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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, December 7, 1994                   TAG: 9412070152
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-4   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: LISA APPLEGATE
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

POLICE, RESCUE TEAMS SEARCH FOR RETIREE, 67

Rescue workers were searching Tuesday night for a 67-year-old man who wandered away from a retirement community in Blacksburg.

Richard Burns was last seen leaving Warm Hearth Village retirement center about 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, according to Appalachian Search and Rescue volunteer Mike Kirk.

Kirk said Burns was seen walking on one of the hiking trails on Warm Hearth's 220-acre property off Hightop Road. When he did not return after an hour, workers notified the Blacksburg Rescue Squad and Appalachian Search and Rescue.

More than 60 volunteers spent Tuesday evening combing the retirement community property and other places Burns had been known to frequent - such as the Christiansburg Wal-Mart.

A native of New York, Burns lived for a short time in Blacksburg before moving into Warm Hearth, Kirk said. Other than mealtimes and medication-distribution times, Burns was free to come and go. He does not have relatives in the area.

Kirk said Burns does not suffer from any kind of mental imbalance, such as Alzheimer's disease.

Burns is a white male, 6 feet 2 inches tall, 150 pounds. He has light brown hair and is going bald. He was last seen wearing a turquoise T-shirt, brown pants and a green windbreaker.

Burns, who walks with a limp, normally carries a cane but did not have it when he disappeared, Kirk said.

Anyone with information should call the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office at 382-2951.

by CNB