WDBJ 7 news at Noon for 01/31/01

[HEADLINES]

[TALENT=Kimberly]

(----------------)
[VO-NAT]

Up next on News 7--
After 12 years, a verdict in the trial of two Libyans accused in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103.
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[ANCHOR=Kimberly]

And gunshots are fired after a middle school basketball game in Roanoke.
(/////////////)
[TALENT=Jacey]
[SS=None]

Another nice and sunny day on tap for our mid-week forecast... the unseasonable weather sticks around for a bit... we'll find out when the changes are in store coming up.
[ANCHOR=Kimberly]
[SS=None]

News 7 at noon right after this break.

[Video-Open]

[ANCHOR=Kimberly]
[NEWSCAST=noon]
[WRITER=kmc]
[TAPE#=net]
[GRAPHIC=none]
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[VO-NAT]

One man is sentenced to life in prison-- the other is set free.
A Scottish tribunal decides the fates of two Libyans on trial for the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103.
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[Pan-Am]

[ANCHOR=Kimberly]
[NEWSCAST=Noon]
[WRITER=kmc]
[TAPE#=net]
[GRAPHIC=HOLD]

Good Afternoon, I'm Kimberly McBroom.
A Libyan intelligence officer will spend life in prison for the 1988 explosion that killed 270 people.
But he'll be eligible for parole in 20 years.
Meanwhile, the panel of judges acquitted the other defendant.
With more on this morning's unanimous verdicts, here's Stephen Clark.
(///// SOT /////)
[SOT]
[IN Q=]
[SUPER=03-The Netherlands;]
[SUPER=01-Aphrodite Tsaris/U.S. Victim's Relative;]
[SUPER=03-New York, NY;]
[SUPER=01-Jack Flynn/Victim's Father;]
[SUPER=01-Bert Ammerman/Victim's Brother;]
[SUPER=01-Stephen Clark/Reporting;]
[RUNS=:00]
[OUT Q=Clark, CBS News, ]

(((LOCATOR: CAMP ZEIST, THE NETHERLANDS)

(NATZ)

AFTER WAITING MORE THAN A DECADE.... THE FAMILIES OF THE LOCKERBIE TERRORIST ATTACK VICTIMS HAVE FINALLY RECEIVED SOME MEASURE OF JUSTICE.
1:34:03--so our loved ones did ot die in vain :04
A SCOTTISH COURT CONVICTED A FORMER LIBYAN INTELLIGENCE OFFICER OF MURDER IN THE BOMBING OF PAN AM FLIGHT 103. THE COURT ACQUITTED A SECOND LIBYAN DEFENDANT IN THE ATTACK THAT KILLED 270 PEOPLE.

SOT: APHRODITE TSARIS/RELATIVE OF U.S. VICTIM
"THERE IS NO CLEARER STATEMENT THAT THIS WAS STATE SPONSORED TERRORISM, HOWEVER I MUST TELL YOU, MY HEART BROKE WHEN MR. FIRMAH WAS ALLOWED TO LEAVE TO LEAVE THE COURTROOM BECAUSE CLEARLY THAT BOMB COULD NOT HAVE GOTTEN ON THE PLANE WITHOUT HIS ASSISTANCE." (:14)

(LOCATOR: NEW YORK CITY)

(NATZ, GETTING OFF BUS)

IN NEW YORK OVERNIGHT, VICTIM'S RELATIVES WHO WERE NOT IN THE NETHERLANDS FOR THE CONCLUSION OF THE NINE MONTH, 80 MILLION DOLLAR TRIAL... WATCHED THE VERDICT VIA SATELLITE.

SOT: JACK FLYNN/FATHER OF VICTIM (01:43:04)Obviously it will never
bring back your kid...and hopefully the u-s government takes some substantial action against Libya. :14
THE RELATIVES HERE CLEARLY BELIEVE THE VERDICT AGAINST Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi IS REALLY A VERDICT AGAINST LIBYA ITSELF:

SOT: BERT AMMERMAN/BROTHER OF VICTIM
(01:31:06) "WITH MEGRAHI FOUND GUILTY, THAT IS STATE SPONSORED TERRORISM, THAT LEADS TO THE DOORSTEPS OF QUADAFI. Q IS A COWARD, (:10)

(CLARK STANDUP CLOSE)

))

[1-Link]

