Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, October 9, 1995 TAG: 9510090091
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Roland "Spanky" Macher, owner of the building on which the clock sits, contends Kinsey Crane & Sign Co. removed sign parts without his permission. Kinsey Sign has declined to comment.
Macher said he threatened to buy new parts and bill Kinsey Sign if the missing parts were not returned by last Friday. Macher later revealed, however, that he does not have the money to make good on his threat.
The clock was put up in 1993 by the late Roanoke civic leader and businessman John W. Hancock Jr. and Roanoke businessman George Cartledge. A Hancock estate attorney ordered it turned off Aug. 22, at which time the parts disappeared. Macher blocked removal of the clock, however, by asserting that, since he bought the building on which the clock sits, he owns it.
Keeping it in the family
Del. Clifton "Chip" Woodrum of Roanoke recently turned up a winner in a fiddle raffle to benefit the Galax Downtown Association's efforts to save and restore the town's Rex Theatre.
The donated antique fiddle formerly was owned and played by the late Otis Burris, a well-known champion fiddler who is represented in the Smithsonian Institution.
Woodrum, whose daughter Anne filled out the winning ticket in his name, told the organizers he "wasn't going to fiddle around with that" and returned the prize to the "Save the Rex" effort.
Coincidentally, the winner of the Old-Time Fiddle competition at the 60th and most recent annual Galax Old Fiddlers Convention was James Burris, a grandson of Otis Burris.
Because of the fiddle's sentimental value and the Burrises' desire to have it back in the family, the Galax Downtown Association and "Save the Rex" will present the fiddle to James Burris during a special Mountain Music Jamboree honoring the Otis Burris family Saturday at the Rex Theatre.
Potbellied pigs win by an oink
If residents had their say, the pigs would stay. Or at least that's what more than 250 callers said during the recent Roanoke Times unscientific call-in InfoLine poll on whether potbellied pigs should be allowed in residential areas. Although it was close, the pro-pig calls outweighed those who thought the potbellied pigs should be expelled to the country - by a margin of fewer than 50 votes.
The final tally: 253 said pigs should be in the back yard; 205 said they should be confined to the barnyard.
"While I don't own a potbellied pig and have no plans to, I think they should be classified as pets," said Cheryl Philpott of Roanoke. "As long as they're kept clean, I don't see a problem at all. I wouldn't mind having some next door to me. I think they'd be cute, and I'd give them a hug."
Many pig owners called in to defend their "lovable" creatures.
"A pet is as clean as its owner is. I have one, and I've had it for four years," one anonymous Roanoke pig owner said. "I wouldn't take gold for him."
One veterinarian called to express her support of the little porkers, saying they were "indeed domesticated animals."
"I think that most people who own them are responsible owners and treat them as pets," said Martha Moses of Roanoke County. "Therefore, we as a community should also treat them as pets."
Others opposed to keeping the pigs in city limits said that people needed to live next to a pig before making up their minds on the issue.
"The smell will drive you crazy," said Karen Morgan of Vinton.
And some people just couldn't fathom keeping a pig as a pet.
"I think that a pig as a pet is absolutely ridiculous and whoever dreamed this one up has a lot to think about," said Anna Wilbourne of Roanoke.
by CNB