Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, June 18, 1994 TAG: 9407140019
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
SMITHFIELD - A high school valedictorian who pleaded guilty to burglary charges was cheered by classmates Friday night at graduation ceremonies.
Darrell Norton, 18, led his class into the Smithfield High School gymnasium and was applauded as he accepted the commemorative award medallion for graduating at the top of his class.
Fears that the pomp and circumstance would be disrupted by protests proved unfounded.
Honors student Dion Ellis Pittman gave the farewell speech, substituting for Norton, who was taken off the graduation program because of his recent arrest.
Norton, who was voted Most Likely to Succeed, pleaded guilty to armed burglary and grand larceny on Monday. He admitted he and some friends skipped school Jan. 14 and burglarized a home of thousands of dollars worth of guns, electronics and jewelry.
- Associated Press
UMW pleased with new contract
CASTLEWOOD - United Mine Workers said Friday they were pleased with a proposed contract with Pittston Coal Group that raises wages higher than the 1993 national coal mining contract and increases benefits.
``No concession, all gains,'' Ronnie Robbins, a UMW secretary at the local in Dante said after reading the labor agreement.
The current contract involving about 1,200 UMW members in Virginia and West Virginia will expire June 30. It was ratified after a bitter, 10-month strike that cost Pittston millions of dollars in production losses and cost the union $52 million in fines for civil disobedience and violent acts. The U.S. Supreme Court soon will decide whether the fines must be paid.
Pittston spokeswoman Susan Copeland could not be reached at the company's Lebanon office for comment on the new contract.
- Associated Press
Police called in on gas price war
RICHMOND - A gasoline war being waged by a pair of Richmond service stations forced police to enter a battle of their own against the traffic congestion that ensued.
Complaints about motorists spilling onto the road in front of the dueling stations forced a truce in the price war Thursday.
The traffic grew to complaint-prompting proportions after one of the combatants, a Southern Express convenience store, lowered its prices from 59.9 cents a gallon for regular unleaded to 29.9 cents.
That's when police stepped in and told drivers to move out of line or face being ticketed.
``We don't care what he sells his gas for,'' Richmond police Sgt. Burt Walker said. ``But we're not going to have the traffic backed up that far.''
Southern Express was a clear winner in the price war.
- Associated Press
by CNB