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

DATE: SUNDAY, September 10, 1995                   TAG: 9509110111
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: HARRISONBURG                                 LENGTH: Short

EX-CIDER MAKER MAY GET PRISON

The U.S. District Court jury deliberated five hours Friday before convicting Benjamin Rice Lacy III, 73, of Front Royal, on seven counts of falsifying documents to the Department of Environmental Quality and one count of knowingly discharging pollutants into Manassas Run in violation of the federal Clean Water Act. The crimes took place between February 1991 and September 1993, the indictment indicated.

Linden Beverage Co. Inc. and Freezeland Orchard Co. Inc., firms with which Lacy was involved as president and shareholder when the violations occurred, were also found guilty. Linden was convicted of six counts of falsifying records and one count of discharging pollutants, and Freezeland was found guilty of one count of falsifying documents.

Lacy could receive up to three years in prison and a $50,000 fine for the discharge count, and a two-year sentence and $10,000 fine for each count of falsifying documents, said James Miskiewicz, a trial attorney with the Department of Justice's Environmental Crimes section. No sentencing date has been set.

The charges stemmed from a wastewater and sewage discharge pipe from Linden Beverage Co. in Warren County into Manassas Run.