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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, September 8, 1993                   TAG: 9309080284
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: New River Valley bureau
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG                                LENGTH: Short

ELECTRONIC VILLAGE EQUIPMENT RECOVERED

The equipment apparently was stolen Aug. 29 by two college-aged men. About 20 witnesses looked on but did not report the theft to police.

The equipment was recovered Tuesday. The Electronic Village is a plan to make Blacksburg the first town in the nation to be linked by personal computers. The project will use high-speed circuits and fiber-optic cables to tie in Blacksburg's homes, businesses, government offices and Virginia Tech.

Blacksburg police said a resident who read about the theft returned the items to the Virginia Tech Police Department, who then contacted town police.

The resident had acquired the items from someone else who found them near the Tech Terrace Apartments, from where they were taken, police said.

Capt. William Brown said an investigation is continuing and the recovered items are being processed for fingerprints before being returned to the Electronic Village project. The equipment, worth about $15,000, was being stored in a breezeway at the complex. The people who saw the men take the equipment were unable to describe them, Brown said.