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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 17, 1991                   TAG: 9104170620
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-6   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NOTTOWAY                                LENGTH: Short

STUDENTS CHARGED WITH ARSON IN FIRE AT SCHOOL

Police have charged two Nottoway High School students with arson in connection with a fire that destroyed the school's agriculture shop.

The students, both 17, were also charged with arson in connection with another fire that was set about the same time Sunday morning at an abandoned house on Virginia 614, Nottoway County Sheriff Larry Parrish said. He said the two were arrested Monday and were being held at Crater Detention Home.

Parrish said a county deputy sheriff, responding to the high school fire, saw the youths in the area. No motive was apparent, he said.

School Superintendent Howard Mustian said no estimate of damage was available but that the agriculture wing of the building was destroyed. The main school building was undamaged.

Agriculture teacher Lewis Williamson estimated about $100,000 in equipment was damaged, including wood, paints and varnishes. "Then we lost 99 percent of the textbooks for agriculture education and $1,100 worth of prom decorations," he said.

by CNB