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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 10, 1993                   TAG: 9303100312
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C4   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: Southwest bureau
DATELINE: WYTHEVILLE                                LENGTH: Short

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MAX MEADOWS MAN SENTENCED FOR THREATS

A jury has sentenced a Max Meadows man to 30 days in jail for refusing to let two social services workers leave his house when they came to investigate a child abuse allegation.

David Bickley testified Monday that this is the third time someone had made such an accusation against him, and none has amounted to anything.

Patricia Rigney and Bobbie Holman, with the Wythe County Department of Social Services, had come to Bickley's house Nov. 18 after telephoning him to arrange the visit. They testified that he became angry and verbally abusive when they would not tell him the source of the allegation.

He telephoned the Sheriff's Department, saying he wanted someone in authority present. The women said they tried to leave and Bickley warned them that he would order his dog to attack them if they did.

Bickley was accused of ripping a "rat-tail" bit of hair from a boy's head. In his testimony, Bickley said he held the boy in a headlock and cut the hair with scissors as a matter of discipline.

The women left after two state troopers came to the house.

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