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

DATE: THURSDAY, April 11, 1991                   TAG: 9104110553
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER/ MUNICIPAL WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

EVERYWHERE THAT LAURA WENT . . . ALMOST

Why was it there? Who did it belong to? How long had it been there?

"That's a first - a lamb on the courthouse lawn," a man in a business suit said. "So the city is using lambs to eat grass to save money on mowing."

Lunch-hour strollers couldn't pass without stopping to look at the animal, with a ribbon around its neck, tethered to a tree brace on the lawn of Roanoke's old courthouse Wednesday.

Most were puzzled, bewildered and inquisitive.

Many couldn't resist climbing up the bank and petting the animal.

For a while, the mystery deepened as more strollers stopped and pondered the lamb on the lawn.

And then the puzzle was solved.

Betty Branch, a well-known Roanoke sculptor, emerged from the Star City Cafe across the street to say that the lamb belonged to Laura Abbott Branch, her 7 1/2-month-old granddaughter.

Betty and Laura had left the animal on the lawn while they were having lunch. They could watch him through the window.

"I thought it would be a good place to park him without getting arrested," the grandmother said.

She bought the 2 1/2-week-old lamb for Laura from a farmer in Highland County. "It makes a better pet than a puppy or a kitten," she said.

The lamb is named Schubert for the Austrian composer. Franz Schubert's music was playing on the car tape on the return trip from Highland County and it soothed the lamb, she said.

After lunch, Betty put Laura on the grass and let her play with her pet for awhile. And then grandmother and granddaughter strolled away, with the lamb trailing behind.