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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, November 30, 1994                   TAG: 9411300081
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

IN VIRGINIA

ROSE HILL - A 3.2-mile section of U.S. 58 in Lee County that opened as a four-lane highway Tuesday is the first completed project under a $1 billion plan to improve the state-spanning road.

It will be at least 2005 before the entire road from the Cumberland Gap to Virginia Beach has four lanes, but Lee County already has reaped the benefits.

A sack manufacturer will build a 200-employee plant in the county partly in anticipation of the U.S. 58 improvements, said state Sen. William Wampler Jr., R-Bristol.

``It not only offers a modern and safe transportation system for Southwest Virginia's residents, it also opens a tremendous opportunity for growth,'' Wampler said. ``Lee County is where you see the tangible results. Once it is complete, I predict you will see a tremendous amount of economic development.''

- Associated Press

Family loses home to fire - again

STANARDSVILLE - For the second time in a year, a couple and their two daughters have lost their home to fire.

Last year, the Raines family lost nearly everything when a short circuit set their home on fire the week after Christmas. After settling into a new house and a new beginning this year, the Greene County family again lost all its belongings in a blaze the day after Thanksgiving.

``The girls had a pretty bad Christmas last year, and it's probably going to be about the same this year,'' said Wayne Raines, his hands and face covered with soot from cleaning up the house.

Fire ravaged the inside of the one-story wooden house on Virginia 604 on Friday while the family was visiting relatives nearby. Fire Investigator Scott Haas said Tuesday that the fire apparently started in a wood stove.

The Raineses had no insurance on their belongings, and their landlord had no insurance on the house, Raines said.

- Associated Press

Fat pig's owner gets her pet back

NORFOLK - A Vietnamese potbellied pig whose owner was charged with cruelty for letting her get too fat was allowed to go home Tuesday, but she's going on a diet.

``It's baby fat. She's only 16 months old,'' said Virginia Hudgins, whose pet pig - Pinky Starlight - became the object of national attention when she was taken by animal control officers on Nov. 8.

At 200 pounds, Pinky Starlight weighed twice what experts said she should weigh. Rolls of fat from the animal's forehead had dropped into her eyelids so she couldn't see, and her belly scraped the ground when she walked.

The story about the overweight pig drew calls from around the nation and comments from such celebrities as Rush Limbaugh and Jay Leno.

Hudgins said she tried to control the pig's diet, which included fast-food hamburgers and even an occasional morsel of pork. But other family members also fed her.

``I've never considered her to be fat,'' the owner said.

In a plea agreement accepted Tuesday by General District Judge Charles Cloud, the cruelty charge against Hudgins was dismissed. Instead, she pleaded guilty to failing to vaccinate an exotic animal and paid a $25 fine.

- Associated Press