He will be honored on March 22 at the Salem-Roanoke County Chamber of Commerce 78th annual awards dinner at the Sheraton Roanoke Hotel & Conference Center.

Salem Police Officer Mark Adkins

Adkins solved two larceny cases and recovered a number of stolen items by keeping his eyes open and paying attention to detail, said Salem Police Chief Jeff Dudley.

In one case, the officer spotted a suspicious vehicle linked to a theft several months earlier. When Adkins pulled over the vehicle, the driver confessed.

In the other case, Adkins was recovering tools stolen from a vehicle in Salem when he noticed a number of other items at that home which had been reported stolen in an unrelated burglary. He was able to return to the home and also recover those items.

“Mark is always very attentive and alert to his surroundings,” Chief Dudley said. “Noticing little details like the ones that helped solve these crimes is what makes him a good police officer.”

Adkins said he couldn’t have solved the crimes without his fellow police officers, “so I really look at this as a team award.”

Law enforcement is a family affair for him. His dad, Gene,

was at the Roanoke County Sheriff’s Office for 25 years, and Adkins’ brother, Mike, is a sergeant at Western Virginia Regional Jail near the Roanoke County-Montgomery County line.

Before he joined the Salem Police Department as a patrol officer in 2008, Adkins worked in the Roanoke County Sheriff’s Office at the Roanoke County-Salem Jail.

“I just enjoy working with people and my philosophy always has been to treat people with the same respect they show me until it calls for something different,” Adkins said. “I honestly had a guy call into the Salem Police Department one day to say he appreciated me giving him a ticket.”

Adkins grew up in the Glenvar area of Roanoke County and graduated from Glenvar High School and the Cardinal Criminal Justice Academy.

He and his wife, Ann, and their daughter live in Salem.

What the guidance counselor didn’t know was she was about to be surprised with the announcement she had been named best in the state at getting her school to collect money for the Pasta for Pennies program that benefits The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

East Salem Elementary Guidance Counselor Sarah Cocowitch, left, with fifth-grade teacher Peggy King is applauded by students and staff on Feb. 3. Photo by Meg Hibbert

Last year, the school was third in all of Virginia in fundraising efforts, raising $4,409.44, with nearly $1,300 of that brought in the first four days.

This year, Cocowitch told the kids filling the cafetorium she hopes they will collect even more pennies and other change. In 2011, they got to meet and talk with a LLS Hero, Michelah, who is the daughter of East Salem fifth-grade teacher Peggy King.

“She is now a healthy 16-year-old at William Byrd High School,” her mother told students, and she’s starting a Pennies for Patients drive at her school this year.

All the teachers and staff at the school kept the secret about Cocowitch’s honor for more than a week before the Feb. 3 school assembly.

East Salem students each received a Pasta for Pennies box to collect pennies and other spare change to fight cancer. Meg Hibbert Photo

“I was totally surprised,” she said afterwards, incredulous that all the adults except her knew about it.

Pasta for Pennies, sponsored by Olive Garden, is a national fundraising program in partnership with The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society that since 1994, the program has raised more than $53 million to support the fight against blood-related cancers and provide critical services to patients and their families.

The top schools receive pasta lunches provided by Olive Garden, and last year, there was enough to feed three classrooms, East Salem Principal Diane Rose said.

In some areas where there is no Olive Garden restaurant, the program is called Pennies for Patients.

Some of the ways Cocowitch got East Salem’s kids and adults involved was by presenting a guidance lesson in each classroom that used the “Why, Charlie Brown, Why?” DVD that addresses childhood leukemia in a manner appropriate for the age groups.

That went along with Cocowitch’s guidance lesson on Caring, which is one of the six pillars of Character Counts! featured at East Salem during last year’s three-week Pennies campaign.

The recognition letter from the state coordinator of the Pasta for Pennies program praised Cocowitch for embodying”the spirit of the Pennies program and creating a meaningful experience for the students.

East Salem Elementary kicked off this year’s Pennies program on Monday, Feb. 6. It will continue for three weeks.

The traditional Lion Dance performed by Chris Spoon and Johnny Hsu from the Shaolin Martial Arts Academy in Roanoke marked the conclusion of the Lunar New Year Celebration at Roanoke College on Jan. 26.

