WDBJ 7 morning news AM cutins for 07/25/00

[7-11Pledge]

[ANCHOR=Joe]

[NEWSCAST=AM Cutins]
[WRITER=khu]
[TAPE#=00-22 1:05:14]
[GRAPHIC=Pledge]

A Roanoke City Police officer has been indicted on racketeering charges. A federal grand jury believes Officer Frederick Pledge has been conducting a shake-down of local drug dealers over the past five years.
(+++++++)
[Pinnacle Page # 81]

The indictment handed up last week charges Pledge accepted bribes from at least ten different drug dealers- -in exchange for not arresting them, warning them of pending indictments and police investigations.
(-------------)
[VO-NAT]
[SUPER=03-Roanoke]

Pledge read the charges against him in magistrate's court yesterday... charges that include drug trafficking and extortion .
(///// SOT /////)
[SOT 11:06:20]
[IN Q=Basically he used]
((BASICALLY HE USED HIS JOB AS AN OFFICER TO SHAKE DOWN PEOPLE, ACCEPT PAYMENTS FOR NOT ARRESTING PEOPLE FOR DRUG DEALS, NOT ARRESTING PEOPLE FOR HABITUAL OFFENDER))
[SUPER=01-Tom Bondurant/Federal Prosecutor]
[RUNS=11]
[OUT Q=habitual offender.]
(-------------)
[ANCHOR=Joe]
[GRAPHIC=Hold]

Pledge is officially still a member of the city police force.
The Department says it will "closely monitor the case." If disciplinary action is warranted, that'll come later.

[7-11Roanoke-Police]

[ANCHOR=Joe]
[NEWSCAST=AM Cutins]
[WRITER=tha]
[TAPE#=00-17 1:39:22]
[GRAPHIC=Pledge]
A neighborhood that Pledge used to patrol is disheartened by the news.
(------------)
[VO-NAT]
[SUPER=03-Roanoke;]

Jeff Artis lives on (Lah-fee-ett) Lafayette Boulevard-- where neighbors have been banding together to rid the area of crime.
Artis says Pledge routinely patrolled the area and even attended the neighborhood's crime watch meetings.
In fact, in December, the group honored Pledge for his work in the community.
(///// SOT /////)
[SOT 02:43:07]
[IN Q=I had ]
((JEFF ARTIS/ROANOKE SCLC: I HAD HEARD SOME THINGS ABOUT PLEDGE THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE AND FIGURED THAT YOU KNOW BECAUSE HE WAS WITH US AND WAS SO COOPERATIVE THAT EVERYTHING WAS ON THE UP AND UP BUT IT TURNED OUT MY SOURCES WERE CORRECT AND I SHOULD'VE TRUSTED THEM. I SHOULD HAVE WENT WITH MY FIRST INSTINCTS.))
[SUPER=01-Jeff Artis/Roanoke SCLC;]
[RUNS=20]
[OUT Q=first instincts.]
(------------)
[VO-NAT]

Artis says the department is a good organization and hopes the alleged actions of one person don't taint people's views of the department.
(------------)

[7-11Foutz]

[ANCHOR=Joe]
[NEWSCAST=AM Cutins]
[WRITER=tte]
[TAPE#=00-13 1:51:47]
[GRAPHIC=Foutz]

Former Vinton police chief Ricky Foutz appeared in court yesterday pursuing his lawsuit against the town of Vinton.

(----------)
[VO-NAT]
[SUPER=03-Roanoke;]
Foutz is demanding ten-point-two million dollars because he says town officials forced him to resign. Yesterday, he asked that one of the town's attorneys --(Og-NEES Shockra- Vortey) Agnis Chakravorty -- be disqualified .. since the two served the town together and were close friends. Chakravorty says he never saw Foutz socially and only learned about his resignation in the newspaper. The judge says there's no conflict of interest and let Chakravorty stay on the case.
(------------)

[7Weather]

[ANCHOR=joe]
[NEWSCAST=am cutins]
[WRITER=rle]
[TAPE#=]
[GRAPHIC=none]
Turning to the forecast, we have a 50 percent chance of rain today, with a high in the middle 60's. Tonight, the skies should clear a bit, look for cloudy skies with light rain, and a low in the low 60's. Taking a look at your extended forecast;... showers will continue.. but the skies could clear by the weekend.
I'll be back with more in half an hour...

