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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, October 26, 1994                   TAG: 9412220058
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV1   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG                                 LENGTH: Medium

MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENT REPORTS ABDUCTION ATTEMPT

The 13-year-old boy was walking near Radford and Clearview streets about 7:30 a.m. when a man in a car rolled down a passenger window and asked the boy if he wanted to a ride to school.

The boy declined and continued walking. Seconds later, the man got out of his car and grabbed the boy by his arm.

"All I want to do is give you a ride," the boy said the man told him.

The teenager was able to free himself from the man's grip and went to school, where he reported the incident to school officials, police said. He did not know the man.

The man is described as being in his early 30s, about 6 feet tall and weighing 200 pounds, with a brown beard and mustache. He was wearing a Miami Dolphins hat and oil-stained denim jeans. The car, described as a Volvo with rust spots and no license tags, was last seen driving out of Christiansburg toward the Plum Creek area.

Judy Rutherford, director of student services for Montgomery County public schools, said several steps have been taken to alert teachers, parents and students to the incident.

Principal Don Bullock was to discuss the incident at Tuesday night's Parent Teacher Association meeting. Today, the school will send a letter home to make parents aware of what has happened, Rutherford said.

Kathryn Kenley, a prevention specialist with Community Education and Prevention Services, will help train teachers who will deliver a Friday lesson to students on dealing with strangers, Rutherford said.

The central office is notifying other schools of the incident so they might consider offering similar programs, Rutherford said.