian Power to relay our constituents’ concerns. I have introduced House Bill 1190 regarding electric utility regulation which I hope will pass and
provide a partial solution to the problem. My bill would return AEP to the same regulatory restraints that existed prior to the deregulation, which I opposed originally. I have also introduced a bill to study the issues related to the regulation of the industry under the Virginia Gas and Oil Act . We are not doing legislative studies this year due to the budget, so I am going to ask that it be sent to the Energy Commission.
I have introduced House Bill 288 which strengthens our stalking law. It states that a person may be convicted of stalking in a single instance if the behavior is accompanied by verbal threats of sexual assault, bodily injury or death.
My House Bill 426 prohibits a local public body from using another local public body’s contract for construction where the cost of the project is in excess of $200,000 and the other local public body is more than 75 miles from the local body procuring the construction. This was a problem which I tried to alleviate last year involving costly construction contracts based in more expensive areas of the state such as Northern Virginia districts.
Among our visitors for this week were James Talliferro, Assistant City Manager for Salem, Lorie McCollum, CEO of the Bradley Free Clinic of Roanoke and Karen Michalski-Karney, President of Virginia Association of Centers for Independent Living , also of Roanoke. We had Dana Oliver, who is the Registrar from Salem, and the supporters of TAP, Annette Lewis and Jo Nelson of Roanoke. Michelle Hillis came by for Virginia Association for Early Childhood Education and Thursday, Dr.Mark Finkler of the Roanoke Animal Hospital came to discuss animal bills.

Fort Lewis Elementary School in Roanoke County will be closed Friday for roof repairs.

A structural engineer, who inspected the roof after a section caved in December, identified seven other areas where there is potential for deficient roof trusses. Those portions of the roof are scheduled to be repaired Friday through Sunday.

Conferences will still be held on Monday, Feb. 1st unless there is inclement weather.

Reporter Courtney Cutright has more on this story.

The following is a letter from Central Office regarding the closing:

Dear Fort Lewis Elementary School Parent and/or Guardian:

As you are aware, the roof structure in the cafeteria and kitchen at Fort Lewis Elementary School collapsed as the result of the excessive amount of weight from recent snowfall. We anticipate having all of the construction in the kitchen and cafeteria areas completed near the end of February which will allow our students to resume their regular daily routine, and we appreciate your patience during this re-construction.

Because of concern with the remaining roof in the 1996 addition to the building, we commissioned a structural engineer to analyze all of the roof trusses to ensure the safety of the building. Upon the completion of his inspection, he identified seven areas in the new addition of the building that had possible deficiencies in the construction of the roof.

Even though the Roanoke County Office of Building Safety has reported the structure as safe, as a precaution to ensure the safety of our students and staff, we feel it is necessary to take immediate action to remedy the situation. The Roanoke County Building Commissioner has issued a permit to have these roof areas repaired on Friday, January 29th through Sunday, January 30th. Due to the noise associated with the construction to repair the roof in these areas, school will be cancelled at Fort Lewis Elementary School on Friday, January 29th. Upon the successful inspection of the roof construction, we anticipate reopening the building on Tuesday, February 2st for normal school operations

We appreciate your understanding in canceling school on Friday, but believe the building modifications are immediately necessary to ensure a safe learning environment for all of our students and faculty.

Sincerely,

Martin W. Misicko, Ed.D.

Director of Operations & Construction

The Roanoke County School Board meets tonight. Here’s the agenda.

We’re looking for couples who’ve had a happy life together to share words of wisdom for Valentine’s Day. Write a little about yourselves, share your advice on the secrets to a successful relationship, up to 500 words, and send a picture, too.
We’ll print a selection of what we receive in the Feb. 12 edition of So Salem.
Deadline is Feb. 1. Send your submission to news@sosalem.com, and include your names and phone number where you can be reached if there are any questions about a submission.

1. Submitted by a self-proclaimed fan of So Salem (in print and online), these photos of fog and ice were taken in Glenvar, Virginia at Hanging Rock on Friday, Jan. 22.

Submitted by Tim Runion

From the American Red Cross – Blood is needed by someone every two seconds. But where does this blood come from? It comes from volunteer donors. The requirements are simple. You must be at least 17 years of age, weigh a minimum of 110 pounds, be in good general health, and have at least 56 days between whole blood donations. (These requirements meet state and federal regulations which ensure the safety and health of both donors and patients.) Regulations require all volunteer donors to accurately provide their birth date and social security number at the bloodmobile. Donors will be asked to provide a form of identification, and high school students are required to provide a picture I.D. for proof of age.  You can be a HERO. It only takes about an hour for the entire donation process, and your one donation may go to as many as four different people. Please give the gift of life soon, at the following locations:

Fort Lewis Christian Church, 2/1/10 from 2:00 p.m – 7:00 p.m

Submitted by Bob Lutjen