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[45-11Stanley]

[ANCHOR=Joe]
[NEWSCAST=AM Cutins]
[WRITER=tte]
[TAPE#=00-19 1:04:44]
[GRAPHIC=Moonshine]
A judge has released a Franklin County moonshiner facing federal charges over the objections of prosecutors.
(------------)
[VO-NAT]
[SUPER=03-Roanoke;]
Prosecutors say Dee Stanley threatened to blow up the Federal Building or set it on fire. But since the U-S attorneys would not put their confidential tipsters on the stand -- the judge called the threats hearsay. Dee Stanley is charged with making and selling whiskey .. and laundering the profits. Prosecutors wanted to lock him up until his trial in September, but the judge let him go on 150-thousand-dollars bond with an electronic monitor.
(------------)

[45-11Bedford-Vandalism]

[ANCHOR=Joe]
[NEWSCAST=AM Cutins]
[WRITER=ssm]
[TAPE#=00-24 28:29]
[GRAPHIC=None]

Authorities are looking for someone who broke into the Bedford Primary School over the weekend.
(------------)
[VO-NAT]
[SUPER=03-Bedford]

Someone entered the school Saturday afternoon, took food from the cafeteria and smeared it around ten different classrooms.
Physical damage was minimal, but crews spent more than a day cleaning up the mess.
(------------)

[45-11Carroll-Death]

[ANCHOR=Joe]
[NEWSCAST=AM Cutins]
[WRITER=mce]
[TAPE#=None]
[GRAPHIC=None]
New information has been released about a death in Carroll County last weekend.
Police believe a woman stabbed the man she lived with ..before stabbing and killing herself.
Deputies responding found 32 year old Tracie Pamela Renegar dead in the home.
They also found 46-year old David Lester Rose- he was taken to
Twin County Regional Hospital where he underwent surgery.

[45-11Murder-Suicide]

[ANCHOR=Joe]
[NEWSCAST=AM Cutins]
[WRITER=sch]
[TAPE#=00-31 03:40]
[GRAPHIC=Murder-Suicide]
A statement has been released by a mother who found four of her family members dead in a triple-murder-suicide in Martinsville.
(------------)
[VO-NAT]
[SUPER=03-Martinsville/July 8]

Katie Brown wrote about the stress her son, Jesse Jr. endured by caring for his father and his 12 year old nephew, Demitri.
The stress is what apparently led Jesse Junior to kill them, his sister, Dorothy Yolanda and himself.
In the note she writes "We know that Jesse Jr. loved his family, because he fought so hard to find workable solutions for over 12 years, exhausting every avenue and resource imaginable through the myriad of red tape-
(------------)
[ANCHOR=Joe]
[GRAPHIC=Hold]

She also went on to criticize "social systems inability to cope" with plans needed to care for disabled patients.
Social Service agencies say there is help available and local programs provide counseling.

[45-11AEP-Choice]

[ANCHOR=Joe]
[NEWSCAST=AM Cutins]
[WRITER=mce]
[TAPE#=none]
[GRAPHIC=AEP]
45-thousand American Electric Power customers are needed by the company to fill their new customer choice program. The experiment will allow customers to pick their own electricity provider on August 15. If you're interested, call A-E-P. All Virginians will be able to choose by the end of next year.

