Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, July 15, 1995 TAG: 9507170060
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
PORTSMOUTH - Neighbors chased and captured a man who tried to rape a woman as she fought him and screamed for help, police said.
Clarence Swinton, 33, was charged Thursday with attempted rape. The 36-year-old woman said she was attacked just before 8 a.m. Wednesday, police said.
She was walking home with a tray of coffee from a nearby store when a man grabbed her from behind. There were coins on the tray, so her first thought was that ``he was going for the money,'' she told The Virginian-Pilot. The newspaper did not identify the woman.
``But he wanted something else. I started to scream and I was kicking him. I made it as uncomfortable for him as I could.''
Neighbors heard the woman's screams and came out of their homes, police and witnesses said. With the woman fighting back furiously and people coming to her aid, the attacker fled.
Jogger Dan Swanson heard the woman's screams. ``I couldn't believe it. It happened in broad daylight,'' Swanson said. ``I just ran after him.''
When Swanson saw Katherine Schuhr walking her dogs, he yelled to her for help, and she in turn shouted at John Rankin, who was getting into his car.
Rankin tackled Swinton, police said. Schuhr joined him and held her dogs on Swinton until police arrived, witnesses said.
- Associated Press
Toting stun gun, woman steals pup
VIRGINIA BEACH - Security guards put the collar on a woman accused of pilfering a $900 pooch at a mall pet store, but a clerk who tried to stop the theft was injured by the woman's stun gun, police said.
The incident occurred Tuesday at Lynnhaven Mall, where a woman came to the Family Pet Store to pick up a Maltese puppy she had ordered earlier under a fictitious name, said Mike Carey, a police spokesman.
When the woman arrived, she pulled out a stun gun and told employees that she wouldn't pay for the puppy, Carey said.
The woman then ran out of the store, carrying the puppy in a portable kennel, Carey said.
Rocky Snyder, an employee in the pet store, went after the woman and was assaulted with the stun gun, Carey said.
Two security officers, meantime, caught the woman in the parking lot and held her until police arrived.
Roberta G. Amell, 41, of Virginia Beach, was charged with robbery by force and simple assault, Carey said. She was being held without bond.
- Associated Press
3rd FBI agent shot at academy
QUANTICO - An FBI agent was accidentally shot during a training exercise at the agency's training academy here four days after another gun accident wounded two students.
The agent wounded Monday suffered a hand wound when his gun discharged accidentally, FBI spokesman Paul Bresson said. Bresson would not release the agent's name.
The injured agent was treated at a local hospital on Monday and released, Bresson said.
The accident followed a bizarre incident last week in which an academy instructor reportedly fired a 9mm handgun by mistake toward a class of 35 to 40 agents in training.
The bullet hit a female trainee in the left side, then hit a male trainee in the back, The Washington Times reported.
- Associated Press
North's boss fakes call to Gingrich
SILVER SPRING, Md. - Oliver North said he regrets taking a fake phone call from one of his bosses during a radio interview with House Speaker Newt Gingrich, but he said he had no idea the caller wasn't legitimate.
Warren Wright, the No. 2 official at WWRC-AM, identified himself as ``Bill from Fairfax'' in a call to North's show last week, The Washington Post reported.
The call was arranged by top station executives so Wright could press the House speaker about legislation that would lift restrictions on radio station ownership, the newspaper reported.
``I'm disappointed that that took place, but I work here at a radio station that's obviously got an interest in this legislation,'' North said. ``That's life.''
Jack Roberts, producer of North's syndicated program and the station's acting program director, said the call was ``an error in judgment.''
``I take full responsibility. It was my fault,'' Roberts said in a phone interview with The Associated Press. ``I should have realized'' the call was fake, Roberts said.
- Associated Press
Lack of interest kills gay pride festival
ALEXANDRIA - A gay pride festival held for the past two years has been canceled this year for lack of interest, organizers said.
The NOVA Pride Day, held in an Alexandria park in 1993 and 1994, had been scheduled for Oct. 15.
Organizers said they couldn't generate enough support because
``Laws pertaining to gays are horrible in VIrginia, and we hoped that these kind of events would help improve the situation,'' said Belinda Pauls-Anderson, who was president of the now-defunct group that put together the event. ``But it seems people want to stay in the closet.''
About 2,000 people attended the festival in its first year, but attendance dropped to half that last year.
- Associated Press
by CNB