WDBJ 7 morning news AM cutins for 12/12/01

[7-11Burning-ban]

[ANCHOR=Kim]

[NEWSCAST=AM Cutin]
[WRITER=tbr]
[TAPE#=01-56 TC25:14]
[GRAPHIC=None]

The burning ban that has been in effect since late October has been lifted.
Governor Jim Gilmore says the recent rain and the cooler temperatures have reduced the threat of forest fires.
(-------------)
[VO-NAT]
[SUPER=03-Roanoke Co./November 9]

The Virginia Department of Forestry reports that we've had almost a thousand fires that have burned 11 thousand acres since October 15.
The state's Chief of Forest Protection says the fall 2001 fire season was the worst in 30 years.
(-------------)

[7-11Gilmore-Service]

[ANCHOR=Kim]
[NEWSCAST=AM Cutin]
[WRITER=equ]
[TAPE#=01-54 TC41:50]
[GRAPHIC=Attack on America]

Governor Jim Gilmore attended a memorial service in Richmond yesterday, for those killed in the September 11th attacks.
(------------)
[VO-NAT :13]
[SUPER=03-Richmond;]

A high school choir sang the national anthem at the same time that Flight 77 hit the Pentagon three months ago.
Governor Gilmore says the tragedy sparked a rebirth of national greatness.
(/////SOT/////)
[SOT 09:58:41]
[IN Q=In the face of this kind]
((GOV. JIM GILMORE: IN THE FACE OF THIS KIND OF EVIL, WE ARE NOT GOING TO BE AFRAID. WE ARE GOING TO BE DETERMINED. WE WILL NOT DIVIDE, BUT UNITE. WE WILL NOT DOUBT, BUT AFFIRM OUR FAITH IN FREEDOM. IN EACH OTHER TOO. WE WILL AFFIRM OUR FAITH IN EACH OTHER.))
[SUPER=@Gilmore;]
[RUNS=:14]
[OUT Q=affirm our faith in each other.]
(------------)
[VO-NAT :07]

Virginia's memorial service at the State Library was repeated around the nation yesterday morning.
(------------)

[7-11Press-Secretary]

[ANCHOR=Kim]
[NEWSCAST=AM Cutin]
[WRITER=mjo]
[TAPE#=01-58 TC15:17]
[GRAPHIC=None]
One of News-7's own is leaving to become Press Secretary for Governor-Elect Mark Warner. The next time you see Richmond Bureau Chief Ellen Qualls, it'll be in a very DIFFERENT role...
(///// SOT /////)
[SOT 01:41 - :59]
[IN Q=It's not tough leaving when]
[SUPER=01-Ellen Qualls/Press Secretary-Designate;]
[RUNS=:18]
[OUT Q=he's got a great message.]
(------------)
[VO-NAT]

Ellen has spent the last seven years as our capitol correspondent.
She came to News-7 in 1993 and opened the Danville bureau.
Ellen's coverage has spanned two Virginia governors, a presidential impeachment and the terrorist attacks.
She was elected president of the Capitol Correspondents Association, and posed questions to her future boss at the gubernatorial debate here at WDBJ in October.
Ellen's assignments have taken her to hurricane-swept beaches, the mud at Woodstock and even "behind the scenes" in capitol bathrooms. [video of Ellen with News-7 tattoo]
Ellen has left her mark on News-7... and you could say the reverse is true as well....
(------------)
[ANCHOR=Kim]
[SS=None]

One other note from the Warner camp... his campaign and transition spokesman is going to Florida.
Mo (el-LIE-thee) Elleithee will manage Janet Reno's gubernatorial campaign in Florida next year.

[45-11Burning-ban]

[ANCHOR=Kim]
[NEWSCAST=Am Cutin]
[WRITER=tbr]
[TAPE#=01-56 TC25:14]
[GRAPHIC=None]
Due to the recent rain and the cool temperatures, Governor Jim Gilmore has lifted the burning ban that has been in effect since late October.
He says the weather has greatly reduced the threat of forest fires.
(-------------)
[VO-NAT]
[SUPER=03-Roanoke Co./November 9]

The Virginia Department of Forestry reports that we've had almost a thousand fires that have burned 11 thousand acres since October 15.
The state's Chief of Forest Protection says the fall 2001 fire season was the worst in 30 years.
(-------------)

[45-11Allen]

[ANCHOR=Kim]
[NEWSCAST=AM Cutin]
[WRITER=jmi]
[TAPE#=01-53 TC52:04]
[GRAPHIC=George Allen]

Yesterday, Virginia Senator George Allen and three other senators presented an economic stimulus package that would, among other things, lengthen unemployment benefits by 13 weeks. Senator Allen hopes the new package will ease the worries of thousands of laid off workers in Southside.
(--------------)
[VO-NAT]

Allen says the bill is a compromise that should get bipartisan approval in Congress.
(///// SOT /////)
[SOT]
[IN Q=The point is not]
((SEN. GEORGE ALLEN: THE POINT IS NOT REPUBLICAN OR DEMOCRAT, IT'S TO HELP PEOPLE WHO HAVE LOST THEIR JOBS. THE UNEMPLOYMENT CHANGES BADE IN THE THIS PROPOSAL ARE VERY GOOD.))
[SUPER=@allen]
[RUNS=10]
[OUT Q=very good.]
(------------)
[ANCHOR=Kim]
[SS=None]

Negotiations on another stimulus package broke down last week as both parties accused the other of trying to kill the measure.

