
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, July 16, 1994                   TAG: 9408090062
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

BRIEFLY PUT . . .

WHAT DID you do over the summer? If someone asks this fall in a 5th grade class at Macy McClaugherty Elementary in Giles County, Courtney Olson will be able to answer: Well, I represented the United States at the world youth chess championships in Hungary.

Not bad. In the under-10 girls category, Courtney will compete next month against the world's best, including unforgiving Eastern Europeans who breathe chess and eat it for breakfast.

It is rare for anyone to make the U.S. team who isn't from one of America's biggest cities, where masters meet and chess clubs thrive. It is unprecedented, to say the least, for someone from Southwest Virginia to make the team. But chess is booming around here. Congratulations and best wishes to Courtney - but not good luck. Chess has nothing to do with luck.

THE ORVIS Company, which has a major presence in Roanoke, has shown good concern for the environment over the years. Recently, it raised more than $1 million for habitat cleanup and restoration. Now it has also become the first major tackle manufacturer to begin removing traditional lead weighting from its fishing-product line.

According to a recent issue of Trout magazine, the Vermont-based firm has initiated a trade-in policy. By sending in lead sinkers, fishing enthusiasts can get a 30 percent reduction on non-toxic substitutes. Getting the lead out is presumably good for fish - well, at least for the ones that get away.

by CNB