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A Giles County man paroled from prison after serving 14 years for killing two hikers on the Appalachian Trail in 1981 now is suspected of shooting two campers just off the trail in Giles on Tuesday. Randall Lee Smith, 54, was in a Roanoke hospital yesterday after crashing a pickup truck in Giles, Sgt. Michael Conroy of the Virginia State Police said.

The small barren courtyard that separates the apartment buildings of Dwan Dillard and Mohamed Adin in Northwest Roanoke might as well be an ocean, so deep is the dislike that the American-born black woman and the Somali Bantu refugee have of each other. "That out there is a war zone," said Dillard, whose four children live with her at Maple Grove Apartments, a blighted complex of four buildings with a total of 40 units on Pilot Street near Melrose Avenue. "The African children attack ours. They throw rocks." Adin, who lives with his wife and nine children, blames "the Americans."...

FairTax Informational Meeting Edinburgh Square Community Room 129 Hershberger Rd Roanoke, VA 24012 (540) 366-1888 Near Plantation Rd., directly across from Star City Skating Center. Contact Donald Koop at raft@att.net.

Since the Hillary event could not be held yesterday (she canceled, due to high winds...broomsticks cannot land in high wind)...... Impeached President and Sex Offender Bill Clinton will be in Roanoke, VA today. He will be speaking at 6:30 PM at Patrick Henry High School. Since many of us will be attending the Huckabee event, you guys please step up and FREEP this guy!! FREEPmail me if you can help, I have a sign you can use from yesterday's FREEP of Hillary.....

Presidential Candidate Mike Huckabee here in Roanoke - Monday Night! Monday, February 11, 7 pm Republican Presidential Candidate Mike Huckabee will be here in Roanoke this Monday night at 7 pm at the O.Winston Link Museum on Shenandoah Ave. in downtown Roanoke (across from Hotel Roanoke). Everyone is invited!!

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton will campaign in Roanoke on Sunday afternoon (Feb. 10), holding a town hall-style meeting at Patrick Henry High School. The 4:30 p.m. event is open to the public. Clinton's appearance, announced by her campaign Thursday night, will come two days before Virginia's presidential primary. The senator is scheduled to speak at the state Democratic Party's Jefferson-Jackson Dinner in Richmond on Saturday night, as is her chief rival, Sen. Barack Obama. She will hold a town hall meeting in Manassas on Sunday before traveling to Roanoke.

County Dems seek to remove chairman "Misfeasance and negligence" were cited as reasons to strip Richard Evans of his office. By Reed Williams 981-3334 The Roanoke County Democratic Committee moved to dismiss its chairman after a squabble that led to the cancellation of Saturday's party caucus. Committee members sent Richard Evans a letter saying that "by unanimous consent of those present" they voted to "initiate proceedings to consider your removal from office." It is a rare move that no other local Democratic committee across the state has made in at least the past two years, as far as state party...

'Twitching' Illness Hits Several Students, Staff at Virginia SchoolWednesday, November 07, 2007 VINTON, Va. — A mysterious illness causing an odd "twitching" symptom has stricken several students and a staff member at a Virginia high school. Testing continues at William Byrd High School in Roanoke County where students and staff have shown strange symptoms of twitching and spasms since September, but a cause has yet to be determined. About 30 students staged a walkout and protest earlier this week, and the school has said about 300 of the school's 1,200 students have been absent. School officials say they do not...

Randy Mitchell and Chris Lowe come at life from different angles. Mitchell tunes his radio dial to Rush Limbaugh and Neal Boortz. Lowe prefers Soulja Boy's "Crank That," and anything else WJJS 106 FM plays. Mitchell is an older white guy who dropped out of corporate America. Lowe is a young black man who dropped out of college. Mitchell, gregarious and lively, wears his gray hair neatly trimmed. Lowe, soft-spoken and unfailingly polite, wears his neatly cornrowed. Yet somehow in the back-room clutter of Mitchell's business -- Schafer's Shoe Repair on Brandon Avenue -- amid Birkenstocks, Allen Edmondses and Liz...

