ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, November 14, 1996 TAG: 9611140029
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-10 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: NEWPORT
SOURCE: CLAYTON BRADDOCK STAFF WRITER
A Giles County citizens group will seek bids Saturday, literally, to help its effort against American Electric Power Co.'s major power-line proposal.
Citizens Organized to Protect the Environment will sponsor a fund-raising auction Saturday in Newport to raise money to fight the proposed 765,000-volt power line. One of the major alternative routes for the project would run right through nearby Clover Hollow in order to bypass Newport. Other alternatives would route the line through parts of Montgomery County, including the Preston Forest neighborhood.
COPE hopes to raise about $2,000 in the auction, said Terry Hrubec, one of the volunteers heading the fund-raiser.
The money will be used mostly to pay legal fees in the efforts to combat issues raised by AEP, Hrubec said. In addition to lawyers, the money will also pay environmentalists, conservationists and others involved in the effort, she said.
"We need this help in our effort to remain credible in what we say," Hrubec said. "We want to have good background and merit" in explaining issues about electrical power, she said.
Saturday's auction fare includes antiques, sewing machines and other gifts and household goods donated for the event. COPE also has raised funds at bake sales and in the sale of banners and other promotional materials.
"There is always a need for the money," Hrubec said. "As we get it, we spend it."
COPE's plan for the money is to attack AEP's next issue, which will not be announced until early December, Hrubec said.
COPE is one of many members of ARCS, an umbrella organization, which has raised $300,000 over the past three years, Hrubec said.
The auction will held in the cafeteria of the former Newport High School on Virginia 42, beginning at 6 p.m.
LENGTH: Short : 42 linesby CNB