[ANCHOR=Kimberly]
[NEWSCAST=noon]
[WRITER=ejo]
[TAPE#=none]
[GRAPHIC=Link]

Photographer O. Winston Link has died.
Link's photographs immortalize steam railroading in 1950s Virginia.
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[VO-NAT]
[SUPER=04-File Tape]

Link died yesterday afternoon in Westchester County, New York.
Link's business agent, Tom Garver, says Link died of a heart attack while on his way to a doctor's office. Negotiations are underway to create a museum in Link's honor in Roanoke.
There is no word on what his death will mean to the project.
O. Winston Link was 86.
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[Anchor=Kimberly]
[SS=HOLD]

We'll have more on Link's life and work coming up later in the newscast.

[Roanoke-Shooting]

[ANCHOR=Kim]
[NEWSCAST=Noon]
[WRITER=jmc]
[TAPE#=00-50]
[GRAPHIC=Shooting]

Gunfire broke out after a basketball game at a Roanoke school last night.
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[VO-NAT]
[SUPER=03-Roanoke]

Police say a crowd of teenagers and adults gathered in the parking lot at Lucy Addison Middle School just after 10 o'clock.
A fight started, and an off-duty policeman tried to break it up.
Several gunshots were fired. One struck a 22-year-old man in the hand.
(------------)

Nathaniel Martin says he doesn't know who fired the shots.
Police recovered five shell casings.
They've also questioned two teenagers about the incident.
No Addison students were involved.

[Death-Penalty]

[ANCHOR=Kimberly]
[NEWSCAST=noon]
[WRITER=equ]
[TAPE#=00-55 57:02]
[GRAPHIC=VA Death Penalty]

A house committee killed several bills that would have stopped or abolished capital punishment in Virginia.
That's even after testimony from a Roanoke man who spent 13 years on death row for a crime he did NOT commit.
Richmond Bureau Chief Ellen Qualls has more.
(/////SOT/////)
[SOT]
[IN Q=92 Americans]
[SUPER=03-Louisiana/December 2000; :00]
[SUPER=01-Michael Ray Graham, Jr./Exonerated Inmate; :15 ]
[SUPER=@Ellen2; :37 QUICK!]
[SUPER=01-Rev. Joe Vogt/Former Chaplain; :53 ]
[SUPER=01-Del. Bob McDonnell/(R) Virginia Beach; 1:06]
[SUPER=01-Monty Tucker/Attorney General's Office; 1:41 ]
[RUNS=1:56]
[OUT Q=Qualls, News 7, Richmond.]

(( 92 Americans have been set free from death row in modern times-- proven innocent of their crimes before their execution date arrived.
Roanoke's Michael Graham was the 91st... set free from Louisiana's death row in December.
[sot 17:06:11]
((MICHAEL GRAHAM/EXONERATED INMATE: I WAS ONE OF THE LUCKY ONES ON DEATH ROW. I HAD GOOD LAWYERS... I WAS SENTENCED IN A STATE WITH FEW LIMITATIONS ON WHEN A DEATH ROW INMATE CAN PRESENT EVIDENCE OF ... DOES NOT WORK.))
[runs= 21 ]

The issue had new urgency this year, and new Republican sponsors, after Virginia found its own former death row inmate innocent: Earl Washington's still NOT been set free.
Lutheran Pastor Joe Vogt spent five years as a death row chaplain in Virginia.
[sot 16;55:27]
((JOE VOGT/FORMER DEATH ROW CHAPLAIN: AS A PERSON OF FAITH...NOTHING JUST OR REDEMPTIVE.. PANDERS TO THE VERY WORST OF OUR HUMAN INSTINCTS.))
[runs= 13 ]

[sot 16:59:10]
((DEL. BOB MCDONNELL: HOW DO YOU RECONCILE...THOSE SORTS OF CASES?))
[runs= 14]

[sot 17:00:00]
((JOE VOGT/FORMER DEATH ROW CHAPLAIN: YOU HAVE HEARD... SPOKE OUT FROM THE CROSS, FORGIVING HIS EXECUTIONERS.))
[runs= 14 ]

But the status quo was preserved.
The Attorney General's office went on record.
[sot 17:08:01]
((MONTY TUCKER/ATTORNEY GENERAL'S OFFICE: IN 1977, THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY ENACTED THE DEATH...FULL FORCE AND EFFECT.))

