June 30, 2008Photos from "Guys and Dolls" at Showtimers Showtimers, the community theatre located just off 419, is currently in rehearsal for "Guys and Dolls." The show opens July 17 and runs through August 3. Here's a photo gallery of seven photos from the show. For information on showtimes and ticket prices, check out Showtimers' website. Left to right :Summer Hayes as Sarah Brown, Matt Hayes as Sky Masterson, Chip Addison as Nathan Detroit, Linsee Lewis as Miss Adelaide For photos from the last Showtimers show -- "Blithe Spirit" -- click here. Photos from Cave Spring Little League We have a photo gallery of 10 photos from Saturday's Little League game between Cave Spring American All-Stars and Covington -- which Cave Spring won 7-6. At left: Shane Kinchen. Photos by Garland Gay And let's give a shout-out to all the folks who suggested we go take photos of this game. Glad we could make it! But we can't make it everywhere, so if we're not at a game you think we should have photos of, you can send your sports photos involving teams or players from Southwest Roanoke County to us at news@swo-co.com We had a previous post -- with a photo gallery -- from the Cave Spring Little League on June 18. Roanoke County Parks, Recreation and Tourism announces more summer programsTake advantage of the free and cheap costing programs that the Roanoke County Parks Recreation and Tourism has to offer this summer. Here is the schedule for programs with Roanoke County Parks and Recreation beginning the week of July 11. EVENTS Days: July 19 Days: July 26 Continue reading "Roanoke County Parks, Recreation and Tourism announces more summer programs" » South County Panthers win 10U A League Division Shanon Griffin submitted this photo of the South County Panther's softball team to honor their victory in their division. The South County Panthers softball 10U A league won their division this year. After losing their very first game they rallied back and won 20 straight games. The team had three amazing coaches this year, head coach Ritchie Griffin and assistant coaches Brice Beatty and John Urquhart. Their undeniable dedication to the team did not go unnoticed. Picture: bottom row left to right: Cymber White, Emerald Pullon, Abby Frazier, Jaelin Dowdy top row left to right: Head Coach Ritchie Griffin, Savannah Duncan, Isabel Payseur, Assistant Not pictured: Marisa Hisaki and Courtney Martin This picture was taken at Moyer Sports Complex. Do you have sports photos involving teams or players from Southwest Roanoke County? You can share them at news@swo-co.com just like Shanon did. Video of Cave Spring grad training as cantorial singer In last week's SWoCo, we told you about Amanda Winter, a 2002 graduate of Cave Spring High School who is headed this summer to Israel, where she will train to become a cantorial singer. In today's Roanoke Times, religion writer Rob Johnson has a longer story on Amanda, as well as this video. Photo by Eric Brady More library events For July listedGot the summer blues? Want to get away from the pool and the heat and cool down doing something different and fun? SwoCo suggests checking out the upcoming classes and events happening at the Roanoke County Public Library. View the schedule below, and get rid of your summer blues! Reading Adventurers (Adult Book Club) Vinton Book Club “Fourth Thursday” Adult Book Club Adult Programs Virginia Author Series June 27, 2008Here's what some in Southwest Roanoke County are doing this summer You'll recall we recently invited folks to send in their summer photos and tell us about their plans this summer. Well, we just heard from Loren Wright, who sends us two photos of her son, Aidan. This is my son, Aidan Wright, on his first fishing trip with his dad Craig Wright. Aidan caught a few smaller fish then he caught a 17" Big Mouth Bass. His dad didn't catch any fish. :) And then for the photo below: We're not sure yet where the fishing was, but we know where the zoo is, so we've just put Aidan and his friend on the map -- our Swoco Summer '08 map, that is. We've also added Tony Weaver, too. UPDATE: The fish was caught at Carvins Cove, so we've added that to the map, as well. How can you get on the map? Just send us your summer photos and tell us what you're doing and where. It doesn't matter if it's the beach or a backyard barbecue, a week at camp or that big European vacation. We'll be here at news@swo-co.com Continue reading "Here's what some in Southwest Roanoke County are doing this summer" » St. John makes a "splash" in Africa This year, St. John Lutheran Church in Southwest Roanoke County used its annual Vacation Bible School to make a big “splash” in a community halfway around the world. They collected money for the construction of new water wells in Zambia, a country just a little bigger than Texas in South Central Africa. Their efforts were the result of the church's connection to Orphan Medical Network International (OMNI), a faith-based, non-profit organization that provides educational, subsistence and medical support for struggling villages. Two years ago, president and co-founder of OMNI, Karen ReMine and her husband Dr. Steve ReMine joined St. John. Since then, the