Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, June 6, 1994 TAG: 9406060013
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
O'Neill, now a columnist for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, met his wife-to-be, Betsy Blazek, two years ago after she bought him for $100 at a "blind" bachelor auction. Blazek, a physician who had just moved to Pittsburgh, says a co-worker talked her into putting in a bid for a date with O'Neill. The co-worker said he seemed like a fairly nice guy based on the columns he wrote - and even if he wasn't, he knew a lot of people around town and could introduce her. Besides, the money was going to charity. The pair went to a Pirates baseball game for their first date - on Memorial Day weekend 1992.
The after-wedding party included a formal sit-down dinner and a rock band led by a balding harmonica player with a pony tail. During the meal, O'Neill's pals and former co-workers from Roanoke were seated at the very back of the banquet room, next to the band. Once the music started, everyone mixed and former Times & World-News staffers Roland Kidwell and Terence Samuel joined the groom in dancing to a taped version of the Temptations' "Ball of Confusion." O'Neill also walked on his hands. Briefly.
Blazek and O'Neill are now on a two-week honeymoon in Ireland.
Ben Franklin would be proud
The Roanoke Post Office still is doing a good job serving its customers, according to a recent survey.
A poll taken by the Opinion Research Corp. in Princeton, N.J., shows that 91 percent of the households in Roanoke rate their mail service "excellent, very good or good."
That rating was two points lower than the post office received in a survey released last November, but still four points higher than the national satisfaction average of 89 percent.
The latest score for the Roanoke area is based on surveys sent out in December.
Postmaster Billy Martin cited extended window service hours and closer contact with customers as key elements in keeping customers satisfied.
A man of few words
Joe Stewart, oldest and longest-serving member of the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors, remembers well a school lesson from decades ago.
The 79-year-old beef cattle farmer and auctioneer spoke up during interviews last week with five men vying for an appointment to the county School Board. The supervisors limited the segments to 20 minutes each, but some seemed longer - or at least more long-winded - than others.
Stewart, who has represented the Elliston and Shawsville areas since 1980, jokingly recalled the three principles he learned in a public speaking class: "Stand up, speak up and shut up." On to the network big time
Roanoke native Sherrie Rollins, a former White House official in the Bush administration and the wife of campaign adviser Ed Rollins, has taken a job as senior vice president for network communications at ABC Television in New York. She will begin June 20.
Rollins currently is senior vice president for communications at U.S. News & World Report in Washington, a post she has held since her resignation from the White House in 1992. She left the White House, where she served as a senior assistant, when her husband agreed to manage Ross Perot's campaign for president.
Rollins, the subject of a profile in the Roanoke Times & World-News last month, was director of news information for ABC's news division before joining the White House.
Previously, she served at the Department of Housing and Urban Development under Jack Kemp, and on Ronald Reagan's re-election campaign in 1984.
Rollins, 35, is the daughter of William and Charlotte Sandy of Roanoke. She graduated from Andrew Lewis High School in 1976 and from the University of Virginia in 1980.
by CNB