8 Beers on Tap PLUS
Located beside the BAC (Botetourt Athletic Club)
on route 604, Cloverdale Road, halfway between route 460 and i-81. www.luckydogpub.com
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The Roanoke Star-Sentinel Community | News | Per spective
December 9 - 15, 2011
NewsRoanoke.com
[Valley Business]
Hometown Flavor Sight Givers
P3– Volunteers at the Roanoke Valley Center for Sight give a very special gift.
Mike Keeler
Real
Cinnamon
Steve Davidson, President of Roanoke Railhouse Brewery, Justin Martin, and Mayor David Bowers with a plaque presented to Martin's Downtown Bar and Grill. The brewery recently recognized their first ten customers.
P5– Mike Keeler has the scoop on where cinnamon comes from and what he knows might just surprise you.
T
Buy Vinton! P8– The town of Vinton encourages shoppers to keep their dollars local when purchasing holiday gifts.
Leading Light P9– After teaching art for almost 40 years at Hollins ar tist Bill White has learned to follow the light as he puts oil to canvas.
Roanoke Railhouse Brewery Enjoys Growth Locally and Regionally
he Roanoke Railhouse Brewery recognized and honored their “First Ten” customers last week. Steve Davidson, president of Roanoke Railhouse Brewery, Brewmaster Ryan Worthington, and Mayor David Bowers presented a plaque to Martin’s Downtown Bar and Grill. Martin’s was the very first establishment to place the brewery’s Track 1 Amber lager on tap. Each of the First Ten restaurants will be receiving their plaque over the coming days. They include Rockfish Food & Wine, Jimmy V’s, Montano’s, Annie Moore’s Pub, Brambleton Deli, The Pizza Pasta Pit, Mac & Bob’s, Fork in the Alley and the Hotel Roanoke. Roanoke Railhouse Brewery opened in 2009 in the former Dr. Pepper bottling plant. The company has pro-
duced nearly 25,000 gallons of brew this year in their 4,000 square foot facility. “The on-site, spring-fed well water is one of the things that differentiates Roanoke Railhouse Brewery beer from other craft-breweries,” said Director of Marketing Mathew Machtay. The Valley’s only hometown brewery now distributes to over one hundred bars and restaurants throughout Virginia and North Carolina. The brew is also available in Kroger’s, Stop-In Food stores, and many specialty bottle shops. The Brewery offers retail “Growler Hours” on Fridays 5:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. and Saturdays from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Tours are on Saturdays at 1:15 p.m. and 2:15 p.m. To learn more visit www.roanokerailhouse.com.
State Legislators Hear City’s Priorities
This year Roanoke City will have new help lobbying for their top priorities in Richmond. As part of a cost savings move, the city has eliminated a part-time Richmond lobbyist and will now have consultants to beat on the door of legislators. Arguing the case for RCPS and the city’s top five priorities will be the firm of Alcalde & Fay. Robert Catron and Randy Cook from the Arlington firm attended Monday morning’s legislative program. Roanoke City’s delegate Onzlee Ware and delegate-elect Chris Head were also on hand to listen to the city’s wish-list. Senator John Edwards was in Richmond but had his legislative aid Alison Baird represent him. Roanoke City School Board member Annette Lewis and chairman David Carson made the case for their one priority - that classifications given by the VHSL to high schools not be based solely on their size. The Virginia High School League places Roanoke City’s high schools in the AAA classification creating a hardship on student athletes and a financial burden on the school system in travel cost. RCPS has failed to convince VHSL to reclassify the schools to AA so they can compete locally. The school board is asking for an oversight committee to resolve school division appeals. The other option would be for the General Assembly to establish a study committee to review the effects of the > CONTINUED P2: Legislators
Cuccinelli Announces Local Dogs and Owners Take to Flyball Exoneration of Haynesworth On any given Sunday points and Poco has won Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli applauded the Court of Appeals of Virginia’s 6-4 decision to fully exonerate Thomas Haynesworth from his 1984 sexual assault convictions in a series of rapes in Henrico County and Richmond. The court granted Haynesworth’s writs of actual innocence on Tuesday morning. “Today marks the end of an unimaginable nightmare for Thomas Haynes- Photo courtesy of Thomas www.exonerate.org worth. For 27 years in prison, he always Thomas Haynesmaintained his innocence and continuworth. ously displayed tremendous dignity and grace, steadfastly believing that justice would one day be served. Today, justice was in fact served, and Thomas Haynesworth was finally granted the total freedom he so deserves,” said Cuccinelli. In 1984, while picking up groceries for his mother, Haynesworth was mistakenly identified as the man who had attacked five women in the Richmond metro area. He was later convicted and imprisoned for three of these attacks. Haynesworth then served 27 years behind bars for crimes he did not commit. In 2009, DNA testing cleared Haynesworth of one of the rapes and also confirmed that another man -- Leon Davis-- actually committed the crime. No DNA evidence remained in the two remaining convictions, but DNA testing in another case where Haynesworth was acquitted also cleared him and implicated > CONTINUED P3: Exoneration
morning at the Salem YMCA, people going inside to work out might hear dogs barking at a nearly ear-splitting level. That’s just members of the Heads or Tails flyball club and their human partners, hard at work. Flyball, which is often referred to as drag racing for dogs, has been around since the 1990s. A handler releases their dog to jump over four hurdles, (which are set at the Bob Villamil and his dog. height of the smallest dog on ticipating in flyball for several the team) as they race toward years. “I started out with my a box. They run up onto the miniature poodle (Rikki) four box and a tennis ball “flies” up. years ago and then I brought The dog grabs the ball with its my Goldendoodle (Poco) into mouth, then heads back over it about two years ago.” the four jumps again to the “I have very high energy starting line. The four dogs on dogs that are pretty smart but each team must perform per- they’re best in an activity where fectly and faster than the dogs they can just burn off a lot of competing against them just energy.” feet away. Rikki has won about 2500 Bob Villamil has been par-
about 200 points in competitions. “If you have a high energy dog that likes chasing balls, its an excellent sport. It gives the dog a job to do, something to focus on. And it’s a real positive thing for the owners too because they get to partner with people on the team and build a lot of camaraderie that way.” Jacob Siehler from Lexington and his dog Iri (pronounced Erie), a 2-year-old Belgian sheepdog, are also members of the team. “It’s fast and fun . . .What more can you say?” “I found out about flyball in the ‘90’s, when I had a young dog that I was looking for stuff to do with. But there were no groups around the area at the
> CONTINUED P3: Flyball
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