Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, September 26, 1994 TAG: 9409260058
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The Samaritan Inn's board members worried when Jerry Clevenger retired in January from the storefront ministry he founded 17 years ago. They wondered how it could survive without Clevenger's unpaid service as food-finder, contributions gatherer, preacher and cook.
They wonder still. Since Clevenger's departure, the inn, on Salem Avenue in Southwest Roanoke, has been running in the red at the rate of $1,400 per month, says board member Walter Wood, pastor of New Life Temple. If it hadn't had a cash surplus, the inn would have closed by now.
This is bad news for its customers - the homeless, the alcoholics, the drug-ravaged denizens of the streets and others who partook of the 63,000 meals the inn served on its premises and fixed to go last year. Backers are meeting with churches and other potential contributors to the nonprofit organization.
Wayne Meadows, who replaced Clevenger at a salary of $12,000 per year, voluntarily reduced his salary to $125 per week. Board member Curtis Gray, pastor of Valley Word Ministries, is offering his church for a benefit Christian-music concert the evening of Oct. 7. Call 562-1500 for more information.
With winter approaching, the inn's warmth and food - always accompanied by a bit of praying and preaching - are more important than ever, supporters say.
``It's tough trying to get support,'' Wood says. If the inn closed, ``I don't know how many families and street people would be out with no food whatsoever.''
Checks may be sent to the Samaritan Inn, P.O. Box 21551, Roanoke, Va. 24018.
Hot property
Suddenly, Valley Court Mall is a hot piece of property.
Much of the mall near the Interstate 581 and Hershberger Road interchange, formerly known as Celebration Station, is vacant. But Roanoke City Council and School Board could be headed for a conflict over the property.
And several other potential businesses are considering leasing space in the center.
The School Board wants to move its alternative-education program to the mall. School administrators have negotiated a lease for nearly 19,000 square feet of space, with an option to lease more space next year.
Now Roanoke Vice Mayor John Edwards says a study committee has identified the mall as a potential for an athletic field house, too.
School Superintendent Wayne Harris says the schools can't wait for a lengthy study on the feasibility of converting the mall into a field house. He hopes renovations for the alternative-education center can begin by next month and be complete by February.
Harris says other sites investigated by school administrators were unsuitable or cost too much to renovate.
Assistant Superintendent Richard Kelley says another reason to move the schools program to the mall is that a private computer school and an incubator center for new businesses are considering moving into the center.
The School Board will vote next month on the lease.
Reason for ribbons
What was with the white ribbons worn by all the ushers and staff for the Alan Jackson concert Thursday night at the Salem Civic Center? They were in memory of Dianne Sizemore of Roanoke, the head usher at the civic center who died Sept. 6. Sizemore also worked as an usher at the Roanoke Civic Center.
Keep on truckin'
U.S. Sen. John Warner finds himself in some heavy political traffic on the campaign trail this fall, what with him bolting the Republican Party to back an independent. But he won some praise last week on another traffic front.
A Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, a Washington-based lobbying group funded by the insurance industry, cited Warner as one of 26 "Safety Leaders" in the nation.
The safety group said Warner "has been an outspoken supporter of the ban on radar detectors in commercial vehicles." It also noted that "in 1981, he was responsible for pushing through provisions requiring air bags in cars, not a popular position at the time. Senator Warner is a safety leader with vision."
by CNB