ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, April 21, 1996 TAG: 9604220062
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
SELDOM DOES a day offer so many opportunities to do so much, and for so many good causes.
What a Saturday.
By night, the Roanoke Valley was exhausted. With good reason.
It was a day of nonstop fun for many - festivals, a parade, a historic garden and house tour, a concert, garden and lawn seminars, a race car exhibit and several other events that attracted thousands of spectators.
There was something for almost everyone - more than a dozen events ranging from Mill Mountain Zoo's Conservation Festival and Earth Day program to the Roanoke Valley Harley Owners Group's Ride for Life to an African-American history parade in Salem. The problem was trying to fit all of them into a day.
It was a day for animal lovers, coin collectors, environmentalists, gardeners, runners, walkers, motorcycle enthusiasts, stock car racing fans and Trekkers.
For others, it was a day to clean out garages and dispose of old paint buckets, batteries and pesticide cans at the Roanoke Valley's annual household hazardous waste collection day.
Montgomery County residents also were cleaning. Volunteers picked up trash and debris along roads in the county's annual spring cleanup.
The day began with a March for Parks on the Blue Ridge Parkway to help raise money for Explore Park and Friends of the Blue Ridge Parkway. An estimated 200 college students and other walkers began gathering at the Roanoke Parks and Recreation Office on Reserve Avenue next to Victory Stadium shortly before 8 a.m.
They were taken to the parkway by bus and vans, then walked six miles to Mill Mountain for Earth Day festivities.
Shana Greenway, a student at Virginia Western Community College, participated in the walk with several friends. "It's for a good cause," she said. "You want your children to have parks. People need to get into it and help make sure we have parks."
In the parking lot next to Salem Memorial Baseball Stadium on Saturday morning, cars and pickup trucks lined up to unload hazardous household wastes. The collection day, sponsored by the Roanoke Valley Resource Authority and Salem, gives residents the chance to dispose of such items as old paint, oil, batteries and pesticides.
A waste disposal firm was hired to collect the material. While residents waited in their cars and trucks, workers in white suits, orange vests and gloves unloaded the toxic materials from the vehicles.
Bill Magee, who lives in Roanoke, said he cleaned out all of his old paint, paint thinner and other hazardous waste. "I intended to bring it here last year, but I didn't make it. I decided to come this year because the stuff is getting in the way."
Several hundred people brought waste to the parking lot. This was the fourth annual collection day. The authority pays the waste disposal firm based on volume. Last year, the bill was $60,000.
In Montgomery County, volunteers for the 13th annual Broomin' & Bloomin' cleanup day gathered at the county park for an appreciation lunch and to swap stories about their morning adventures.
"You should have seen Brush Mountain Road. It was nasty," said Ruth Tabb, a Blacksburg Transit bus driver. "Tires, a washing machine, rusted chairs, one of the girls said they found a bunch of dead animals, soda cans, papers. You name it, it was all there."
Tabb and other bus drivers drove large groups around to pick up trash. County trash collection drivers loaded the items and delivered them to the landfill, where scales were used to keep track of how much refuse was collected.
"I haven't got figures in yet, but it's going to be big, big, big," said Linda Crable, one of the organizers of Broomin' and Bloomin'.
Brian Anderson, Grant Schoonover and Jim Welch, representing the Blacksburg roller hockey league, spent the morning on Spaulding Road in the Walton community.
Their list of grotesque finds included a bag of used diapers and "used tobacco products" - soda bottles filled with the expectorant of smokeless-tobacco users. More typical trash included baby toys, a washer and dryer and "lots and lots of Old Milwaukee 40 [ouncers]," Anderson said.
They worked for about 21/2 hours, and were even joined during the clean-up by a youngster who wanted to help them clean his neighborhood.
Sisters Melissa Redden and Sandra Simpkins cleaned a stretch of Yellow Sulphur Road near Blacksburg that included an illegal dump where household garbage had been thrown out along with appliances and tires.
The women also found an abandoned motorcycle.
"We dug it out by ourselves - two women, now," Simpkins said with a measure of pride.
Nature and saving the environment were the theme at Mill Mountain Zoo's Conservation Festival and Earth Day activities. A variety of conservation and environment-related organizations had exhibits.
