Monday, July 14, 2008
Fountain built for horses, dogs, too
Tom Angleberger
The New River Valley-based reporter answers your questions Mondays in his column, What's on Your Mind?
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Q: There is a small fountain at the intersection of Salem Avenue and Market Street [in downtown Roanoke]. It has a dog head on one side where the water comes out and flows down to a larger lower basin. Do you know the history of this fountain? Is the water safe for kids to splash in or drink?
-- Jon Polk, Roanoke
A: I think it's safe to say that any fountain that filthy-fingered kids can splash in is automatically not safe to drink from.
But I guess the horses don't mind. Yep, it's not a people fountain; it's a police horse fountain.
I should have guessed that, because I've seen Roanoke's mounted police in that area before, but I had never seen a horse taking a sip.
Luckily, P.J. Grubb, a mechanical supervisor for Roanoke's city government, was able to put it all together for us.
"As far back as I can remember the fountain was originally put in to water peoples' horses while riding in downtown Roanoke some time back at the turn of the century," he explained.
Officially, the fountain is still there for the police horses, but, with residential life growing downtown, it's getting some new users.
"It seems that some of the people that live in various condos downtown also use the fountain to water their dogs while walking them."
So, I'd recommend you head into the market for an iced tea instead.
Q: We were on vacation and driving through eastern Virginia when we saw signs that said "NO OLF." What does it mean?
-- Ray Drain, Newcastle
A: The OLF is eastern Virginia and North Carolina's version of our Norfolk Southern intermodal port -- a big project that's either an absolute necessity or an abomination of nature or possibly both.
For us it's trains. For them it's planes. U.S. Navy planes. The Navy wants an "outlying landing field," a place for pilots to practice. It will be seriously noisy, but then again it may save our bacon when World War III breaks out.
Our sister newspaper, The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk, has been following the story, which has dragged on for years and will probably continue to do so.
According to The Virginian-Pilot, the Navy is considering five sites for the OLF. Three of the sites are in eastern Virginia; two others are in North Carolina. Another North Carolina site was taken off the list when residents and environmentalists raised a ruckus about it.
So the signs you saw were probably from others who are hoping that they can raise their own ruckus and keep the jets out of their back yards, too.
Hey, maybe we can put the jets and the trains right next to each other and only destroy one region?
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I had some interesting responses to last week's question regarding the effects of speculators on oil prices. I reported that the federal Energy Information Administration doesn't think speculators are a big problem. Nor do they blame the falling dollar.
"Tom, why ask the fox guarding the henhouse about high prices?" asked Arthur Hill, who made it clear that he does blame speculators for our $4 a gallon gas. He urged me to look into the "Enron loophole," a bit of deregulation that both presidential candidates apparently agree should be closed.
J. Tyler Balance had Enron on his mind, too.
"We are being Enron-ed and none of our elected officials has the guts to do anything to protect the interests of the people. Every incumbent should be voted out of office until gas prices are back to below $1.00 and we have a national policy for energy independence by the year 2020."
Another reader disagreed with the EIA, too.
"You have been suckered," wrote Norb Weckstein, of Roanoke. "But it serves you right for believing anything that a Bush functionary tells you."
Weckstein disagreed with the part about the falling dollar.
"The oil-producing states are not stupid. They adjust the stated price of a barrel of oil upward to account for the devalued dollar, so as to make sure they get the same real value for their oil that they were previously getting."
If you have an opinion about one of my answers or if you want to suggest a new question, send them to woym@roanoke.com or leave them on my voice mail at 777-6476 (please be sure to speak clearly and spell your name). I'll need your name, location and phone number or e-mail address.
Look for Tom Angleberger's column on Mondays.
