Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, October 17, 1994 TAG: 9410170053
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
"I've always been proud of him," said Martha Legg.
She credits her late parents for big brother John's success.
"You have to be born smart, but it's your parents who make the opportunities for you."
She said they made it possible for him to begin his higher education at Bluefield College in West Virginia.
Legg said her family is from Bluefield, but her parents, John Sr. and Virginia, moved here in 1952 when John Sr. was transferred by Appalachian Power Co.
John Jr. never lived in Roanoke, Legg said. By the time his parents moved here, he was off doing the thinking that eventually won him his share, along with John C. Harsanyi and Reinhard Selten, of the prestigious prize.
In the 1950s, the three began research in "game theory." The theory shows that companies do business, governments make decisions and armies fight battles much the way people play poker and chess.
Nash was singled out for developing what has become known as the "Nash Equilibrium," a formula for figuring out when it is pointless for a player to change strategy. Legg says her brother was just 22 when he came up with the idea.
Right-wing road trip
The Bus to Rush pulled back into Roanoke on Friday morning, its passengers weary but feeling ever fonder of their favorite commentator, Rush Limbaugh - and of the Big Apple, too.
Former state GOP Chairman Don Huffman and a busload of other local folk took the 28-hour excursion to be in the audience for two Limbaugh TV shows that aired Thursday and Friday nights.
Dave Sublett, an Air Force retiree, put the word out on radio station WFIR recently about the expedition. The bus seats were filled in no time.
The Virginians dined at Patsy's, an Italian place near Limbaugh's television studio that's often mentioned on his show.
"You could tell we were from Virginia from all the Ollie [North] stickers we had on," Sublett said. They were surprised that many New Yawkers wanted North stickers, too. ``I said, `Gee, I wish you all were in Virginia so you could vote.'''
He's planning other bus trips to the Limbaugh show - maybe a "Christmas Rush" or a "Valentine's Rush."
Tour for a cure
The 1994 Multiple Sclerosis Home Tour and Gala at Smith Mountain Lake earned $128,000 this year, slightly more than last year.
Named most innovative volunteer-driven fund-raiser by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society last year, the annual lake tour invited ticket holders this year to travel to homes by car or boat. Stops on the tour included a home with a lap pool in the living room.
The tour is the biggest fund-raiser of the year for the Blue Ridge Chapter of the National MS Society. Sixty percent of proceeds will go to grants, services and programs for people with MS in 45 counties in Southwest and Northern Virginia, including the Roanoke Valley. The rest will go to national research and other programs.
New look, old memories
For Clubert "Don" Poff, it was more than just a ceremony to rededicate a renovated elementary school.
For the Roanoke School Board member, it was a homecoming, a return to Morningside Elementary School, which he attended as a child.
Poff said the 67-year-old school brought back childhood memories. Poff and other School Board members recently toured the renovated school and rededicated it.
Nelson Harris, School Board chairman, said he is amazed that the renovation of Morningside and five other elementary schools has made them look almost new.
The other schools are Crystal Spring, Highland Park, Virginia Heights, Oakland and Forest Park.
Wasena Elementary is closed for renovation and will reopen in the next school year.
The city spent $2.2 million to rehabilitate Morningside, which was built in 1927.
Harris said inflation and rising property values have had a dramatic effect on the value and cost of schools. In 1941, Roanoke had 20 schools that were valued at $2.5 million.
Mountain or molehill?
It was a banner story across the top of the Virginia section in last Monday's Roanoke Times & World-News.
"Officials wonder where to draw lines on mountains" was a story about whether Roanoke County will consider ridgeline protection to preserve the views of the valley's mountains.
Ridgeline protection was an idea suggested to the county by Roanoke Mayor David Bowers, and the article was accompanied by a picture of apartment buildings on the side of a mountain - the kind of development about which Bowers was talking.
Only problem is, we goofed. The development pictured is actually just over the county line - in the city.
"I suggest to Mayor Bowers that he look to his own back yard," county Supervisor Bob Johnson said gleefully, holding up a copy of the newspaper with the offending picture at last week's Board of Supervisors meeting.
"I love this job sometimes," he chuckled.
by CNB