Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, February 21, 1991                   TAG: 9102220401
SECTION: NEIGHBORS                    PAGE: S-8   EDITION: METRO  
SOURCE: BETSY BIESENBACH/ SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES & WORLD-NEWS
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

LAW FIRM SPELLS ITS WAY TO VICTORY IN LITERACY CONTEST

The Crestar Bank team breezed past "disembogue."

The Woods, Rogers & Hazlegrove law firm team answered back with "nidifugous."

Both teams missed "incurvariid," a type of moth. Same for "chromotrichial," which refers to changing hair color. Both teams left out an "h." It was getting hot under those expensive collars.

"We thought he was right," the speller from the law firm protested.

Then master of ceremonies Gary Minter gave out the word "modiste," a woman who makes clothes. The all-male team of bankers flubbed it. Everyone waited as Anne Sprague, one of the lawyers, walked to the microphone.

"Correct," the judges said when she finished. The Woods, Rogers team had won.

The audience response was enthusiastic, but thin. There were more spellers than onlookers at the Monday contest at Patrick Henry High School.

"We had hoped to make $5,000, but it looks like it'll be more like $3,500," said Melinda Payne, a member of the Literacy Volunteers board of directors. The event was sponsored by the Literacy Volunteers and the Roanoke Times & World-News. Participating corporations paid $250 to enter a team in the contest.

Besides raising money for the Literacy Volunteers, Payne said she hoped the spelling bee would help publicize the group's work. The group is "in need of money and recognition."

The organization provides volunteer tutors to work either in a classroom or a one-on-one setting with people who want to learn to read. The teachers work for free, but the group needs money for materials and administrative costs, Payne said.

Although there are several literacy organizations in the Roanoke Valley, Payne said, Literacy Volunteers is the only volunteer agency.

Studies show that more than 22 percent of all Virginians read at a fourth-grade level, and are unable to read such things as the prescription on a medicine bottle, Payne said. There are more than 30,000 illiterate people in the Roanoke Valley alone, she added.

The Roanoke Times and Allstate Insurance Cos. fielded two teams each in the Executive Spelling Bee. Allstate and Cox Cable Roanoke held spell-offs within their companies to select their team members.

The teams were divided into A and B groups for eliminations before the final round. The A group had teams from Norfolk Southern Corp., Community Hospital of Roanoke Valley, Cycle Systems Inc., radio station K-92, ITT's Electro-Optical Products Division and one each from the Roanoke Times and Allstate. Each team had 20 seconds to think about the word. They were allowed to write the words down and compare notes to decide on the correct spelling.

All teams made it through the first three rounds, spelling words such as "knavery", "contusion", and "opulence." Then came the hard words.

In one round, Norfolk Southern was eliminated with "barognosis"; Community Hospital lost with "floruit"; Cycle Systems flubbed on "degauss"; K-92 failed with "reviviscent"; ITT dropped "cycloserine"; and the Roanoke Times team bombed with "edentulate."

The B teams lasted through seven rounds. The Fibercom Inc. team dropped out in the fourth round on "licensable," and the Allstate B team lost in the sixth round with "poinciana." The Roanoke Times B team was eliminated in the seventh round when it misspelled "plangi."

A team of literacy volunteers, sponsored by WDBJ-TV, competed in the B division, but not in the finals, where teams had only 10 seconds to think about the word.

Allstate lost early with "stannary," a region in England containing tin works. The Cox Cable team missed on "acquiescence," leaving Dan Layman, Anne Sprague and Dan Brown of Woods, Rogers & Hazlegrove and Robert Lawson, Joseph Monahan and Joseph Philpott of Crestar to battle it out.

The judges were Linda Baber of the Roanoke Valley Regional Chamber of Commerce, Beverly Bury of the Roanoke Public Library, Mark Emblidge of the Richmond branch of the Literacy Volunteers, and George Garretson of the Roanoke County Public Library.

Keywords:
BEVERLY JAMES