
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, August 13, 1993                   TAG: 9309120254
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

LITERARY FUND

VIRGINIA'S Literary Fund has been raided and ransacked so often it ought to qualify for victims' compensation.

The fund, the purpose of which is to provide low-interest loans to localities for public-school construction, has proved, in fact, a honey pot for state legislators. Any time they need a little extra cash for budget-balancing or pork, they reach into the fund and help themselves.

Which helps explain why the fund is broke. Meanwhile, numerous cities and counties, looking for financial assistance to build more than $88 million worth of school projects, remain on a waiting list. Some of the 47 projects have languished on the list since April 1991.

For a few projects, the wait may get a little shorter. Lady Luck smiled the other day on the Literary Fund: For the first time since the state's Lotto game came into being, the holder of a winning ticket has failed to collect a six-figure prize. (The ticket was for the Feb. 10 game. Under law, prizes not claimed within 180 days go to the

please see microfilm for the rest of the editorial.

by CNB