1997 (10 years ago)

n "More than 9,000 people from all over Western Virginia and North Carolina worked themselves into a frenzied roar" during Turner Network Television's "Monday Nitro" wrestling show at the Roanoke Civic Center.

n "Armed with a $750,000 donation from the Belk Foundation, Roanoke College will begin planning a new campus fitness center."

n "The Kroger store at Spartan Square on West Main Street in Salem will stock its shelves that Saturday [April 12] with a cereal box featuring photographs of the state AA champion Salem High football team.

The corn flakes, called Hometown Stars and selling for $4.99 a box, will be available for a limited time only at the Spartan Square store."

n "Roanoke College and Bell Atlantic of Virginia will feature telecommunications entrepreneur Mark R. Warner at a public forum at noon April 9 in the Shenandoah Room of the Hotel Roanoke and Conference Center."

n "The second-longest game in East Coast Hockey League history may have been the No. 1 heartbreaker in the history of the Roanoke Express. Express goaltender Dave Gagnon turned in one of the greatest performances in the nine-year history of the ECHL. But the Hampton Roads Admirals clipped the Express early in the third overtime for a dramatic 4-3 victory in Game 1 of a Kelly Cup Playoff series at Norfolk's Scope that began Wednesday night and ended early Thursday morning."

n "Danny Taylor hopes tonight's opener signals a new beginning for auto racing in Roanoke." It would be the first time since 1991-93 that auto races were held at Victory Stadium.

n "A park is all that remains of a street [Shadeland Avenue] destroyed in the 1985 flood. Area residents are hoping to have that park linked by a greenway to nearby Washington Park."

n "The National D-Day Memorial planned for Bedford County will get shared billing with a New Orleans D-Day museum Tuesday in the same room where two former U.S. presidents announced their candidacies.

Stephen Ambrose, noted author and D-Day historian, will talk about the memorial and the museum during his hour-long talk and question-and-answer session at the National Press Club in Washington."

1982 (25 years ago)

n "The pressures of recession, unemployment, inflation and high interest rates led to a monthly record of 356 petitions filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Western Virginia in March."

n "The Civil Aeronautics Board has given final approval for the Norfolk and Western Railway to purchase 20.2 percent of Piedmont Aviation Inc. common stock at an investment of $56.7 million."

n "For Salem Redbirds fans to enjoy this year's team, a scorecard might not be as important as a calculator. ... The 1982 Redbirds ... will be a team that should light up the sky with rockets -- both their own and their opponents."

n "Strong winds across Western Virginia Saturday knocked out power, blew down trees, set traffic signals bobbing and dancing above intersections and had residents holding onto their hats."

n Roanoke's Centennial Parade would feature several celebrities. Among them were astronaut Wally Schirra, baseball standout Boog Powell and "Mean Joe Green" of NFL fame.

n "Roanoke and Bedford were rattled the hardest Tuesday by winds of up to 73 mph that ripped across the state."

"The poet who indicated some years ago that it was not possible to see the wind should have been around the Roanoke Valley Tuesday."

1957 (50 years ago)

n "The favorite food of patients at Roanoke Veterans Administration Hospital is roast beef ... They eat more than 3,000 pounds of it a week."

n "There must be some thirsty people in Roanoke. Two beer distributors have reported to police they have been the victims of thieves."

n "The Roanoke Hospital Assn. will ask City Council Monday to turn over the city's Coyner's Springs sanatorium to the association. The facility would be operated as an annex to Roanoke Memorial Hospital for treatment and rehabilitation of chronically ill or impaired persons."

n "A North Carolina high school teacher will be Paul the Apostle in 'Thy Kingdom Come' this summer. Six local men will fill leading roles. And four local teenagers will play minor parts."

n "The newest and largest variety store in the Rose chain will be opened in Roanoke ... tomorrow ... The store is on Wayne street adjoining the Sears, Roebuck and Co. development."

n "Dr. Bryon N. Cooper, head of the department of geological sciences at Virginia Tech, will begin a 13,000-mile lecture tour of leading geological societies and departments in American and Canadian universities April 10."

n Roanoke's first telerama was at the American Legion auditorium. It raised money for the Roanoke Area Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

n The Roanoke Diamond Jubilee organization said that "every male Roanoker should grow a beard." "The lodge or motor court to be built on the Blue Ridge Parkway at the Peaks of Otter will be operated on a non-segregated basis."

n "The ghosts of Einstein, Newton -- and perhaps Buck Rodgers -- took over the Roanoke College gym today. The 135 youngsters who set up their entries in the fourth annual Western Virginia Science Fair there proved beyond a doubt that they have heroes other than Elvis."