[runs= 12]

This committee agreed.
Ellen Qualls, News 7, Richmond.))

[Cancer-Play]

[ANCHOR=Kimberly]
[NEWSCAST=Noon]
[WRITER=syo]
[TAPE#=01-05]
[GRAPHIC=none]
Actors at Mill Mountain Theater are hoping cancer patients will help them prepare for an upcoming play.
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[VO-NAT]
[SUPER=03-Roanoke;]
The cast of the Pulitzer Prize winning play "Wit" toured the cancer center at Roanoke Memorial Hospital this morning.

Their agenda called for a handful of actors to meet with a couple cancer patients later in the day. The play's star says she hopes the experience will help her feel what it's like to fight the disease.
(///// SOT AT :17 /////)
[SOT 02:45-02:31]
[IN Q=I don't have any expectations...]
[SUPER=01-Karen Gibson/Actor;]
((I don't have any expectations. I just want to infuse it. I want to let it sink in and see what I learn... just experience it.))
[RUNS=:14]
[OUT Q=just experience it.]
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[VO-NAT]
"Wit" is about a middle-aged professor's battle with the disease and the lessons she learns about life and love. The one-act play opens on the Waldron Stage on February 15th.
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[Quake-Survivors]

[ANCHOR=Kimberly]
[NEWSCAST=Noon]
[WRITER=kmc]
[TAPE#=net]
[GRAPHIC=none]

The news keeps getting worst in India--
Authorities now say it appears that 25- thousand people have died as a result of Friday's earthquake.
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[VO-NAT]
[SUPER=03-Ahmedabad, India;]

But those who survived the quake are on the run-- as aftershocks rattle buildings and people's nerves.
(///// SOT /////)
[SOT 10:19:34 ]
[IN Q=If you have a look]
((DR. SUVASHIS PANDA/RELIEF WORKER: IF YOU HAVE A LOOK AT THE TOWN AT NIGHT, IT LOOKS LIKE A GHOST CITY, ABANDONED CITY. THERE ARE BUILDING WHICH ARE STILL STANDING. PEOPLE HAVE ABANDONED THEM BECAUSE OF THE CRACKS, WHICH HAVE TAKEN PLACE.))
[SUPER=01-Dr. Suvashis Panda/Relief Worker;]
[RUNS=:10]
[OUT Q=which have taken place.]
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[VO-NAT]

Residents are migrating across western India, looking for food, medicine, and a little peace of mind.
Meanwhile, rescue workers have their work cut out for them as they continue looking for more survivors in the rubble.
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[World-Help]

[ANCHOR=Kimberly]
[NEWSCAST=noon]
[WRITER=ssm]
[TAPE#=00-49]
[GRAPHIC=none]

As the death toll rises in India, offers of relief are pouring in to the earthquake- ravaged country.
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[VO-NAT]
[SUPER=03-Forest]

The Bedford County- based charity World Help is coordinating local donations of money and clothing for the thousands of victims there.
World Help already has a team of missionaries working in India.. despite the magnitude of the disaster, they're determined to do what they can.
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[SOT 17:43:26]
[IN Q=But like with]
((NOEL YEATTS/WORLD HELP: BUT LIKE WITH EVERYTHING WE DO AT WORLD HELP, WE TRY NOT TO FOCUS ON BEING OVERWHELMED, BUT TRY TO CONCENTRATE ON WHAT OUR PART CAN BE AND WE CAN DO TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE. WE HAVE A TEAM OF 27 PEOPLE OVER THERE RIGHT NOW GOING FROM VILLAGE TO VILLAGE.))
[SUPER=01-Noel Yeatts/World Help]
[RUNS=12]
[OUT Q=village to village.]
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[STILL STORE]
If you'd like to help, donations can be mailed to the address on your screen, or through World Help's secure web site.
The Internet address is w-w-w-dot-world-help-dot-net.
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[ELF]

