Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, August 28, 1994 TAG: 9408290060
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
DANVILLE - The Rev. Robert F. Ruth resigned as pastor of Sacred Heart Catholic Church on Saturday, two days after being indicted on a prostitution charge.
``I talked this over with the bishop, and we decided that this was the right thing to do,'' Ruth said. ``I don't know where I'm going, but I will know later on.''
Danville police said Ruth, 60, offered an undercover detective $20 to perform oral sex on the officer.
Ruth, who was ordained in 1960, has been pastor of Sacred Heart for about three years. He previously served parishes in Arlington, Portsmouth, Mechanicsville and Keyser, W.Va.
- Associated Press
Good-deed doers get eviction notices
HAMPTON - Four women who cleaned up and repainted a public housing complex playground received eviction notices for tampering with public property.
``We thought we were doing something good, but apparently no one else thought so,'' said Debbie Muskelly, one of the women. ``We couldn't believe they wanted to evict us.''
Muskelly, Lisa Freeman, LaVonda Cooke and Anissa Cooke spent about five hours one June night raking up trash in the area around the Pine Chapel Village Apartments and painting the graffiti-covered playground beams.
Two days later, the women received eviction notices from apartment manager Wanda Smith.
The notices said the women violated their leases by painting the playground - public property owned by the Hampton Housing Authority - without permission. The letters also informed the women they would have to scrub the new paint off the playground, Freeman said.
Both Jim Rattray, director of the Hampton housing authority, and Margaret Stokes, Pine Chapel's other manager, said they never intended to evict the women - just to get them to sit down and talk about the problem.
- Associated Press
Bridge jumper saved by screams
GLOUCESTER - A series of coincidences, including a traffic jam, led to the rescue of a man who jumped off the Coleman Bridge into the York River.
The jumper, 24-year-old Marcus J. Ripley of Gloucester Point, was in serious but stable condition Saturday at Riverside Regional Medical Center in Newport News, a nursing supervisor said.
The rescue effort was set in motion by two women whose car was stopped on the bridge in the traffic jam. When they saw Ripley wave to them and jump off the bridge, they screamed.
Their screams alerted bridge tender Glen Bumgarner. ``I went out and looked and saw him in the water. I called the emergency dispatcher, and then I used the bullhorn to direct the two boats down there to him,'' Bumgarner said.
Two boatloads of off-duty Coast Guardsmen reached Ripley within about two minutes after he hit the water, said Coast Guard Chief Petty Officer Robert L. Johnson, who was aboard one of the boats.
- Associated Press
Sailor grateful for teens' honesty
NEWPORT NEWS - Two teen-agers who found a Navy-issue wallet as they pulled out of a restaurant parking lot stopped to pick it up. Inside was a thick wad of bills.
Rebecca Morgan and John Hallett, both 16, found the wallet Wednesday night, took it back to Morgan's house, called police and turned it over.
Police on Thursday returned the wallet - containing $1,025 - to Terrence Jordan, a sailor on the USS Enterprise. Officers said they did not know when or when or how Jordan lost the wallet, but said he was shocked and delighted to get it back with the cash included.
Navy Lt. Mark McCaffrey said the Enterprise will do something to thank the two teen-agers when Jordan, who was off duty for the weekend, returns to the ship.
- Associated Press
by CNB