Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, September 21, 1994                   TAG: 9409230035
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-1   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: By KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG                                 LENGTH: Medium

SLAIN OFFICER WAS POPULAR FOR YOUTH WORK

The Terry Griffith Family Fund was set up for his family - a wife and five children. Donations to the The Terry L. Griffith Memorial Youth Center Fund will be used to complete construction of a youth center at Griffith's church, Moores Chapel Baptist Church.

Donations to either fund may be mailed to the First National Bank of Christiansburg, P.O. Box 600, Christiansburg, Va., 24073.

With donations, badges draped in black ribbons, courthouse flags at half-staff, and signs urging "Remember Officer Griffith," the Christiansburg and Montgomery County community went into action almost immediately to honor Griffith's memory.

Besides the official funds established at the bank, some employees at other businesses are also collecting donations, including Cracker Barrel and Wal-Mart.

The Youth Center project is particularly fitting for Griffith, who was involved with his children and participated in many activities geared toward youth.

Christiansburg Police Chief Ron Lemons said Griffith was instrumental in setting up several programs, including giving youth groups tours of the department and going into the schools to talk to children.

"He was always working with some organization," Lemons said.

Griffith died Sunday evening, some three hours after being shot once in the head after struggling with a Princeton, W.Va., man suspected of shoplifting a carton of cigarettes at Hills Department Store. The man also shot a deputy sheriff, Sgt. Billy Wiatt, who was assisting Griffith. Wiatt was grazed in the face and did not require medical treatment.

The man was later shot dead when he refused two deputies' orders to surrender once surrounded at Phlegar and Main streets, where he had jumped into an empty patrol car.

Griffith's funeral is at 2:30 p.m. today at St. Paul United Methodist Church on Main Street.

Keywords:
FATALITY