WDBJ 7 morning news AM cutins for 05/02/03

[7-11Roanoke-Gun]

[ANCHOR=Kim]

[NEWSCAST=cutin]
[WRITER=jda]
[TAPE#=03-21 TC00:10]
[GRAPHIC=None]

An E-M-S crew responding to one emergency in Roanoke was confronted with another.
(------------)
[VO-NAT]
[SUPER=03-Roanoke]

The incident unfolded last night outside an apartment complex on Plantation Road.
A report of an injured child brought emergency medical personnel to the scene.
Once they arrived, a fight broke out between an adult male and a teenager, and police say the 14- year- old pulled a gun.
(///// SOT /////)
[SOT 12:09:30]
[IN Q=Then about that time]
((AMIE SHEAFF: THEN ABOUT THAT TIME THE EMT WAS STANDING THERE AND THEN HE KIND OF WAVED AROUND AND POINTED AT HER. AND SHE JUST KIND OF PUT HER HANDS UP AND SHE RAN BEHIND THE AMBULANCE AND IMMEDIATELY CALLED POLICE I GUESS. ))
[SUPER=01-Amie Sheaff/Witness]
[RUNS=:13]
[OUT Q=called police I guess.]
(------------)
[VO-NAT]

Police were planning to charge the adult with assault and the teen with brandishing a weapon.
(------------)
[ANCHOR=Kim]
[GRAPHIC=None]

The gun turned out to be an air pistol, but police say it looked like a more lethal firearm.

[7-11Carter]

[ANCHOR=Kim]
[NEWSCAST=cutin]
[WRITER=]
[TAPE#=03-01 TC27:33]
[GRAPHIC=Legal Scales]
A Roanoke man has been convicted of a lesser charge after being accused of murder.
(------------)
[VO-NAT]

Yesterday, 37- year- old Darrell Jeffrey Carter pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter in the death of 27-year-old Timothy Smithers.
[SUPER=03-Roanoke/August 2001]

The prosecutor says Carter and Smithers got into a fight in southwest Roanoke one night.
At one point, Carter had Smithers in a bear hug. Smithers was able to free himself, but lost his balance, hitting his head.
The blow turned out to be fatal.
(------------)
[ANCHOR=Kim]
[SS=HOLD]

Carter will be sentenced in June.

[7-11Air-pollution]

[ANCHOR=Kim]
[NEWSCAST=cutin]
[WRITER=mmu]
[TAPE#=03-10 TC1:06:42]
[GRAPHIC=None]
For the fourth year in a row, Virginia has been given a low grade for air quality from the American Lung Association.

(------------)
[VO-NAT]
[SUPER=03-Roanoke/File Tape]

According to the group's new report, nearly all of the counties in the state, including Roanoke, have a smog problem.
The report finds that most Virginians continue to breathe unhealthy amounts of the toxic air pollutant ozone.
While automobile emissions and smokestacks are a source of pollution, experts say most of the state's smog comes from our neighbors.
(/////SOT/////)
[SOT 01:16:11]
[IN Q=MOSTLY ITS OZONE THAT COMES]
((DR. KEVIN COOPER/AMERICAN LUNG ASSOCIATION OF VIRGINIA: MOSTLY ITS OZONE THAT COMES FROM MORE INDUSTRIAL AREAS WHICH ARE FURTHER WEST AND THE PREVAILING WINDS BLOW IT OUR WAY. WE HAPPEN TO BE DOWN-WIND FROM SOME BIG SOURCES, POWER PLANTS AND INDUSTRIES FROM THE MIDWEST AND THE WIND BLOWS THE STUFF OUR WAY.))
[SUPER=01-Dr. Kevin Cooper/American Lung Association of Virginia]
[RUNS=:16]
[OUT Q=BLOWS THE STUFF OUR WAY.]
(------------)
[VO-NAT]

On the upside, experts say air quality is steadily improving.
The state's cleanest air is in Southwest Virginia.
Rockbridge County and Wythe County get the highest grades in the report.
(XXXXXXX)
[WIPE TO WDBJ WEBPAGE FS]
To find out the results for your county, you can log on to our web site at www.wdbj7.com.
(------------)

[45-11City-Schools]

[ANCHOR=Kim]
[NEWSCAST=cutin]
[WRITER=jda]
[TAPE#=03-22 TC00:10]
[GRAPHIC=Noen]
Roanoke School Superintendent Wayne Harris has signed a two year extension to his current contract. In addition, he will laso be receiving a pay raise.
(------------)
[VO-NAT]
[SUPER=03-Roanoke]

School board members made the decision yesterday.
With major construction projects under way and the deadline for state accreditation approaching, a majority said the school system needs Harris' leadership.
But the decision was not unanimous.
(///// SOT /////)
[SOT]
[IN Q=It will give us]
((WEBSTER DAY: IT WILL GIVE US CONSISTENT LEADERSHIP OVER THE NEXT FEW CRITICAL YEARS, SO MADAM CHAIRMAN I INTEND TO VOTE FOR THIS RESOLUTION.)) ((MELINDA PAYNE: FOR ECONOMIC REASONS, WHEN TEACHERS AND BUS DRIVERS AND CUSTODIAL WORKERS ALL THE PEOPLE IN THE TRENCHES ARE LOSING GROUND, THE PERCENTAGE OF INCREASE I JUST FIND IT HARD TO SUPPORT.))
[SUPER=01-Webster Day/Roanoke City School Board; :00]
[SUPER=01-Melinda Payne/Roanoke City School Board; :10]
[RUNS=:23]
[OUT Q=find it hard to support.]
(------------)
[VO-NAT]

