WDBJ 7 morning news AM cutins for 02/07/01

[7-Carjacking]

[ANCHOR=Kimberly]

[NEWSCAST=AM Cutins]
[WRITER=rle]
[TAPE#=]
[GRAPHIC=none]

The Virginia State police have arrested a shawsville man in connection with a carjacking, abduction, and armed robbery in Montgomery County. Police say 39-year-old Jeffrey Austin Barron called a female taxi driver to the Montgomery Regional Hospital early this morning, then got behind the wheel and dropped the driver off in Ironto. Troopers say they found the car outside a Shell station in Christiansburg. Two officers then saw a man wearing a ski mask, who had allegedly robbed the gas station with a BB pistol. Barron is being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a variety of charges.

[7-Roanoke-Fire]

[ANCHOR=Kimberly]
[NEWSCAST=AM Cutins]
[WRITER=tha]
[TAPE#=00-]
[GRAPHIC=Fire]
One man is dead following an apartment house fire in old southwest Roanoke.
(------------)
[VO-NAT]
[SUPER=03-Roanoke/Last Night;]
The house, at the corner of Elm and third street, had been converted into apartments. It caught fire last night around ten o'clock leaving several residents homeless. Fire fighters found the man's body on the second floor after putting out the flames and searching through the debris.

Those inside at the time the fire broke out say the flames spread so quickly they had little time to react.
(///// SOT /////)
[SOT 21:11:21.......21:12:00]
[IN Q=I grabbed ]
((LARRY PERDUE: I GRABBED THE TV AND VCR....I WAS GETTING READY TO GET IN THE BATHTUB. CHARLES GILLESPIE/RESIDENT: EVERYTHING WE OWNED.... PROBABLY DESTROYED. ))
[SUPER=07-Larry Perdue; :00 QUICK!!!!!]
[SUPER=01-Charles Gillespie/Resident; :05 QUICK!!!]
[RUNS=10 ]
[OUT Q=probably destroyed.]
(------------)
[VO-NAT]
Charles Gillespie and his girlfriend had just moved into their apartment about a week ago. They're among several people who lost everything. As of early this morning... authorities had not determined the cause of the fire. The victim's name has not been released.
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[7-Mascot]

[ANCHOR=Kimberly]
[NEWSCAST=AM Cutins]
[WRITER=mjo]
[TAPE#=00-55 TC1:07:23]
[GRAPHIC=None]

A task force decision to keep the Indian Mascot at Blacksburg High met with a backlash at last night's school board meeting.
(------------)
[VO-NAT]
[SUPER=03-Christiansburg;]

It was opponents of the mascot- more than 100 in all- crowding into a Montgomery County School Board meeting.
Members of the task force defended their research and their vote last week to keep the mascot.
(///// SOT /////)
[bump SOTs]
[IN Q=I've always]
[SOT 55:06 - :24]
((JANET MCCARTHY: I'VE ALWAYS BEEN BROUGHT UP THAT IT'S NOT WHAT YOU SAY IT'S HOW YOU SAY IT... I DON'T THINK ANYBODY WOULD CHOOSE SOMETHING TO REPRESENT THEM THAT'S NEGATIVE OR DEROGATORY. ))
[SOT 50:26 - :40]
((BASIL GOODEN/NAACP PRES.: WE CAN DEMEAN A WHOLE RACE OF INDIVIDUALS... INCONSISTENT WITH SCHOOL BOARD POLICY. WE HOPE THAT THEY WILL ADDRESS THAT VERY SOON. ))
[SUPER=01-Janet McCarthy/Task Force Member; :00]
[SUPER=01-Basil Gooden/NRV NAACP Pres.; :19]
[RUNS=:32]
[OUT Q=address that very soon.]
(------------)
[VO-NAT]

The School Board plans to take a second look at school policy regarding the mascot.
The board may vote on it as early as its next meeting on February 20th.
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[45-81-AX]

[ANCHOR=Kimberly]
[NEWSCAST=AM Cutins]
[WRITER=tha]
[TAPE#=01-02 TC22:05]
[GRAPHIC=Police Chase]
[***ANCHOR TAG***] Police are searching for a man who triggered a high speed chase on Interstate 81 that left two people injured, including a state trooper.
Teresa Hamilton has more.
(///// SOT /////)
[SOT]
[IN Q=This was the ]
[SUPER=03-Montgomery Co.; :00]
[SUPER=01-Sgt. Tom Foster/State Police; :26]
[SUPER=@Teresa2; :42]
[SUPER=01-Anthony Milano/Truck Driver; 1:03]

