Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, August 13, 1993 TAG: 9308130050
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MICHAEL CSOLLANY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
It's Friday the 13th.
For years, even more so after the advent of the successful horror-film series, this date has been scaring superstitious people and governments around the world.
Even in the 1990s, the U.S. Navy will not launch a ship on this date.
For the nonbelievers, we offer some of the low lights - the bad and unlucky news - from recent Friday the 13ths:
Nov. 13, 1992: The Wall Street Journal characterizes Bedford as "tiny" and unsophisticated in an article about Rubatex Corp.
March 13, 1992: UNC-Charlotte sends the Virginia Tech basketball team home early from the Metro Conference Tournament. Beaten 70-52, Tech scores the fewest points in the tournament in eight years.
Dec. 13, 1991: Widespread outage of 800-number telephone lines affects most service from New England to the South.
Sept. 13, 1991: Governor Douglas Wilder launches his ill-fated presidential nomination bid. Says Johnny Carson: "Friday the 13th - wasn't that an appropriate day for a Democrat to announce his campaign for president?"
July 13, 1990: Nothing scandalous happens on this date to send reporters and editors of this newspaper scrambling.
April 13, 1990: A container with $800 to $1,000 for terminally ill children is stolen from the front desk of the Blacksburg Holiday Inn.
Oct. 13, 1989: Patrick Henry High School football coach and teacher Dennis Vaught resigns after being accused of making racist remarks during a halftime talk.
Jan. 13, 1989: Pranksters spraypaint the interior of Lord Botetourt High School. Later, the school is emptied after someone calls in a bomb threat.
by CNB