Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, September 7, 1995 TAG: 9509080043
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: S6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: PAST TENSE LENGTH: Long
Sept. 3: Glen E. Parrish, first manager of the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra, is fired. Linda S. Hyatt, his replacement, at one time worked as an art columnist for the Roanoke Times & World-News.
Sept. 10: The Roanoke County Board of Supervisors' approves an emergency ordinance permitting open air burning throughout the county from Sept. 15 to Nov. 1 and year-round open burning in rural sections. The ordinance was approved because open burning would be prohibited when the county's air pollution control office closes at the end of the month, leaving responsibility for monitoring air-quality to the state.
Sept. 13: The Roanoke County Sheriff's Department completes a move merging most of its offices into the first floor of the old county courthouse and the annex building next door. Sheriff O.S. Foster says the move gives the department sufficient working space for the first time in 18 years.
Sept. 16: Roanokers Gary Close and Gilmer G. Wilhelm are among the first amateurs in western Virginia to spot Halley's Comet. They are members of the Roanoke Astronomy Society.
Sept. 16: Botetourt County Board of Supervisors Chairman M. Fleming Ring Jr. announces that the state has ruled out the old Alpine Farms complex off Interstate 81, near Buchanan, as a site for a Toyota plant because of the lack of water and sewer services. Also, there was the problem of an access road, which he believes could have been resolved.
Sept. 23: Bob and Mildred Ferguson, a Roanoke couple whose vehicle was nearly struck head-on by two North Carolina men fleeing police on Sept. 6, asks Roanoke City Council to review high speed chases because "We feel the practice of chasing people in the city is outdated."
Sept. 25: The Roanoke County Sheriff's Department assigns an officer to begin immediate patrol of the Boxley Hills portion of Williamson Road on Friday and Saturday nights because of problems caused by people cruising.
Sept. 28: The Roanoke City Market Building has its grand opening. Four ribbon cutters - U. S. Sen. Paul Tribble, Mayor Noel Taylor, Russell Hannabass, a long-time retailer on the market, and Brenda Beckner, a new merchant in the building - participate.
\ 25 years ago
Sept. 1: Eddie M. Joyce, athletic director, head football coach, assistant principal and director of student activities at Andrew Lewis High School in Salem, is unanimously elected mayor during a Salem City Council reorganization.
Sept. 9: Miss Virginia, Jeannie Smith of Roanoke County, appears in the Miss America swimsuit competition in Atlantic City, N.J., in a turquoise suit that pageant officials had approved but now feel is too revealing. Pageant officials have the suit altered, but spectators say it is still almost see-through. Miss Hawaii, Kathleen Pauni O'Sullivan, wins the swimsuit competition, though, and Miss Texas, Phyllis George, is crowned Miss America.
Sept. 17: Frank P. 0'Brien, Hollins College associate professor of English has edited "Duanaire Nuafhiliochta" ("New Poetry in Irish"), a new collection of poetry in the Irish language by contemporary authors. The Irish Times calls the work "the definitive" collection of modern Irish poetry currently in print.
Sept. 18: The Roanoke Police Department is unable to enforce a new law requiring motorcyclists to wear helmets approved by the State Police because the department's helmets aren't on the approved list. Police Chief M. David Hooper says his officers can't enforce the law on others until their helmets are approved.
Sept. 23: The deaths within the past two weeks of two Roanoke County children - James A. White, 5, and Jill Anne Geib, 6 - are attributed to Reye's Syndrome. Dr. Allen Peters, epidemiologist of the Virginia Department of Health, says, "It is exceedingly rare, quite unusual, to have two cases so close together [the same general neighborhood] in such a close time period." But, "there's no cause for local alarm," he adds.
Sept. 30: Narcotics Anonymous meets for the first time in the Roanoke Valley. About 35 people, mostly young, attend the meeting at the Family Service Building.
\ 50 years ago
Sept. 3: Judge J. L. Almond of Roanoke's Hustings Court, during a kickoff to raise money for the Vinton War Memorial, tells a World War II victory gathering that Americans must utilize their national might and power to secure the respect and admiration of all people worldwide and serve all humanity with their power and dignity.
Sept. 8: Nearly 2,000 jobs in the Roanoke area need filling, yet large numbers of formerly highly paid World War II workers, now unemployed with the war's end, refuse to take lower-paying positions.
Coy Watson, manager of the local United States Employment Service office, says it seems people "are not ready to resume their usual occupations."
A couple of weeks later, Lewis A. Sydnor, principal of Harrison Elementary School, tells the Roanoke Commission on Inter-racial Cooperation, "Many Negroes who have served their country in the armed forces have discovered hidden talents which the Army has developed and are not satisfied to leave these talents unused in the future," and return to jobs as domestics, errand boys and waitresses.
Sept. 24: Roanoke City Council awards a joint contract for installing pipelines in the Carvin's Cove project to the Ralph E. Mills Co. of Roanoke and Blythe Brothers Co. of Charlotte, N.C. The contract figure, $637,742.50, brings the total cost of all contracts for the project to $1.6 million.
Sept. 29: The Hotel Roanoke is slated to receive a million-dollar renovation, beginning Dec. 1 An entire wing will be replaced and complete air-conditioning, Turkish baths, a fountain room and the latest radio equipment will be installed. The renovation is to be completed by October 1946.
PAST TENSE is a monthly feature compiled by Melvin E. Matthews Jr. to help readers remember past events in the Roanoke Valley. Information is gathered from past issues of the newspaper.
Memo: ***CORRECTION***