[RUNS=1:13]
[OUT Q=Hamilton, NEWS 7.]
(( This was the scene south of the Ironto exit in Montgomery County... just minutes after the high speed pursuit ended. According to state police-- it all started when the driver of a mustang passed Trooper Jeff Hyer in the emergency lane traveling more than 100- miles an hour. State police say Hyer sped up hoping to get a glimpse of the car's license plate. But the car managed to slip in between a truck and this G-M-C Yukon before escaping onto the right shoulder.
(/////sot/////)
[sot 19:53:43 ]
[in q=Trooper Hyer]
((SGT. TOM FOSTER/STATE POLICE: TROOPER HYER THEN SWERVED OVER TO THE RIGHT AND FOLLOWED THE SAME PATH OF THE VEHICLE HE WAS PURSUING HE WENT ON TO THE EMERGENCY LANE AND BEGAN TO SKID SIDEWAYS.)) [RUNS14]
[OUT Q=skid sideways]
That's when Trooper Hyer struck the driver of the G-M-C. The driver of the sport utility vehicle has been identified as Todd Setliff of Roanoke. Authorities say both Setliff and Heyer suffered minor injuries.
(///// SOT /////)
[SOT]
[IN Q=It was ]
((ANTHONY MILANO/TRUCK DRIVER: IT WAS SUCH A TIGHT SPOT THERE WAS MAYBE THREE FEET BETWEEN ALL THE CARS.)) [RUNS08]
[OUT Q=all the cars.]
Anthony Milano was behind the wheel of his tractor trailer and saw the accident unfold.
(////sot////)
[sot]
[in q=The officer]
((ANTHONY MILANO/TRUCK DRIVER: THE OFFICER MADE A GREAT RECOVERY IT'S GOOD HE WAS WEARING A SEAT BELT IT SAVED HIS LIFE.)) [RUNS10]
[OUT Q= saved his life.]
Teresa Hamilton, NEWS 7.))
(-------------)
[ANCHOR=]
[SS=HOLD]
Police are looking for a mid to late 1990's model red mustang with Ohio plates. The driver of the car has been described as a young white male.

[45-Gilmore]

[ANCHOR=Kimberly]
[NEWSCAST=AM Cutins]
[WRITER=jda]
[TAPE#=00-47 TC1:26:41]
[GRAPHIC=Car Tax]

Governor Jim Gilmore wants residents to encourage their state lawmakers to keep the car tax cut going.
(------------)
[VO-NAT]
[SUPER=03-Roanoke]

Gilmore made a statewide swing that brought him to Roanoke yesterday afternoon.
As state revenues have flattened, some state senators are moving to freeze the car tax cut at 50 percent.
But Gilmore says that amounts to a tax increase of more than 250-million dollars... and yesterday he encouraged supporters to contact their lawmakers in Richmond.
(///// SOT /////)
[SOT 14:53]
[IN Q=I would ask them to ]
((I WOULD ASK THEM TO PHONE THEM OR EMAIL THEM OR SEND THEM A LETTER OR A FAX AND TELL THEM TO CONTINUE CUTTING THE CAR TAX.))
[SUPER=@Gilmore]
[RUNS=:10]
[OUT Q=continue cutting the car tax.]
(------------)
[VO-NAT]

Yesterday, members of both parties took issue with Gilmore's claim that a delay in the car tax cut amounts to a tax increase.
(-------------)
[ANCHOR=Kimberly]
[GRAPHIC=HOLD]

They say the governor has also reneged on a promise he made in 1997, to freeze the phase-out of the car tax if state revenue growth fell below a specific level.

[8-Roanoke-Fire]

[ANCHOR=Kimberly]
[NEWSCAST=AM Cutins]
[WRITER=tha]
[TAPE#=00-]
[GRAPHIC=Fire]

A Roanoke man dies and several people lose their home when an apartment house catches fire..
(------------)
[VO-NAT]
[SUPER=03-Roanoke/Last Night;]
The house, at the corner of Elm and third street, had been converted into apartments. It caught fire last night around ten o'clock leaving several residents homeless. Fire fighters found the man's body on the second floor after putting out the flames and searching through the debris.

[8-Foster]

[ANCHOR=Kimberly]
[NEWSCAST=AM Cutins]
[WRITER=khu]
[TAPE#=00-46 TC1:47:34]
[GRAPHIC=Tina Foster]

Hundreds of tips-- but still no solid lead in the case of Tina Louise Foster.
(------------)
[VO-NAT]
[SUPER=03-Roanoke/Monday]

Roanoke Detectives and the local Commonwealth's Attorney issued an appeal Monday for help with the investigation.

Crime Line was deluged with calls Monday night.
Police released photocopies of three pictures found in Foster's car. They wanted to know who the woman in the picture is... or, at least, where the pictures came from.
(------------)
[ANCHOR=]
[SS=none]

Yesterday a department spokeswoman said investigators had found the same images on Foster's computer at home. So, while her family may not have known the mystery woman, Tina Foster may have.

[8-Lewis-Gale]

[ANCHOR=Kimberly]
[NEWSCAST=AM Cutins]
[WRITER=jsu]
[TAPE#=500-4 TC2:03:36]
[GRAPHIC=Lawsuit]

An out- of- court settlement was apparently the right prescription to end a disagreement between Lewis Gale Clinic and two of its former doctors.
(------------)
[VO-NAT]
[SUPER=03-Salem/File Tape]

Lewis Gale sued Doctors Preston Waldrop and Greg Reibel (Ree-bul) for violating the "no compete clause" in a contract they signed.
But now that the two sides have reached an agreement. The doctors will be able to continue practicing in the area.

Waldrop and Reibel recently opened a new clinic, Virginia Orthopedics in Salem.
Lewis Gale says this was an amicable resolution to the case, and it is pleased with the decision.
(------------)

[WIPE WIPE WIPE WIPE]

[8--Carilion]

[ANCHOR=Kimberly]
[NEWSCAST=AM Cutins]
[WRITER=jsu]
[TAPE#=500-20 TC1:41:29]
[GRAPHIC=WIPE]

[WIPE WIPE WIPE WIPE]

(-------------)
[VO-NAT]
[SUPER=03-Salem]

But the legal battle is ongoing between Carilion and Doctor William Ball.
Yesterday, a judge heard the case against Ball but did not render a decision.
Carilion Healthcare Corporation says Ball failed to honor an agreement in his contract not to practice in the area for two years.
(-------------)
[ANCHOR=]
[SS=none]

Ball's attorney says the contract is ambiguous and has already expired. No way of knowing when the judge will make a decision.