Earlier this year, Virginia’s Roanoke Times newspaper came under intense scrutiny and near-universal condemnation after its editors made the irresponsible and dangerous choice to post a searchable database of Virginia’s Right-to-Carry permit holders on its website. In doing so, the paper provided anyone with access to the internet (including criminals) the name, home address, and permit issuance and expiration date of more than 135,000 Virginia permit holders. Thankfully, after hearing from outraged, law-abiding gun owners and non-gun owners alike, the paper prudently decided to remove the database from its website and not repost it, citing a “concern for public safety.”...

1. Roanoke Times will no longer allow any gun shows to advertise in their paper!!! 2. MMM has its protest at a church instead of the Richmond gun show 3. This is TOO FUNNY! The Daily Press accidentally gives VCDL yet ANOTHER great plug! ************************************************************* 1. Roanoke Times will no longer allow any gun shows to advertise in their paper!!! ************************************************************* Every time that I think the Roanoke Times has sunk as far as the toilet will let them go, they seem to find a new dent in the porcelain. Because of the Virginia Tech massacre, WHICH HAD NOTHING TO...

Colonel Oliver North will appear in Roanoke, VA on Tuesday, Oct. 23 for a Republican fundraiser. I do not yet know the ticket price, but Freepmail me if you are interested in getting more info when the price is announced.....

Several Roman Catholic priests in Southwest Virginia are thankful demand for the old-style Latin Mass hasn't emerged here because they are already stretched thin trying to serve rural parishes.This summer Pope Benedict XVI allowed freer use of the traditional Latin liturgy. Some regard his July 7 apostolic letter as a way of healing a rift with Catholic traditionalists. Although Latin is woven occasionally into regular services, the pope's action means that priests no longer need special permission from bishops to perform the old-style Latin Mass. The 16th century Tridentine Mass had been commonly celebrated for 1,500 years but was modernized...

The event, originally scheduled for April, is open to the public, but seating is limited. By Michael Sluss (804) 697-1585 Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards will campaign in Roanoke on July 18, with bluegrass legend Ralph Stanley making an appearance. Edwards will speak and Stanley will perform at 7 p.m. in the Shaftman Performance Hall at Jefferson Center. Former Georgia congressman and television actor Ben "Cooter" Jones will serve as the master of ceremonies. The campaign event originally had been scheduled for April 19, but was postponed after the shootings at Virginia Tech. Edwards, a former U.S. senator and 2004...

<p>ROANOKE ISLAND, N.C. - Researchers believe they may be able to use DNA to uncover the fate of the Lost Colony, which vanished shortly after more than 100 people settled on Roanoke Island in 1587.</p> <p>Using genealogy, deeds and historical narratives, researchers have compiled 168 surnames that could be connected to settlers in what is considered the first attempt by the English to colonize the New World. The team will try to trace the roots of individuals related to the colonists, to the area's 16th century American Indians or to both.</p>

Threats of violence, litigation and legislation sprang up after a list of people allowed to carry concealed weapons was released. The Roanoke Times will not re-post a list of gun owners on its Web site, even after being told amid continuing public furor that releasing the information does not violate state law. First published Sunday, the database of more than 135,000 people allowed to carry concealed handguns has become the most controversial content in roanoke.com's history -- sparking threats of violence, litigation and legislation. One day later, the list was removed from the site because of concerns that state...

I am starting to get more intel on the Fredericksburg Freelance-Star. Turns out they have four radio stations in the area and even a phone book business. Oh, and FLS's radio stations have some competition from a local AM station. ;-) The AM station isn't aiding criminals and endangering the lives of law-abiding permit holders. This is getting better all the time. VCDL will have a booth at the Fredericksburg gun show this weekend - stop by and say hello. **Also let me know if you would be interested in helping VCDL picket the Freelance-Star's customers.** Here is another story...

