ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, July 25, 1996 TAG: 9607250042
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: What's on your mind?
SOURCE: RAY REED
Q: What is happening with the plan to turn the Hanging Rock rail-spur route into a greenways hiking and biking path? Some of us thought work was supposed to be under way by now.
T.V., Salem
A: Work is under way. Typical of projects using federal grant money, all the work has been on paper.
Construction should begin next spring and be completed by the fall of 1997, said Tim Gubala, Roanoke County's director of economic development.
A contract approved last week puts architect David Hill to work on the planning and design phase, which should last the rest of this year.
Another detail yet to be cleared up is the Norfolk Southern Corp.'s donating land for the trail. Gubala said a decision by the railroad is expected soon.
The project would provide a path for hikers and bicyclists from Kessler Mill Road to a park near the site of the Civil War Battle of Hanging Rock.
The Hanging Rock Battlefield Trail is estimated to cost about $850,000. It would be about 2 miles long, Gubala said.
One of the design problems will be how to route the trail away from Virginia 311 near its intersection with Virginia 419.
The trail will cross Mason Creek, and an antique steel-truss highway bridge is being considered for the purpose, Gubala said.
Preservationists' wishes for one aspect of the project haven't been met. The never-built Valley Railroad's pathway, including two 1860s arched stone culverts near WSLC radio station, failed to get a historic-site grant this year.
Another application will be made next year, Gubala said. If approved, the historic trail would connect to the Hanging Rock Battlefield Trail.
NHL Avalanche unmoved by protest
Q: When the National Hockey League's Quebec Nordiques moved to Denver last year and called themselves the "Avalanche," I read about the Salem Avalanche's plans to file a lawsuit to protect the name. The NHL team won this year's Stanley Cup while using the Avalanche name. What happened to the Salem Avalanche's legal efforts to retain exclusive rights to the name?
A.G., Blacksburg
A: Reality, apparently, has sunk in.
Three factors make legal action by Salem's baseball club a doubtful effort.
The combination of big-league clout, legal precedent that usually recognizes slight name differences as being a sufficient defense, and the sharing of nicknames by other teams such as the Giants and Cardinals stack up as a tall hurdle.
Sam Lazarro, general manager of the Salem Avalanche, indicated recently that protests over the name appropriation are at a standstill.
Salem filed the necessary paper work, but that was communications to the National Association of Professional Teams, which relayed Salem's concerns to the Denver team.
The Colorado Avalanche refused to budge.
Lazarro said Salem is waiting to see what happens in a similar situation involving the Washington Bullets of the National Basketball Association.
The Washington team plans to change its name to the Wizards starting with the 1997-98 season.
The Bullets are being sued for trademark infringement in U.S. District Court in New Jersey by the Harlem Wizards, a comedy basketball troupe that has toured the United States for 37 years.
Another baseball team, Indiana's minor-league Fort Wayne Wizards, also is watching the New Jersey case, said its vice president, Mike Tatoian. Lawyers advised the Fort Wayne team to hold off filing a lawsuit, Tatoian said.
Got a question about something that might affect other people, too? Something you've come across and wondered about? Call us at 981-3118. Or, e-mail RayR@Roanoke.Infi.Net. Maybe we can find the answer.
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