27
tour of the Black Dog Salvage
Company intake warehouse. Black
Dog Salvage is home to the nationally
televised program “Salvage Dogs” on
the DIY Network and re-broadcast
on other cable outlets. We followed
this segment of the foundations of
this unique business operation with
a stop at the popular local farm-to-table
restaurant Local Roots. This
multiple award-winning restaurant
prepared a special family-style
lunch prepared with all locally-sourced
ingredients; including soup
“shooters”, lunch salad, Benton’s
Country Ham ciabatta, flat bread
Pizza of the Day, house-made chips,
beverage and dessert. It also included
wine pairings for some in the group
and local beers and ciders for others.
Following lunch, we re-boarded for
an extended visit to the Black Dog
Salvage Marketplace Retail Center at
the Memorial Bridge entry into the
Grandin Village where we enjoyed
a tour of both their inventory and
workshop areas, where they turn out
hundreds of repurposed household
and garden items, selected from
the salvage items Black Dog Salvage
gleans from their purchases of
salvage from literally the entire free
world. Following this latest segment,
we boarded “the big yellow school
bus” for the trip back to the Sheraton
Roanoke Hotel to prepare for the
annual cocktail hour and VSCA
Conference banquet.
Our Banquet Master of Ceremonies
Toastmaster Gary Feazelle led us
through opening remarks; then
paused for our customary first
order of business, the Memorial
Candlelight Service, led by Art Hardy
of Crittenden Adjustment Company,
and assisted by Randy Presgraves,
retired from Crittenden. We
dedicated that solemn moment to
remember those of our membership
who passed away in 2017; who left
our association due to death and
committed their service to the VSCA
to our eternal memory. We followed
this moving tribute with the service
of a four-course plated meal, and as
most of us were about to begin the
final course, our Keynote Speakers
Robert Kulp and Mike Whiteside,
the founders of Black Dog Salvage
Company of Roanoke, who had been
our hosts on the tour conducted
for us that same afternoon, arrived
in somewhat of a delayed fashion
due to another engagement earlier
that evening. Robert and Mike, true
to the usual humor, dry wit and
wordplay they both supply in large
quantity and great skill on their cable
television show, entertained us with
as good a “back and forth” with each
other as you could imagine; aided
by a “Teaser Reel” from their own
show Salvage Dogs. Following 30 or
so minutes of wonder and laughter,
plus the taking of several questions,
Robert and Mike left us all with broad
smiles under sustained applause.
We returned to a more routine
agenda with the annual introduction
of our new officers; elected just that
morning as noted previously, and
this writer had the honor of installing
these talented individuals into their
new duties and responsibilities to
our membership. We all had the
Forcon International–Maryland & Virginia
Marine Investigations
Forensic Engineering & Expert Witness Service
-since 1984-
Forcon International–Maryland & Virginia
Marine Investigations
AreAs of speciAlty:
Forcon International–Maryland & Virginia
Marine Investigations
✺✺ Marine/Vessel fire/explosion causation
✺✺ Accident liability
✺✺ Material failure Analyses
✺✺ product Defects
✺✺ recreational vessel operations
✺✺ Accident reconstruction
Forensic Engineering & Expert Witness Service
-since 1984-
804.230.4820 VA 443.569.7010 MD www.Forcon.com
Forensic Engineering & Expert Witness Service
-since 1984-
AreAs of speciAlty:
✺✺ Marine/Vessel fire/explosion causation
✺✺ Accident liability
✺✺ Material failure Analyses
✺✺ product Defects
✺✺ recreational vessel operations
✺✺ Accident reconstruction
AreAs of speciAlty:
✺✺ Marine/Vessel fire/explosion causation
✺✺ Accident liability
✺✺ Material failure Analyses
804.230.4820 VA 443.569.7010 MD www.Forcon.com
✺✺ product Defects
✺✺ recreational vessel operations
✺✺ Accident reconstruction
804.230.4820 VA 443.569.7010 MD www.Forcon.com
Forcon International–Maryland & Virginia
Marine Investigations
/www.Forcon.com
/www.Forcon.com
/www.Forcon.com
/www.Forcon.com
/www.Forcon.com
/www.Forcon.com
/www.Forcon.com
/www.Forcon.com
/www.Forcon.com
/www.Forcon.com
/www.Forcon.com
/www.Forcon.com
/www.Forcon.com
/www.Forcon.com
/www.Forcon.com
/www.Forcon.com
/www.Forcon.com
/www.Forcon.com
/www.Forcon.com
/www.Forcon.com
/www.Forcon.com