church has been heavily involved in the organization’s overseas efforts. St. John is now instrumental to the child sponsorship program, which helps the 155 children attending OMNI George School. The school accepts students who are too poor to pay the yearly $12 uniform fee required to attend public school in Zambia. “100 to 110 children are supported by individual families at St. John who donate $30 a month,” said ReMine. Photos from soccer camp at Cave Spring Middle School We have a photo gallery of 20 photos from the soccer camp going on this week at Cave Spring Middle School. Photos by Sharon Claytor Photos from tennis clinic at Garst Mill Park Roanoke County's tennis camps are in full ... um, swing this summer at various locations. The camp at Garst Mill Park is running at full capacity, says instructor Scott Gibson. Gibson, who is also the women's coach at Roanoke College, said the camps serve youth ages 5 to 13. Classes are scheduled through the end of July and spaces are limited. Contact the Parks and Rec Department for more information. We have a photo gallery of 13 photos from the clinic. Photos by Scott Craig Do you have sports photos involving teams or players from Southwest Roanoke County? You can share them at news@swo-co.com June 26, 2008An online guide to the June 27 print edition of SWoCoCan you believe June is almost over? Our latest issue of SWoCo comes out Friday, destined to reach more than 90 percent of the households in Southwest Roanoke County. (How do we do that? See below. And if you’d like to find out how you can advertise in SWoCo to reach all those households, click here for retail advertising or click here for classifieds.) We update this site multiple times a day on weekdays, and sometimes on weekends, so think of this as your site for daily coverage of Southwest Roanoke County. Meanwhile, in the June 27 issue, you’ll see several places where we direct folks online for more photos or other coverage. Here’s a guide to our . . . SPECIAL ONLINE EXTRAS * AEP wants to build power line near Tanglewood Finally, some shout-outs: Send us your summer photos! Click here to find out more. And high school grads, you can still write your graduation blurb about your plans and we’ll publish it for free. Click here to find out more about that. Want to find out how to get other news and photos in SWoCo? Keep reading below! Continue reading "An online guide to the June 27 print edition of SWoCo" » Hidden Valley Middle School receives gift from Food LionHidden Valley Middle School has received $2,500 from the Food Lion Charitable Foundation. Hidden Valley Middle School will use the gift to help fund its new Literacy Library. “We are very grateful to Food Lion for this generous infusion of funds in support of our Literacy Library,” said Ken Nicely, principal of the school. Continue reading "Hidden Valley Middle School receives gift from Food Lion" » Four original Piedmont Airlines flight attendants retire Four of the original Piedmont Airlines Flight Attendants retired June 5, from the now merged USAirways. Whitney Deyerle, Verity Callender, Linda Simmons, and Trina Lewis have a combined 120 years of flying experience. All live and were formally based in Roanoke. The four gals commuted by plane and car to their bases in Charlotte and Philadelphia after the Roanoke based close. A party was given by hosts Mary and John Delany. More than 50 of the former Piedmont employees, spouses, and friends attended. "No matter how long we fly or where we fly with USAirways, passengers stopped us and said you used to be a Piedmont Girl, we can tell." We are very proud to say they were always right. All four are looking forward to the next journey in their lives here in the Roanoke Valley. Submitted by Linda Simmons, f/a - seniority of June 16, 1978. Picture caption: From left to Right is Whitney Deyerle, Trina Lewis, Linda Simmons, and Verity Callender. First Market Bank holds Grand Opening on Friday Roanoke West Village invites you to the First Market Bank’s Grand Opening Celebration, located at 3605 Electric Rd. Roanoke, on Friday, June 27th, from 11:00am-2:00pm. Bring up to three bins of your personal documents to be shredded, enter our drawing to win a $500 Ukrop’s Gift Card, step into our Money Machine for 30 seconds to grab all the cash you can and enjoy a delicious cookout lunch and grand opening specials! Pizzazz Star City Twirlers to entertain at Commonwealth GamesJoan Duus, who directs the Pizzazz Star City Twirlers sent in some updated information about the Pizzazz Star City Twirlers. This is what she had to say: We have once again been invited to entertain at the Opening Ceremonies of the Common Wealth Games for the 3rd straight year. We are really excited about this years performance because we will be doing our Half Time Show, which we won this past weekend at State and are taking to Nationals, leaving on the 21st of July. Also Harlie Dale will be performing a 3-Baton Fire routine. She is the 2007 National 3-Baton Champion and will also be competing at Notre Dame in July at the Nationals. We had a previous post about the Pizzazz Star City Twirlers on June 24. What are you doing for the 4th of July?