The *****TREMENDOUS***** pressure that you guys just put on the Roanoke Times was of a magnitude that even I had never seen before. It was akin to watching a nuclear bomb go off. The Roanoke Times has taken the CHP database off their site, using as an excuse that some of the data perhaps shouldn't have been made public: how about the home address of the Chief Justice of the Virginia Supreme Court for starters? The truth is that they owe gun owners a sincere and front page apology for having a massive lapse in judgement. It would also be...

History buff thinks he has found 1585 English fort Tract predates Lost Colony Jerry Allegood, Staff Writer MANTEO - Amateur historian Scott Dawson thinks he has found what archaeologists and historians have sought for decades -- the site of an English fort on Roanoke Island linked to the legendary Lost Colony. Dawson, a Civil War buff, said that documents written centuries apart led him to an overgrown tract where he believes explorer Ralph Lane established a settlement in 1585. The site, on the northern end of the island about 200 miles east of Raleigh, is on National Park Service property...

The Roanoke Voyages ended dismally with the entire colony disappearing, never seen again after 1587. But a lesser-known yearlong expedition to Roanoke Island in 1585 may have provided valuable lessons for the colonists who came to Jamestown 22 years later, three researchers said recently in a paper presented at the annual conference of the Society of Historical Archaeology in Williamsburg, Va. "They don't really learn a lot from the Lost Colony, except to be careful," Phil Evans, president of the First Colony Foundation, said in a telephone interview. "Hope you get lucky - and be better prepared." But the 108...

Archaeologist promises to return Croatan ring The Associated Press September 3, 2002   2:39 pm BUXTON, N.C. -- An archaeologist who helped undercover the gold ring of a 16th century English nobleman trying to establish a colony on the Outer Banks has taken the ring and other artifacts to Florida.Discovery of the 10-carat gold ring suggests there was contact between the Indian civilization based at Croatan and leaders among the English explorers trying to found a colony on the North Carolina barrier islands.When Sir Walter Raleigh's Lost Colony -- a group of 117 men, women and children -- disappeared...

Volunteers to dig into Croatan Indian village site again By CATHERINE KOZAK, The Virginian-Pilot © May 28, 2006 The last time the long-dormant Croatan site was investigated, a team of archaeologists unearthed a 16th-century gold ring that may be the most significant archaeological find of early American history. In June, the team, with many of the same members who were there in 1998 when the English nobleman's ring was found, will be back to revive exploration of the ancient capital of the Croatan Indians in Buxton. Organized by The Lost Colony Center for Science and Research , the team of...

MANTEO - At an archaeological dig at Fort Raleigh National Historic Site, Phil Evans stepped into a meticulously measured pit and started shoveling dirt. The Durham lawyer is no scientist. But he couldn't miss this. After 30 years of searching, he still wants to pinpoint where the English failed to establish their first permanent colony in North America. Nearly every North Carolinian knows that a band of English settlers vanished from Roanoke Island about 1589, creating the legendary Lost Colony. No one knows where they went. An outdoor production replays the mystery year after year. But the full story is...

It's quiet at this Elliston home until a bear shows up. "He had done destroyed the trash, strung it all over the place," said Paul Perkins. It claws trash cans and leaves it's prints on a grill. Paul calls State Police and animal control, then the game warden. "The game warden is the only man who can handle this problem. That's what everybody tells me," he said. He says he never got a call back and the bear kept coming back. Paul's neighbor gave him some rubber buck shot game wardens said would deter the bear. "The buck shot hit...

ROANOKE — A package sent to the home of golf legend Byron Nelson was detonated by a bomb squad after his wife and police believed the parcel looked suspicious. The contents turned out to include banners from the Masters and a letter, Roanoke Fire Department Chief Mike Duncan said. He said Nelson's wife, Peggy, called police Friday after deciding the writing on the package looked peculiar and noticed that the postage had not been canceled. Remains from the package were given to police but Duncan said nothing appeared criminal. "We just have to err on the side of caution," Duncan...

