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

DATE: SUNDAY, March 5, 1995                   TAG: 9503080063
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

IN THE NATION

CEREDO, W.Va. - The left wheels broke off USAir Flight 1028 from Pittsburgh as it landed at Tri-State Airport near Huntington on Saturday afternoon, authorities said. None of the 17 passengers or four crew members was injured.

The 80-passenger Fokker F-28 skidded for about 600 feet before it stopped, said Clinton Burley of the Ceredo Fire Department. The passengers then got off the plane, he said.

USAir spokesman Paul Turk at the airline's headquarters in Arlington, Va., said the cause was not immediately known.

``There was no warning. Just all of a sudden, `Oops,''' Turk said.

- Associated Press

Fire harms theater of Oswald's arrest

DALLAS - A fire Saturday destroyed the stage and screen of the historic Texas Theatre, where Lee Harvey Oswald was captured after the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

The roof over the stage collapsed but the walls of the two-story movie theater, which doubles as a museum, remained standing. The fire was believed to have started in a furnace shortly before 3 a.m.

Oswald was arrested inside the theater hours after Kennedy was shot on Nov. 22, 1963. Jack Ruby shot and killed Oswald two days later in the Dallas Police garage.

- Associated Press

Bacterial disease reported in W.Va.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. - A cluster of a rare and sometimes fatal bacterial disease that destroys flesh has been reported in the Charleston area, an infectious-disease specialist told WCHS-TV.

At least two new cases of necrotizing fasciitis have been reported, Dr. Susan Matulis said Friday.

Thirteen cases have been reported in the area since Jan. 1, she said. In Virginia, 13 cases have occurred since December in Augusta, Rockbridge and Rockingham counties. Five Virginians have died.

The disease is a group A streptococcal infection. Necrotizing fasciitis results when bacterial substances cause the death of fat and muscle tissue.

Matulis said the disease is treatable if caught early and often can be prevented.

``Good sanitary practices, such as washing your hands when dealing with a sick person, or when preparing foodstuffs, make the risk of contracting the disease infinitesimal,'' she said.

People with immune system disorders are most at risk, she said. In a recent case, a 15-year-old boy became infected through a paper cut, Matulis said.

- Associated Press