1932 (75 years ago)

n "April the first having dawned clear and cold with a promise of warmer weather, the big guns of Roanoke sandlot baseball were taking on a cheerier aspect and polishing up their gabbing machines for tonight's talkfest."

n "Amid the blare of the band and in a hall profusely decorated with flags and bunting and pictures of President Hoover, the 1932 Republican State Convention got under way at the Roanoke auditorium shortly after noon today."

n "Secretary of Labor William N. Doak, a former Roanoke resident," gave the keynote address at the Republican State Convention.

n "J. Newton Davis, special representative of Frank Holton and Company, originators of the school band plan, will be at Jackson Junior high school Monday and Tuesday for the purpose of organizing a student band, authorized by the city school board."

n "Roanoke negroes will join with colored people throughout the nation in observing this week as National Negro health week."

n "It is not unusual that one hears of a diamond or pearl being taken from a chicken's craw, but it remained for the Rev. C. H. Hayes ... to kill a chicken whose liver totaled almost one-fourth the gross weight of the fowl."

n "The Freiburg Players, of Freiburg, Germany, whose ancestors have performed in the Passion Play since 1264, A.D., will bring the drama of the persecution, crucifixion and resurrection of Christ to Roanoke for three performances on April 15 and 16."

n "The overhanging ledge of the City Market building held a truck captive for eight minutes today and drew a crowd of spectators, each offering his own suggestions to the driver as to how to extricate the truck."

n "The opening of the Grandin Theater here March 26 netted the Roanoke Junior Woman's Club $1,472.75 and paid the remainder of debt on the school for crippled children, the club's most important project."

n "Notice on the door of a Federal office building: 'Closed on Account of Election, Tuesday, April 5, 1932.' And someone said there was no interest in the election."

n "As a part of its economy program, the Norfolk and Western Railway company has decided to appropriate no money for baseball and other similar activities this year."

n "S. Harris Hoge, postmaster, today suggested that local organizations consider plans for erecting war memorials, or monuments, on the two plots of ground in front of the new Federal postoffice."

n "Norfolk and Western baseball enthusiasts held a brief but decisive conference at Maher Field yesterday afternoon and decided to form their own league and finance it independently, finances from the railway being denied them."

1907 (100 years ago)

n "The cold wave which struck the city Saturday night doubtless destroyed the fruit crop of the state."

"The weather was a great disappointment to the people of Roanoke Sunday and the extensive preparations made for an Easter display had to be abandoned until the weather man was more favorably inclined towards this section."

n "Roanoke 2; V.P.I. 0: was the result of yesterday's contest between the collegians and the local Virginia State Leaguers ... Jumpin' blazes, but it was cold, the players almost freezing in their tracks ..."

n "Last night a gentleman brought into the reportorial rooms of The Times and introduced a man as Baron Hamilton Gezymski, some time lieutenant in the Russian army."

n "The management of the Mountain Park Rink have engaged, at an enormous expense, for four nights ... 'the Great Samoyoa' an aerial performer, who stands at the top of his line of business."

n "Bing! Bang! Boom! Was the tune the Highlanders warbled on their willows in the first inning against the Binghampton club of the New York State League." Roanoke won, 6-4.

n "The mountain of trash that has lain so long in the rear of the Ponce de Leon hotel is daily endangering the property in that neighborhood ... It appears to be up to the city authorities to rid the lot of the mountains of tinder which are a standing danger to one of the most valuable blocks in the town."

n "Mayor Cutchin has been invited to attend the National Arbitration and Peace Congress, which convenes in New York City April 14^th to 17^th, 1907."

n "Ott Willis, the Salem boy, who made such a wonderful record last season in the Virginia State League, will be seen in action against Montreal today."

n "The Roanoke Gas & Water Co. yesterday received nearly a thousand 'Vulcan' bread toasters which will be given away free to users of gas ranges."