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Josh Waagmeester of the Cave Spring Volunteer Fire Department shares these photos and says:

The Cave Spring Volunteer Fire Department and Buffalo Wild Wings held a fundraising event Saturday, May 12.  The event “Eat Wings. Raise Funds. It Pays” was sponsored by Buffalo Wild Wings Tanglewood and donated 15 percent of all pre-taxed food sales to the fire department.

The Cave Spring Volunteer Fire Department would like to say “THANK YOU” to everyone that joined us during our event and being our partner in providing for our volunteers and helping to make this a better community. The Cave Spring Volunteer Fire Department relies heavily on our community to help us so we can be there for you. Donations provide the funding that we need to equip our volunteers with protective gear, state-of-the-art equipment and training.

Thanks, Josh!

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The Roanoke County Police Department will participate in the 2012 National Click It or Ticket campaign, which will run from May 21 to June 3. Roanoke County routinely enforces Virginia’s occupant protection laws, but throughout the upcoming campaign the department will be cracking down on violators using additional patrols and police checkpoints.

While seatbelt use in Virginia increased slightly in 2011, there is still much work to be done. Preliminary data from the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles Highway Safety Office indicates 306 of the 765 fatalities reported in 2011 involved an un-restrained occupant. Of those fatal crashes, 30 percent occurred between midnight and 3 a.m.

Roanoke County Police Sgt. Tim Wyatt oversees the department’s Traffic Safety Unit. “Of all the risks Americans encounter each day, one of the greatest is being killed or severely injured in a motor vehicle crash. The simple act of buckling a seatbelt can triple your chance of surviving a crash.”

Wyatt says the majority of the traffic fatalities that have happened in Roanoke County in recent years have occurred at night. “I have seen the needless tragedy that occurs when a person refuses to wear their seatbelt. Our goal is not to write tickets, but to save lives by enforcing all traffic laws, including seatbelt use, around the clock.”

While the 2012 Click It or Ticket enforcement extends from May 21 to June 3, Wyatt wants motorists to know that Roanoke County’s officers enforce occupant protection laws throughout the year. “Those who opt not to wear a seatbelt need not offer an excuse. Our officers are prepared to ticket anyone who is not buckled up – no warnings and no excuses. For us, it truly is Click It or Ticket.”

– Submitted by Teresa Hamilton Hall, Roanoke County

The Cave Spring Volunteer Fire Department has posted its incident report for April 2012. Volunteer firefighters responded to 47 calls, bringing this year’s total to 230. For more information about the department or interested in joining visit us at cavespringfire.org or facebook.com/csvfd.

The Cave Spring Volunteer Fire Department relies heavily on our community to help us so we can be there for you. Donations from residents and businesses provide the funding that we need to equip our volunteers with protective gear and state-of-the-art equipment. If you would like to support our efforts and provide a donation, they can be mailed to: Cave Spring Volunteer Fire Department, 4212 Old Cave Spring Road, Roanoke, VA 24018. You are also welcome to stop by the station and deliver your donation in person anytime during the week after 6 p.m. and anytime on weekends. We encourage you to come and see what your donation means to everyone in our community.

SAFTEY TIP: Everyone must know what to do and where to go when the smoke alarm sounds. Take a few minutes with everyone in your household to make a home fire escape plan, following the instructions below.

1. Draw a floor plan of your home : You should draw a plan for each level of your home.

2. Include all possible emergency exits : Draw in all the doors, windows and stairways. This will show you and your family all possible escape routes at a glance. Include any features, such as the roof of a garage or porch, that would help in your escape.

3. Show two ways out of every room, if possible : The door will be the main exit from each room. However, if the door is blocked by smoke or fire, identify an alternate escape route, which could be a window. Make sure that all windows can open easily and that everyone knows how to escape through them to safety.

4. Does anyone need help to escape? Decide in advance who will assist the very young, older adults or people with disabilities in your household. A few minutes of planning will save valuable seconds in a real emergency.

5. Choose a meeting place outside : Choose a meeting place a safe distance from your home that everyone will remember. A tree, street light or a neighbor’s home are all good choices. In case of fire, everyone will go directly to this meeting place so they can be accounted for.

6. Call 911 from outside your home: Don’t waste valuable seconds calling the fire department from inside your home. Once you have safely escaped, call 911 from a cell phone or a neighbor’s home.

7. Practice your escape : Review the plan with everyone in your household. Walk through the escape routes for each room with the entire family. Use this walk-through exercise to check your escape routes, making sure all exits are practical and easy to use. Then hold a fire drill twice a year and time how long it takes. In a real fire, you must react without hesitation as your escape routes may be quickly blocked by smoke or flames.

– Submitted by Josh Waagmeester, Cave Spring Volunteer Fire Department

The Virginia Department of Transportation has closed the right lane of northbound U.S. 220 near Clearbrook Lane in Roanoke County to repair storm damage to a drainage pipe.

The closure, which is about one-half mile south of Walmart’s entrance, will stay in effect tonight and into Wednesday.

