Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, February 22, 1993 TAG: 9302220055
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
& NOW THIS
Tech talks turkeyVirginia Tech's athletic department has vetoed a suggestion to allow Tequila at sporting events.
\ Tequila the 35-pound turkey, that is.
A Tech veterinary student suggested that Tequila would make a fine mascot for the Fighting Gobblers.
But Jeff Bourne, the athletic department's business manager, said it would be too hard to protect the turkey as it strutted along the sidelines. The department also worried that animal rights groups would be upset at the sight of a live bird on a leash at games.
Tech had never considered getting rid of the Hokie Bird, the current mascot. That bird's physical stature rivals that of the football team and would be in little danger of being crushed should the fans rush the arena after a sporting event.
Hot issue
Some of the Roanoke Valley's librarians, seasoned by Februaries past, have fired pre-emptive strikes in their battle to keep library materials where they belong.
Fifty-one weeks of the year, patrons can expect to find the current edition of\ Sports Illustrated on the shelf with the rest of the magazines. But the Feb. 22 issue, devoted to revealing swimsuits, has more than just breasts and hips.
The magazine has a tendency to develop legs, too. And disappear.
Perennially, the issue gets stolen, presumably for closer, more private scrutiny. Back issues are often stolen from their bindings.
So copies of this week's Sports Illustrated are being kept behind the counter at Roanoke and Roanoke County libraries. To see it, just ask the librarian. Patrons humbled into silence will have to buy their own copy for $4.95 (Sports Illustrated fetches $2.95 on the newsstand the other 51 weeks of the year).
Or they can visit Salem's library, where the magazine is brazenly kept out on display, just like every other week of the year.
Still No. 1
Franklin County can rest easy. Pittsylvania County recently may have claimed the state's largest moonshine still, but Franklin's reputation as a white-lightning county seems intact.
During a recent General Assembly debate on gun control, House Minority Leader Vance Wilkins of Amherst County rose to object to restricting handgun purchases. Trying to limit the number of guns purchased would have about as much effect on crime, Wilkins contended, "as the prohibition of liquor did on Franklin County."
Tourism Top 3
Roanoke Mayor David Bowers, once a critic of the Explore Park, now supports the project. But it's not among his top three projects for promoting tourism in the Roanoke Valley.
Bowers' priorities focus on upgrading the Virginia Museum of Transportation, developing a mini-streetcar system downtown and attracting Amtrak train service.
Speaking to the Roanoke Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau, Bowers said the city should focus on a small number of projects for promoting tourism rather than trying to do too much.
"That is what I think has hurt us in the past - we have worked on too many things without focusing on what we can accomplish," he said.
"Explore has my support, although it didn't at first. I am not ignoring it. I just want to concentrate on things that we can accomplish."
Zoo blues
Roanoke Councilman Howard Musser says the city should do more for the Mill Mountain Zoo.
The Virginia Museum of Transportation is included on the city's latest list of proposed capital improvements, although no money is available for it. But the zoo isn't even on the list.
"I understand the concern for the museum, but we shouldn't continue to ignore the zoo," Musser said recently. " . . . It bothers me that we don't help it more."
Mayor David Bowers, who has advocated $1 million for the museum, said he shares Musser's concern about the zoo. Better directional signs on the Blue Ridge Parkway would help attract more visitors to the zoo, he said.