The Lion Dance at the conclusion of Roanoke College's Lunar New Year Celebration is performed by Chris Spoon and Johnny Hsu from the Shaolin Martial Arts Academy in Roanoke. Photo by Carrie E. Cox

A Korean student delegation from Wonju, Korea, Roanoke’s first Sister City, and teacher Jinny Kim joined in celebrating the Year of the Dragon. The middle school students were here for three weeks, staying in homes throughout the Roanoke Valley.

“It’s the next best thing to traveling,” said Salem resident Jeanette Hayes.

Her family, which includes 7-year-old Audrey who was with her and older children Jordan, 15, and Skyler, 13, hosted Hei Ri, who is 15 the way Koreans count years, or 14 in American years.

Dr. Bob Roth was active in Roanoke’s Sister Cities program after returning from 10 years as a medical missionary at Wonju Christian Hospital. Roth and his wife, Dot, were at the celebration.

Roanoke College students studying Asian culture and language took part in the event. Students in Japanese 102 sang two songs.

Adrian Gillem, a freshman from the Virgin Islands, and Xavier Chance, a freshman from Roanoke, enjoyed their first Lunar New Year at the college. “It is a big cultural thing on this campus. I’ll be coming here every year,” Gillem said.

“It got pretty ugly,” said Stewart. “We dominated the third quarter and made some substitutions. At one point we were up 21, but they cut it to 15 by the end of the quarter and then got as close as eight before we made some free throws to put it away.”

Kayla DeHart catches her breath before shooting a foul shot for the Highlanders.

Kayla DeHart led Glenvar with 12 points and Jessi Strom and Tanisha Wiley had 11 each.

“We beat them pretty good at our place, and sometimes when that happens the kids get a little lackadaisical when you play them the second time,” said Stewart. “And we always seem to struggle at Radford.”

The win gave Glenvar an 18-4 overall record to finish the regular season and an 8-2 record in Three Rivers District games. Both district losses were to Floyd County, the state’s top-ranked Group A team, but last Thursday in Floyd the Highlanders gave the Lady Buffaloes a scare. Glenvar led for most of the game before falling, 76-67.

Glenvar jumped out to a 12-0 lead at the outset and had the Buffaloes on the run. Floyd whittled the lead to 18-14 by the end of the quarter but Glenvar still led 36-31 at the half. Then Floyd roared back in the second half and it was tight down the stretch, unlike the first meeting when the Buffaloes pulled away.

“They made some shots, but they didn’t shoot like they did in the first game,” said Stewart.

Glenvar’s poor foul-shooting hurt the Highlanders down the stretch, making just 14 of 27 for the game and six of 14 in the fourth quarter.

“You can’t do that against a quality opponent,” said Stewart. “It was that kind of game. If we had gotten one or two more rebounds or one or two fewer turnovers, we could have won the game. It was a great atmosphere. Our girls like playing in that environment.”

Strom led the Highlanders with 26 points, just one off her career high. Wiley played a great floor game against the tough Floyd press and Morgan McKee played tough defense in the middle.

“She doesn’t get a lot of credit because she doesn’t score much, but she does what we need her to do and does a great job,” said Stewart of McKee.

With the win Floyd needed just one more victory to clinch the district, and that was expected to come Tuesday against Auburn. Glenvar will go into the tournament as the second seed, but that won’t start until the week of February 13.

“We’ll give them a couple days off, and coach (Billy) Wells is going to get a team together to play us a couple times to keep us sharp,” said Stewart. “I hate to go two weeks without a game. I was hoping we’d get a couple snowed out so we could play some makeup games next week.”

The Highlanders thrilled a packed house with an 83-74 upset of Floyd County last Friday. Floyd came in as a top 10 team in the state Group A rankings and having beaten Glenvar in the first meeting by 14 points.

Glenvar's Tyler Crockett rides a Buffalo on his way to the hoop in Friday's win over Floyd County.

Floyd jumped to a 36-27 lead by halftime of Friday’s game, but the Highlanders came storming back with 56 points in the second half to race to the win, including 31 in the fourth quarter.

“We’re a second half team,” said Glenvar coach David Redding. “I can’t say enough about our kids responded in the second half. It was a heck of game. It was a shame someone had to lose.”

