DISSONANCE AT THE FIDDLERS CONVENTION

-- THEN: A little controversy arose in August at the Old Fiddlers Convention in Galax when people began complaining about the volume of electric basses being played at the old-time and bluegrass music festival. Bass players who said they had been toting their electric instruments around reported that festival security broke up at least four groups who were amping up the bass before a temporary compromise arose. Bill Beasley, governor of Moose Lodge 773 -- which puts on the fest -- said that a committee at the lodge would review the rules and make a final decision.

-- NOW: The committee mulled over the definition of the word "loud" in rule 15, which says "no boomboxes or loud amplified music" are "to be played at any time during the convention." After much discussion, the committee decided to simply drop the word loud, so now it reads "no boomboxes or amplified music to be played at any time during the convention." In other words, no more electric bass guitars.

-- Tad Dickens

-- THEN: In August, the town of Blacksburg opened the renovated Blacksburg Motor Co. building to house the town's planning, building, engineering and geographic information systems departments. Town officials touted the reuse of the building, which was constructed in 1924, and the sustainable features. However, environmental concerns dogged the building and drew concerns from some residents, such as about the contaminated soil and water at the property that once served as a gasoline and oil distribution center.

The building's opening was delayed twice, but in August, tests of the air quality inside the building determined that the building was safe.

-- NOW: Since then, there have been no gas smells, said Adele Schirmer, who is the project manager and the town's engineering and GIS department director. She said there's no requirement for continued testing but anticipates that the town will do further air quality testing in the building sometime within the first year of occupancy.

She said town staff and people who have visited the building seem to value how it has been preserved and the green building elements. The building's features include energy-conservation technology, such as motion-sensor lights in rooms and a geothermal heating and cooling system.

-- Sharla Bardin

HOUSE OF ILL REPUTE

-- THEN: Fed up with drug dealing, prostitution, fights, disorderly conduct and other assorted mayhem at a house in Northeast Roanoke, city officials took the rare step in April of filing a petition declaring the home a drug blight. Owner Martin P. Moran agreed to bar 13 of his most frequent "guests," who authorities believed had a lot to do with the problems in the 2100 block of Holley Road.

-- NOW: The 13 people seem to have stayed away for the most part -- only to be replaced by other troublemakers. After Moran signed a consent order allowing police to enter his home without a warrant, they did just that recently and found what City Attorney Bill Hackworth called "some problems." Moran now faces a charge of maintaining a common nuisance.

-- Laurence Hammack

FANTASY FATBALL

-- THEN: Eleven men wagered $100 each in a fantasy league-type contest to see who could lose the most weight. The guys based their contest on fantasy sports leagues that tally statistics and rank the leaders. When the contest ended in April, Roanoker Sam Lackey won by losing 72 pounds, almost 25 percent of his starting weight.

-- NOW: Unfortunately, many of the guys gained weight after the competition was over, according to league "commissioner" Josh Gibson. Even though Fantasy Fatball wasn't a long-term solution for these big losers, they're ready to jump back into the pool.

"Fatball II is in full swing as we speak," Gibson wrote in an e-mail, "with a bigger pot, more people, [and] we have spread out geographically."

And "spread out" literally, too, from the sound of it.

-- Ralph Berrier Jr.

MAYBERRY CHURCH PAINTING

-- THEN: Members of Mayberry Presbyterian Church, one of the famous "rock churches" constructed by the Rev. Bob Childress in the 1920s, commissioned North Carolina painter William Mangum to paint a picture of the church to help raise money for a fellowship hall. Mangum gave the church a discount on his fee, and his original painting sold for $10,000.

-- NOW: The church has sold nearly 75 large prints, 80 smaller prints and more than 200 boxes of cards that feature Mangum's painting, according to church member Jim Saunders. The church has raised $67,000, but is still more than $200,000 short of its goal. The painting of the Mayberry church will be featured on the January page of Mangum's 2010 calendar.

-- Ralph Berrier Jr.

ROONEY (THE ROANOKE COLLEGE MASCOT)

-- THEN: During the third week of April, after the college considered more than 350 submissions, the Maroons' new mascot, Rooney the Hawk, made his debut with an on-campus media appearance.

-- NOW: Rooney has been a very busy bird.

In addition to attending as many Roanoke College games as he could, he visited Salem elementary schools and took part in college orientation and spring graduation, clad in a gown and mortar board four times standard size. He got a (simulated) flu shot on campus, stopped by Salem Memorial Ballpark to hang out on Mascot Day; drew more than 1,000 friends on Facebook and even marched in the city Christmas parade.

Roanoke College spokeswoman Teresa Gereaux said the Roon might even bust into the realm of Garfield and Snoopy.

"One student has approached us about a cartoon in the student newspaper," she said. "We may see that in the next semester."