VDOT will provide updates at telephone number 511 and www.511Virginia.org.

– Jeff Sturgeon, The Roanoke Times

On Saturday, May 12, at around 2 p.m., a purple and white ice cream truck with purple lettering parked in the parking lot at Starkey Park #4 during a Cave Spring National Little League baseball game, according to League president Steve Keller.

On the back wall of the truck,visible through the window, the vendor had eight to 10 knives on display and priced for sale, according to Keller. There was a line of children waiting to buy ice cream when he went over to the truck, Keller said.

When Keller asked about the knives, he was told that they are for sale and that the vendor typically sells them to people in the fishing community.

“We’re very strict about who interacts with the kids,” Keller said. After contacting the Roanoke County Parks, Recreation and Tourism department, Keller was told the peddler would have to leave immediately. Keller was also instructed to call the county police on the non-emergency line. He asked the vendor to leave the premises.

Keller said he later found out that the individual had also been in the parking lot at the Penn Forest playground, near Penn Forest Elementary School. Later that afternoon, Keller saw the same truck in the Gardens and Groves neighborhood, and another area resident reported seeing the truck in the Branderwood neighborhood.

According to Natalie Wells, meals tax coordinator for Roanoke County, peddlers must have permission from the property owners to be on the premises.

“You must have written authorization every time you stop,” Wells said. There are two different permits available to peddlers, one for perishable goods and another for non-perishable goods, according to Wells.

“I don’t know of any licensed peddler of general merchandise issued this year,” said Jerry Hoer, Business Ordinance Inspector for the County of Roanoke.

If you are unsure whether a peddler is properly licensed, Hoer advises getting a license plate number and calling the police.

Cave Spring Volunteer Fire Department (CSVFD) will host a fundraising event on Saturday, May 12, from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. at Buffalo Wild Wings near Tanglewood Mall. Fifteen percent of all food sales will be donated to CSVFD.

“We will be there providing truck tours and additional information for anyone interested in joining us or donating,” says CSVFD volunteer firefighter Josh Waagmeester.

Buffalo Wild Wings is located at 4335 Starkey Road in Roanoke.

The following is an email sent to parents of students in 6-12th grades in Roanoke County schools, submitted by Fran Kiker, Coordinator of Secondary Counseling Services and Student Assistance Program for Roanoke County Public Schools:

Below is a link to a short survey that follows up the Youth Risk Behavior Survey given to all of our 6th-12th graders in March 2012.  The school division, in conjunction with the Prevention Council of Roanoke County, uses this anonymous data to help educate students and parents on the risks of substance abuse. Virginia Tech helps us assemble the data.

Your input is valuable.  Simply click “Submit” when you are finished.

Click here to take the survey.

Congratulations to Roanoke County Police Officer Nathan Hunt upon being named the Roanoke Regional Chamber of Commerce Officer of the Month for February 2012.

On Feb. 29, Officer Hunt was on duty when he observed a maroon vehicle in front of him in the area of Williamson Road. A check of the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) files indicated that the operator’s license for the registered owner of the vehicle was suspended. Officer Hunt maneuvered his patrol car to get a better look at the driver and determined that the person driving the vehicle matched the features of the person in the photograph provided by DMV. A traffic stop was then made.

Upon approaching the vehicle, Officer Hunt noted a strong odor of smoke and air freshener coming from the vehicle. After returning to his patrol car, Officer Hunt was advised by his back-up officer that the driver was continuing to spray more air freshener. Officer Hunt returned to the subject’s vehicle and was granted consent to conduct a search.

After beginning the search, Officer Hunt quickly detected an odor of marijuana. Officer Hunt followed the odor to the passenger front seat where he removed six small plastic sandwich bags from under the seat. He then located a white trash bag under the seat. After further inspection of this bag, he recovered eight softball-size baggies of marijuana with a combined weight of 285.9 grams. The driver of the vehicle was placed under arrest.

Officer Hunt is to be commended. His observation skills and instinct prevented a large amount of marijuana from reaching the community

– Submitted by Roanoke County

The lights went out for more than 1,700 people in Roanoke County today, spurring Appalachian Power response crews to investigate.

Appalachian spokesman Todd Burns said crews are still working to determine what caused the outages in the Starkey Road area at about 2:03 p.m., when a breaker was triggered.

Chase Purdy of The Roanoke Times will have updates here.

World Asthma Day in the Roanoke Valley will kick off with a Proclamation at 9 a.m. at the Crystal Springs Medical Office Building, located at 2001 Crystal Springs Ave. in Roanoke. There will be free spirometry testing and consultations. Asthma educational materials are available at an exhibit from 9 a.m. to noon.

Also, between 9 a.m. to noon each day May 1-4 is Crystal Springs MOB Pharmacy. Pharmacists will be available for consultations and written asthma control assessments, educational materials will also be available.

Please refer any questions to Kristen Bauer by calling 540-224-4983.

Submitted by Wendy Shaffer, Carilion Clinic.