ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, January 28, 1996 TAG: 9601290047
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-7 EDITION: METRO
Betting parlor opens next month
CHESAPEAKE - Virginia's first off-track betting parlor will open the first week of February, about a week behind schedule.
Bill Crawford, manager of the betting parlor, blamed the delay on the recent snowstorm, which he said slowed construction work being done by a contracting firm based in Richmond.
The Chesapeake OTB is the first of six betting parlors that Colonial Downs - the company building the state's first parimutuel racetrack in New Kent County - hopes to open in Virginia.
In Chesapeake, some of the 238 television sets are in place, and a railing decorated with carved, golden horses' heads winds around the restaurant bar. But the rest of the television sets are still in boxes. Tables and chairs are wrapped in plastic, and ladders, boxes of insulation and other supplies are strewn across the inside of the building.
``We're around one week behind,'' Crawford said. ``We're 90 percent done, but not everything has come together yet. Sometime the first week of February, we're going to be open.''
The Chesapeake OTB - located in a 15,000-square-foot building that used to be a grocery store - will have the capacity to show 32 different races at one time, from tracks across the country.
- Associated Press
Dolphin count remains steady
VIRGINIA BEACH - Virginia's offshore population of bottlenose dolphins remained steady last summer compared to previous years, with no major trend up or down in the count, marine researchers have concluded.
The waters off Virginia Beach, particularly around the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay at Cape Henry, have become a popular area for dolphins as they travel north, experts said.
The conclusions were based on an analysis of last summer's dolphin count conducted by the Virginia Marine Science Museum.
Dolphins live near the shore all year along the East Coast south of North Carolina's Cape Hatteras. But migratory dolphins begin showing up off the Virginia coast in May and remain until November.
- Associated Press
Gas leak suspected in house blast
RICHMOND - A house exploded while a real estate agent and three other people were inside but no one was seriously hurt. Fire officials were investigating whether a natural gas leak caused the blast.
The real estate agent, Kerry Stuart, was not injured and the three other people were checked Friday at hospitals for minor injuries.
Stuart was showing the one-story house in South Richmond to John Thomas, 50, a Richmond sheriff's deputy; his fiancee, Joyce Ellis, 20, and their 2-year-old daughter, Danielle Ellis, when the explosion occurred about 12:30 p.m.
Thomas said he pulled his daughter from the debris and they all walked out of the demolished building.
- Associated Press
Religious rights case upheld
RICHMOND - A divided federal appeals court has upheld a judge's dismissal of a lawsuit filed by a Virginia inmate who said prison officials violated his religious rights by denying him a kosher diet.
In a 9-4 decision Friday, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the dismissal of Dennis Wayne Cochran's lawsuit against state prison officials. Cochran's appeal to a three-judge panel was pending when the full court voted to consider the case.
The majority said U.S. District Judge Claude M. Hilton was entitled to broad discretion in ruling that Cochran's claim was frivolous because it already had been rejected by another federal court.
- Associated Press
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