[ANCHOR=Kimberly]
[NEWSCAST=noon]
[WRITER=tha]
[TAPE#=01-01]
[GRAPHIC=none]
More than 300- people gathered at Virginia Tech to hear the message of an environmental organization that uses violence to make its point. People both for and against the group's tactics were there last night. Teresa Hamilton has more on the Earth Liberation Front.
(//////SOT/////)
[SOT]
[IN Q=About a dozen]
[SUPER=03-Blacksburg; :00]
[SUPER=01-Matt Dunlap/Lumber Industry Supporter; :13 quick]
[SUPER=01-Craig Rosebraugh/E.L.F. Spokesman; :37]
[SUPER=01-Talley Griffith/Lumber Industry Supporter; 1:13 quick]
[SUPER=@teresa2; 1:20]
[RUNS=1:35]
[OUT Q=Hamilton, NEWS 7, B'burg.]
(( About a dozen people who support or earn their livelihoods through the lumber industry carried signs outside Litton Reaves in protest. They say the Earth Liberation Front's message is nothing short of hatred and violence.
(///sot////)
[sot]
[in q=My ]
((MY FAMILY OWNS A LUMBER MILL AND IT'S THE LIVELIHOOD OF A LOT OF PEOPLE AND THE PEOPLE DON'T DESERVE HAVING IT DONE TO THEM.))
[RUNS= 07]
[out q= to them.]
Matt Dunlap is referring to the list of businesses and homes that the Earth Liberation Front says it's damaged or destroyed through firebombing to protect the environment. Craig Rosebraugh says the group targets those who go out of their way to harm the air, water and soil for profit.
[sot]
((////sot////))
[in q=I didn't ]
((CRAIG ROSEBRAUGH/E.L.F. SPOKESMAN; I DIDN'T USE TO BELIEVE IN THESE TACTICS AT ALL I THOUGH THEY WERE COMPLETELY WRONG, BUT TEN OR ELEVEN YEARS LATER I HAVE COME TO UNDERWAY WHY THESE PEOPLE COMMIT THESE ACTS.))
[OUT Q= these acts.]
[runs= 15]
Rosebraugh says he receives e-mail when someone or a group commits an act of violence claiming to do so as part of the E-L-F. He told the crowd he then relays the message to the media if he deems the claim to be legitimate. But he insists he's not paid by the group and doesn't know the persons behind the crimes. But some argue Rosebraugh's more than just a messenger.
(////sot//////)
[in q=As a spokesman]
((TALLEY GRIFFITH/LUMBER INDUSTRY SUPPORTER: AS A SPOKESMAN FOR THAT GROUP IT MAKES HIM A DEFACTO MEMBER OF THAT GROUP REGARDLESS OF WHAT HE SAYS.))
[runs= 10]
[out q= what he says.]
More than 300- people turned out to hear Rosebraugh speak. He was invited by student animal rights organization called NRV-Care. Virginia Tech says it does NOT endorse or condone that organization or E.L.F. Teresa Hamilton, NEWS 7, Blacksburg. ))

[VA-Unemployment]

[ANCHOR=Kimberly]
[NEWSCAST=noon]
[WRITER=dse/ejo]
[TAPE#=None]
[GRAPHIC=VA Unemployment]

Roanoke and Danville recorded the lowest jobless rates on record last month.
(XXXXXXXXXX)
[TAKE FULL SCREEN BOARD]
Roanoke's rate fell to 1-point-4 percent. [ADD Danville]
Unemployment in Danville fell to 2-point-9 percent. [ADD Grayson]
Grayson County had the highest jobless rate in the state at 9-point-3 percent.
(-------------)
[ANCHOR=Kimberly]
[GRAPHIC=HOLD]

Statewide, the jobless rate fell to 1-point-9 percent .. the lowest December figure in 48 years.

[Link-Obit]

[ANCHOR=Kimberly]
[NEWSCAST=noon]
[WRITER=tst]
[TAPE#=00-54 45:53]
[GRAPHIC=Link]

