Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, October 9, 1994 TAG: 9410100076
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
RICHMOND - Authorities on Saturday found a Manassas teen-ager believed to have been abducted several days ago after they traced the car used by the man suspected of kidnapping her to a Richmond apartment complex.
Lt. John Carlson of the Richmond Police Department said Nelly Gisela Salinas-Escobar, 14, was found unharmed Saturday afternoon at a complex on Greenbay Drive on the south side of the city.
Prince William County Police spokeswoman Kim Chinn said authorities arrested Jose Baltazar Lainez, 29, of Manassas Park and charged him with abduction.
Authorities had issued a warrant for Lainez's arrest on Friday. Prince William police said the girl reportedly was abducted Thursday evening by a man in a gray sedan as she walked with family members near her Manassas home.
Police say the girl's mother recognized Lainez. Chinn said Lainez and the girl knew each other vaguely.
- Associated Press
Developers fined in land fraud case
CHARLOTTESVILLE - A federal judge has ordered four developers to pay $8.6 million to the Department of Housing and Urban Development for defrauding buyers who purchased land at Lake Monticello outside Charlottesville.
In making his ruling, U.S. District Judge James H. Michael rejected efforts by the developers, who worked for Cost Control Marketing and Sales Management of Virginia, to seek financial shelter from the penalty under bankruptcy law.
HUD will use the developers' penalty payments to compensate 466 purchasers overcharged when they bought lots near Lake Monticello, said Nelson A. Diaz, HUD general counsel.
But HUD first must find the buyers who purchased land in the late 1980s at the 350-acre manmade lake about 10 miles east of Charlottesville. The money will cover the difference between the amount buyers paid for the lots, usually $26,962, and the amount they actually were worth, an average of $7,962, according to HUD.
- Associated Press
Immigrant-student law protested
Some school officials say a new law that bars illegal immigrants who are 20 and older from public schools deters those who are eager to learn and scares away some students who can legally attend school.
The law was pushed through the General Assembly by Gov. George Allen. State officials recently issued guidelines informing school systems that to get some state money, they must prove the legal residence of students who are 20 or older, who entered the United States after age 12 and are enrolled in English-as-a-second-language programs.
Fairfax County School Superintendent Robert R. Spillane said barring illegal immigrants from the classroom could be more costly than enrolling them.
``In the long run it makes economic sense to have these students in school,'' he said. ``The faster they learn English the more they can contribute to the economy and the nation.''
But Allen spokesman Ken Stroupe and bill supporters said it is not taxpayers' responsibility to provide for those students.
- Associated Press
Law professors sue Pat Robertson
VIRGINIA BEACH - Three law professors have filed defamation lawsuits against Regent University founder and chancellor Pat Robertson.
The two former professors and one current professor claim Robertson injured their professional reputations by charging that they were not capable teachers and by comparing them to ``cultists after the order of Jim Jones or the Branch Davidians.''
The suits were filed last month in Virginia Beach Circuit Court. Each professor is asking for $10 million in damages.
Robertson's spokesman, Gene Kapp, declined to comment.
Two of the professors, Roger Bern and Paul Morken, were fired by Regent University in May. The third, Jeff Tuomala, remains on the faculty.
The dispute apparently began last year with the firing of former law school dean Herbert W. Titus, a biblical conservative who claimed he was dismissed because his views did not match Robertson's. Titus has sued over his dismissal.
Several law school professors, including Bern, Morken and Tuomala, signed a complaint to the American Bar Association alleging that Titus had been improperly dismissed. The complaint also expressed worries that academic freedom was threatened at Regent.
According to Morken's suit, Robertson responded by chastising the men in front of several hundred people at a university chapel meeting.
In a letter that was widely circulated on campus and published in The Virginian-Pilot in February, Robertson said, ``No rational professional person seeks to destroy the source of his own employment and career advancement. Only cultists after the order of Jim Jones or the Branch Davidians do such things.''
- Associated Press
by CNB