Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, July 25, 1995 TAG: 9507250072
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
STAFFORD - A debate over whether books by children's author Roald Dahl are appropriate for younger readers apparently is behind a keen demand for his books at Fredericksburg-area libraries this summer.
``James and the Giant Peach'' and other popular titles are either all checked out or reserved at the Central Rappahannock Regional Library.
``They're checked out almost as soon as we reshelve them,'' said Caroline Parr, coordinator of the library system's children's collection. ``A lot of people want them, not just kids,'' she said.
The Dahl renaissance began when Phyllis Filoso, parent of a Moncure Elementary School pupil, complained this spring that Dahl's books teach dangerous or disrespectful behavior.
- Associated Press
Floods cause oyster catastrophe
NEWPORT NEWS - Flood waters that devastated portions of Western and central Virginia now are wreaking havoc on oyster beds in the lower James and Rappahannock rivers, watermen and state fisheries officials say.
``This is just a catastrophe,'' said John DeMaria Jr., a Newport News oyster packer who estimates he has lost 80,000 bushels of oysters he was growing in the James.
``We were selling about $2,160 worth of oysters a day off our grounds, but as of the eighth of July, that went to zero,'' he said. ``This is going to put some people out of business.''
Watermen said oysters began dying when high water from the June floods reached the lower James and Rappahannock. Dirty floodwaters, fouled with mud and sewage overflows, lowered salinity levels on some oyster beds and reduced the amount of oxygen in the water.
- Associated Press
Accident victims found in Lake Anna
MINERAL - The bodies of two victims of a boating accident were found nearly a week after they were thrown from a quick-moving craft on Lake Anna, the chief of the Mineral Fire Department said.
David W. Knowles of Front Royal, and his friend, Amberto Valines, had been missing since July 14, when they were thrown into about 70 feet of water near an island off Virginia 690 near Bumpass.
The bodies of the men were found Friday about 100 yards from where the accident was believed to have occurred, Mineral Fire Chief Lloyd Runnett said Sunday.
A third person on the boat, Kenneth Railey, told authorities the boat was moving quickly when Knowles, the boat's operator and owner, made a sharp turn that tipped everyone out.
Railey was picked up by a passing boat. He suffered a dislocated shoulder.
- Associated Press
Power loss shuts water plant briefly
NEWPORT NEWS - A water treatment plant operated by the Newport News Waterworks shut down and flooded after both of its electrical feeds failed during the weekend, officials said.
The failure Saturday at the Lee Hall treatment plant reduced water pressure and prompted officials to ask Peninsula residents to conserve water through the weekend, spokeswoman Lee Ann Sink said.
Although the Lee Hall plant was back on line by 3:15 p.m. Saturday, residents were asked to conserve water so reserve water tanks could be refilled, Sink said.
The power loss was traced to a Virginia Power substation that blew out, Sink said. The substation supplies only the plant.
- Associated Press
Representative hospitalized
WASHINGTON - Rep. Herbert Bateman, R-Newport News, was in a Washington-area hospital Monday after suffering what an aide described as a mild heart attack.
Dan Scandling, a spokesman for the 66-year-old Bateman, said the congressman went to the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., Friday suffering from fatigue.
Bateman will remain in the hospital most of this week for additional tests, Scandling said. A full recovery is expected.
Bateman, who said before the 1994 election that this would be his last term, has indicated more recently that he is willing to stay in office.
- Associated Press
Keywords:
FATALITY
by CNB