Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, June 8, 1993 TAG: 9306080109
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV2 EDITION: NEW RIVER
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
So at the annual Montgomery-Radford-Floyd Bar Association wing-ding last month, it probably shouldn't have surprised me to hear a politician speak humbly, but it did. I found it refreshing.
The guest of honor was former Radford lawyer Steve Rosenthal, who inherited Mary Sue Terry's post as attorney general when she left to campaign for governor.
He was welcomed back with cheers and seemed genuinely uncomfortable with the attention. He remarked that one advantage of being attorney general is having a speech-writer. He seemed to wish he had that speech-writer with him.
"I'm not used to all this attention, so don't give it to me," he said.
Someone reminded him that he would be next in line to become president of the local bar next year should he return to the area.
"I will be out of a job come January," he replied.
The bar association also honored Joe Poff of Floyd as its oldest member.
Poff practiced law for 50 years.
"Mr. Joe," who was born in 1901, spent 20 years as Floyd County's commonwealth's attorney from 1932 to 1952 and then served in the state House of Delegates from 1958-1966.
Alan Gillis of Christiansburg was elected president of the bar. The association's vice presidents will be Sandra Wright for Montgomery County, Gino Williams for Floyd County and Robbie Jenkins for Radford. Beverly Davis was named secretary, and Marshall Frank was returned as treasurer.
Iris Tucker turned 50 last week. If you were anywhere near Christiansburg you probably already knew that. Everywhere you looked, there were signs to let you know.
You might not know who Iris Tucker is, or why well-wishers thought they had to let the whole town - even the New River Valley - know she was celebrating a birthday.
Tucker is the valley's chief magistrate. Rumor has it, some of her staff were responsible for the posters, advertising and signs that let everyone know she had reached the big 5-0.
Early in the week, the marquees at two Christiansburg Burger Kings declared "Ain't it Nifty, Iris Tucker just turned 50."
By week's end, there were posters - sporting pictures from Tucker's past - nailed onto sticks and placed into the ground proclaiming the same. There was one across from the Pizza Inn in Christiansburg, another near the magistrate's office in the courthouse square.
In Radford, the poster was stapled onto a bulletin board and signed by several police officers. In Floyd, a classified ad touted the same nifty-fifty poetry in the Floyd Press.
And I'm told signs adorned Tucker's street like the old Burma Shave ads.
People entering the Brush Arbor Worship Center in Pulaski during the week are most likely there for court business, not church.
The building serves as Pulaski County's temporary courthouse.
The center's message board, which regularly has slogans for passers-by to contemplate, may have given pause to those entering for a court case last month.
They were probably there for problems with state or county laws, but the billboard proclaimed: "God's Law Is Perfect."
Kathy Loan covers police and courts for the Roanoke Times & World-News' New River Valley bureau.
by CNB