Virginia Supreme Court rules shooting victim can sue motel The lawsuit by a man shot outside a Holiday Inn Express had been dismissed by a Roanoke judge. A guest who was shot eight times in the parking lot of a Roanoke Holiday Inn Express should be allowed to sue the motel for not protecting its customers in a high-crime area, the Virginia Supreme Court has ruled. Ryan Taboada had filed a $3 million lawsuit against the owners of the Holiday Inn Express after being shot and carjacked in the motel's parking lot on Gainsboro Road Northwest in March 2003. The...

ROANOKE, Va. -- When a couple left a huge tip on the table at Roanoke restaurant, their waitress figured it had to be a joke. They left $1,000 to cover a bill of $26.35. With it was a note saying "Keep the change! Have a great day." The gift left waitress Amanda Newkirk teary with excitement. But the 19-year-old, who's seven months pregnant, couldn't figure out why she'd been given such a generous tip -- 10 $100 bills. A couple of days later, she got her answer. A 28-year-old widow called Newkirk's boss to say she'd and her fiance had...

Octavia Johnson pulled off an election night surprise in Roanoke, beating incumbent Sheriff George McMillan in a close race and becoming the first Republican to win a city constitutional office in 16 years. A political novice just four years ago, Johnson will become the first woman and first minority sheriff in the Roanoke Valley. Johnson, a retired city sheriff's deputy who ran against McMillan four years ago and lost, was so excited and out of breath when she learned of her victory Tuesday night that she appeared close to hyperventilating as she entered a Wyndham Hotel ballroom to chants of...

Like campus queens before her, 20-year-old Anisah Rasheed has puts lots of work into finding the right evening gown and even staying in step for tonight's coronation, when amid all the glitz and pageantry of the day she is officially announced Miss A&T. The difference this year is that this Miss A&T will wear her jeweled tiara above her hajib, a headcovering worn by Muslim women. "Once I was elected Miss Freshman I knew I was at a university where they acknowledged everyone is different and it's OK to be different," said Rasheed, a marketing major from Roanoke, Va....

On Sunday morning, approximately 70 people met in Elmwood Park to be part of the first gay pride march in Roanoke. By Courtney Cutright 981-3340 The Roanoke Times In 1990, Sam Garrison, a Roanoke lawyer and gay rights activist, helped organize the first Pride in the Park event, a picnic coordinated by about a dozen people, a low-key event. Now 16 years later, the colorful gay and lesbian festival has grown to attract a crowd of approximately 2,500 people, event director Charles Richards said. On Sunday, men and women of all ages, families, children and dogs congregated in Elmwood Park...

Yes, it's their 16th annual "festival," but "SWEET SIXTEEN Cruisin' for a Kiss" (see the website) is just a little too obvious of an in-your-face double entendre. May I point out that in Virginia, sixteen year olds are minors, i.e., contributing to the delinquency of a minor, statutory rape, etc. That's nothing to be proud about! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ September means Pride! RoanokePride, Inc. is the guiding force behind the month-long series of activities known collectively as Pride. The centerpiece of our Pride celebration is the Pride-in-the-Park festival. Since it's inception in 1989, this gathering is the largest annual gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender event in...

ROANOKE, Va. - Wal-Mart has ditched a program that helped single shoppers find love in the discount store's aisles. Officials at Wal-Mart headquarters in Bentonville, Ark., ordered their Roanoke store to put an end to Singles Shopping, the only program of its kind at Wal-Mart's U.S. stores.

For 15 years, Va. teacher had offered bonus work on creationism ROANOKE, Va. - For 15 years, in defiance of a Supreme Court ruling, Larry Booher taught creationism in his high school biology class. He even compiled a textbook of sorts and passed out copies in three-ring binders. The school superintendent didn’t know what was going on. Neither did the school board president. Then, they got an anonymous tip. Booher has agreed to revise his lesson plan, though he maintained that he handed out the book, titled “Creation Battles Evolution,” to his Biology 2 students only as a voluntary, extra-credit...

