Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, October 18, 1993 TAG: 9310180024
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Ray Reed
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
A: There are no pizza cops on the road; there's no one to pull over delivery vehicles for a sanitary inspection.
Those cars often are private vehicles, and the health inspectors don't get to them.
However, one pizza restaurant manager said he's sent delivery people home when their cars were dirty.
The customer does have some shields, though.
Bill Shires of the Roanoke Health Department said pizzas usually are in a double envelope of protection - in a box or a paper bag, stapled shut and carried in an insulated vinyl case.
Some pizza chains would like you to call them if your pizza is delivered in a dirty vehicle.
Starting where it counts
Q: Why isn't Nancy Spannaus, the independent candidate for governor, mentioned in the newspaper? She has about 2 percent of the polls, and that isn't much, but it's almost as if she is being blacked out. R.A., Roanoke
A: It's a matter of support. Spannaus hovers around the 1 percent mark in the polls.
It could be argued that she'd have more support if there were more coverage, but candidacies are not launched by coverage.
Candidacies are launched by constituencies. Last Nov. 26, Mike Farris' name appeared for the first time in this newspaper, at the end of a long wire-service story that said he was a possible candidate for the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor.
Farris was mentioned five more times before June, when his backers controlled the GOP convention that nominated him. Farris had lined up his supporters - lots of them.
Spannaus' name appeared in the paper seven times during that period. She also had received coverage before, as the only candidate on the ballot against Sen. John Warner in 1990 when, in the absence of any Democratic contender, she received 18 percent of the vote.
Spannaus has not held onto that 18 percent in the polls the way another independent, Ross Perot, has. An August poll showed Perot with 32 points against President Clinton's 46.
Elections usually are won by the candidate with the strongest network of supporters. Those networks are organized through personal contacts, not media coverage.
Gainsboro vs. Elm Ave.
Q: It seems like the only highway project we ever see in the paper is Gainsboro. Why isn't something being done about Elm Avenue? J.T., Roanoke
A: The Elm Avenue interchange has made the news a couple of times recently, and by now you know it would be tremendously expensive - to the point where almost every other road project would be delayed for years, or more taxes were collected.
The Gainsboro project could take a few cars out of the Elm Avenue traffic jam if people working in the Poff Federal Building choose to travel north by entering the Gainsboro-Second Street roadway at Salem Avenue, city Traffic Engineer Bob Bengtson said.
Got a question about something that might affect other people too? Something you've come across and wondered about? Give us a call at 981-3118. Maybe we can find the answer.
by CNB