Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, January 30, 1995 TAG: 9501300076
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Perhaps Boots can do the same - locally, at least.
The gray cat with white paws was adopted last week by Roanoke Mayor David Bowers.
The Roanoke Valley Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals had asked Bowers to narrate a segment of a video outlining the money the SPCA saves taxpayers each year through its boarding services.
Boots was brought in as a prop for Bowers to hold during filming.
The longer Bowers held Boots, the louder the cat purred into the microphone.
``At one point, he kind of looked up at me,'' Bowers said. ``I asked if the cat was adopted and was told he was adoptable.''
The segment was filmed on a Thursday. An SPCA employee told Bowers he could come that Saturday to pick up Boots.
But Bowers was afraid that if he waited, someone else would get the cat. Bowers - whose family always had dogs, never cats - adopted Boots after filming was finished.
``He's been with me ever since,'' Bowers said.
PC politicking
Call it the election of the future.
When James Madison University faculty members cast a vote of no confidence in longtime President Ronald Carrier last week, there was plenty of old-fashioned campaigning. But it was done in a new-fangled way. This was a campaign in cyberspace.
Professors huddled around computer terminals, waiting for the latest administration memo to be posted on the school's internal computer network. Students rallying opposition to Carrier's academic restructuring plans did much of their grass-roots organizing not on the campus lawn, but via e-mail. Some of the liveliest comments weren't in the letters-to-the-editor section of the campus newspaper, but in online discussion groups.
And when the votes were counted, no crowd gathered outside the counting room.
Didn't need to; students and professors waited beside their computers to tap into the results.
by CNB