Roanoke Times & World News

Living the Dream

When Cynthia Frazier bought her Downing Street home in Roanoke this summer, she and her three sons turned on music and danced in the living room. Total Action Against Poverty's individual development accounts program gave them the chance to celebrate.

Budget Woes Hit Bootleg Foes

Virginia's one-of-a-kind Illegal Whiskey Unit -- a team of agents dedicated to busting up bootleg stills -- has fallen prey to state budget woes, leaving Southwest Virginia's elusive moonshiners without a full-time, dedicated foe for the first time in decades. The whiskey unit based in Franklin County, long considered the "moonshine capital of the world," once numbered as many as five agents with expertise in the illicit liquor trade, and their mission -- perhaps quixotic --was to quash ...

Hospitals Stress Flu Precautions

In the midst of widespread swine flu infections in Virginia and on the cusp of the full-fledged fall premiere of seasonal flu, both Carilion Clinic and HCA Southwest Virginia are "strongly recommending," at the least, that all of their thousands of employees receive flu vaccinations. For HCA employees, the recommendation is actually a mandate.

Around the Valley

ROANOKE COUNTY Cigarette started fire that consumed home

Charge Against Lawyer Dropped

A sexual assault charge against a Roanoke lawyer was dropped Thursday morning in Salem General District Court. David Denton Lawrence was charged in May with misdemeanor sexual battery after a woman alleged he pushed her onto a bed and groped her. According to a summons obtained by the woman from a magistrate, the assault reportedly took place in her home two months earlier, in March. It is not clear what delayed the woman's decision to bring charges.

Man Gets 4 Years for Making Threats

A man whose online tirades about Seung-Hui Cho and armed campus takeovers caused college students in Illinois and admissions workers at Rice University to evacuate homes and offices was sentenced Wednesday to four years in federal prison. Allen Leon Sammons, 28, pleaded guilty in June in U.S. District Court in Abingdon to five counts of sending threats via interstate commerce. Prosecutors said he was angry at a University of Illinois- Urbana student who he thought wronged him when she t...

Cigarette Executive Sentenced in Mail Fraud

The president of a North Carolina cigarette company was barred from the tobacco industry for a decade as part of a federal sentence that includes a year and a day in prison. Terence P. McLaughlin, president of CLP Inc. of Ayden, N.C., also agreed to pay about $1 million in past-due federal excise taxes.

Charities Gear Up for Winter

Two Roanoke Valley charitable organizations are gearing up to help people who need assistance during the winter and holiday season. The Salvation Army is accepting applications from anyone experiencing financial hardship and needing help with food, clothing and children's toys this Christmas. Applications will be taken at the Salvation Army Community Center, 724 Dale Ave. S.E., on Sundays at 2 p.m. and on Mondays and Tuesdays at 9 a.m. through Oct. 27.

Keeping Cities Healthy

Sure, the trophy Tim Taylor brought home from Richmond last weekend was nice. It was glass with an inscription on it that read "Best Neighborhood Project," and it would look good on a shelf somewhere. It was recognition for a project organized by Old Southwest Inc. in late May, when about 50 volunteers surprised an 82-year-old widow in their neighborhood by showing up to paint, do minor repairs and tackle landscaping projects.

Candidates Discuss Lifting Hunting Ban

Democrat Creigh Deeds, who in most polls is trailing Republican Bob McDonnell in the race for governor, made a pitch for hunters and other sportsmen Thursday by saying he would support a local option to lift a ban on Sunday hunting. In response, McDonnell said he would also lift the ban, but only on private land.

Fall Foliage Should Be 'Great'

"It should be great." That's the fall foliage forecast from John Seiler, a professor of forestry at Virginia Tech who specializes in tree physiology.

Obit - Late Notice

Student Charged After Explosives Are Found

A Patrick Henry High School student faces a criminal charge after a search Wednesday revealed a suspicious object, according to police. School staff members found an object containing firecrackers and metal objects inside an Axe body spray can after searching the student, a 16-year-old boy, Roanoke police spokeswoman Aisha Johnson said.

Obit - Bowman, Dustin Lewis

Obit - Quesenberry, Michael Edward

Obit - Gray, Dorothy Louise Minnick

Obit - Franklin, Melvin Donald (Our Beloved Papa)

Obit - King, Roger Lee

Obit - Thompson, Bobby Ray

Obit - Herman, Bruce Edward