If someone had to lose, Redding was happy that it was Floyd. The win moved the Highlanders ahead of the Buffaloes into second place in the Three Rivers District standings. Coming into the week Radford was on top at 7-0, Glenvar was 7-2, and Floyd County was in third place at 6-2.

The Highlanders were home to Radford on Wednesday night and an equally rowdy crowd was expected. It was “Senior Night” and “Glenvar goes Green Night,” with special green shirts and discounts for bringing recyclable items to the game. Last Friday’s game with Floyd also had a festive atmosphere.

“Give Martha Hooker some credit,” said Redding. “She did a great job getting everyone excited.”

Still, most of the excitement came from the play on the floor. Tyler Crockett had 24 points for the Highlanders while Jeremy Williams had 22. Karlyn East had 19, Shaq Bonds had 10, and Chris Hodges had six and did his usual yeoman job on the boards.

Caleb Tanner lit up the gym with 36 points for Floyd, including five three pointers. He had 19 points in the fourth quarter as the two teams combined for 55 points in that quarter alone.

“We did everything but tackle him,” said Redding.

Yesterday’s game ended the regular season for the Highlanders, and they’ll have almost two weeks off before the Three Rivers Tournament. The win over Floyd lifted Glenvar to 15-6 just two years removed from a winless season, and that seems like almost ancient history.

“It was so much fun,” said Redding. “A lot of the alumni came up to congratulate us after the game, and that’s special. They said, ‘coach, you got Glenvar basketball back’.”

This afternoon House of Delegates’ Bill 46 died in the Agriculture Committee when no committee member made a motion to advance it.

The bill was filed by 8th District Delegate Greg Habeeb, a Republican who represents Craig County, at the request of constituents in Craig, Roanoke and Montgomery counties could have gotten the state out of the kitchens of people who can and want to sell pickles, chow chow, relish, salsa, pepper jelly and other preserved foods that contain vinegar.

For years, individuals prepared and sold home-canned acidified foods at farmers’ markets, as well as at their farms, and festivals.

Home-canned pickled products can still be sold at festivals and church bazaars, but not at farmers’ markets.

The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services opposes the sale of home-canned pickles and other acidified foods because of the health danger if such foods are not processed properly, VDACS staff said.

The third time was not the charm for the bill. Two years ago when a Democrat from Charlottesville submitted a similar bill, it failed in committee. Last year another bill was withdrawn, according to members of the Virginia Independent Consumers and Farmers Association, because of large agribusiness opposition.

VICFA’s mission is to “promote and preserve unregulated direct farmer-to-consumer trade that fosters availability of locally grown or home produced food products.”

Recently Lonitz, who is now 92, was reunited with a Salem Boat restored by Moneta resident Don Smith and donated to the Salem Museum.

Horst Lonitz, 92, peers into the hatch of a Salem Boat donated to the Salem Museum. Lonitz and other German crafters were brought to Salem to build at the facility that is now Graham-White. Photo by Meg Hibbert

Seeing a Salem Boat “brings out the good memories,” said Lonitz. “They did an excellent job refinishing it,” he added, after carefully inspecting the mahogany runabout in the museum’s garage area.

Lonitz, who lives in South Salem with his wife, said he hadn’t seen a Salem Boat in years.

“I used to see some of them on the lake,” he added, referring to Claytor Lake where Salem and Roanoke-area people went in those days instead of Smith Mountain Lake which developed later.

The location where Lonitz and other craftsmen built Salem boats was the forerunner of Graham-White foundry. After Salem Boat Co. ceased production in the 1960s after building about 500 boats, Lonitz worked in the Graham-White pattern shop, later the machine shop and worked his way up to general superintendent.

He retired after 30 years with Graham-White. The company on Colorado Street is known today for manufacturing parts for the railroad industry.

The Salem Boat at the museum is christened “Home Again.” Lonitz peered into the hatch, looked over specifications with Smith and friend Bill Goold of Moneta, and then came up with a surprise announcement.

That clean-lined 15-footer wasn’t made in Salem, he said, with certainty. “It was brought over from Germany.” The clue was the absence of a small metal plate inside the hatch.

Smith located Home Again in Florida, and spent years restoring it. Salem Boats sold for $1,095 when new, which would be more than $9,000 in today’s money. The biggest competitor for Salem Boat was Chris-Craft. “They made the most but they didn’t make the best,” Smith said.

