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

DATE: MONDAY, March 30, 1992                   TAG: 9203300165
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

APCO POWER LINE FOES PLANNING RALLY

A rally by opponents of Appalachian Power Co.'s planned high-voltage power line is planned before the start of the first State Corporation Commission hearing at New Castle on Thursday at 2:30 p.m.

The 1 p.m. festival-type event, expected to draw 1,000 or more people, may upstage the main event scheduled an hour and a half later.

Speeches, food, music, melodrama and exhibits of energy conservation are planned by the Citizens for the Preservation of Craig County.

Among the speakers scheduled are Vinton Del. Richard Cranwell, majority leader of the House of Delegates; Del. Mary Pearl Compton, a West Virginia legislator from Monroe County; Jim McNeely, a West Virginia lawyer and a leader of the new National Committee for the New River; Bill Bilenky, the Richmond lawyer representing power-line opponents; and Jeff Janosko, a leader of the Roanoke County Preservation League, another anti-power line group.

The power-line controversy will be presented on stage in a melodrama in the 1920s style by the Monroe County Power Line Players.

Apco wants to build a line from Wyoming County, W.Va., to Cloverdale, crossing 37 miles of Craig and Roanoke counties in Virginia.

In an advertisement promoting the event, the Craig County group said, "If you can do only one thing, do this: Stand with your friends thousands strong in New Castle April 2. Help show the State Corporation Commission, American Electric Power [Apco's parent company] and the world that Craig County people and their neighbors are solidly united against the line."

A Craig committee promoting the rally suggested calling the event, "Speak Out Craig County" or "Come, Say No to Apco."

After the rally, the SCC will start its business in the circuit courtroom of the Craig County Courthouse, where Howard P. Anderson Jr., SCC hearing examiner, will open the hearing to receive statements from the public. A second session will start at 7 p.m.

Four days later, Anderson will conduct a second hearing in the SCC courtroom in Richmond. After a recess, asked by opponents to prepare testimony and exhibits, the hearing will resume at the SCC courtroom in Richmond on July 7 at 10 a.m.

People protesting the line must file written testimony and exhibits with the SCC by May 18.

by CNB