-- Neil Harvey

ROANOKE POST OFFICE CLOSINGS

-- THEN: In August, the U.S. Postal Service named nearly 700 offices as imminent candidates for being shut down, including five in the Roanoke area. A month later a revised list trimmed that number to two -- the postal stations on Williamson Road and at Hollins University.

-- NOW: And then there was -- one!

Postal service spokeswoman Cathy Yarosky said that on Nov. 17, the list was updated again.

"After going through a study for Hollins, it was determined it was not feasible to close at this time," Yarosky explained, but said she couldn't be more specific. "We may be putting out a news release in the next several weeks that refines that list, but I think Williamson Road will remain on it."

-- Neil Harvey

THE SMITH MOUNTAIN LAKE MOVIE

-- THEN: Actress and fledgling producer Sara Elizabeth Timmins hoped to raise about $500,000 by August so she could start shooting a dramatic comedy on location at Smith Mountain Lake in the fall.

"The goal is really to open people's eyes, and everyone else in the county, to what Smith Mountain Lake really is," she said in July.

-- NOW: Timmins didn't make her fundraising deadline but is now aiming for fall 2010. And she's got an ace-in-the-hole: man's best friend.

In November, while shopping her project around the American Film Market in Los Angeles, Timmins said she was repeatedly told there's nothing like a cute pooch on a poster to help launch and sell a family film.

"We can do it without compromising our script and our story," she said, adding that she hopes cameras will roll in time to capture autumn's colors. "We're still estimating it's going to be September or October that we'll shoot."

-- Neil Harvey

LOW-HEAD DAMS

-- THEN: Two people died while canoeing on the Blackwater River in Franklin County this year. Both Jacqueline Mason and Chris Odum got caught in the hydraulic cycle of the low-head dam and drowned.

-- NOW: Improvements have been made to the low-head dam where Mason and Odum died. Officials from the county and Rocky Mount partnered to add stone to the front of the dam to break up the hydraulic cycle that can drown anyone who gets caught in it. A new portage area was also added.

Officials are now looking into similar improvements to the low-head dam on the Pigg River near the veterans memorial in Rocky Mount.

-- Janelle Rucker

ROANOKE COUNTY TIRE PILES

-- THEN: Brian Perkins is a business owner who was cited repeatedly by Roanoke County and Virginia Department of Environmental Quality officials for his accumulation of 4,000 to 5,000 tires on a leased business site in West County. In January, the county's board of supervisors rejected his appeal of the zoning administrator's decision that Perkins was in violation of county regulations, which made it impossible for him to get a DEQ permit for a recycling operation.

Failure to comply with orders to clean up and close down the site could have resulted in felony charges, a fine of $100,000 and civil penalties as high as $32,500 a day.

-- NOW: Perkins says he has "ceased operations in Roanoke County and will be moving to another locality" nearby. "I shredded my product and sold it to an end user." He's moving, he said, because "Roanoke County is too difficult to deal with."

Jerry Ford, the DEQ environmental specialist overseeing the case, said it appears that no whole tires remain at the site, resolving "imminent environmental concerns." However, Ford said his agency is still awaiting documentation of the disposal of the tires "to tie up loose ends."

"We have not resolved our enforcement action," he said.

-- Cody Lowe

STARLIGHT LANE BLAZE

-- THEN: Jason and Heather Gibson -- and children, Shane, 7, and Aiden, 3 -- lost their Starlight Lane home in a May blaze. After their two cats, along with countless possessions and memories, perished in the fire, members of Clearbrook Elementary School community raised money to help them buy new clothing and toys.

-- NOW: The Gibsons are living in a rental home they found in mid-July on Starkey Road in Roanoke County, Heather Gibson said.

The two-bedroom brick house is smaller than their old home, but it's better than the temporary quarters they had found in an apartment complex immediately after the fire.

Though the new house is zoned for Shane to attend Penn Forest Elementary School, Clearbrook Elementary Principal Karen Pendleton made an exception so he could remain with his friends during second grade at Clearbrook.

"We're just trying to keep a sense of steadiness for the children," Gibson said.

-- Jordan Fifer

MONKEY BUSINESS

-- THEN: Roanoker Mik Collins, 40, sought a monkey to be ring-bearer at his wedding to Brandy Reynolds, 30, this past spring with a classified ad in The Roanoke Times.

-- NOW: "We couldn't find a monkey," said Collins.

Their backup plan for the May 23 ceremony? "A really anticlimactic" stuffed monkey, carried down the aisle by Collins' best man.

Collins isn't displeased with the lack of a wedding day primate.

"It's hard to be disappointed when you're marrying the woman of your dreams," he said.

The couple plan to honeymoon in the jungles of Guatemala sometime in 2010.

"So we may get a monkey after all."

-- Jordan Fifer