Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, December 27, 1993 TAG: 9312270086
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Walk by the downtown Roanoke Woolworth store at midday and you'll likely see store manager David Brewer and buddies chowing down on brown bag lunches.
For five years, Brewer and two friends, Craig Hawkins and Jan Bruce, met daily in their corner window seat to eat hot lunches from the kitchen and contemplate the world.
Since the lunch counter closed in October, they've had to adjust their menu. And sometime soon - maybe by the end of the week - the store also will shut, and the men will lose their view of Roanoke's world. But they say they won't budge until the lock is turned for the last time.
Safe at home?
Nobody's heard yet from Hemmo Kontkanen, the Finnish man who fell ill with near-fatal heart problems and was rushed to Roanoke Memorial Hospital. He flew home 10 days ago.
\ Inga Solonevich, a Roanoke Valley artist and one of the few people around who speak Finnish, interpreted for the man with his doctors. Many years ago, the people of Finland took care of her husband, artist George Solonevich, when he fled Russia and Stalin's concentration camps.
Kontkanen was still weak his last days here, she said, but he was walking the halls and looking out the window. "He was kind of homesick." She figures he survived the 24-hour flight. "He's a strong character."
A year in a fishbowl
What does Elwood Gallimore do on his birthday? A traditional birthday cake and a small celebration, but not much else.
Gallimore turned 45 last Monday, but since he announced last December that he had taken then-16-year-old Sabrina Simpkins as his second wife, Gallimore hasn't been able to go out in public to do errands - let alone celebrate a birthday.
Gallimore usually gets mobbed when he goes to a restaurant or mall in the Martinsville area. "They're not being hateful or anything. They just want to speak to you, or look at you or run up and holler at you. I was hoping it would die down."
No trash miser
The long wait to see if Roanoke would allow Explore Park to use the old regional landfill near the Blue Ridge Parkway appears to be almost over.
Because of the city's strained relationship with former City Manager Bern Ewert, who oversaw Explore from 1985 to 1991, there had been doubt whether the city would allow Explore to use the landfill property.
Roanoke owns the landfill jointly with Vinton and Roanoke County. The town and county agreed several years ago to allow Explore to use the property after the landfill is full.
The uncertainty about Roanoke's intent was removed by City Manager Bob Herbert's recent letter to Rupert Cutler, director of Explore Park.
Herbert said he is prepared to recommend "at the appropriate time" that City Council provide an easement across the property for the Roanoke River Parkway spur.
Herbert said he will also recommend that council approve an agreement that would give Explore air rights to the property.
Explore could use the property, but it would be prohibited from disturbing the land or digging in areas where garbage has been buried.
by CNB