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

DATE: THURSDAY, April 12, 1990                   TAG: 9004120819
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B4   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: GRUNDY                                LENGTH: Short

SCHOOL SYSTEM MAY STOP PAGEANTS

The Buchanan County School Board, faced with a lawsuit by a student who says she was unfairly stripped of a beauty pageant title, is considering a ban on the contests at all county schools.

The recommendation from board attorney Tom Scott came on the heels of a $250,000 lawsuit filed in February by Renita Nichole Fletcher. Fletcher says she was stripped of the Miss Hurley High School title after a dispute over the judges' scoring.

The board tabled the motion at its meeting last week until the matter can be studied further, School Superintendent Paul Hatfield said Wednesday.

Fletcher has sued the School Board and Hurley High Principal Robert Wimmer. She claims she was crowned Miss Hurley High School on Oct. 29, 1989, then lost the title at a meeting the next day following allegations from the mother of another contestant that there had been a mistake in the tallying of the judges' scorecards.

by CNB