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

DATE: FRIDAY, March 5, 1993                   TAG: 9303050222
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C4   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Short

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'SKINS' OWNER: WE'RE NOT SUING

Washington Redskins owner Jack Kent Cooke says he has no immediate plans to sue the state to recoup $2.1 million in expenses during last year's failed attempt to bring the team to Alexandria.

"We're not suing anybody at the moment," Cooke said. "I'm certainly not suing the governor, who is my friend. As far as I'm concerned, it's a tempest in a teapot."

Cooke demanded reimbursement for his work in a Feb. 3 letter to RF&P Corp., the Virginia Retirement System subsidiary that owns the Potomac Yard site in Alexandria where Wilder proposed building the stadium, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported Thursday.

Cooke's lawyer, Mario V. Mirabelli, repeated the demands in a Feb. 24 letter, adding that the state had until 5 p.m. Wednesday to pay his client and avert a lawsuit.

In the letter, Mirabelli said Virginia officials reneged on a promise to cover legal and other expenses.

State officials say they don't owe Cooke any money.

"At no time has the governor said or suggested the state would reimburse anybody for anything," said Glenn Davidson, press secretary for Gov. Douglas Wilder. "Nor has the governor ever asked that anything be spent on our behalf."

The expenses include a $1 million bill - at $350 per hour - for the time the billionaire and his staff spent on the venture, the newspaper said.

Keywords:
FOOTBALL

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