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

DATE: SUNDAY, May 14, 1995                   TAG: 9505160064
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: D-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LEXINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

CADETS' PARENTS GET THE BILLS FOR COSTLY RINGFEST

VMI stepped in and paid the bill, then assessed the cost to the parents of the 269 cadets who attended, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported.

Some parents are not pleased.

``I'm very, very upset, said Daynette Snead-Orr of Beaverdam, whose son attended the October event called Ring Figure '96. ``I'm not giving them any money unless they tell me where it all went.''

``I'm outraged and I don't know if I'm going to pay it,'' said Leroy Faust of Stafford. ``There was no correspondence explaining it from anybody except from student officers. Well, I don't get billings from students.''

The amount assessed per cadet was $144. The charge went to parents this month from VMI as a line item in its tuition bill. The $144 fee must be paid before the cadets can register next fall. About a dozen parents have called the school to complain or inquire about the fee.

Parents of the juniors received an explanatory letter from the three class officers saying that the Class of 1996 ``found itself in financial trouble as a result of Ring Figure '96.'' The letter said each cadet was being held accountable for his share of the bill.

Lawson H. Fanney, who recently resigned as president of the class in part because of the Ring Figure event, said the $38,682.72 deficit occurred because of miscommunication and miscalculation.

``I've taken the fall for it,'' said Fanney. ``I was ultimately responsible. But I placed too much trust in people assigned to do things.''

Class president John L. Buchanan said, ``The class is just outraged with the whole outcome, with going way over budget. ... It was just careless mismanagement.''

Students and VMI officials say the cadets made one particularly egregious error: Instead of budgeting the cost of cadets spending two nights in hotels, they budgeted only for one night. That mistake accounted for a major portion of the deficit.

The money for the Oct. 28-30 event was spent on such things as:

Rooms, $35,279.

A banquet, $16,001.

Bands, $4,000.

A pig roast, $4,450.

Party favors, $12,494.

Fireworks, $2,500.

The last vendor in line for payment was the Natural Bridge Hotel, which had not taken a deposit. VMI, wanting to keep good relations with local businesses, paid the hotel its bill for $38,682.72.

Besides the banquet and more than half the total for rooms, the hotel's bill included $3,302 in damages to common areas of the hotel and $670 in damages to individual rooms, according to VMI documents.

Mike Strickler, a spokesman for VMI, said parents should receive a letter soon detailing how the Ring Figure money was spent.

The money to pay the bill was taken from auxiliary funds made up of fees and tuition charged students, Strickler said.

``Ring Figure is a class-run affair. They ended up with a large bill and they didn't have the money to pay it. The hotel wanted its money and VMI said we'd pay it,'' said Strickler. The fee was made mandatory to assure that VMI would get its money back.

Strickler said no disciplinary action would be taken against any cadet.