ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Wednesday, September 25, 1996          TAG: 9609250087
SECTION: VIRGINIA                 PAGE: C-3  EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
DATELINE: BLACKSTONE

FUMES SICKEN 19 IN RESTAURANT

Nineteen people were treated at hospitals after being overcome by an odorless, colorless gas inside a Hardee's restaurant.

The victims were treated at hospitals for nausea, watering eyes and irritated throats and noses, said Jimmy Johnson, chief of the Blackstone Volunteer Fire Department.

``The best conclusion that we could come to was that someone released pepper gas in the building, probably as a prank,'' Johnson said.

Customers and employees at the restaurant began getting ill about 8:20 p.m. Monday, Johnson said.

Fire crews evacuated the building, he said, but a test of the air inside detected no gases or chemicals.

- Associated Press

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