Virginian-Pilot


DATE: Saturday, September 20, 1997          TAG: 9709200329

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

                                            LENGTH:  112 lines




VIRGINIA [BRIEFS]

Southwest

Big spotlight shines on education issues

in governor's race

VINTON - Education is a top priority for both candidates in the race for governor, but former U.S. Education Secretary Lamar Alexander said Friday that Republican James S. Gilmore III is more likely to improve schools.

``Nationally, we've done a poor job saying to the American people how we're going to create better schools,'' said Alexander, who ran for the GOP presidential nomination in 1996 and is expected to take another shot in 2000.

``We haven't learned to talk about it,'' Alexander said. ``His (Gilmore's) message on education and getting rid of the car tax is a winning message in Virginia. It's not abstract. It's down-to-earth.''

Alexander said he has examined Gilmore's education proposals, including hiring more teachers to reduce class sizes and toughening standards to eliminate ``social promotions.''

``He's the education candidate, and so am I,'' Gilmore said of Alexander.

But the former Tennessee governor acknowledged that he hasn't looked at the education plan outlined by Donald S. Beyer Jr., the Democratic candidate.

Beyer's spokeswoman, Page Boinest, said Gilmore ``certainly wouldn't be the public education governor because his record has been hostile to public schools.'' She cited Gilmore's opposition to Goals 2000 federal funding for Virginia public schools and support of vouchers that would provide state money for private schools.

Two polls released this week showed the governor's race as a dead heat, with a large percentage of undecided voters.

Mental patient's rights challenged after death

ELLISTON - A young man's suicide was the inevitable result of a state law that makes it difficult to detain mental patients against their will, his mother says.

John E. ``Jef'' Farris Jr., 21, was released from a Richmond mental hospital on March 3 despite his psychiatrist's belief that he was suicidal. He shot himself five days later.

Now his mother is campaigning to change the law that led to Farris' release. Barbara Tsapel of Elliston said she wants the revamped statute to be called ``Jef's Law'' in honor of her son.

At issue is a 1995 law that gives community service boards the final say on whether a mental health patient is held against his will. The law is intended to protect patients' rights.

In Farris' case, a ``crisis worker'' from the Richmond Community Services Board was dispatched to Columbia-Chippenham Medical Center's Tucker Pavilion to determine whether he should be allowed to leave after one week of treatment.

Tsapel said the worker asked her son questions but never opened a file prepared by psychiatrist Ramakrishnan Shenoy. The worker also did not consult Shenoy before telling Farris he was free to go, Tsapel said.

``The doctor knew he wanted to kill himself because he talked about it a lot,'' she said. ``But he couldn't keep him. He had to let him go.''

Tsapel said she does not want to eliminate the requirement that community service boards evaluate patients.

She just wants to require crisis workers to review medical records and confer with doctors before releasing a patient.

``The current law, all it says is that this person must evaluate,'' she said. ``There aren't any guidelines about how to evaluate.'' Southeast

Teen, free on bond, may have staged his death

GLOUCESTER - A 16-year-old boy who disappeared on the eve of going to prison may have tried to stage his death, authorities said.

Sage Weakland initially was presumed drowned after his father's 19-foot fishing boat slammed into the back of an idle merchant ship late on the night of July 29.

But after weeks of searching for his body, officials say there is no proof the teen was ever on the boat that night.

He was to report the next day to serve a three-year prison term for robbery.

``We are looking at other possible things that could have happened,'' Lt. George Shannon of the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries said Thursday.

Initially, officials said the teen and his father, Eugene Weakland, were on a fishing outing on the James River when the accident occurred. However, Shannon said investigators have found no one except the teen's father who reported seeing him on the boat that night.

Gloucester Commonwealth's Attorney Robert D. Hicks has listed the younger Weakland on a national computer as a fugitive from justice.

If he's found, Sage Weakland could face life in prison for robbery because he would no longer be eligible for the youthful offender program, Hicks said.

When he disappeared, he was free on $25,000 bond posted by his parents. Northern

Teen sentenced in case

of Dec. drive-by shooting

MANASSAS - A Dale City teen-ager who admitted to participating in a drive-by shooting that killed a man attending a Christmas party was sentenced Friday to 22 years in prison.

Prince William Circuit Judge Frank A. Hoss Jr. said he was outraged that Favian J. Armstrong and his four friends returned to the party after guests insisted they stay away because they were uninvited.

``You had an intent to go back and fight these people,'' Hoss said.

Gerald K. Dillard, 43, was shot to death at the Dec. 22 party.

Armstrong, 19, faced up to 50 years after pleading guilty July 14 to second-degree murder by mob and shooting into an occupied dwelling.

The judge suspended an additional eight years in prison and sentenced Armstrong to probation after he is released.

Theresa Dillard, the victim's wife, left the courtroom holding back tears.

``I think he deserved life,'' Dillard said after the sentencing. ``He'll still be a young man when he gets out.''

The four other youths convicted in the shooting are awaiting sentencing.



[home] [ETDs] [Image Base] [journals] [VA News] [VTDL] [Online Course Materials] [Publications]

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