ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, June 30, 1996 TAG: 9607010089
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-5 EDITION: METRO
`Operation Blessing' takes off
NORFOLK - A ``flying hospital'' owned by religious broadcaster Pat Robertson's relief group Operation Blessing took off Saturday for its first mission, to El Salvador.
The specially equipped, $25 million plane carried doctors and medical support staff from 26 states. The plane will remain in El Salvador for a week.
``This send-off is historic,'' Robertson said. ``This outreach will provide hope and healing to thousands of people around the globe.''
Future missions are planned to Panama, the Ukraine, Asia and the Philippines.
The L1011 wide-body jet has a sleeping section for up to 67 people, an operating theater with three bays, two dental chair sections, a laboratory and pharmacy, and a storage area for tons of supplies and equipment.
- Associated Press
Church vandal may have been arsonist
WAYNESBORO - The pastor of the Baptist church ransacked in April said he believes evidence shows the man charged with vandalizing the building also wanted to burn it.
``That's what the police seem to think,'' William Cole of Calvary Baptist Church said after a hearing Friday in General District Court.
Judge William Heatwole sent to a grand jury vandalism and breaking and entering charges against Benjamin Phillip Massie, 29. The grand jury will meet July 8.
Cole said he believed arson was intended because kerosene had been dumped in the church and the heat was turned up high. No arson-related charges were filed, however.
- Associated Press
Downed pilot triedto avoid power lines
MATHEWS - The pilot of an ultralight apparently stalled the aircraft while trying to avoid some power lines and crashed the $15,000 machine.
The pilot, Lloyd Jernell of Hampton, walked away from the Friday crash on a grass runway in Mathews County. He was taken to Riverside Walter Reed Hospital in Gloucester complaining of back pains. He was reported in stable condition and later transferred to Mary Immaculate Hospital in Newport News.
- Associated Press
Prisoners spruce up neighborhood
HARRISONBURG - Prisoners from the Rockingham County Jail and local housing and street department employees have teamed up in a new program designed to remove hazards and otherwise clean up decaying property.
On Friday, four prisoners from the jail helped topple trees and remove hazardous structures from two lots, giving residents of the area on Norwood Street a clear view of the neighborhood for the first time in years.
``I haven't seen the road for five or six years,'' said a 58-year-old resident who asked not to be identified. She said the dilapidated condition and overgrown shrubbery on the properties had obscured her vision.
The project was part of a new program under the direction of the Harrisonburg Police Department Crime Prevention Unit.
- Associated Press
Clergy elated at help in wake of fires
RICHMOND - The chairman of the trustee board at the Glorious Church of God in Christ, one of many black Southern churches damaged by arson, said he is elated over an outpouring of support from the religious community.
``We feel wonderful,'' Morris Mahoney said. ``We are so glad for this outreach of love.''
Many area churches were observing a ``Sabbath of Support'' over the weekend, taking up special collections to help rebuild the churches damaged by fires. The project is sponsored by the Richmond Clergy Association and the Virginia Council of Churches.
- Associated Press
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