THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, October 2, 1996 TAG: 9610020584
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B7 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Briefs
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: 82 lines
The federal government says it has paid more than $3.3 million to help Virginians with housing since weather spawned by Hurricane Fran destroyed or damaged thousands of homes.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has received 4,507 applications for aid - most of it for housing - since President Clinton declared parts of the state disaster areas in early September, a FEMA spokesman said Tuesday.
Of those, 3,772 have been applications from individuals, the other 735 from businesses. Requests are still coming in.
The floods destroyed 233 homes, with major damage to 1,559 and minor damage to 5,764, officials have said.
The federal grants cover such things as home repairs, rent for people displaced by damage and unemployment insurance for workers injured in the storm or whose companies were shut down.
Meanwhile, the Virginia Farm Services Agency reported that tobacco farmers lost $35 million in damaged crops. There were $10 million in corn and $2 million in soybean losses.
Excessive rainfall also damaged tomato, cucumber and snap bean crops along the Eastern Shore. Big cat causes concern
RICHMOND - An exotic lion-tiger mix that Virginia State Fair visitors can pay $10 to pose with for photographs has drawn the concern of animal rights activists.
But the owner of 7 1/2-foot, 350-pound ``Miss Fire'' said the animal is not a safety risk.
Jennifer O'Connor of Norfolk-based People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said callers complained about the animal's 2-foot chain and its lethargic appearance. Some wondered if it was drugged.
It isn't, said owner Roger Figg of Long Island, N.Y.
Figg attributed Miss Fire's laid-back demeanor to the her nocturnal nature and a daily diet of 30 pounds of meat and plenty of milk. Miss Fire, who was raised in captivity, is declawed but has all of her teeth. Visiting ban disputed
RICHMOND - The American Civil Liberties Union claims in a lawsuit that paralegal Lori Urs is an essential part of Joseph O'Dell's legal representation and that the two are entitled to confidential meetings.
Warden J.D. Netherland of the Mecklenburg Correctional Center barred the two from legal visits since discovering they were romantically involved, though he is allowing spousal visits.
Unmonitored legal visits occur as frequently as necessary, while spousal visits are monitored and are permitted at 90-day intervals. Rookie pilot crash lands
PENINSULA NEWPORT NEWS - A Virginia woman who had just earned her pilot's license made an emergency landing on a New Jersey golf course when the engine quit, apparently after running out of fuel.
Wendy Kraus, 23, of Newport News and three of her siblings emerged mostly unscathed from the rented Cessna on Saturday. The plane was a total loss.
``She did a job that high-timers would have screwed up. They would have put it in the trees,'' said John Bombaro, owner of Rick Aviation at Newport News-Williamsburg International Airport. The airport rented Kraus the airplane Friday, three days after she earned her pilot's license.
Kraus and brothers Peter, 21, and Timothy, 17, and sister Heidi, 11, were on their way home from a cousin's wedding in Pennsylvania when the engine quit over Deal, N.J.
GALA - A stolen car whose driver had tried to outrun a state trooper on a winding, hilly road slammed into another car and killed its driver, Timothy Mays, 29. Timothy Stocks, 18, had led a Virginia State Police officer on a chase at speeds faster than 90 mph.
WILLIAMSBURG - Former Gov. L. Douglas Wilder has resumed searching for a site near Jamestown to build a museum of slavery. Wilder said Monday that $100,000 earmarked as seed money for the project in his final state budget is still available.
STAUNTON - A former prison guard was convicted of taking a bribe from an Augusta Correctional Center inmate and helping to smuggle marijuana into the maximum-security prison.
KEYWORDS: FEDERAL AID HURRICANE FRAN PETA VIRGINIA STATE
FAIR DEATH ROW ACCIDENT PLANE JOSEPH O'DELL by CNB