Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, October 5, 1993 TAG: 9310050241
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
ORANGE - An Alexandria man who was sky diving died after his parachute collapsed during a 10,500-foot jump over the Orange County Airport, authorities said.
Harold Ronald Gross, 19, was among several sky divers making a jump Sunday afternoon, county Sheriff Bill Spence said.
Witnesses said Gross's parachute appeared to collapse about 200 feet from the ground, "and it never fully reopened," Spence said.
Among those at the airport was Gross's father, retired Col. Alan Gross of Alexandria, who also is a sky diver.
Friends said Harold Gross had been jumping for two years and had completed more than 200 jumps. Gross was a freshman at Radford University, a neighbor said.
Ric Dennis, a spokesman for Skydive Orange, the airport-based club, attributed the accident to strong winds.
- Associated Press
Supreme court refuses Va. death row appeals
WASHINGTON - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused without comment to hear appeals by Virginia death row inmates Thomas Beavers, Kenneth Stewart and Gregory W. Beaver Jr.
Beavers, 22, was sentenced last year in Hampton for raping and killing a 61-year-old neighbor by holding a pillow over her face.
Stewart, 39, was sentenced in 1992 for shooting and killing his wife and 5-month-old son in Bedford County.
Beaver, 28, was sentenced in 1985 for killing a state trooper who had pulled him over in Prince George County. Beaver was driving a stolen car.
No execution dates have been set.
- Associated Press
Injured woman suing city for road collapse
NEWPORT NEWS - A woman who suffered broken bones and bruises when a section of road collapsed under her car has filed a $500,000 lawsuit against the city.
Joy Broyles, 67, said in the Circuit Court lawsuit that the city should have known that the road was unsafe for traffic and should have either corrected the problem or warned motorists.
The portion of road buckled when a 14-foot diameter culvert collapsed beneath it, according to a city report on the 1991 accident. The report, prepared by Assistant City Manager Randy Hildebrandt, said high tides eroded soil around the culvert.
The report also said the culvert's pipe had been weakened by corrosion caused by brackish water.
Galvanized steel culverts such as those under the road could not be expected to last more than 25 years in brackish water, the report said. The culverts were 27 years old.
- Associated Press
4 charged in shooting of 2 off-duty troopers
RICHMOND - Four men have been charged with conspiracy to commit murder and robbery in the shooting of two off-duty state troopers who were on their way to the State Police Academy, police said.
David Olinger and Andrew M. O'Connor were injured Sept. 21 after a shotgun blast went through a passenger window of their car as they were leaving a parking lot, state police said in a statement Sunday.
State and Richmond police on Saturday arrested Richmond residents Jeremy Jermaine Weatherspoon, 20; Brian O'Neal Tisdale, 23; and Jermaine Allen, 20. Also arrested was Allen's brother, Frederick Dwayne Allen, 22, of Durham, N.C. - Associated Press
by CNB