Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 26, 1995 TAG: 9507260056
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
MARTINSVILLE - An increase in Rocky Mountain spotted fever cases has been reported in Martinsville. The disease is spread through tick bites.
Nine people have been treated this summer at the city's hospital for the disease. Last year, only three cases were reported in all of Southwest Virginia, state health officials said.
``There are usually sporadic cases reported,'' said Dr. Elizabeth Roycroft, head of the Henry-Martinsville Health Department. An increase usually occurs during summer months, when ticks are active, she said.
Hospital officials said four people were treated last week alone. All nine cases were treated successfully.
- Associated Press
Appeals court rejects death-row retrials
RICHMOND - The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has rejected requests to rehear the cases of three death-row inmates: Lem Tuggle Jr., Coleman W. Grey and Herman C. Barnes.
Federal district judges last year overturned the inmates' death sentences, but a three-judge appeals panel reinstated the sentences this year.
Lawyers for the three inmates then requested rehearings before the entire appeals court. With that rejected, the lawyers are expected to seek reviews from the U.S. Supreme Court.
- Associated Press
Man drowns in lake in Amherst County
AMHERST - A 30-year-old Monroe man has drowned while swimming in a family-owned lake during a picnic.
Amherst County Sheriff's Capt. Arnold Coffey said Monday that David H. McIvor had swum in the lake since he was a child, but when he tried to swim across the lake Saturday, he disappeared.
His wife and their two small children were standing on the bank, unable to help, said his sister, Jackie Brooks.
``We just don't know what happened,'' Brooks said. ``Whether he went into shock because the water was cold, or what.''
An autopsy has been ordered to determine the cause of death.
- Associated Press
Woman charged in husband's death
MARTINSVILLE - A Martinsville grand jury indicted a woman Monday on murder charges in the April shooting death of her husband, although a domestic relations judge dismissed similar charges last month.
Commonwealth's Attorney J. Randolph Smith said Hilda Ayers was indicted because it was ``not an absolutely obvious, no-questions-about-it case of self-defense.''
She is accused of killing her husband, Johnny Ayers, April 24.
Martinsville Juvenile and Domestic Relations Judge Junius Warren ruled in June that the shooting was self-defense.
- Associated Press
Ex-employee sues funeral home owner
PALMYRA - A former Bremo Bluff funeral home worker has refiled a lawsuit against the business's owner, claiming the owner discriminated against him and fondled corpses in front of him as a way of degrading him.
The suit, filed Friday in Fluvanna County Circuit Court by Thomas L. Garrett Jr., asks for $930,000 in damages from Charles T. Colbert.
A similar suit was scheduled to go before a jury in April. More than 100 witnesses stood ready to testify, but Garrett's attorney, John P. Cattano of Charlottesville, abruptly withdrew the suit the day before the trial was to begin. Cattano refused to say why
Garrett also claims that during his employment from late 1991 to early 1993, Colbert constantly called him a ``nigger'' and paid him almost nothing. Garrett is black. Colbert is white.
At the time of the first suit, Colbert's attorney, John W. Zunka, characterized Garrett's accusations as a vengeful act, brought on when Colbert rebuffed Garrett's amorous advances.
- Associated Press
Keywords:
FATALITY
by CNB