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

DATE: FRIDAY, November 24, 1995                   TAG: 9511270032
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

IN VIRGINIA

PETERSBURG - Two people whose bodies were discovered in their burned-out home Wednesday were killed before the fire broke out, police said.

``The preliminary autopsy indicates they did not die from fire but from blunt-force trauma to their heads,'' Petersburg Police Capt. William Rohde said.

The blaze broke out about 1:30 a.m. at the two-story house.

The identities of the victims were being withheld while authorities notified their families.

A neighbor said he heard what he thought were screams, then later saw fire coming from the rear of the house and called for help, said fire investigator Jim Peterson.

Rohde said two people were seen running from the rear of the house before the fire was noticed.

Police said they had no motive or suspects.

- Associated Press

Virgin Mary statue reappears at school

RICHMOND - A statue of the Virgin Mary taken five months ago from a Catholic high school is back at the school.

``She's back on her pedestal in the rose garden, and we're just real happy to have her back,'' said Sherry Peterson, director of development of St. Gertrude High School.

Before vanishing in the night June 10, the 4-foot-tall, cream-colored statue had graced the rose garden ``through every storm ... for 50 years,'' said Sister Charlotte Lange, St. Gertrude principal

The statue turned up in ``good condition,'' a little dirty and with a few nicks, but intact, Peterson said.

- Associated Press

Tax error results in windfall for county

ELKTON - Schools, fire departments and rescue squads near a new Burger King restaurant will benefit from a snafu that led to the restaurant collecting $3,200 in unnecessary taxes.

The mistake occurred when the Elkton Plaza Burger King on U.S. 33 opened Sept. 18 and charged its customers a 4 percent meals tax for about two weeks. There was just one problem - Rockingham County does not have a meals tax.

Mountain Valley Corp. of Waynesboro, which owns the restaurant, has given the county $5,000 to make up for the mistake.

The county will distribute the windfall Monday to five schools, two fire departments, two rescue squads and civic organizations in the county, said Rockingham Supervisor Joseph R. Correa Jr.

- Associated Press

UVa paper to get financial oversight

CHARLOTTESVILLE - A University of Virginia student newspaper criticized for its lavish spending practices says it will submit its budgets to a financial oversight committee of students and faculty.

Editors of the Darden News at the Darden Graduate School of Business Administration also have offered to donate 25 percent of the newspaper's earnings after expenses to charity and said they will apply to the Internal Revenue Service as a nonprofit, tax-exempt organization.

The Daily Progress reported this fall that students who run the Darden News spent more than $20,000 during the past two years on parties and gifts for themselves and fewer than a dozen staff members. The paper paid no taxes and did not register as a nonprofit group.

- Associated Press