ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, March 13, 1997 TAG: 9703130054
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-5 EDITION: METRO
State to ask EPA to nix sewer permit
RICHMOND - Attorney General Jim Gilmore said Wednesday he would ask federal regulators to suspend a Washington, D.C., sewage treatment plant's newly issued pollution permit until a public hearing can be held.
The Blue Plains treatment plant is ``an environmental time bomb that threatens Virginia and its citizens,'' