April 30, 2008Photos from Hidden Valley - Cave Spring softball game Faithful contributor Quigg Lawrence has sent us two photos from yesterday's Hidden Valley-Cave Spring softball game. Hidden Valley won 10-9, only the second time ever the Titans varsity has defeated the Knights. Do you have photos to share -- from a sports event or some other event? Just email us at news@swo-co.com or click the "share" button on www.swo-co.com. Be sure to include your contact info (name, daytime phone number) and a full description of who or what we're seeing in the photo. And in case you missed them, we have other photos from Hidden Valley's softball team from Jim Elliott. Our latest post about Cave Spring High School has photos from Reed Braden of the school's upcoming musical.
Continue reading "Photos from Hidden Valley - Cave Spring softball game" » North Cross appoints new upper school director Current Upper School Director Timothy Seeley announced Monday that Mark Thompson has been selected unanimously by an eight member search committee to take over as the School’s new Upper School Director on July 1. Since 2005 Thompson has spent his days teaching middle school geography and history at Hawaii Preparatory Academy (HPA), a day and boarding school located in the town of Waimea on the beautiful island of Hawaii. Continue reading "North Cross appoints new upper school director" » Four Roanoke County Schools recognized as "Title I Distinguished SchoolsOut of 118 schools across the Commonwealth, four Roanoke County Schools were recognized by the Virginia Board of Education as “Title I Distinguished Schools. The schools receiving this recognition are: Continue reading "Four Roanoke County Schools recognized as "Title I Distinguished Schools" » UCCR Community Yard Sale SaturdayOn Saturday, May 3, The Unitarian Universalist Church of Roanoke's parking lot will be transformed by members and friends who would like to come together for a community yard sale. Items to be sold will include gently used house wares, clothing, books, and miscellaneous items. The sale will begin at 7:30 a.m.. In case of rain, the sale will be transferred inside. UUCR is located at 2015 Grandin Road. For more information call 540-342-8888. Annual "Art with a Twist" to be held this weekend The community is invited to attend North Cross School’s annual Art With A Twist reception on Friday, May 2 at 6:30 p.m. in the Logan gallery located in Slack Hall. 45 local artists will be featured and light hors d’ouvres provided by Lib & Amy Catering and cocktails. Piano music will be provided by Davis Oakey. Artwork will be available for purchase. Continue reading "Annual "Art with a Twist" to be held this weekend" » Faith Christian School presents drama and art Argh, Argh! Pirates and treasure galore at this weekend's production of Treasure Island at Faith Christian School. The drama department will present Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island , an adventure story on stage on May 2 at 5 p.m. and 7:40 p.m. as part of Festival of the Arts. Continue reading "Faith Christian School presents drama and art" » Crowd already lining up at Chick-fil-A It's started! There's a tradition among Chick-fil-A fans of camping out the night before a new restaurant opens -- partly for the promotional giveaways, partly, well, just because. The newest one in the Roanoke Valley opens Thursday on Southern Hills Drive (just over the line from Southwest Roanoke County!), but business writer Jenny Boone reports that 40 people were already camped out by 8 a.m. She had a story and photos on her blog, The Storefront. We had a previous post about the new Chick-fil-A on April 21. Cave Spring High School presents musical comedy "Damn Yankees"
Showtime is at 7 p.m. at Cave Spring High School Auditorium at 3712 Chaparral Drive. We'll have a story in this Friday's print edition of SWoCo, but here are some extra photos. Above and below: Choreographer Katharine Ellis works with the cast. Bottom: Kenzie Conner as Lola and Graham Grasty as Joe Hardy. Photos by Reed Braden.
Continue reading "Cave Spring High School presents musical comedy "Damn Yankees"" » Cave Spring Baptist will mark National Day of Prayer ThursdayOn Thursday May 1, all over the world, folks will be participating in the National Day of Prayer. Cave Spring Baptist Church will be opening beginning at 6 a.m. on Thursday for individuals to come and pray. The church will also host a prayer vigil service at 6 p.m. to conclude the day. Cave Spring Baptist Church is located at 4873 Brambleton Avenue. Continue reading "Cave Spring Baptist will mark National Day of Prayer Thursday" » Hidden Valley Junior qualifies for All-State Choir Hidden Valley High School Junior Katherine Preseren can say something that no one else from the area schools can claim. Preseren was the only singer to qualify for All-State Choir from the area schools. The event was held April 24 through 26 at Harrisonburg High School. She performed as part of the 2008 All Virginia Mixed Choir under the direction of Bruce Rogers, the Choir Director at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut, California Photo: Choral Director of Hidden Valley High School, John Myers stands with All-State Choir qualifier, Katerine Preseren, junior at HVHS. April 29, 2008Webcast: Hidden Valley's "bombshell"Sportswriters Robert Anderson and Aaron McFarling have lots to say about Hidden Valley's new boys' basketball coach -- Troy Wells, hired away from Martinsville High School. On this week's Varsity Cast, our weekly high school sports webcast, they talk about the "perfect storm" of events that led to Wells surprising jump to the Titans. But wait, that's not all -- Robert and Aaron also talk about Hidden Valley baseball slugger Zack Helgeson. You'll recall that last week we posted video of Helgeson, whom Aaron called "the most feared slugger in the Roanoke Valley." Roanoke County crime map updated through April 26 We've just updated our Roanoke Valley crime map with Roanoke County offenses through Saturday, April 26. This represents two weeks worth of new data from the Roanoke County Police Department. During that time, Southwest Roanoke County had five larcenies, one burglary and one aggravated assault. The map sits over a searchable database that has data for Roanoke, Roanoke County and Salem, so you can search it however you like -- by date, by locality, by offense. Our data delivery editor, Matt Chittum, has a guide to all the ways you can use the data -- which is part of our Datasphere of other data sites. Among the more popular search functions there now: A database of trophy fish in Virginia. We even have a do-it-yourself map to track bear sightings in unusual places. Hidden Valley coaches have new addition to the family The Hidden Valley softball team has a new addition to its family: Brady Kish, the newborn son of Coaches Katrina and Christian Kish. This photo was taken when Hidden Valley beat Pulaski Friday night at Pulaski. Photos courtesy of Jim Elliott. Continue reading "Hidden Valley coaches have new addition to the family" » Girl Scout earns PRAY AwardLydia Higgs has received not one, but two PRAY awards for completing the "God and Life" segment of the "God and Country" program. She also received special recognition as a Four-Star Recipient for earning all four levels of the God and Country series. Four Southwest county school cafeteria employees honoredThree Roanoke County school nutrition managers have earned state school nutrition awards, which were given during the recent School Nutrition Association of Virginia annual conference in Virginia Beach. Additionally, a nutrition associate earned the highest credential offered in the profession. * Kathy Stackpole at Arnold R. Burton Technical Center. For details, see this story on our companion news site. Hidden Valley girls' basketball team wins Good Sportsmanship Award The Roanoke Civitan Club selected Hidden Valley High School Girls' Basketball team as recipient of the Good Sportsmanship Award for 2008 yesterday. The girl's team not only won this award but also won the 2008 Group AA state championship and players Abby Oliver and Kylee Beecher made The Roanoke Times' Timesland Region IV Girls First Team. Abby Oliver was also name Region IV Player of the Year and coach Mick McGuire was name Region IV Coach of the Year. Continue reading "Hidden Valley girls' basketball team wins Good Sportsmanship Award" » Photos from Cave Spring Little League Opening Day Quigg Lawrence has sent us two photos from Saturday's opening day of the Cave Spring Little League. Here's one that shows Garret Durham giving the invocation. And click below for another nice shot. Do you have photos you'd like to share with us -- from youth league sports or other events? Just email us at news@swo-co.com. Be sure to include your contact info, plus a full description of who or what we're seeing in the photo. By the way, we'll have more photos from opening day in Friday's print editions of SWoCo. Continue reading "Photos from Cave Spring Little League Opening Day" » April 28, 2008Fashion alert! Short dresses at Southwest promsFeatures writer Erinn Hutkin had a story today in the Extra section about this year's prom fashions. Here's an interesting paragraph about what girls are picking for the Cave Spring and Hidden Valley proms this year: No matter what the color or pattern, the majority of teens chose long dresses -- and many of those floor-length gowns were covered by beads or sequins. However, some schools set their own trends. Dorothy Osborne, owner of Panache dress shop, said teens from Hidden Valley and Cave Spring high schools seemed to favor short gowns. By the way, Cave Spring's prom is May 10. Hidden Valley's prom was this past Saturday. Look for photos in this Friday's print edition of SWoCo. Penn Forest Elementary Auction brings in $10,000 Penn Forest Elementary School's first, groundbreaking live and silent auction was held Friday, April 25 and deemed a success by Laurie Bowling, Vice President of Programs and next year's President of Programs. "It went very well," she said. "Being out first auction, I thought it went great. There are definitely things we can tweak." The private pre-event from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. did not bring in much money, Bowling said but it brought it a little bit. Dinner was served to 122 people by Foodies. The menu included: Continue reading "Penn Forest Elementary Auction brings in $10,000" » Video: Car crash on Electric Road
Chicken BBQ brings in about $4,000 to Cave Spring rescue squad A mix of rain and sunshine didn't keep 65 volunteers and local southwest county residents from supporting the Cave Spring Volunteer Rescue Squad Saturday afternoon at their annual chicken barbecue dinner held twice a year. The rescue squad sold out of tickets around 4 p.m. Saturday and served about 1,200 dinner in the course of only three hours. The volunteers and community raised about $4,000 for the volunteer rescue squad. Those who bought dinner tickets either came and picked up their food in their car, or enjoyed the company of other people in the community inside the rescue squad between 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. Dinners cost $7, with homemade barbecue sauce which, Sharon Campbell President of the Auxiliary said has been a secret recipe forever. Continue reading "Chicken BBQ brings in about $4,000 to Cave Spring rescue squad" » April 26, 2008Students clean summer camp for homeless children Laughing and chanting were the sounds heard around Jubilee Acres Friday morning as about 300 students, parents, and faculty of Faith Christian School cleared paths, mulched, and rebuilt trails at the Rescue Mission summer day camp. Project Faith was well underway at 8:45 a.m. and students were repeating chants led by their student leaders and SGA President and Crew Chief Bryan Strelow. “I think we are going to get our job done. We have a lot of manpower and the pre-planning really helped,” Strelow said. “Every year they give us a bigger project and we always finish it. It shows our work ethics.” Organizers and Strelow began planning for the event last fall. By January they had chosen a place to conduct their community service. In years past, the school has done community service with the greenways, building and clearing trails. For the past two years the students have done community service for the Rescue Mission. Continue reading "Students clean summer camp for homeless children" » April 25, 2008Interview with new Hidden Valley boys' basketball coachSportswriter Robert Anderson spoke today with Troy Wells, who was named last night as the new boys' basketball coach at Hidden Valley High School. Here's his report on the new coach -- who won three state titles in 13 seasons in Martinsville. For the official press release from the Roanoke County school system, click here. Hidden Valley archery team takes second place in tournamentDuring the recent statewide archery tournament held by the National Archery in the Schools Program, Hidden Valley High School took second place statewide. The tournament was sponsored by the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (DGIF). The tournament was held "virtually", meaning teams competed at each school and reported their scores to the tournament judges, to cut down on traveling expenses. Continue reading "Hidden Valley archery team takes second place in tournament" » Southwest Roanoke County businesses get "locked up" Area businesses and organizations came out Wednesday to the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) "Lock Up" at the Holiday in on Starkey. Participants had to raise bail to get out of jail and even had to get their picture taken behind bars. The MDA is a national voluntary health agency dedicated to conquering neuromuscular diseases that affect a million Americans of all ages. And according to Diane Boardman, District Director, one lucky guy, John Peters who represented Advanced Auto Parts did just that. The MDA gave each participant a goal of raising $2,400. Boardman also said that about Roanoke helped raise $36,500, about $20,000 shy of their goal. "We haven't raised this little in the Roanoke area in a while," Boardman said. "We usually raise about $50,000. We do appreciate the people that came. They worked enthusiastically for a great cause." About 67 people honored their commitment and attended the lock-up throughout the day, which began at 9 a.m. and ended at 4 p.m. About 250 people total had originally made a commitment Boardman said. Continue reading "Southwest Roanoke County businesses get "locked up"" » Hidden Valley names boys' basketball coachHidden Valley High School has named a new boys' basketball coach. He's Troy Wells, currently the head coach at Martinsville High School. The official press release from the Roanoke County school system follows: Continue reading "Hidden Valley names boys' basketball coach" » Keagy Village will have nTelos storeKeagy Village, the retail center under construction in Southwest Roanoke County, will have an nTelos store. Business writer Jenny Boone has posted more information about that and other developments at Keagy Village on her retail blog, The Storefront. We had a previous post about Keagy Village on April 6. Our print edition hits the streetsThe first issue of our new community newspaper for Southwest Roanoke County comes out today. * If you’re a subscriber to The Roanoke Times and live in zip codes 24018 or 24059, you’ll find SWoCo included in your regular newspaper delivery each Friday. * If you’re not a subscriber, but still live in those areas, you’ll get SWoCo mailed to you each week as part of the Simply Savings advertising flier you now receive. For most of you, that generally means it will arrive on Friday or Saturday, depending on postal delivery. If that uncertainty sounds like a reason to subscribe, our circulation department will be happy to help you. * In addition, we have free copies of SWoCo available at these