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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 3, 1995                   TAG: 9505030038
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PULASKI                                LENGTH: Short

8-YEAR PRISON SENTENCE METED OUT IN PULASKI SCHOOL ARSON CASE

One of four people charged with the March 1994 arson of Pulaski Middle School has been sentenced to serve eight years in prison.

The middle school on Pico Terrace sustained more than $100,000 in damage after vandals entered by breaking a door window, then used toilet paper to set fire to a teacher's lounge. The vandals also tossed paint about the school auditorium and damaged some band instruments and stereo equipment, according to court records and police.

The fire was contained to the teacher's lounge because the door was shut, police said last year. However, the fire did cause smoke and heat damage to the hallway in the seventh-grade wing of the building before burning itself out.

Clifford James Newby, 19, of Pulaski, pleaded guilty in January to arson and breaking and entering with intent to commit arson.

On Monday, he was sentenced to five years in prison on the arson charge. Judge Colin Gibb ordered that after three years of the sentence are served, the balance should be suspended. Newby also was sentenced to 10 years in prison on the breaking and entering charge, with five years suspended.

After serving the eight years in prison, Newby will be placed on probation for five years.

Keary Shierod Russell, also 19 and from Pulaski, is scheduled to be sentenced next month. Russell pleaded guilty last October to arson and breaking and entering. The cases of two boys, 15 and 13, who also were charged with the arson are handled by the juvenile court.

by CNB