[45Weather]

[ANCHOR=joe]
[NEWSCAST=am cutins]
[WRITER=rle]
[TAPE#=]
[GRAPHIC=none]
Taking a look at the forecast, we have a 50 percent chance of rain today, with a high in the middle 60's. Tonight, the skies should clear a bit, look for cloudy skies with light rain, and a low in the low 60's. Taking a look at your extended forecast... showers will continue.. but the skies could clear by the weekend.
I'll be back with more in thirty minutes...

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[8-2-11Pledge]

[ANCHOR=Joe]
[NEWSCAST=AM Cutins]
[WRITER=khu]
[TAPE#=00-22 1:05:14]
[GRAPHIC=Pledge]

For five years, a federal grand jury believes Roanoke city Police officer Frederick Pledge has been conducting a shakedown of local drug dealers.
Yesterday, Pledge was indicted for racketeering.
(+++++++)
[Pinnacle Page # 81]

The indictment handed up last week charges Pledge accepted bribes from at least ten different drug dealers- -in exchange for not arresting them, warning them of pending indictments and police investigations.
(-------------)
[VO-NAT]

Pledge read the charges against him in magistrate's court yesterday... charges that include drug trafficking and extortion .
(///// SOT /////)
[SOT 11:06:20]
[IN Q=Basically he used]
((BASICALLY HE USED HIS JOB AS AN OFFICER TO SHAKE DOWN PEOPLE, ACCEPT PAYMENTS FOR NOT ARRESTING PEOPLE FOR DRUG DEALS, NOT ARRESTING PEOPLE FOR HABITUAL OFFENDER))
[SUPER=01-Tom Bondurant/Federal Prosecutor]
[RUNS=11]
[OUT Q=habitual offender.]
(-------------)
[ANCHOR=Joe]
[GRAPHIC=Hold]

Pledge is officially still a member of the city police force.
The Department says it will "closely monitor the case." If disciplinary action is warranted, that'll come later.

[8-11Foutz]

[8-11Gay-Students]

[ANCHOR=Joe]
[NEWSCAST=AM Cutins]
[WRITER=ssm]
[TAPE#=00-]
[GRAPHIC=none]
A local conservative group is speaking out against a move intended to protect gay students in Charlottesville from being harassed.
The Charlottesville school board will vote next month on whether to add "sexual orientation" to its non- discrimination policy for students and teachers.
(------------)
[VO-NAT]
[SUPER=03-Lynchburg]

But the Forest- based Family Policy Network feels that would infringe on the free speech rights of others.
Joe Glover says Christian students should be able to counsel others against the dangers of homosexuality.
(///// SOT /////)
[SOT 16:05:25]
[IN Q=Isn't it]
((JOE GLOVER/FAMILY POLICY NETWORK: ISN'T IT INTERESTING THAT HOMOSEXUAL ACTIVISTS ARE ORDINARILY INVOLVED IN TELLING PEOPLE THAT YOU SHOULDN'T LEGISLATE MORALITY, AND HERE YOU HAVE A GROUP OF PEOPLE TELLING ANOTHER GROUP OF PEOPLE WHAT THEY CAN AND CAN'T SAY BASED ON THEIR CODE OF MORALITY.))
[SUPER=01-Joe Glover/Family Policy Network]
[RUNS=15]
[OUT Q=code of morality.]
(------------)
[VO-NAT]

Glover says if the change is approved, a First Amendment lawsuit is possible.
(------------)

[8Weather]

[ANCHOR=joe]
[NEWSCAST=am cutins]
[WRITER=rle]
[TAPE#=]
[GRAPHIC=none]
Taking a final look at the weather forecast this morning, the cloudy skies and rainy weather are hanging around. We have a 50 percent chance of rain today, with a high in the middle 60's. Tonight, the skies should clear a bit, look for cloudy skies with light rain, and a low in the low 60's. Taking a look at the extended forecast... showers will continue on wednesday, thursday and friday.. but the skies could clear by the weekend.
Thanks for watching this morning, I'll be back with more news at Noon

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