Others we talked to were: McAnnally family, Bob Middaugh, the Foster family, Eleshea Manning, Jessica Layman, Victoria Martin, the Hubert family, John Chambers, Charles Ferguson, Michelle Throckmorton, the Vigorito family, Stonewall Wilson, David Battle, Barbara Jordan, and Jerome Boyd. Let us know what you're doing! Leave a comment below. Work to start soon on Clearbrook waterlineWork on installing a 12-inch waterline from Clearbrook in Roanoke County, where an existing line stops, to Wirtz Plateau Plaza area in Franklin County in the U.S. 220 corridor will begin at the end of June. According to Sarah Baumgardner with the Western Virginia Water Authority, Franklin County approached the water authority because it needed reliable water for residents in both quality and quantity. Continue reading "Work to start soon on Clearbrook waterline" » June 25, 2008Hidden Valley grad O'Brien signs with New York Yankees Former Hidden Valley pitcher Mikey O’Brien has signed with the Yankees, bypassing a college career, his father said Thursday. We have more details here. Our last post about O'Brien was June 5. What do you think of the move? You can leave comments below. Photos from South County Astros game
At above: Brianna Agee is ready at shortstop for the Astros. Photos by Erin Millar. Do you have sports photos of teams or players from Southwest Roanoke County? If so, you can share them at news@swo-co.com What should J.J. Redick do? Over on the sports page, we have a story today from the Orlando Sentinel about former Cave Spring star J.J. Redick -- and how he's not getting much playing time in the NBA, wants a trade, but the Magic aren't likely to deal him. So what do you think about Redick's situation? You can leave comments below on this blog, or email us at news@swo-co.com Associated Press photo Garst Mill church will ordain second pastor in church historyHere's news from the Garst Mill Orthodox Presbyterian Church: The Garst Mill Orthodox Presbyterian Church, 3739 Willetta Dr., will pass a major milestone this coming Saturday as the Presbytery of the Southeast ordains Mr. Tim McClymonds to the gospel ministry and installs him as pastor of the church. The soon-to-be Rev. McClymonds will be the church's second pastor in its nearly 35 year history. The service of ordination and installation will take place at the church building at 11:00 A.M., Saturday, June 28. The following day at the 11 a.m. service, Rev. McClymonds will preach a sermon on Isaiah 6:1-7 entitled "Isaiah's Consecration to Service," followed by the celebration of the Lord's Supper. The sermon title for the church's 6:30 PM service is "When Spiritual Ears Grow Dull," and is based on Hebrews 5:11-14. If you have church news from Southwest Roanoke County, you can share it at news@swo-co.com Starkey School reunion brings back long-ago days "I would die if they ever took this school down," Babs Peery Meador said as she reminisces about the old Starkey School building at Sunday’s reunion. Starkey School is where she met Eddie, her husband, 42 years ago, while in the fourth grade. "I failed the fourth grade just to be with him," she laughed. "Stella Hensley was my teacher when I met him." Continue reading "Starkey School reunion brings back long-ago days" » June 24, 2008Photos from Future Knights camp at Cave Spring High School We have a photo gallery of 13 shots from the Future Knights Basketball Camp going on this week at Cave Spring High School. Photos by Garland Gay Do you have sports photos of teams or players from Southwest Roanoke County? If so, you can share them at news@swo-co.com We had a previous post about the camp on May 8. Southwest County resident drives for Sports Car Club event Daniel O'Brien, of Southwest Roanoke, drives fast through "the carousel" at Sebring International Raceway during the 2008 June Bug Dash held June 7-8, 2008. He is driving the #48 green, orange, and white Spec Racer Ford for this SCCA (Sports Car Club of America) event.
 John O'Brien, Dan's father, displays his respect with this decal on the #48 Spec Racer Ford. Pictures submitted by: Daniel O'Brien.
