Read on for the complete list of upcoming plays for the 2012 season at Showtimers Community Theatre. Read more »

The Roanoke College Children’s Choir presents Songs of the Season 25th Annual Holiday Concert on Sunday, Dec. 11.

What: Celebrating 25 years of choral excellence from the Roanoke College Children’s Choir under the direction of Kimberly Ruse Davidson
Accompanists: Reed Carter, Carla Crouse
Special Guests: Roanoke Chamber Brass, Members of the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra

When: Sunday, December 11, 2011. Concerts at 1:30 p.m. and 4 p.m.

Where: Shaftman Performance Hall at the Jefferson Center

Tickets: $19, $16, $13 ($3 discount for children 12 and under). Available through the Jefferson Center Box Office at 540-345-2550 or online.

Submitted by Beth Klinefelter.

Better Business Bureau is issuing a scam alert cautioning businesses and consumers regarding an email that is purporting to be from a bbb.org email address about a recently filed complaint.

How it works:
The email contains a dangerous attachment regarding a complaint and appears to direct recipients to the BBB website. This is a scam – BBB does not send complaints as attachments via email.

The email appears to come from a fake BBB employee claiming that the recipient needs to review this matter and advise the BBB of their position. From there, the email appears to direct the recipient to the BBB website, but actually directs them to an outside link. This email is fraudulent and does not originate from BBB. The email attachment and link are malicious and we are strongly advising to not open or click them.

What to do:
Should you receive such an email, please disregard its message, and forward the email received to phishing@council.bbb.org, and then delete it. If you have clicked on the link, immediately do a virus scan.

If you need more information, contact the BBB at 540-342-3455 or 800-533-5501. You can also visit the BBB online or follow the BBB on Twitter.

Submitted by Faye Sensabaugh.

Once again, we’re assembling an online map of the biggest and brightest displays of Christmas lights around Southwest Roanoke County — and the rest of Western Virginia.

First on the list this year: Wayne and Karen Riley of 5631 Green Meadow Drive.

The Rileys tell us that this year they’ve added an 8-foot-tall gingerbread house, plus toy soldiers “at the base of the driveway along with a new miniature carousel as well as Ice Skaters, Carolers, Lighted Candy Canes, a four Car animated train along with a animated railroad crossing.Lighted trees,a snowman,a seven piece nativity scene.”

Holiday lights will be on nightly from 5:30-until 10PM Weather permitting.

You can see all the submissions so far on our online map.

Want to add yours? We have the submission form on the Datasphere, our site for searchable data.

We also have tips for taking great photos of Christmas lights from photographer Eric Brady of The Roanoke Times.

Rod Dixon shares these photos of Hidden Valley vs. Franklin County boys basketball.

Unfortunately, the Titans lost 57-38.

We have more photos from the game from Roanoke Times photographer Stephanie Klein-Davis. Click here to see them.

*post updated 12/2

For more information on the photo gallery above, contact roddixon@cox.net

Rod Dixon shares this photo gallery of the Andrew Lewis vs. Hidden Valley middle school boys basketball game on Monday, November 28.

Hidden Valley won 38-34.

For more information about the photos, contact roddixon@cox.net

Hidden Valley Middle’s girls basketball team kept a consistent lead over Andrew Lewis last night, Monday, November 28. The final score was 29-20.

Photos by Miranda Beck

Hidden Valley Middle School’s boys basketball team defeated Andrew Lewis Middle 38-34 last night, Monday, November 28.

Photos by Miranda Beck

Ellen Phillips shares these photos and says:

Cris Flippen, our principal, dressed in a turkey costume on Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2011.

We gave the parents a challenge. We told them that if they can get the total number of votes [for Oak Grove in the Clorox Power A Bright Future grant program] up to 4,000 votes by Saturday, Nov. 19th, Mrs. Flippen would dress up as a turkey.  And we did! 

Assistant principal Nancy Myers joins Flippen as a pilgrim in the first photo.

As of Wednesday, Nov. 23, Oak Grove had 4,859 votes and was 31st in their category and 88th overall for the schools, according to Ellen Phillips. Voting continues through Friday, Dec. 9. Read more about Oak Grove’s chance to win a grant from Clorox here.

Thanks, Ellen! Share your photos by emailing news@swo-co.com or upload 10 photos at a time using the share tool at the right of this page.

The Hidden Valley boys basketball team tipped off the 2011-2012 season on Monday night against Franklin County. Alas, for the Titans, their effort came up short, 57-38, against a Class AAA team.

Stephanie Klein-Davis of The Roanoke Times has this photo gallery.

Do you have photos involving teams or players around Southwest Roanoke County? If so, you can share at news@swo-co.com or use the “share” tool at right to upload 10 at a time.