Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 3, 1995 TAG: 9505030060
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
RICHMOND - Gov. George Allen's approval rating has dropped 13 percentage points in nine months, although a majority of people surveyed said he is still doing a good or excellent job, a poll released Tuesday showed.
Fifteen percent of the respondents to Virginia Commonwealth University's Commonwealth Poll said rated Allen's performance as excellent, 38 percent rated it good, 32 percent fair and 15 percent poor.
That was down from 66 percent of respondents who said Allen had done a good or excellent job in the most recent poll last July.
The telephone survey of 814 Virginia adults selected at random was conducted from April 10-29 and has a margin of error of approximately 4 percentage points.
Scott Keeter, director of the poll, said the drop in the governor's approval rating was expected.
``We expect public officials to build opposition as they serve because every decision they make alienates someone,'' Keeter said.
- Associated Press
Court upholds murder conviction
RICHMOND - The Virginia Court of Appeals on Tuesday upheld the first-degree murder conviction of Beverly Ann Monroe in the shooting death of Powhatan County millionaire Roger de la Burde.
A jury found that Monroe, who was de la Burde's lover for 11 years, killed him in a fit of jealously after learning that he was having an affair with another woman who was pregnant with his child.
She was sentenced to 20 years in prison for murder and two years for using a firearm in a felony.
On appeal, Monroe alleged several trial errors and claimed the evidence was insufficient to support a conviction. The appeals court rejected all of her arguments.
``The commonwealth proved beyond a reasonable doubt that the circumstances of time, place, motive, means, opportunity and conduct concurred in linking Beverly Monroe to the crime,'' Judge Sam W. Coleman III wrote in a unanimous opinion.
Monroe gave conflicting statements about whether she was at de la Burde's estate when he was killed on March 4, 1992. His body was found the next day. He died from a single gunshot wound to the head. A pistol was found beside his hand.
- Associated Press
Dinwiddie deputy killed while hunting
DINWIDDIE - A Dinwiddie County deputy sheriff was shot and killed Monday while turkey hunting in the county, the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries said.
The victim was identified as Oris M. Rainey Jr., a 10-year veteran of the sheriff's office.
Col. Jeffrey Uerz, chief of law enforcement at the game department, said investigators questioned a suspect but had made no arrest by late Monday afternoon. He said any decision on whether to file charges would be made in consultation with the commonwealth's attorney, probably within a couple of days.
Uerz said he could not release details of the shooting.
- Associated Press
Toddler killed in apartment fire
NEWPORT NEWS - A 21-month-old child died in a fire that swept through an apartment Monday night.
The child, identified by neighbors as Keisha Mitchell, lived in a fourth-floor unit at Riverside Apartments.
The fire broke out in Apartment 67 shortly after 8 p.m., according to neighbors and fire officials.
The fire forced other residents of the complex out of their homes and into a chilly, intermittent rain. The blaze was confined to the one apartment.
The cause of the fire has not been determined.
- Associated Press
Keywords:
FATALITY
by CNB