Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, April 19, 1993 TAG: 9304190086
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
He got the first three automobile decals that were issued by Roanoke for the next year.
Each decal has a number. Roupas got numbers 1, 2 and 3 for his '54, '55 and '56 Buicks.
Hoping to get low-numbered decals, Roupas, a well-known ballroom dance instructor, was first in line outside the city treasurer's office at 8 a.m. last Thursday when the decals went on sale.
"I never thought that I would get No. 1," Roupas said. "Because of the prestige factor, I figured someone else would get it."
He put the No. 1 decal on his 1954 Buick, which has racked up 215,000 miles.
\ Treasurer Gordon Peters said the city used to have a reserved list for low-numbered decals for top officials. But that was discarded when the sale of decals was computerized.
The city will sell up to 80,000 decals by the May 31 deadline.
Poor Axl Rose!
Life on the road is such a drag. In order to make his stay here in Roanoke tolerable, the metal maniac with the ultra-bad attitude had these demands for his backstage dressing room at the Roanoke Civic Center last Thursday night:
A rib-eye steak, cooked just before he came offstage. Wonder Bread, Hellman's mayonnaise, two large pepperoni pizzas, three cans of assorted Pringle's, two bottles of Dom Perignon, two Kit Kat and two Payday bars.
And oh, to pamper his ever-so-mellifluous voice: two large jars of Sue Bee honey and five lemons (quartered and stored on ice.)
There was also one nonfood demand: "an assortment of adult magazines, like Penthouse and Playboy."
With all these goodies waiting for Rose at the civic center, go figure why he made his fans wait almost three hours before his white stretch limousine finally delivered him to the concert.
Burgers for Buddy
A mystery woman decided a little nourishment might help\ Buddy the junkyard dog in his recuperation from a gunshot wound.
On Friday morning, after a newspaper story detailed how the mixed shepherd was shot by a teen-age gunman, the woman stopped by with two cheeseburgers and a bag of dog biscuits.
The woman laid the items on a desk at Fritz's Wreckers, where Buddy is the shop hound, and left "before anyone could say a word."
"It kind of choked me up," said\ Clay Fitzgerald, the owner of the towing service.
Talking Thomas
Just how many students talk about Thomas Jefferson at his university?
Jack Blackburn, dean of admissions for the University of Virginia, says Jefferson is mentioned in about 800 application essays every year.
The university asks students to write a little about themselves and a person who has been influential in their lives. "That often evokes comments about Jefferson," Blackburn said. "Students enjoy writing about Thomas Jefferson."
The university receives about 16,000 applications each year.
Buy high, sell low
Sanford J. Mock must have given up all hope that the South would rise again; last week he donated his collection of more than 120 Confederate States of America bonds to\ Virginia Military Institute.
The collection, which also includes bonds issued by individual Confederate states, will be used mainly for document research of financial history.
A few of the bonds will be displayed as a permanent exhibit at VMI's Hall of Valor Museum at New Market Battlefield Historical Park. "VMI seemed like the perfect repository for this kind of material because of the historical role it played in the Civil War," said Mock, a collector of antique financial investments and senior vice president of investments with Paine-Webber's Beverly Hills office.
Itchin' for a fight
Gary Weddle, the Radford businessman and city councilman who got whipped by \ Rep. Rick Boucher last fall, just won't go away.
Weddle criticized Boucher during their campaign for the six-term incumbent's use of his free congressional mailing privileges. After receiving a newsletter from Boucher in the mail this year, Weddle mailed it back with a scolding cover letter.
"I am sending this report back to you in protest of this blatant waste of taxpayers' money," Weddle wrote Boucher. "As a constituent of yours, I would ask that you curtail this form of campaigning at our expense."
Weddle seems to be positioning himself for a rematch next year. But Boucher, D-Abingdon, suggests that Weddle "give it a rest" in view of his "historic defeat . . . losing all 23 counties and cities of the 9th District."
Cool it, car owners
Stephanie and Chris Drayer of B & K Auto Service in Roanoke are asking would-be freon purchasers to give them a break.
Customers have been complaining about a November 1992 federal law that makes it illegal for freon to be sold to anyone who is not certified to install and recapture the substance. Hence, the public can no longer buy 12-ounce cans to rejuvenate automobile air conditioners - an American tradition.
The Drayers blame the hoopla on a lack of communication by the Environmental Protection Agency, but they're not too interested in who's at fault. They just want to get back to fixing cars.
So now that you know, let up on 'em!
by CNB