Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, July 29, 1995 TAG: 9507310027
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
STAFFORD - Roald Dahl will remain on the library shelves and in classrooms this fall after school officials refused to ban or restrict works by the children's author.
A parent, Phyllis Filoso, complained that Dahl's books glorify dangerous and disrespectful behavior by children and asked the Stafford County School Board to act.
``To ban those books from the library is a drastic measure,'' said Stafford County School Board Chairwoman Doris Torrice. ``Children know these books are fantasy,'' she said after the board voted unanimously Tuesday.
Filoso wanted four Dahl books restricted and two removed from the elementary school libraries altogether. ``George's Marvelous Medicine'' features a boy who poisons his crotchety grandmother, and ``Revolting Rhymes,'' is a parody in which Prince Charming calls Cinderella a ``dirty slut.''
``The children misbehave and take retribution on the adults, and there's never, ever a consequence for their actions,'' said Filoso. ``This isn't the kind of stuff we send our children to school to learn.''
- Associated Press
Sodium level up in Chesapeake water
CHESAPEAKE - The city's health director has issued a public health bulletin warning residents of high levels of sodium in Chesapeake's drinking water linked to a shortage of rain.
Even people with moderately restricted diets should use bottled water or at least check with their doctors, said Nancy M. Welch, director of the city Health Department.
The sodium content of the water reached 391 parts per million this week, more than 15 times what doctors recommend for patients on severely restricted diets because of high blood pressure or other conditions.
But for most people, the rise in the sodium level and an increase in the water's chlorides are merely ``an annoyance because of the salty taste'' that chlorides give to the water, Welch said.
The level of chlorides was at 781 parts per million, more than three times the federal standard for drinking water. The problems are caused by a lack of rain. The shortage of fresh water has allowed salty water to back up from Currituck Sound into the Northwest River.
``Until the rainfall changes, there is no way of telling when it's going to let up,'' said Public Utilities Director Amar Dwarkanath.
The city faced a similar problem a decade ago. A severe drought during the summers of 1985 and 1986 sent sodium and chloride levels to more than 1,600 parts per million.
But since 1990, the city has maintained an underground storage reservoir for fresh water. Last weekend, the city began pumping about three million gallons a day from the 318-million-gallon reservoir.
``When we have surplus fresh water, we push it deep into the ground and store it there,'' Dwarkanath said. ``So when we need it, we pull it up like a straw and pump it into the system.''
- Associated Press
Two teens charged in cemetery vandalism
HAMPTON - Police have charged two teen-agers in the vandalism of more than 30 tombstones at historic St. John's Church.
Lawrence Norris, 18, and a 15-year-old Hampton boy are each charged with destruction of property and trespassing. There had been three vandalism incidents in the last several weeks.
The cemetery supervisor said he thinks the vandalism may have been the work of more than two people because of the heavy weight of some of the damaged tombstones.
But authorities said they are not looking for any other suspects.
- Associated Press
IRS penalizes lawmaker for taxes
CHESAPEAKE - The Internal Revenue Service has placed a tax lien against a property title insurance business headed by state Sen. Frederick Quayle.
The IRS contends that Quayle, a Republican legislator who faces a challenge this fall from the Democrat he unseated four years ago, failed to pay quarterly withholding and Social Security taxes for 1989 and 1990.
``In 1989, we got a little bit behind in our taxes,'' Quayle acknowledged this week of the business, Lawyers Title of Chesapeake Inc., that he and his wife have run out of his law office since 1984. Quayle, who represents parts of Chesapeake, Portsmouth, Suffolk and Isle of Wight County, said he has paid the taxes and is negotiating with IRS officials on the amount of fines and penalties.
Quayle said the fines could amount to $14,000.
The IRS lien is for $30,021. An IRS spokeswoman would not discuss the case in detail but said the lien - which freezes assets - would remain until the issue is resolved.
Last year, another federal lien involving more than $11,000 in withholding taxes was released against Quayle's title insurance business.
Quayle declined to say how much money the business made during the period. He said the firm helped his law firm financially but was ``no major money-maker.''
In his most recent Senate financial disclosure form filed in January, Quayle reported making more than $50,000 from the company the previous year.
- Associated Press
by CNB