Pizzazz Star City Twirlers place in Virginia State Championship Pizzazz Star City Twirlers under the direction of Joan Duus won five first and three seconds in Team Competition at the Virginia State Championships this past weekend. The contest was held at the Arthur Ash Center in Richmond and 45 teams competed in numerous categories. Pizzazz are the 2008 State Champions in the Half Time Show, Pom Pom Team, Tiny Tot Dance Twirl, Juvenile Dance Twirl & Senior Twirl Team. Photo from left to right: Front; Meredith Smith, Madison Engl, Rachel Benton, Olivia Thomas, Karlee Kirtly, Danielle Cormier Back; Harlie Dale, Rebecca Keller, Megan McConnell, Abigail Erdman, Christine Wadstrom June 23, 2008Fourth of July will be here before you know it! The Fourth of July is coming up soon and that means cookouts, friends, family and lots of fireworks! I want to know what is going on in the Southwest Roanoke community, what public events are going on and where the fireworks are! Email me at emily.flora@swo-co.com or call me and let me know at 981.3191. Feel free to comment here on the blog too. I hope to be hearing from you soon! Free car wash at Cave Spring Rescue Squad on SaturdayThe Cave Spring Rescue Squad wants to wash your car and with gas prices, you might as well head on over and let them wash for free. Of course, it would be nice to give a little donation while you're at it! The car wash will be held on Saturday, June 28 from noon until 4 p.m. Donations will be accepted. While you're there get your blood pressure and pulse checked and ask for information on how to join and see how you can be a healthier citizen. Our last post about the Cave Spring Rescue Squad was April 28. Photo of Cave Spring High School JV boys' soccer team Cynthia McDearmon has sent us a photo of the Cave Spring High School JV Boys Soccer team. The team has just completed their season, tying for first place in the district with Blacksburg High School. The team lost only one game this season, an away game against Blacksburg. (Cave Spring had defeated Blacksburg earlier in the season, which handed the Blacksburg JV boys their first defeat in three years.) Cave Spring finished the season with a 14-1 record. Do you have sports photos that involve teams or players from Southwest Roanoke County? You can share them at news@swo-co.com -- that's what Cynthia did! Our last post about Cave Spring High School was June 13. Former North Cross student plays at WimbledonWimbledon begins today, and former North Cross and Stanford standout K.J. Hippensteel will be playing doubles. For more, see this post in our Pressbox sports blog. June 22, 2008More on Chocolatepaper's expansion downtownWe told you in a post last Thursday that the Southwest Roanoke County sweet shop Chocolatepaper is adding a second location in downtown Roanoke. Today, business writer Jenny Boone has The Cellar on Brambleton Avenue will close this weekThe Brambleton Avenue nightspot and restaurant is closing at the end of this week. The building owner says he's not renewing The Cellar's lease because he's fed up with noise complaints from neighbors. Jenny Boone has more on the story. (It's about mid-way through.) June 20, 2008AEP wants to build power line near TanglewoodAppalachian Power Co. asked the state Friday for permission to string 1.4 miles of new overhead electrical line and build a new substation in the Tanglewood area of of Southwest Roanoke County. The substation site is between Tanglewood Mall and Green Valley Elementary School, near a handful of apartment complexes including Honeywood Apartments and Pebble Creek Apartment and Stone Brook and adjacent to the cul-de-sacs on Berryhill Drive and Crawford Road. For more on this story, click here. We had a previous post about AEP's plans on March 10. So what do you think about the power line? You can leave comments below. Roanoke County crime map updated through June 15 We've just updated our Roanoke Valley crime map with the latest offenses from Roanoke County -- and Roanoke and Salem, as well. The data includes offenses through June 15. In Southwest Roanoke County last week there were 10 larcenies. Follow the link 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 map. Also on our Datasphere collection of searchable data: See where you can find locally-grown food. Hidden Valley Middle School teacher named to central office positionAmy Cummings, who has been teaching at Hidden Valley Middle School, will be moving to a position in the central office as the county's new coordinator of social studies. Chuck Lionberger of the Roanoke County Public Schools sends this release below: Continue reading "Hidden Valley Middle School teacher named to central office position" » June 19, 2008An online guide to the June 20 print edition of SWoCoOur latest issue of SWoCo comes out Friday, destined to reach more than 90 percent of the households in Southwest Roanoke County. (How do we do that? See below.) In the June 20 issue, you’ll see several places where we direct folks online for more photos or other coverage. We update this site multiple times each weekday, so really have daily coverage of Southwest Roanoke County. Here’s a guide to our . . . SPECIAL ONLINE EXTRAS: * Photos of Cave Spring High School graduation And that's a good time to remind graduations of our special invitation: Write your own graduation blurb and we'll run it for free. Here's how. And if you have graduation photos to share, you can send them to us at news@swo-co.com. Finally, whether you're a graduate or not, our other invitation of the week applies to you: Tell us what you're doing this summer. And now, back to the extras: * Webcast asks what’s up with Hidden Valley boys’ soccer? So how can you get your news and photos in SWoCo? Easy! Keep reading below: Continue reading "An online guide to the June 20 print edition of SWoCo" » Southwest Roanoke County sweet shop expands downtownChocolatepaper, which food writer Lindsey Nair calls "Southwest County's trendiest sweet shop," is opening a second location in downtown Roanoke. Lindsey has details on her food blog, the Fridge Magnet. |