Roanoke Times

& World-News

Virginia: Monday, January 1, 1996

• FORMER TECH PLAYERS REVEL IN HOKIES' SWEET SUCCESS
• GEE, I THOUGHT UNCLE SAM WAS 'NONESSENTIAL'
• STUDENTS 'SCRAPING THE BARREL' ON TRIP
• TO OUR READERS
• MILITARY WARMS UP TO HMOS
• COUNTERFEIT BILLS FOUND IN EMPORIA PHONY $50S AND $20S ARE BEING PASSED
• BIRDERS SCOUR HIGH, LOW FOR AVIAN FRIENDS
• LOUISA CO. MAN CHARGED IN DEATH
• FRAUD HOT LINE LEADS TO COOL TIPS - AND FIRINGS
• RETIRED JUVENILE COURT JUDGE DIES
• CAR CRASH KILLS COLLINSVILLE MAN
• OBIT
• SCHOOL SUPPORT MIXED SOME PARENTS FEEL NEGLECTED
• FUND DONOR IS THANKFUL FOR ITS HELP
• CARL DUDLEY, COME ON DOWN
• ANOTHER LOOK AT '95 HERE'S WHAT HAPPENED TO SOME NAMES IN THE NEWS LOLA ROSE MILLER, AKA MISS STELLA ROANOKE'S FELONIOUS FORTUNE TELLER THEN: MILLER CLAIMED TO BE ABLE TO PREDICT THE FUTURE. BUT SHE FAILED TO SEE THE POLICE COMING BEFORE THEY RAIDED HER WILLIAMSON ROAD PALM-READING BUSINESS. CUSTOMERS HAD COMPLAINED THAT SHE TOOK THEIR MONEY BUT DIDN'T DELIVER ON PROMISES TO CHANGE THEIR LIVES. IN JANUARY, MILLER PLEADED GUILTY TO OBTAINING MONEY BY FALSE PRETENSES. SHE RECEIVED A ONE-YEAR SENTENCE TO RUNCONCURRENTLY WITH A 12-MONTH STINT IN A FEDERAL PENITENTIARY ON TAX CHARGES. A JUDGE ALSO BARRED HER FROM THE FORTUNE-TELLING BUSINESS. NOW: MILLER WAS RELEASED FROM A FEDERAL PRISON IN CONNECTICUT ON DEC. 22. BUT HER LEGAL PROBLEMS ARE NOT OVER. WHILE SHE WAS LOCKED UP, MILLER WAS SUED BY A DISGRUNTLED FORMER CUSTOMER. A MAN WHO CLAIMED THAT MILLER GAVE HIM NUMBERS TO PLAY IN THE LOTTERY IS SUING HER FOR $3 MILLION - THE AMOUNT THAT HE DID NOT WIN DESPITE HER PROMISES. THE LAWSUIT IS SCHEDULED TO BE TRIED IN JANUARY. CHARLOTTE, WILBUR AND ARNOLD VINTON'S VIETNAMESE POTBELLIED PIGS THEN: EMMA SAUNDERS WAS CITED IN JUNE FOR VIOLATING VINTON'S TOWN CODE AFTER NEIGHBORS COMPLAINED ABOUT HER THREE POTBELLIED PIGS, CHARLOTTE, WILBUR AND ARNOLD. SAUNDERS FOUGHT THE ISSUE IN COURT AND WON. BUT THE TOWN THEN AMENDED ITS ANIMAL CONTROL LAWS TO SPECIFICALLY BAN THE PORCINE PETS. INSTEAD OF ISSUING ANOTHER CITATION UNDER THE AMENDED CODE, THE TOWN HAS FILED FOR AN INJUNCTION IN ROANOKE COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT TO PERMANENTLY BAN THE PIGS FROM VINTON. NOW: THE PIGS, WHICH WERE A CHRISTMAS PRESENT TO SAUNDERS A YEAR AGO, SPENTTHE HOLIDAYS IN VINTON WHILE AWAITING THEIR DAY IN COURT. SAUNDERS' ATTORNEY, PAT FERRANCE, SAYS HE WILL ARGUE THAT IT'S A ZONING MATTER AND THAT THE PIGS SHOULD BE GRANDFATHERED UNDER THE OLD TOWN ORDINANCE. A HEARING FOR THE CASE HAS YET TO BE SCHEDULED. WALTER BECK II FLOYD COUNTY ASPARAGUS FARMER THEN: IN MARCH, BECK FOUND HIMSELF INDICTED FOR AN OFF-COLOR WORD HE PAINTED ON HIS ROOF IN NOVEMBER 1994, AIMED AT HIS NEIGHBOR'S HOUSE. THE WORD, WHICH CAN'T BE PRINTED IN A FAMILY NEWSPAPER, REFERRED TO WHAT BECK THOUGHT WAS, SHALL WE SAY, ASININE BEHAVIOR ON HIS NEW NEIGHBOR'S PART. BECK WAS UPSET THAT A NEW FENCE KEPT HIM FROM PART OF HIS ASPARAGUS CROP. THE NEIGHBOR, JAMES S. GRIFFITH JR., THOUGHT IT WAS BECK WHO WAS BEING ASININE. HE SAID HE HAD TRIED TO WORK OUT AN AMICABLE AGREEMENT WITH BECK. GRIFFITH AND OTHERS FOUND NO HUMOR IN THE SEVEN-LETTER MESSAGE, PAINTED IN WHITE THREE-FOOT HIGH LETTERS. IT WAS VISIBLE TO BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY TRAVELERS AND TO CHILDREN TRAVELING THE COPPER HILL ROAD ON A SCHOOL BUS. A FLOYD COUNTY SPECIAL GRAND JURY DECIDED IT WAS A PUBLIC NUISANCE AND INDICTED HIM ON THE CHARGE. NOW: JUDGE RAY GRUBBS TOOK THE CHARGE UNDER ADVISEMENT IN SEPTEMBER AND DISMISSED THE CHARGE IN DECEMBER AFTER COMMONWEALTH'S ATTORNEY GINO WILLIAMS WAS SATISFIED THAT BECK HAD REMOVED THE OFFENDING WORD. BUT IN OCTOBER, BECK AND GRIFFITH SWORE OUT WARRANTS ON EACH OTHER IN ANOTHER DISPUTE. GRIFFITH CHARGED BECK WITH TRESPASSING AND DESTRUCTION OF PROPERTY AFTER HESAID BECK CAME ONTO HIS PROPERTY WITHOUT PERMISSION TO OPEN A SEWERAGE DRAIN. GRIFFITH TOLD A MAGISTRATE HE PHYSICALLY REMOVED BECK FROM THE LAND AND THAT THE NEXT DAY, BECK USED A CHAIN SAW TO CUT DOWN A CORNER SECTION OF FENCE. GRIFFITH SAID MORE THAN 100 FEET OF FENCE WAS FELLED AS A RESULT, MEANING HIS LIVESTO
• MURDER CHARGE BROUGHT
• ROANOKE MAN CHARGED WITH WIFE'S MURDER