Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, January 10, 1995 TAG: 9501100055
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: BRIAN KELLEY
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The monuments to war dead atop Memorial Chapel at the eastern end of the Drillfield framed a perfect sunset that was most welcome after two days of gloomy weather.
I went to the campus to look for a northern goshawk, which is apparently a rare visitor for this area. A caller to the New River Current on Saturday told me the raptor had been seen on the Tech campus. I also went to check out the caller's report that dead starlings had been found near Henderson Hall. Equipped with bird guide, mini binoculars and a warm wool hat, I circled the Drillfield.
The hawk, accipiter gentilis, with its 31/2-foot wing span, eluded me. But I did see pigeons aplenty. And I noticed two things I hadn't seen on my last trip.
Passing between Newman Library and Squires Student Center, I realized the inelegant brick kiosk that used to impede the flow of pedestrian traffic had vanished. My Tech-grad brother and I once joked that architectural terrorists should have struck a blow for good taste and demolished the abominable pavilion late some night. The kiosk blocked an otherwise open, symbolic plaza linking the Tech campus with downtown Blacksburg. And now it's gone.
I'll admit, I haven't walked in that part of town since at least before Thanksgiving, probably longer. When did the kiosk disappear? Will it come back? Has it resurfaced to mar the landscape elsewhere on campus? Inquiring minds want to know.
The second surprise came in what I suspect is a bit of mischievous graffiti. Walking beside Henderson Hall, uphill from the old Lyric Theater, I noticed a 3-foot-high green face smiling back at me from a white brick wall above the apartments and shops on College Avenue. I focused my binoculars and saw the grinning visage of a man, apparently spray-painted using a template. Is it Gandhi? A happy Buddhist monk? It's chuckle-inducing, in any event.
Turning to go, I noticed a decidedly deceased starling, the second object of my stroll. Alert Current readers will recall that on Saturday staff writer Stephen Foster chronicled the starlings' near-takeover of the trees on North Main Street in downtown Blacksburg, and the concurrent fouling of the sidewalks below with their droppings.
While pulling Saturday duty, I took a call from a man who said he'd seen dozens of dead birds downhill from Henderson Hall that morning.
The dead bird I saw was the only one around. It was stiff, seemingly frozen solid. I considered finding a Ziploc bag, retrieving the unfortunate bird and depositing it on young Foster's doorstep. But my conscience got the best of me.
Consider it a fowl deed left undone.
I spoke with most of the members of the New River Valley's General Assembly delegation last week, as they readied for the start of the budget-crunch session Wednesday in Richmond.
State Sen. Malfourd "Bo" Trumbo, R-Fincastle, who represents Radford, northern Pulaski and Giles counties, among other areas, put things in perspective:
"Often legislators think we are far and above everyone else," said the former teacher turned lawyer. "In reality, we're just someone sitting in a seat and if we come back, we come back."
Brian Kelley, a Roanoke Times & World-News staff writer, covers Montgomery County when he isn't out walking.
by CNB