He has no idea how much money he spent restoring the craft that won vintage boat shows in five states before he retired it.

Smith said he and his wife Toni, who gave him a boat as an engagement present, made the decision to donate the boat to the Salem Museum in 2010 instead of selling it, because he wanted to Salem Boat to come back home.

Long-range plans are to finish off the basement area where Home Again is now and provide a fitting showplace for it, Salem Museum Director John Long said.

Although the Salem Boat is done traveling, Lonitz and his wife are not.

“We are what you call ‘travelers,’ ” he said. “We started traveling in the earliest days in a tent, later a trailer, then a motor home. We went to Alaska, Mexico, about every state in Europe, to China about 12 years ago, Egypt, Japan, and were in Scandinavia last year, Italy, Switzerland; we went every place.”

Next, they plan to go to Europe, back to his home town of Chemnitz in the Saxony region of Germany. “I have one cousin left in my home town,” he said.

Lonitz and his wife met when he was in the Luftwaffe stationed in Munich and married there. “Shortly before the war we moved to my home town. That area became East Germany.”

The change was the reason he fled to the United States, he added.

“People here have no idea what it means to live under a dictatorship,” Lonitz said, simply.

The couple have two children and grown grandchildren. They named their son Klaus Ditmar, “but as a little baby he looked to me like a little teddy bear. I called him Teddy and somehow that name stuck.” Teddy, now known as Ted to his friends, lives in the Read Mountain area of Roanoke County. He is retired after working for Kroger and Carilion.

The couple’s daughter, Rosie Martin, lives in Chesapeake where she retired from teaching English and German. The Lonitz’ grandsons are Brian and C.J.

“When our children were still very small, they were always asking me how everything was when I was growing up. One day I decided to write it, from birth to about five years ago.” His remembrances are more than 250 pages, Lonitz said.

No citizens signed up to speak at the hearing, and the only remarks were glowing praise by Supervisor Joe “Butch” Church for Community Planner Amanda Micklow and citizens who came up with ideas to give Glenvar identity.

The plan was “built from the ground up instead of from government down,” said Church, who represents Glenvar, Catawba and Masons Cove on the board of supervisors.

The center of Glenvar Village would be the new Glenvar Library now under construction at the intersection of West Main and Dougherty Road, the entrance to Glenvar Schools, Fort Lewis Elementary School and areas in between.

For planning purposes, the Glenvar Community Plan encompasses from Dixie Caverns and the Montgomery County line to the Salem City Line.

Supervisors’ Chairman Richard Flora explained to citizens in the audience that supervisors were not asking a lot of questions about the Glenvar plan because they had held a work session on the subject at the last supervisors’ meeting.

Now the Glenvar plan is officially part of Roanoke County’s Comprehensive Plan, which is a long-range policy and implementation guide county leaders use to make decisions on the overall growth and development.

The ideas of the way Glenvar should look and what people who live there want to see – and don’t want – came from a series of community meetings that started two years ago.

From that, 17 citizens were tapped for the Glenvar Community Focus Group to work with Micklow and other members of the county planning staff to create guidelines from the 101 visual preference surveys citizens completed, ideas brought up at the community meetings and by the focus group members.

For more details, see this week’s Jan. 26 issue of the Salem Times-Register.

With the win the Spartans are now 4-0 in district play and 10-5 overall. Salem is the only team still undefeated in district games, as the Titans dropped to 4-1 with Tuesday’s loss.

Salem's Carlye Garst preps for a shot.

For the first half, it didn’t appear the Spartans were going to take the district lead. Salem scored just seven points in falling behind 16-7 at the half. Salem, who has a few girls battling illness, couldn’t use germs as an excuse for missing layups and open shots in a frustrating first half.

“I think they were just putting too much pressure on themselves,” said Salem coach DeWayne Harrell. “They were pressing instead of just going out there and having fun.”

Harrell didn’t light into them at halftime. In fact, he took quite the opposite approach.

“It told them it’s a simple game, just keep playing basketball and everything will be fine,” he said. “One good thing is that they weren’t blaming each other. Then they came out in the second half and played like a team.”

