ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, December 10, 1996 TAG: 9612100133
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
Patient's burns bring investigation
DRAPER - The Pulaski Department of Social Services is investigating how a 74-year-old resident of the New River Adult Home in Draper was severely burned on his buttocks.
The deep burns were received Saturday. The assisted-living resident was treated at Columbia Pulaski Community Hospital, where a doctor contacted the Sheriff's Department because of the nature of the injury. The matter was referred to the Social Services Department for investigation Monday.
Lisa Thayer, administrator at the home, said privacy restrictions prevented her from disclosing the man's name. No further information was available.
-New River Valley Bureau
Panel urges steps for homeless kids
RICHMOND - The children of Virginia's homeless parents are rejected by schools and are unwanted in communities, a state commission was told Monday.
``No one wants to see them. No one wants them in their community. And many do not want homeless children in their schools,'' said Pamela Tucker, program administrator for the Virginia Homeless Education Program.
After listening to these and other concerns during a public hearing, members of the Virginia Commission on Youth pledged Monday to work toward meeting the needs of homeless children.
Tucker told of children who were turned away by school secretaries because they did not have a permanent address.
The commission approved recommendations that include assigning a children's case manager to each shelter, increasing funding for shelters and increasing funding for day care at the shelters.
- Associated Press
School settles over 'gangsta' paper
ALEXANDRIA - Fauquier High School and the boy whose creative writing paper employed the words to ``gangsta'' rap songs have reached an out-of-court settlement.
Daniel Green Jr., 15, was suspended for 10 days last spring because school officials took the paper as a threat.
Darlene Green, his mother, contended the punishment violated Daniel's First Amendment right of free speech. She wanted the school to overturn Daniel's suspension and remove it from his record.
Under the settlement, the school district will not give Daniel additional punishment and the incident will be expunged from his record. The school awarded the family $8,000 in legal fees.
Daniel has agreed not to contest whatever grade he receives on the paper.
His freshman English teacher asked students last spring to use words and art to illustrate life's passages. He compiled a collage of gritty photographs of guns, barely clad women and the words of ``gangsta'' rap songs to portray the lives of urban black youths.
In a written introduction, labeled ``Tha opening,'' he addressed his teacher in highly profane language that mimicked rap songs and ended with a phrase that school officials interpreted as sexually menacing: ``So take it and like it, or you can get the [expletive], bDaniel said he never meant to threaten anyone.
- Associated Press
Allen pledges money for slave museum
RICHMOND - Gov. George Allen said Monday that he will provide $100,000 in government money to help build a slavery museum in Virginia.
Former Gov. Douglas Wilder proposed the museum during a trip to Africa in 1993.
``A slave museum in Virginia will honor and remember the remarkable determination and courage of those who endured this bondage,'' Allen said. ``It will serve as a valuable educational resource on the history of slavery in this country and thus enhance knowledge of our history in general.''
The money will become available when a nonprofit group is found to fund the museum. The Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation will select the organization.
The Jamestown Settlement, where Virginia's first slaves are believed to have arrived in 1619, is a possible site for the museum. Another is the Hampton University Museum, home to a collection of African-American art and artifacts.
Wilder has said he hopes to locate the museum near the Jamestown colony, but he also said he was intrigued with the Hampton University site.
- Associated Press
UVa rare-map thief sentenced to jail
CHARLOTTESVILLE - A Florida man who stole valuable 17th and 18th century maps from the University of Virginia and Duke University was ordered Monday to pay $70,000 restitution and serve eight months behind bars.
Gilbert Joseph Bland Jr., 47, of Boca Raton, may already have served enough time for the offenses, authorities said. However, that would mean he would be sent to North Carolina, where he faces a similar charge in Chapel Hill involving University of North Carolina maps.
Bland pleaded guilty in the UVa and Duke cases in June. He is suspected of stealing about 150 rare documents from schools along the eastern seaboard.
In court Monday, Bland apologized to UVa, Duke and U.S. District Judge James H. Michael Jr. for taking seven maps from the Charlottesville school in December 1995 and six maps from Duke.
``I'm truly sorry for what I did,'' he said.
His attorney said Bland began stealing after his computer business failed.
Bland surrendered to police in Florida in January. He returned to Virginia later that month and remained in custody until his guilty plea.
Authorities recovered about 150 maps from a rental shed used by Bland. The collection was worth about $200,000.
- Associated Press
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