ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, December 30, 1996 TAG: 9612300072
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-5 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: & Now This...
State highway workers are vowing not to get caught short-handed this winter: The Department of Transportation has quietly changed one of its snow-fighting strategies.
Used to be, the state adhered to the popular just-in-time-delivery theory and let stocks of snow-melting chemicals and other supplies run low before reordering, lest the state spend money it didn't need to.
No more.
"Now, as soon as we use something, we reorder. We keep the barns full," says Laura Bullock, spokeswoman for VDOT's 12-county Salem district. "We don't want to run into a situation like we did during the Blizzard of '93 when the whole East Coast was low on chemicals."
In all, the Salem District keeps 65,000 tons of sand, 250,000 tons of salt, 200,000 tons of chemically treated abrasives and 80,000 tons of calcium chloride stockpiled throughout the region for use in the winter.
- DWAYNE YANCEY
And now, an extra special election
Roscoe Reynolds' Dec. 17 victory in a special election to fill Virgil Goode's state Senate seat spawned another special election.
Now, someone has to fill Reynolds' House of Delegates seat.
The race is between two well-known Patrick County politicians, Democrat Barnie Day and Republican Phil Plaster. Day is a member of the county's Board of Supervisors. Plaster - who lost a bid to unseat Reynolds last year - is a former member.
Patrick County will have its first representative in the General Assembly since Mary Sue Terry left the House to run for attorney general in 1985. Reynolds, a Henry County Democrat, was elected that year to fill Terry's seat.
Goode, a state Senator for the past 23 years, prompted the special elections when he was elected to Congress in November.
The date for the special election hasn't been set. It's expected to take place in mid-January.
- TODD JACKSON
Keeping a Christmas tradition
Every Christmas, for as long as 41-year-old Chip Lawrence can remember, the Rice family put a big, lighted Santa Claus on the front porch of their farmhouse on U.S. 11 just north of the Hollins stockyard.
Naturally, three years ago, when Lawrence bought the Botetourt County property and relocated his business, Lawrence Transportation Systems, he asked one of the former owners about the Santa.
The woman told him she would give him the Santa if he promised to put it out every year.
No problem, Lawrence said. "I grew up around here, and that Santa Claus has been on that porch all my life."
People 10 or 15 years older than Lawrence have told him they can remember seeing it.
The Santa, which he thinks was once part of a Pepsi promotion, turned out to be a hot item at the auction held at the farm before Lawrence took over. He said people showed up from all over the area looking for that Santa.
Lawrence said lots of people have called to thank the company for putting out the Santa.
After all, to many local residents, it wouldn't seem like Christmas without it.
- BETTY HAYDEN SNIDER
Young Mr. Bowles is remembered
Roanoke real estate broker Lee Lawson has rubbed elbows with the man about to start what some consider the second most powerful job in Washington, D.C.
In 1960-61, Lawson went to the Virginia Episcopal School in Lynchburg, where one of the underclassmen was Erskine Bowles. Bowles grew up to become a successful businessman and, later, a close friend and golfing buddy of Bill Clinton. Bowles will become the president's chief of staff next month.
Lawson said he doesn't remember much about Bowles, whom he considered more a little brother than a friend. He was closer to Bowles' big brother, Hargrove.
One year at Virginia Episcopal was enough for Lawson. He went back to Patrick Henry High School, where there were girls in his classes.
He thought he had lost his annual from the prep school until The Vestige recently turned up at an uncle's house.
Erskine Bowles, a sophomore that year, had a considerable widow's peak and his ears stuck out a little, but he managed a sheepish grin for his yearbook photo.
He was a member of the school's junior varsity baseball team and played football on the Baby Bishops team, apparently a step below junior varsity. A yearbook article called him one of the team's best players.
Try as they might, the Baby Bishops lost all four games that season, including two losses to Bedford High School.
- BETTY HAYDEN SNIDER
A bracing tale
If you're wondering why Roanoke County Administrator Elmer Hodge's smile is more radiant than usual, it's because he's wearing braces.
Hodge has had his braces for about a month, and he's already been subjected to some public needling about his orthodontic accessories.
Chairman Bob Johnson couldn't resist the temptation during a recent Board of Supervisors meeting as he was commenting on the likelihood that the state would increase incentives for regional projects from $3 million to $50 million.
"If you believe this is going to happen, you might as well believe in the tooth fairy, notwithstanding Mr. Hodge's situation," he said.
Hodge said his family couldn't afford the expense when he was a teen-ager, but now he's resolved to grin and bear the jokes for a while.
"You're never too old," he said.
- CHRISTINA NUCKOLS
LENGTH: Long : 110 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: 1. ROGER HART/Staff. The house changed hands, butby CNBSanta's still there. 2. (headshot) Bowles.