[45-11L'burg-Council]

[ANCHOR=Kim]
[NEWSCAST=AM Cutin]
[WRITER=ssm]
[TAPE#=01-50 TC1:20:42]
[GRAPHIC=None]

Mental health advocates say Lynchburg desperately needs to spend money to make one of its major bridges less attractive to suicide jumpers.
(------------)
[VO-NAT]
[SUPER=03-Lynchburg]

38-year old Theresa Wilkerson died last August when she leapt to her death off the Rivermont Bridge near downtown.
Wilkerson's father asked city council last night to install protective fencing on the bridge to prevent others from killing themselves.
(///// SOT /////)
[SOT 8:41:09//8:44:52]
[IN Q=If there had]
((DON WILKERSON/FATHER OF SUICIDE VICTIM: IF THERE HAD BEEN A FENCE ON THE BRIDGE, MORE LIKELY SHE WOULD BE LIVING TODAY. FENCES DO MAKE A DIFFERENCE. A FENCE ON RIVERMONT BRIDGE COULD STOP SOME PREMATURE DEATHS.)) ((LINDA THEISEN/L'BURG DEPRESSIVE DISORDERS ASSOC'N: YOU CAN SAVE MONEY BY WAITING, BUT WITH LIFE, THAT'S A DIFFERENT STORY. THERE IS A CAUSE FOR GREAT CONCERN REGARDING RIVERMONT BRIDGE. THOUGH IT IS NOW TWENTY YEARS LATER, AS THE PEOPLE'S REPRESENTATIVES, PLEASE MOVE FORWARD AND INSTALL THIS FENCING.))
[SUPER=01-Don Wilkerson/Father of Suicide Victim; :00]
[SUPER=01-Linda Theisen/Lynchburg Depressive Disorders Association; :17]
[RUNS=32]
[OUT Q=install this fencing.]
(------------)
[VO-NAT]

A rash of suicides on the bridge in 1981 prompted city council to study the problem then, but no action was taken.
Council last night did not respond to the request.
(------------)

[8-11Walker-Hearing]

[ANCHOR=Kim]
[NEWSCAST=AM Cutin]
[WRITER=khu]
[TAPE#=01-44 TC1:56:30]
[GRAPHIC=Legal Scales]
A Roanoke jury will watch a fatal shooting on videotape next week. They'll even have the option of taking the tape and a V-C-R to the jury room, if they want to ...
(------------)
[VO-NAT]
[SUPER=03-Roanoke]
as they consider whether Bernard Maurice Walker is guilty of murder. The two sides agreed to that yesterday- -one of several issues settled before the case goes to trial Monday. Attorney David Damico says "the Commonwealth thinks Walker brought a pistol to a fist fight. We say it was self defense." Whereever the truth lies, Reaco Hilton died on the floor of the Stop and Save Mini Mart on Melrose Avenue LAST December 24th. Walker was on the lam for almost seven months before his arrest in Atlanta last July.
(------------)

[8-11Murder-Arrest]

[ANCHOR=Kim]
[NEWSCAST=AM Cutin]
[WRITER=ssm]
[TAPE#=none]
[GRAPHIC=Murder Invest.]

A man wanted by Lynchburg police for two months turned himself in to face murder charges.
24-year old Christopher Brusant Smith surrendered to police yesterday afternoon, nearly two months after he allegedly shot and killed a man on Bedford Avenue.
Police say Smith and another man approached a car and demanded that the occupants give them their wallets.
That's when Smith allegedly shot 20-year-old Michael Moseley once in the side.
Smith's being held in the Blue Ridge Regional Detention Center on charges of murder, armed robbery and using a firearm in commission of a felony.

[8-11Press-Secretary]

[ANCHOR=Kim]
[NEWSCAST=Am Cutin]
[WRITER=mjo]
[TAPE#=01-58 TC15:17]
[GRAPHIC=None]

Next time you see Richmond Bureau Chief Ellen Qualls on News-7, it will be in a different capacity.
She's leaving to become Press Secretary for Governor-Elect Mark Warner.
(///// SOT /////)
[SOT 01:41 - :59]
[IN Q=It's not tough leaving when]
[SUPER=01-Ellen Qualls/Press Secretary-Designate;]
[RUNS=:18]
[OUT Q=he's got a great message.]
(------------)
[VO-NAT]

Ellen has spent the last seven years as our capitol correspondent.
She came to News-7 in 1993 and opened the Danville bureau.
Ellen's coverage has spanned two Virginia governors, a presidential impeachment and the terrorist attacks.
She was elected president of the Capitol Correspondents Association, and posed questions to her future boss at the gubernatorial debate here at WDBJ in October.
Ellen's assignments have taken her to hurricane-swept beaches, the mud at Woodstock and even "behind the scenes" in capitol bathrooms. [video of Ellen with News-7 tattoo]
Ellen has left her mark on News-7... and you could say the reverse is true as well....
(------------)
[ANCHOR=Kim]
[SS=None]

One other note from the Warner camp... his campaign and transition spokesman is going to Florida. Mo (el-LIE-thee) Elleithee will manage Janet Reno's gubernatorial campaign in Florida next year.