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

DATE: MONDAY, March 25, 1991                   TAG: 9103250289
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B5   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Medium

VA.-W.VA. BORDER SECTION STILL FUZZY AFTER 128 YEARS

Nearly 130 years after West Virginia and Virginia separated in a disagreement over secession and other Civil War issues, there remains a 15-mile gap in the official border between the two states.

Virginia Del. Linda Rollins says it's time to bring the fuzzy border into focus. The 1991 General Assembly approved her bill appropriating $5,000 for a commission to determine the exact border.

"It's a matter that needs to be resolved," said Rollins, R-Leesburg. "For one thing, we're about to go through redistricting and I would like to have my boundary lines set. And there's also the question of taxes."

Rollins said establishing a boundary might benefit Loudoun County, which has a higher tax rate than neighboring Jefferson County, W.Va.

"Most residents along there would probably rather be taxed in West Virginia," Rollins said.

But the matter certainly will not be resolved before redistricting, which the General Assembly will consider in a special session April 1.

The Virginia border commission had been waiting for West Virginia Gov. Gaston Caperton to appoint a similar panel, which he finally named last week.

The Virginia commission was created five years ago but has yet to meet because it had been waiting for West Virginia to name its commissioners.

"There have been other priorities the governor's office has had to deal with," said West Virginia Del. John Overington, a Republican whose district includes part of Jefferson County.

The area in question begins near Virginia 9 and extends south, Rollins said. The terrain is rugged and the area sparsely populated.

Although both states have lived with the stretch of imaginary border since West Virginia gained statehood in 1863, Rollins said it is important to clearly establish the state line.

"In the early '60s, there was a rape up on this mountain along the border," Rollins said. "The commonwealth's attorney couldn't prove the crime took place in Virginia."

There is nothing to prevent such a thing from happening again, she said.

Thomas W. diZerega of Upperville, a member of the Virginia commission, said no one is sure why the border was not drawn earlier. He said it might be "just one of those things that nobody got around to doing." Another theory is that the rough terrain made surveying difficult.

But technology has made surveying such areas less daunting, diZerega said.

by CNB