ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, October 17, 1996 TAG: 9610170061
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
Lem Tuggle execution set Dec. 12
RICHMOND - A judge has set a Dec. 12 execution date for Lem Tuggle, the last surviving member of a six-inmate gang that pulled off the biggest death row escape in U.S. history.
Smyth County Circuit Court Judge Charles H. Smith Jr. set the date Wednesday, nine days after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Tuggle's appeal.
Don Harrison, a spokesman for Attorney General Jim Gilmore, said Tuggle has exhausted his appeals.
Tuggle was convicted of capital murder for the 1983 rape and killing of Jessie Geneva Havens, 52, in Smyth County. Havens and Tuggle had met at a dance. She was shot in the chest and thrown down an embankment.
The slaying occurred four months after Tuggle had been paroled from a sentence he was serving for the 1971 murder of a 17-year-old girl.
In 1984, Tuggle and five other inmates escaped from the Mecklenburg Correctional Center by posing as guards. All six were recaptured within a month. The other five have been executed.
- Associated Press
Ill-advised surgery brings hefty award
ARLINGTON - A jury has awarded $500,000 to an Alexandria woman who said she was given a mastectomy she did not need.
The Arlington County jury decided Tuesday that surgeon Jay M. Feder, oncologist William DeWys and health maintenance organization Kaiser Permanente were negligent in failing to obtain a biopsy on Nannie Livers before the double mastectomy. A pathology report later found there was no cancer in the tissue that was removed during the 1993 operation.
Livers, 43, said she suffers from muscle spasms and has to sleep in a special position because of the surgery. She also said she cannot hug her 8-year-old daughter.
Ann Cahill, a spokeswoman for the HMO, said no decision has been made on whether to appeal.
``We felt we provided the right standard of care,'' she said. ``The purpose of the surgery was really to save her life, and we felt we really accomplished that.''
- Associated Press
Neurologist denies having deadly toxin
HARRISONBURG - A Harrisonburg neurologist pleaded not guilty Wednesday to possessing a deadly chemical that authorities say he was planning to use to kill his former boss in Tennessee.
Dr. Ray W. Mettetal Jr.'s arraignment in U.S. District Court lasted about 10 minutes.
Mettetal was arrested in Nashville last year and charged with attempting to kill Dr. George Allen, the head of the neurosurgery department at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
Mettetal, a resident in neurosurgery at Vanderbilt in the mid-1980s, thought Allen had ruined his chances to become a neurosurgeon, police said.
When Mettetal was arrested, he was carrying a syringe filled with liquid. A federal grand jury in June indicted him on a charge of producing or possessing Ricin, which is described in medical literature as an extremely toxic chemical extracted from the seed of castor bean plants.
Mettetal requested that he be tried first on the possession charge in Virginia. If convicted, he faces a possible life sentence.
- Associated Press
Cheerleaders' moms kicked off the team
RUSTBURG - A dispute between two mothers of cheerleaders turned physical during a youth league football practice, leaving both women charged with assault and battery.
Darlene Foster Berryman, 36, and Karen Ramey, whose age was not available, swore out warrants against each other following the fracas at Rustburg Middle School, authorities said. Both have daughters who cheer at the games.
The Sept. 19 argument ``started over paying a $5 fee for snacks after practice,'' said Lt. Earl Jordan of the Campbell County Sheriff's Department. He said each child was supposed to donate $5 for snacks.
Jordan said Berryman, the team mom for the cheerleaders, put her hand on the shoulder of the Ramey girl while telling her she couldn't have a snack. Ramey, a member of the homecoming committee, ``ran up to tell her to keep her hands off her child,'' Jordan said.
The practice stopped as the two women had it out in front of the children and other parents.
Darryl Hudnall, president of the Rustburg Youth Football Association, said both women were told to step down from their positions with the group.
- Associated Press
Employees robbed at Kings Dominion
DOSWELL - A gunman slipped into Paramount's Kings Dominion and robbed two employees of a bag of money after handcuffing them, police said.
The employees, a man and woman, were accosted Sunday about 7:40 p.m., shortly before the park closed, after they had picked up a money bag at a food stand in the park.
They were forced at gunpoint into a wooded area, where they were handcuffed and had their mouths taped, the Hanover County Sheriff's Office said.
The amount of money in the bag was not disclosed.
A spokeswoman said the park had been rented for the day by a private company and an ``average size'' crowd was on hand, but most people had left by the time of the robbery.
- Associated Press
Colonial Downs has '97 racing schedule
NEW KENT - The Virginia Racing Commission on Wednesday approved a 1997 schedule with 30 days of live thoroughbred racing and 50 days of harness racing at the Colonial Downs track.
The commission, meeting in New Kent County for a tour of the track site, voted 5-0 to approve a thoroughbred season from June 29 to Aug. 15, followed by a harness season from Sept. 30 to Nov. 26.
Colonial Downs officials said they were on schedule to open in June even though no work has started on any buildings.
- Associated Press
LENGTH: Long : 113 lines KEYWORDS: HORSE RACINGby CNB