Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, April 10, 1995 TAG: 9504100004
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
U.S. Sen. John Warner has gone uptown. Or, more precisely, downtown - as in downtown Alexandria.
In December, Warner sold his famous country estate, Atoka, near Middleburg. Last month, the Republican senator announced that he had purchased a townhouse in the new Rivergate complex in Alexandria's Old Town and will move in when the place is ready sometime in June.
Warner says the new digs will enable him to give up the apartment he maintains in downtown Washington for nights when he works late at the Capitol.
Warner can still be considered a gentleman farmer, though. He still owns the family's Milldale Farm in Clarke and Warren counties in the Shenandoah Valley where, a statement from Warner's office says, "the senator spent many of his boyhood summers."
Police D.A.R.E. go to school
If Michael Stovall gets his way, Roanoke County's high schools will get police resource officers.
Stovall, a former Vinton police investigator who represents the Vinton area on the county School Board, believes resource officers could teach students about the dangers of drugs and help prevent conflicts between students.
Police officers visit county elementary and middle schools and run the Drug Assistance Resistance Education program that is designed to keep children off drugs.
Stovall said he plans to make an issue of the resource officers and press the county to help pay for them.
"Maybe we can share the costs on a 50-50 basis with the county Police Department," Stovall told parents at a recent town meeting on education.
But there has been no word from the county on whether it has the money and is willing to share the costs. The county also is facing financial pressure from police for higher salaries.
Empty shelf
If you want to buy a 50-milliliter "airplane bottle" of Bacardi rum at your local ABC store, you're out of luck for the rest of the month.
The stores are stocking only Malibu rum in the 50-milliliter size for the next three weeks, a Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control spokesman said.
In February, some distillers sought to increase their prices, but the ABC board balked. It took Captain Morgan's, Bacardi Silver and Bacardi Amber in the 50-milliliter size off the shelves - but not those coconut-colored bottles of Malibu, which did not attempt to raise its prices.
"The ABC board was trying to protect the consumer," said ABC Public Relations Coordinator Robert Chapman.
The distillers gave in to the ABC's demands and there will be no price increase passed on to the consumer. All brands will be back on the shelves May 1, Chapman said.
Be like George
Gov. George Allen is becoming well known at Mountain View Elementary School in Roanoke County. He appears to have impressed the pupils and become almost a role model for some.
And now, some say they want to be governor, too.
Allen visited Mountain View - for the second time - last month to promote his plan to give lottery profits to localities. He also had stopped at the school when he was running for governor.
This time, Allen was greeted by Principal Thompson Hall and kindergarten pupils who welcomed him with a song and banner.
"I don't always get such a nice greeting everywhere," the governor told them. He posed with the children so teachers could take pictures.
Allen also visited several classrooms, talked with children and answered their questions.
One pupil wanted to know the salary of the governor.
Allen said it is $110,000, but he returns 10 percent of the money to the state because he promised to do that when he was running for the job.
In teacher Betty McManaway's fifth-grade class, he talked with pupils who were studying space exploration.
In Karen Denny's second-grade class, Allen explained the symbolism and meaning of the state flag. He told the children that the flag conveys the message that Lady Liberty has killed the tyrant.
And then he asked the pupils what they want to be when they grow up.
Stephen Davis was first to answer.
"Governor," he said loudly.
Others want to be astronauts, doctors and nurses. One wants to be a horse trainer. But several others, like Davis, said they also want to be governor.
by CNB