Tessa Foley scored on Salem’s first possession of the second half, then Maddie Price hit a three and Foley scored again. Tay Taylor tied the game with a running banker and then Amanda Dalton was fouled, sinking one of two as Salem scored the first 10 points of the second half to take a 17-16 lead.

From there it was nip-and-tuck, but Salem continued to play good defense and pulled it out. Kim Migliarese, who had an upset stomach, gave Titan shooting star Tyler Evans all she could handle. Evans finished with 13 but had to earn every point with Migliarese hounding her up and down the court.

Taylor led Salem with 14 points and five assists. Foley had 10 points and 10 rebounds and Carlye Garst also had 10 boards.

Salem also beat an improving Christiansburg in Christiansburg last Friday , 68-50. The Blue Demons hung tough for a quarter, trailing 13-12 after the first eight minutes, but Salem won the second period 24-15 to open a 10 point halftime lead. Taylor had 15 points, Price had 14, and Garst had 13 in a balanced Salem attack.

The Spartans will close out the first half of the district season with a Friday night home game against Pulaski. Next Tuesday they play at Cave Spring to start the second half.

“Now it’s in our hands,” said Harrell. “As long as we keep winning no one can catch us. This is about the time we got hot last year and I’d like to see it happen again.”

Leading the women with a pair of top finishes were junior Carmen Graves, junior Meagan Tolley, and freshman Hope Flomo. Graves had a dominating performance in the 500M (1:18), winning by a margin of 3.5 seconds over second place. She also won the long jump with a jump of 16′7.25.” 

Also performing well in the jumps was Gabe Giersch, who won the high jump with a leap of 4′11.75.”  The Maroons took first and second in the triple jump behind season best performances by Tolley (34′11”) and Brittany Cornett (34′4.25”). In addition to her triple jump victory, Tolley also took fourth-place in the long jump. 

Flomo started the day of with a victory in the 55M (7.50) dash. Freshman teammate Esther Prempeh was not far behind, crossing the finish line in second with a time of 7.62. Flomo completed her day with a second place finish in the 300M (43.43). Jessica Mejia followed closely behind with a time of 44.81 to take second place.               

Leigha Schimmoeller led the way for the distance events by taking first in the 3000M run with as time of 11:48. Also placing in the distance events was Shannin Miksek, with a third place finish in the mile. 

Roanoke hurdles had a solid day in advancing three of the seven competitors to the final heat. Sarah Witt was edged by less than a hundredth of a second to take second. Her time of 9.12 is a season best.  Tolley took third with a season best time of 9.41. Samantha Clowser had six throws in the weight throw over 12-meters (39′4”). Her best was 12.50 meters (41′) good for fourth place.    

Colton Linton led the male sprinters with several strong races. The senior won the 300M by over a second in 37.46 and also placed sixth in the finals of the 55-meter dash(6.80). Sophomore Tucker Cunningham raced to a 3^rd place finish in the 300 (38.89 seconds) and had two impressive races in the hurdles. In the trials of the 55 hurdles, Cunningham ran 8.14, and then ran 8.07 to take first in the finals. Chase Board claimed fourth in the 300 meters (39.47).    

Junior Jed Curtis also scored in the 55M hurdles.  Crossing the line in 8.39 in the trials, Curtis advanced to the finals and placed third in 8.28. In the final event of the day, Curtis leaped 5′11.5” for second in the high jump. 

In the mid-distance events, Caleb Bledsoe experienced his first college victory.  The freshman won the 500 meters in 1:09.48, while his teammate Board crossed the line in third, two seconds later. Bledsoe and Board joined Cunningham and Linton for the 4 X 400 meter relay in the final track race of the day. The maroon quartet placed second (3:34), with Bledsoe recording the fastest split.

The Maroons had several strong performances in the distance races.  AJ Bernstein raced well in his first mile of the season; his 4:32 placed him second, only a few seconds off his indoor best. Tim Smith also had a runner-up finish in the 5000 meters, crossing the line in 15:54.

For her efforts, junior Graves was named ODAC Athlete of the Week in Women’s Indoor Track. It is the second time she has recieved this weekly honor for indoor track and field.

The Maroons will return to action on January 18th, as they travel to Lynchburg to compete in the Hornet Challenge at Lynchburg College. That meet is scheduled to begin at 5:30 pm.