The Blue Ridge Herpetological Society brought more than 30 snakes and other reptiles. They proved popular with many children, who didn't seem to be afraid.
"I like snakes and lizards," said Justin Hodges, a first-grader at Boones Mill Elementary School in Franklin County. "I have never seen as many as this. I saw a snake in a class at school, but not this many."
Robin Grover, a member of the herpetological society, showed her pet iguana to the children. She owns several snakes and two iguanas, including one 4 feet long that she keeps in her home in Lynchburg. The iguana with her Saturday was only about a foot long. She had it on a leash.
The Virginia Marine Science Museum brought its marine lab on wheels. It featured hands-on exhibits, aquariums and "touch tanks" of marine life.
Jason Fiore, a sixth-grader at Drewry Mason Middle School in Henry County, was fascinated by the crabs in the marine lab.
"I got to touch them. It was neat. I had never seen crabs before," he said.
The Earth Day festivities also included lectures on wildlife, organic farming and musical performances by several groups.
Rock music blared over Salem Municipal Field Saturday afternoon in the festival atmosphere at the Roanoke Valley Harley Owners Group's second annual Ride for Life. The motorcycle enthusiasts sponsored the event to raise funds for the Roanoke Valley Therapeutic Riding Program, a nonprofit horseback riding program for disabled children and adults. The fund-raiser included rock bands, a bike show, a raffle, an auction and children's activities.
Howard "Mooch" Semones, a volunteer for the Harley Owners, said the bikers raised $1,000 just in a poker game they played in connection with a ride they took Saturday morning.
Last year, the bikers raised $16,000 to benefit the program. Semones said they hope to raise that much again this year.
Susan Van Name, a member of the riding program's board, said, the bikers have been a big boost for the disabled riders. "They have been very supportive. We are very grateful."
In Salem, an African-American Heritage Festival featured a parade through downtown that was designed to focus attention on the contributions of blacks. The parade used to be held in February in connection with Black History Month, but the weather frequently was bad, and organizers decided to schedule it in April.
"It has been a beautiful event. We have had several hundred people today," said Shermaine Grogan, president of the Community Awareness Council of Salem, which sponsors the event with the Harrison Museum of African American Culture.
For stock car racing fans, Saturday was an opportunity to view the 25th anniversary edition of the Richard Petty/STP racing car. The vehicle was on display at the Racing Image sportswear and souvenir shop on Williamson Road. The specially designed silver car, created to highlight the 25th consecutive season of the Petty-STP association, debuted at the Daytona 500 in February and will return at some races later this season. Bobby Hamilton is now the driver, but Petty is the owner.
Junior Oyler came to see the car, although he has never been a Petty fan. Oyler's favorite driver was the late Davey Allison, who died in a helicopter crash two years ago.
"It's never been the same since Davey got killed, but I still watch racing some," Oyler said. "I'm thinking about going to Martinsville tomorrow for the [Goody's 500] race."
At the Roanoke Civic Center, Trekkers ventured into outer space for several hours at a Star Trek convention. It featured an auction of Star Wars collectibles as well as a showing of Star Trek episodes and a Star Trek impersonation contest. Denise Crosby, who played Lt. Tasha Yar in "Star Trek: The Next Generation," was on hand to speak to Trekkers.
It was the first Star Trek convention for Matthew Wigginton, a sixth-grader at Pulaski Middle School, but it won't be the last.
"It's pretty neat. I liked the movies and the auction," said Matthew, 12. He paid $15 for a Star Trek pin at the auction.
Samuel Ayers drove from Hillsville with his sister, Sarah, for the convention. Ayers, 25, said he has been a Star Trek fan for about 10 years, but this was the first time he has ever attended such a show. "I thought I would come to see what it was like," he said.
Staff writer Kathy Loan contributed to this story.
LENGTH: Long : 174 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ERIC BRADY/Staff. 1. Bailey Glasscock, 8, gets aby CNBpersonal introduction to a horseshoe crab while inside the Virginia
Marine Science Museum's traveling exhibit at Mill Mountain. 2. For
Laura Giessler, Earth Day activities at Mill Mountain included a
dance with her twin sons, Clay (left) and Nathan. 3. With cutouts of
Star Trek and Star Wars characters behind him, 12-year-old Chris
Barbatti looks right at home as he checks his phaser. color.