Short takes

An option to bear in mind

If only bears would make themselves useful by patrolling around Raleigh Court in the evenings, scooping up unsuspecting skunks, dumping them into the nearest Big Blue trash cans and slamming the lids shut before the little stinkers can infuse the entire neighborhood with the smell of burning rubber.

But bears have other things on their minds, like the leftover pepperoni pizza and potato chips sitting curbside on trash pickup day.

More and more bears are making nuisances of themselves, and Roanoke County is getting more and more complaints, mostly from the rural Catawba and Clearbrook communities.

The county has long permitted residents to bear-proof their garbage bins using an assortment of double hinge hasps, trigger snap clips and a U-bolt. For people like us who don’t know a U-bolt from YouTube, county supervisors voted to accept a state grant for the purchase of commercially-made trash cans that will keep Yogi out of the Yoplait. County residents who want a can will be asked to pay half of the cost, estimated to be about $125.

Do-it-yourselfers meanwhile can break out the hex bolts and rig up their existing bins. Roanoke County offers an instructional video on its Facebook page, www.facebook.com/RoanokeCountyVirginia.Government, and the Virginia Tech Black Bear Research Center, www.facebook.com/VTBearCenter, has a fun video of a real bear helping to test out the technology.

A toast to Virginia’s wineries

Virginia’s charming little vineyards are aging into a crisp, robust industry exporting bottles as far as China, luring in tourists, employing 4,700 Virginians and pumping nearly $750 million into the state’s economy. Gov. Bob McDonnell during his “Commonwealth of Opportunity” tour, staged to tout his accomplishments, toasted the growth of the state’s wineries under his watch.

This past year, the state’s nearly 230 wineries sold more than 511,000 cases, an improvement on last year’s 485,000 cases, and a 23 percent growth since the governor took office. And the governor reported, Virginia earned an A+ and was ranked No. 1 for consumer friendliness in wine laws by the American Wine Consumer Coalition.

The administration touts the easing of regulations to attract wine entrepreneurs, and the wine tax, which generated $1.7 million last year, that is used to market Virginia wines. A complex blend of political philosophies that when balanced produces a desired finish.

We raise our glass to toast the continued good cheer of Virginia’s wine industry, and note we will have ample opportunities to do so often during the many upcoming fall wine festivals. Check them out at virginia.org/winefestivals.

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