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

DATE: MONDAY, May 9, 1994                   TAG: 9405090158
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By DAVID POOLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Short

WRONG SUNGLASSES SOLD FOR ECLIPSE

Hours after the woman made the purchase and left, horrified museum officials discovered that a volunteer cashier had mistakenly sold her the wrong glasses.

The dozen pair she bought could cause serious eye damage, even blindness, if used to view the eclipse, which will occur at 1:28 p.m. Tuesday.

``We have no idea where she was from,'' museum spokeswoman Joyce Parker-Johnson said.

In an attempt to locate the woman, the museum has issued a statewide media alert. The woman was described as being white, dark-haired and between 30 and 40 years old.

Parker-Joyce said the woman may have been accompanying one of the 18 school groups that toured the museum Friday.

The museum is asking the woman to return to the gift shop for an exchange or refund. The museum's phone number is (804) 367-1657.

Parker-Johnson said the museum had tried to prevent such a mix-up by taking the unsafe glasses off display. The volunteer who made the mistake, she said, happened to be putting price tags on the nonprotective glasses and got confused while assisting the woman.