locations: -- Kroger, 3815 Brambleton Avenue Welcome to SWoCo!Welcome to the new website for community news for Southwest Roanoke County. If you’ve been a regular reader of this blog for the past month or so, you’re noticing something different today. If you’re coming here for the first time, well, it’s all new anyway. The big news here today is that we’ve launched a full website -- and a weekly print edition. What you’re looking at here is The Notebook, our news blog for Southwest Roanoke County. Most days, we update this blog multiple times -- sometimes with things you’ll later see in print in some form, sometimes with things you won’t. Think of it as a running conversation. And we do want this to be a two-week street. You can click the “comment” button on the lower right to comment on blog posts. You can also share your news and photos at news@swo-com.com. (Don't forget the dash!) If you want to bookmark this blog, here’s the new, formal address. And if you want to bookmark the whole site, you’ll want this. For more about what the whole website features, click here. For more on our weekly print edition, click here. Finally, to meet our community journalist, Emily Flora, either in person or in cyberspace, click here. April 24, 2008Join us for coffee (or tea)
Yes, we know you’re reading this online -- and scattered all over this site are links where you can submit news and photos to news@swo-co.com. (Don’t forget the dash!) But we also know that not everybody is online -- and sometimes not everything is easy to send across the Internet. So that’s why we have a drop box. Think of this as our Southwest Roanoke County bureau. We also know that sometimes it’s good to just sit and chat -- and that’s why Emily Flora, our community journalist for Southwest Roanoke County, will be holding “office hours” at Mill Mountain Coffee and Tea on Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. That’s her picture on the right. She’s eager to hear your ideas about covering our community -- so stop by and share some news the old-fashioned way. Bill Cochran shares tales from 39 years of fishing tournaments The Cave Spring Optimist Club is celebrating its 40th Smith Mountain Lake Fishing Tournament May 2-4 and Bill Cochran, retired outdoors writer for The Roanoke Times, has been to every one of them. He shares recollections here. May Friendship Day is May 2May 2 is Church Women United in the Roanoke Valley May Friendship Day at Our Lady of Nazareth Catholic Church on Electric Road. Registration will begin at 9:30 a.m. with welcome and Bible study at 10:15 and a business meeting at 10:45 a.m. The program will begin at 11 a.m. with the theme "God's Wisdom Inspires Hospitality." The annual offering for the Fellowship of the Least Coin will be collected. A luncheon will follow in the Fellowship Hall. The cost is $5 per person. To make reservations call, Rita Harris at 774-0066, ext. 10 no later than Tuesday, April 29. Church Women United (CWU) is a Christian women’s movement representing Protestant, Roman Catholic, Orthodox and other Christian women, founded in 1941. CWU holds three annual worship celebrations, one being May Friendship Day. May Friendship Day was first observed in 1933 and focuses on "creative and healing relationships" that exist in local communities. Students to conduct a community service at Jubilee Acres Friday Faith Christian School, 300 plus students and parents, will be working at Jubliee Acres- a Rescue Mission summer day camp located outside of Roanoke Friday, April 25 from 8:45 a.m. until 2 p.m. Students will be rebuilding trails, mulching the challenge course areas and playgrounds, and cleaning the camp to prepare for the children during the summer months. Continue reading "Students to conduct a community service at Jubilee Acres Friday" » 2008 Red, White + Blues to be held at Roanoke Civic Center Where else can you go on a Saturday night and taste top-notch food, sip fine wine and bid on fabulous auction items, all the while, supporting disaster relief in your community? Held on May 3, from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m., this event raises money for the disaster relief work of the Red Cross in the Valley. The 2008 Red, White + Blues will be held in the new Special Events Center of the Roanoke Civic Center. Tickets are $50/advance, $60/door. Call 985-3539 for a a table of eight/$360. Tickets are also available at Kroger stores. N'awlins costumes optional! Continue reading "2008 Red, White + Blues to be held at Roanoke Civic Center" » Burton Technology Center teacher wins Green Apple Award Out of more than 100 nominations received by parents, students, administrators and colleagues, Chris Overfelt from Arnold R. Burton Technology Center was named the Golden Apple Winner. “It is a distinct honor to be recognized by peers, students and parents,” said Education Foundation Chairman Brucie Boggs. “It is the mission of the Foundation to support education excellence in the Roanoke County Public Schools and we are very proud of our winners and everyone who was nominated,” Boggs said. The Roanoke County Public Schools Education Foundations Golden Apple Reception was held on April 23 at the Holiday Inn in Roanoke. The program, conceived in 1994 by the Foundation’s Board of Trustees, recognizes and honors teachers who have made a positive impact on their students. Continue reading "Burton Technology Center teacher wins Green Apple Award" » April 23, 2008My Gym announces fitness challenge April 28-May 2My Gym of Roanoke isn't in Southwest Roanoke County, but it's close enough that Swoco residents would be interested in this: A fitness challenge next week (April 28-May 2) to coincide with National Fitness Month. The Roanoke location of the children's fitness center is at Townside Festival Shopping Plaza at 3727 Franklin Road, just under the bridge and over the line in the city. A press release from My Gym follows: Continue reading "My Gym announces fitness challenge April 28-May 2" » |