Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 3, 1991 TAG: 9104030455
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARK MORRISON/ NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
George Edward Via, president of Vistavia Development Co. and Montgomery Parks Inc., and Todd M. Overheul, a construction foreman for Vistavia, were indicted Monday by a Montgomery County grand jury.
If convicted, they could face up to 10 years in prison, said Commonwealth's Attorney Phil Keith. The indictments were issued after investigations by the Christiansburg Police Department and the Virginia Department of Labor and Industry.
A third indictment, which carries a possible $10,000 fine, was issued against Vistavia and Montgomery Parks. It charges both companies with violating state safety laws.
Eyre, a student at Old Dominion University who was home for summer vacation, was killed just four hours after he started his job for Vistavia in June 1990.
According to police reports, Eyre had been working in a 14-foot-deep ditch running waterlines from a subdivision behind Christiansburg High School. The crew was leaving to go home when a foreman told Eyre to fetch a shovel and some other tools left behind. The trench caved in as he was retrieving the items.
Labor officials fined Vistavia and Montgomery Parks $50,000 for violating state safety rules required for trench lines deeper than 5 feet deep. Investigators reported that the ditch in which Eyre was killed was not braced or sloped as required by federal health and safety regulations.
The companies also were cited for allowing employees to work in the ditch without hard hats. Eyre was not wearing a hard hat when he was killed.
Vistavia and Montgomery Parks officials are contesting the fines and violations, a labor department spokesman said. Neither Via nor Overheul could be reached for comment Tuesday.
Eyre was the son of Peter and Margot Eyre; his father is dean of the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine at Virginia Tech. The Eyre family declined comment.
Neither Vistavia nor Montgomery Parks is a licensed contractor in Virginia.
Monday's indictments came in an increased effort by the labor department to push for criminal charges in on-the-job deaths.
Carol Amato, state commissioner of labor and industry, said this is the third time indictments have been issued since 1989, when the push began. She said the decision whether to go before a grand jury, however, remains with commonwealth's attorneys.
by CNB