Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, March 2, 1990                   TAG: 9003023452
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Medium

I-64 BRIDGE IS CLOSED TEMPORARILY

Damage to the 22-year-old bridge was discovered Thursday in a concrete abutment. The reinforced abutment supports seven steel beams that are part of the bridge's substructure.

An inspection showed that large sections of the concrete footings that support the beams had broken off. Steel bolts joining the girders to the footings were bent and in some cases broken in half.

The damage caused the bridge deck at that location to drop about an inch below the highway's normal driving surface.

There was no damage to the eastbound span, according to the Virginia Department of Transportation. It will remain open.

Transportation Department officials estimated Thursday that it would take 24 to 36 hours to repair the damage and reopen the westbound lanes.

- Associated Press

\ Navy kickback scheme brings 9-year sentence

NORFOLK - Alton L. Skeeter, a former vice president of Systems Management American Corp., was sentenced to nine years in federal prison and fined $7,500 for his role in an elaborate kickback scheme involving Navy computer contracts.

Skeeter, a 54-year-old computer expert, helped transform his company from a struggling enterprise into one of Norfolk's largest defense contractors.

Skeeter's sentencing came after more than three years of investigation by federal agencies.

Skeeter and Systems Management American Vice President Morgan A. Joe Sr. were indicted in May 1989 and charged with being part of a kickback scheme involving bogus corporations, cash-stuffed envelopes and overseas money laundering.

- Associated Press