Harris' salary will rise from 142 to 149 thousand dollars a year. His total compensation will increase from 183 to 197- thousand dollars.
(------------)

[45-6-Moores]

[ANCHOR=Kim]
[NEWSCAST=cutin]
[WRITER=ssm]
[TAPE#=03-14 TC2:58:20]
[GRAPHIC=Legal Scales]

A Henry County couple has been found guilty of embezzling nearly 100-thousand dollars from their church in Bassett.
(------------)
[VO-NAT]
[SUPER=04-File Tape]

A federal jury convicted Terry and Myra Moore on six counts involving mail fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy.
Prosecutors argued Terry Moore abused his position as financial secretary for St. Paul Pentecostal Holiness Church over a six-year period.
Moore used church money to pay off credit cards, phone bills and buy material for his printing business.
The couple will be sentenced in August.
(------------)

[45-11DMV-Fees]

[ANCHOR=Kim]
[NEWSCAST=cutin]
[WRITER=rca]
[TAPE#=03-19 TC07:26]
[GRAPHIC=DMV Price Hike]
You will now pay higher fees, at Virginia's D-M-Vs.
(------------)
[VO-NAT]
[SUPER=03-Roanoke;]

Customers are now being charged an additional five dollars for driver's licenses. Total cost varies on whether you're renewing or replacing, getting just a photo I-D or a commercial license. A hike of 15-dollars is also being imposed on people who are reinstating their license after a suspension. That cost is now 45-dollars.
(------------)

[45-11National-Guard]

[ANCHOR=Kim]
[NEWSCAST=cutin]
[WRITER=dse]
[TAPE#=03-20 TC11:44]
[GRAPHIC=None]

Some local National Guard troops will be heading home in a couple of months.
(------------)
[VO-NAT]
[SUPER=03-Danville/August 4]

The First Battalion of the 246th Field Artillery shipped out for active duty in August.
The unit's scheduled to be released from federal service on July 31st.
The soldiers from Southside have been guarding Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland.
(------------)

[8-11Roanoke-Gun]

[ANCHOR=Kim]
[NEWSCAST=cutin]
[WRITER=jda]
[TAPE#=03-21 TC00:10]
[GRAPHIC=None]

An E-M-S crew responding to one emergency in Roanoke was confronted with another.
(------------)
[VO-NAT]
[SUPER=03-Roanoke]

The incident unfolded last night outside an apartment complex on Plantation Road.
A report of an injured child brought emergency medical personnel to the scene.
Once they arrived, a fight broke out between an adult male and a teenager, and police say the 14- year- old pulled a gun.
(///// SOT /////)
[SOT 12:09:30]
[IN Q=Then about that time]
((AMIE SHEAFF: THEN ABOUT THAT TIME THE EMT WAS STANDING THERE AND THEN HE KIND OF WAVED AROUND AND POINTED AT HER. AND SHE JUST KIND OF PUT HER HANDS UP AND SHE RAN BEHIND THE AMBULANCE AND IMMEDIATELY CALLED POLICE I GUESS. ))
[SUPER=01-Amie Sheaff/Witness]
[RUNS=:13]
[OUT Q=called police I guess.]
(------------)
[VO-NAT]

Police were planning to charge the adult with assault and the teen with brandishing a weapon.
(------------)
[ANCHOR=Kim]
[GRAPHIC=None]

The gun turned out to be an air pistol, but police say it looked like a more lethal firearm.

[8-11Hunt-Lawsuit]

[ANCHOR=Kim]
[NEWSCAST=cutin]
[WRITER=ssm]
[TAPE#=03-13 TC31:38]
[GRAPHIC=None]
The city of Danville is being sued by the family of a man who was shot and killed last year by a Danville police officer.
(------------)
[VO-NAT]
[SUPER=03-Danville/File Tape]

67-year-old Rennie Hunt died last May after a standoff with police inside his North Main Street apartment.
Police shot Hunt when he allegedly brandished a screwdriver after holding his girlfriend hostage for several hours.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court, is seeking 7 and half million dollars in punitive and compensatory damages.
It also wants a court-ordered reform of how Danville police deal with mentally ill persons.
(------------)

[8-11Kent-Square]

[ANCHOR=Kim]
[NEWSCAST=cutin]
[WRITER=myr]
[TAPE#=03-05 TC2:03:33]
[GRAPHIC=None]

A new construction project has begun in Downtown Blacksburg.
(------------)
[VO-NAT]
[SUPER=03-Blacksburg;]
Officials broke ground yesterday for the Kent Square development project. The project will include more than 100-thousand square feet of retail and office space, and a four-level parking garage.
(//////SOT//////)
[SOT 1925]
[IN Q=I THINK]
((ROGER HEDGEPETH/BLACKSBURG MAYOR; I THINK THE MOST SIGNIFICANT THING IS IT WILL BE A MAJOR PROJECT AND ACHIEVEMENT IN ITSELF BUT IT WILL ALSO START A NEW WAVE OF THINKING AS TO HOW THE COMMUNITY THINKS ABOUT DOWNTOWN ))
[SUPER=01-Roger Hedgepeth/Blacksburg Mayor;]
[RUNS=16]
[OUT Q=THINKS ABOUT DOWNTOWN]
(-------------)
[VO-NAT]
Kent Square will be located off Main Street, where the historic Alexander Black House once stood. The project should be complete by next May. (------------)