ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, January 15, 1997 TAG: 9701150068
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: From Associated Press reports
Olympic figure-skating champion Oksana Baiul surrendered to police Tuesday on charges she drove drunk and recklessly when her Mercedes went off the road in an early-morning crash Sunday in Bloomfield, Conn.
The 19-year-old Ukranian was released without bond after turning herself in at a police station and is scheduled to appear Jan.27 in West Hartford Superior Court.
``I apologize to the many people who have supported me in the past and I ask their understanding,'' Baiul said in a statement.
Baiul, who won the 1994 Olympic gold medal in Lillehammer, Norway, had a blood-alcohol level of .168 percent after she crashed her car, according to a hospital report obtained by The Associated Press. The legal limit for blood alcohol in Connecticut is .10 percent. The legal drinking age is 21.
FOOTBALL Tepper leaves Md. in a hurry
Lou Tepper resigned as assistant head coach and defensive coordinator at Maryland, less than a month after he had joined the Terps. Tepper was not available for comment, but the one-time Virginia Tech assistant had spent the previous five seasons as the head coach at Illinois and apparently had second thoughts about being an assistant.
New Terps coach Ron Vanderlinden said a defensive coordinator might not be named until after the February letter-of-intent signing period. He said he will contact two other assistants he had previously considered for the job, including former Tech player Chris Cosh.
ETC. Palmer faces surgery for cancer
Arnold Palmer will undergo surgery today for prostate cancer, doctors at the Mayo Clinic said. The 67-year-old golf star, who has been at the Rochester, Minn., clinic the past two days for tests, will remain in the hospital for several days and continue recovering as an outpatient, the clinic said.
* Ignacio Truyol of Spain became the first professional tennis player to be suspended for drug use, testing positive for an anabolic steroid and a stimulant. Truyol, ranked No.127, denies misusing or abusing the banned substances, which he said were prescribed by a Spanish physician to treat a back injury.
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