DATE: Friday, February 28, 1997             TAG: 9702280634

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B8   EDITION: FINAL 

                                            LENGTH:  110 lines

HAMPTON ROADS

Piano Galleries of Virginia Beach raised $2,550 in an auction Wednesday night to pay an overdue oil bill belonging to the Hopesville Ministries Children's Home in Gloucester.

Bob Shepheard, owner of Piano Galleries, auctioned the Young Chang piano after hearing news reports about the burglary of the home. The home also was behind in its payments to Phillips Oil Co.

Thieves broke into the children's home gymnasium several weeks ago and stole a sound system worth more than $3,000. The non-profit home's primary means of raising funds is hosting bluegrass and gospel concerts.

Winter Sound Co., a Gloucester business, is taking donations for a new sound system, which it will sell at cost to the home and install for free. As of Thursday, $1,120 had been raised.

Store manager Crysta Davis said other companies have donated a monitor-mixer board and a Sonic bass speaker, which will be used as part of the system and will reduce the amount of money needed to replace the stolen equipment.

A bank account has been set up for other donations. They can be sent to Hopesville Camp Fund, Chesapeake Bank, P.O. Box 339, Hayes, VA 23072. CHESAPEAKE Chesapeake names its police officer of the year

Officer Michael S. Rushak has been named the Chesapeake police department's officer of the year.

Rushak, 29, joined the Chesapeake police in 1992 as part of the uniform patrol and now works in the traffic division. A native of Pittsburgh, Rushak is president of Chesapeake's Fraternal Order of Police.

Rushak has won several awards in his four years with the department, including five Star Performer Awards for outstanding service, two Drug Incentive Awards for drug arrests and a Meritorious Service Award.

Rushak is noted for saving the lives of a South Norfolk couple carjacked near the shipyard last year, Chesapeake police spokesman Dave Hughes said. Rushak stopped the couple's car when he noticed its lights were not on, frightening the carjacker out of the back seat, where he held a jagged piece of glass to the man's throat. Rushak then wrestled the carjacker to the ground. United Way increased collections this year

The final tallies are in, and Chesapeake's United Way campaign raised 2 percent more last year than the year before.

Total collections in 1996 were $1,178,000, said Durwood S. Curling, campaign chairman.

The local United Way campaign fell short of its goal of increasing contributions by 5 percent.

Several large Chesapeake companies were forced to lay off employees last year and couldn't contribute as much as the United Way hoped.

The United Way donates money to 69 service agencies and charities. NORFOLK ODU program will feature former secretary of state

Former Secretary of State Lawrence S. Eagleburger will speak Wednesday at Old Dominion University on ``Central Issues in Euro-American Relations.''

The program is one in a series of roundtable discussions on the future of trans-Atlantic relations, is sponsored by ODU's Graduate Programs in International Studies and NATO's Atlantic Command.

Eagleburger, who served as secretary of state at the end of the Bush administration, is now a senior foreign policy adviser for a Washington law firm.

He will speak from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in the Hampton-Newport News Room of Webb University Center.

The program is free and open to the public, but seating is limited.

Call 683-5700 for reservations. SUFFOLK Cosmopolitan Club names Suffolk's First Citizen

George Y. Birdsong, executive vice-president of Birdsong Corporation and a member of numerous Suffolk and Hampton Roads business and civic organizations, was named Thursday night as Suffolk's First Citizen.

The selection was announced by members of the sponsoring Cosmopolitan Club, who surprised Birdsong at his home.

The 57-year-old honoree will be feted at a banquet March 29, at the Suffolk Holiday Inn.

On March 11, Birdsong will receive the Humaniatarian Award of the Tidewater chapter of the National Conference of Christians and Jews. Renowned poet Maya Angelou will be the speaker.

Birdsong is president of the Obici Hospital Foundation and a member of the board of directors of Hampton Roads United Way and Crestar Bank in Suffolk and Norfolk.

For information on the First Citizens Banquet, call 539-2283. PORTSMOUTH The George Washington to leave shipyard today

The Norfolk-based carrier George Washington is scheduled to leave the Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth about 8 a.m. today after six months of maintenance.

The ship can be seen along the Norfolk and Portsmouth waterfronts as heads to sea, where it will test its systems. It is scheduled to return to Norfolk on March 10. ALSO. . .

Portsmouth's James Hurst Elementary School faculty choir will be performing an African-American Gospel Concert today from 9:15 to 10:30 a.m. at the school. The event, which includes solo and group performances, is part of Black History Month festivities at the school, at 18 Dahlgren Ave. MEMO: Kevin Armstrong, Jack Dorsey and Bill Sizemore contributed to this

report. ILLUSTRATION: [Photos]

Lawrence S. Eagleburger

George Y. Birdsong

Send Suggestions or Comments to webmaster@scholar.lib.vt.edu