(The Roanoke Times article is at the end of Fr. Thompson's letter. Scroll down to read it first, please.) Dear Mr. Lowe, In reply to your article in the Roanoke Times, May 8, "Does the press accurately cover religion?", I offer the following comments. In the article, you asked eight questions. In order, they are, "Who speaks for religious folks?". "Who is heard?". "What's a reporter to do?". "What kind of job are the media doing in covering moral values?". "Do reporters talk to too many conservatives?" [or] "Too many liberals?". "Is there a media conspiracy to subvert moral values?"...

Indictments handed down in Short family slaying 3-4-05 By Jen McCaffery Landmark News Service News & Record ROANOKE, Va. -- Indictments have been handed down relating to the investigation of the 2002 slaying of the Short family, a U.S. attorney said Thursday. But attorney John Brownlee also indicated in a news release that the three homicides remained unsolved. The joint federal, state and local investigation into the case is continuing, according to the release, which did not say who was indicted, or on what charges. Brownlee said he would announce the indictments at a news conference at his office today....

As authorities investigate the killings of a federal judge's family in Chicago, a Roanoke white supremacist on Wednesday applauded the murders as justified violence against Jews and the federal government. "I don't feel bad that Judge [Joan Humphrey] Lefkow's family was murdered," William A. White, editor of The Libertarian Socialist News, wrote in an essay Tuesday on his Web site, Overthrow.com. "In fact, when I heard the story I laughed. 'Good for them!' was my first thought." In his essay and in a phone interview Wednesday, White said he looked forward to further killings of Jews and their sympathizers. He...

Giles teacher caught on video, police say Posted: 3:36 p.m. The New River Valley Current A Giles County teacher was caught on video inappropriately touching a student during a class this week, Narrows Police Chief Tommy Gautier confirmed Friday. Homer Lee White, 54, a county teacher for three decades, was charged Wednesday with six counts of aggravated sexual assault against an 11-year-old male student. White is the music instructor at Narrows Elementary/Middle School and band director at Narrows High School. Gautier said that after parents complained that their son had been molested multiple times during school hours, police worked out...

TAKE ACTION: Join Planned Parenthood this Saturday for an hour of visibility in the Roanoke community. We'll be rallying support for access to contraception - the best way to prevent unintended pregnancies! When: Saturday, February 26th, 12:30-1:30pm What: Burma Shave for Access to Contraception! (Never seen a Burma Shave? Go to http://loper.org/~george/repchoice/2005/Feb/999.html for a picture of our Lobby Day Burma Shave - scroll down to the second picture.) Where: In front of Tanglewood Mall, at the intersection of Electric Road & Elm View Road (see map at http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?searchtype=address&country=US&addtohistory=&searchtab=home&address=Electric+Road+and+Elm+view+road&city=roanoke&state=va&zipcode Please let us know you'll be there! RSVP to Becky Reid at...

Author J.L. King, who has said he doesn't condemn a homosexual lifestyle, spoke with local church members about secret sex lives. ___ The minister's wife learned that her husband was sleeping with a man - but, she agreed to stay with him. J.L. King's wife, however, left him after a similar discovery. These were stories that King shared Saturday with a group of 58 men at Loudon Avenue Christian Church in Roanoke. Some black men lead secret sex lives apart from their wives and girlfriends, King says in his book "On the Down Low: A Journey Into the Lives of...

  Staff Sgt. David Scott Sublett, USAF, Retired, 54 of Roanoke passed away, Sunday, December 19, 2004. He was receded in death by his parents, Charles and Bernice Sublett, and infant brother of Grundy, VA. A decorated veteran, David served his country with distinction in thirteen duty stations around the World. He is survived by his wife of 31 years, Luisa, a son, US Army Specialist Jonathan Sublett serving in Afghanistan and his wife Nouthine and two sons, David and Justin of Roanoke, three Daughters, Christina Davis and her husband Ben, and three children, Cristian, Breanna, and Fallon of Salem, Maria...

I am sad to report that Freeper Militiaman7 passed away this morning from cancer. He loved FreeRepublic and was a local leader of FREEPS in the Roanoke, VA area. He had a FreeRepublic Banner he brought to all our Freeps. He was a disabled veteran who served his country. We will miss his quick sense of humor and his love for America and FreeRepublic. I have no further information at this time.