There may still be an O. Winston Link museum in Roanoke's future, but Link is now part of Roanoke's past.
The beloved photographer died yesterday afternoon, near his home in Westchester County, New York.
Ted Stone has a look back at Link and his work.
(///// SOT /////)
[SOT]
[IN Q=NATSOUND ((train whistle))]
[SUPER=03-Roanoke/1994; :26]
[SUPER=01-O. Winston Link/Photographer; :30]
[SUPER=@Ted2; 2:26]
[RUNS=2:42]
[OUT Q=Stone, News 7.]
((
Legions of skilled photographers took pictures of steam trains. But collectors around the world agree that probably no one took better pictures of them than O. Winston Link.
The native New Yorker spent years documenting the end of steam power on the Norfolk and Western Railway in the 1950s, paying for the project out of his own pocket.
The results so impressed the railroad brass that Link was allowed to stop and start trains while he got his lighting gear ready. ((O. WINSTON LINK/PHOTOGRAPHER: I COULDN'T GET THE BULBS CHANGED IN TIME. SO I CALLED THE DISPATCHER AND ASKED HIM IF HE COULD SLOW 64 AND HOLD 51. AND HE SAID "O.K., LET US KNOW WHEN YOU'RE READY." AND I WAS IN THE TELEPHONE BOOTH AND I LOOKED OUT THE WINDOW AND THERE THE FIREMAN WAS COMING UP THE STREET. BUT THE ENGINE WAS STILL WORKING. IT WAS KEPT MOVING, JUST A LITTLE BIT. IT JUST KEPT THAT MOMENTUM. HOW FAR AWAY IT WAS, I DON'T KNOW. I COULDN'T SEE ANYTHING. BUT I WAS SO HAPPY WHEN THAT FIREMAN CAME UP AND SAID THEY WERE HOLDING IT AND WAS I READY? AND I SAID "YES, LET IT GO." AND THEN HE CAME THROUGH, AND OH MAN, WHAT A PICTURE I GOT!))
Link shot most of his photographs at night, in order to have total control of the image. ((O. WINSTON LINK: AT NIGHT, YOU COULD KEEP OUT AND ELIMINATE THINGS YOU DIDN'T WANT TO SEE BY NOT LIGHTING THEM. IF YOU WANTED TO SEE IT, YOU COULD LIGHT IT. IF YOU DIDN'T WANT IT, YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO. BUT ALSO, THE MAIN THING WAS I COULD REGULATE THE LIGHT. AND DRAMATIZE IT.))
He dramatized his scenes with complex lighting set-ups that occasionally required more than 100 large flash bulbs.

The photographs are even more impressive when one considers that Link was entirely self-taught. ((O. WINSTON LINK: NEVER TOOK A COURSE IN PHOTOGRAPHY. I STUDIED ENGINEERING, AND GOT A DEGREE IN ENGINEERING. THE PHOTOGRAPHY I LEARNED ON MY OWN.))
Link's photographs now hang in collections around the world, and some of his prints sell for more than a thousand dollars apiece.
Yet despite the acclaim, his final years were haunted by one terrible mistake. In the 1980s, he married Conchita Mendoza. She turned out to be a thief, who stole his cameras, negatives, and more than a million dollars worth of his prints.
In 1996 she was sentenced to prison for the thefts, and she's still there. Most of the items she stole have never been returned.
Link died Tuesday afternoon near his home in Westchester County, New York. His business manager, Tom Garver, says the 86-year old photographer had a heart attack on the way to see a doctor.
Garver hopes it will still be possible to build a Winston Link museum in Roanoke.
For now, the steam trains are gone. And the photographer is gone. But the photographs -- they'll be around awhile, wherever they hang.
Ted Stone, News 7.))

[Regis]

[ANCHOR=Kimberly]
[NEWSCAST=Noon ]
[WRITER=kmc]
[TAPE#=none]
[GRAPHIC=none]

For the last six months, you've watched Regis Philbin fly solo, with revolving co- hosts.
But this morning on "Live with Regis", he said there will be an announcement soon of who'll be his new permanent co- host.
That's despite the fact that ratings have soared since Kathie Lee Gifford left the show last July.
Actress Kelly Rip-a of the soap, "All My Children" is said to be the leading candidate.

[Principal-Tape]

[ANCHOR=Kimberly]
[NEWSCAST=Noon]
[WRITER=kmc]
[TAPE#=net]
[GRAPHIC=none]

And finally today--
Usually, when a student hangs out in the hallway, it means detention or at least a trip to the principal's office.
(------------)
[VO-NAT]
[SUPER=03-Oakmont, PA;]

But what if it's the PRINCIPAL who's loitering in the hall?
Dee Panian, a principal at a Pennsylvania school allowed her student to duct tape her to a wall.
Panian lost a bet that the kids could raise more than 700- dollars for a mural in front of their school.
The students won the bet, and Panian got to serve as a "living mural" for a couple of hours before they let her do (------------) wn...