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

DATE: THURSDAY, April 26, 1990                   TAG: 9004270812
SECTION: NEIGHNBORS                    PAGE: N5   EDITION: NORTH 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

OMEGA PSI PHI TO HOLD 57TH YEARLY CONFERENCE

Gamma Alpha chapter of the Omega Psi Phi fraternity will host the 57th annual third-district conference today through Sunday. The event will be held at the Holiday Inn Tanglewood.

The theme for the conference is "Working Together to Combat Teen-age Parenthood, Drug Abuse, School Failure and Crime: Top Agenda for African Americans."

The chapter will honor Hersey Steptoe, a founder of Gamma Alpha, who has been a member of the fraternity for 67 years and is the only living charter member of the chapter.

Steptoe is retired from Norfolk and Western Railway, where he worked as a waiter in the dining car department. After he retired, he worked to organize the dining-car employees, who became affiliated with Local 495 of the Hotel and Restaurant Labor Union in Washington.

Steptoe was president of Gamma Alpha on two occasions and was named Omega Man of the Year in 1948 and 1962.

During the conference, two dances will be open to the public. On Friday, Sweet Dreams Band from Greensboro, N.C., will play from 10 p.m. until 2 a.m. The cost is $10 per person and the dress is casual. A formal dance will be held Saturday from 10 p.m. until 2 a.m. with Charlie's Band from Durham, N.C., playing. The cost is $20 per person. Tickets to both dances may be purchased from any Omega member.

by CNB