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

DATE: FRIDAY, June 11, 1993                   TAG: 9306110296
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MICHAEL CSOLLANY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

SWELTERING ROANOKERS DUCK IN WHERE IT'S COOL

"I don't come here too often - only when it's hot," Vincent Hicks said, looking up from his newspaper at Roanoke's main library.

Hicks and countless others were ducking Thursday's 91-degree heat in one of the various air-conditioned havens in the city - malls, post offices and movie theaters.

For the third consecutive day, Roanokers broiled in 90-degree heat.

For Hicks, who is pounding the pavement in search of a job, the library provides a few hours of thermal relief.

While in the library, he said, he reads the magazines and the newspaper. "I check out Extra, my horoscope, the movie ads . . . ," Hicks said.

Hicks also checked out the help-wanted ads and said the heat was not enough to keep him from getting back to his search. "It's not that hot," he said.

The 31-year-old said he has held a couple of temporary positions recently and is looking for a job as a dishwasher, laborer or janitor.

Despite the "duckers," librarians said then when it gets hot, they usually experience a decline in library traffic. Some street people will come in for water and shade, but library officials said they don't mind as long as the visitors read something while inside.

Some relief for Hicks and the rest of us is due today, as temperatures drop with an expected cold front.

Donato Cacciapaglia, a National Weather Service specialist, said Saturday's high temperature should be in the lower 80s.

by CNB