There will be a public Candlelight Memorial Service for President Ronald Reagan on Friday, June 11 in Roanoke, VA. The service will be held at 8:00 PM at St. John's Episcopal Church, Corner of Elm Ave. and Jefferson, next to Community Hospital. . Speakers will include Mayor Ralph Smith and others. The public is invited. This event is sponsored by Roanokejournal.com For more information, contact Bill McClure at bill@roanokejournal.com

4 students shot while waiting for school bus Posted 11:49 a.m. The Roanoke Times Several Patrick Henry High School students were hit by BBs or pellets Monday morning as they stood at their bus stops.

A pro-Bush FReep is in the planning stages for the Nextel Cup "Subway 500" at the Martinsville Speedway (VA) on October 24, 2004. This event is being organized in conjunction with the Greensboro, NC city chapter of Protest Warrior. As 100,000 fans are expected to attend this event, this offers an excellent opportunity to show our support for President Bush and perhaps sway a few undecided voters. I am trying to line-up a location outside the speedway grounds with local GOP officials, preferably along US 220, which is the main artery for race traffic approaching the speedway. Martinsville Speedway policy...

In his 15 years at WDBJ, the CBS affiliate in Roanoke, Va., station manager Bob Lee hasn't seen anything like it. After CBS News apologized last week for a 60 Minutes broadcast in which Dan Rather used now discredited documents to raise new questions about President Bush's National Guard service, the station received close to 1,000 phone calls, E-mails, and letters from angry viewers. "This has the potential to be devastating," says Lee, chairman of the CBS T elevision Network Affiliates Association. At CBS News headquarters in New York, the mood wasn't much different. "It's damaging," says Jeff Fager, executive...

The Virginia Conservative PAC will host a banquet in Roanoke, VA featuring guest speaker G. Gordon Liddy on Saturday, Sept. 11. Tickets are $75 for singles and $125 for couples, with sponsorship levels available. For more information, see: http://www.vcap.org/events.htm

<p>Let's see where to start. Please move on. We have a protest area set up. (Sorry, we are on private property and have permission to be here. The owner later showed up and stayed for the protest) Next, You can't get on the sidewalk. (Why not, as long as you don't impede traffic?) Roanoke Virginia has more Constitution breaking laws and rules than Washington, D.C.</p>

ROANOKE, Va. - Vice presidential candidate John Edwards on Saturday condemned television ads that question John Kerry's account of his service in Vietnam and called on President Bush to end them. "This is a moment of truth for George W. Bush," Edwards said at a Democratic rally. "We're going to see what kind of man he is and what kind of leader he is.... We want to hear three words: 'Stop these ads.'" The commercials by Swift Boat Veterans For Truth were financed by a Texas businessman with longtime ties to Bush and prominent Republicans in the state. A second...

WASHINGTON - Sen. John Kerry (news - web sites)'s campaign released a video Saturday comparing the controversy over Kerry's Vietnam service to attacks on John McCain during the 2000 Republican primaries. The video, sent via e-mail to supporters, says, "George Bush is up to his old tricks" and shows then-Texas Gov. Bush and Arizona Sen. John McCain (news, bio, voting record) at a debate in February 2000. McCain, sitting next to Bush, says that when "fringe veterans groups" attacked him at a Bush campaign function, Bush stood by and didn't say a word. McCain says a group of senators wrote...

Just got back from a BIG FREEP and Bush Rally at the John Edwards event in Roanoke, VA at Addison Middle School. Hope to get some pictures on here but we had about 50 people show up with Bush signs, Flags and anti-Kerry, anti-Edwards signs about 9:30...doors opened at 10. Looks like the Edwards people have learned from the last Edwards rally for 1000 that only drew 200...they bussed people in on several buses, so they can say the rally was "full". It was WONDERFUL...the Dems tried to have us moved, as we were on a lot JUST ACROSS from...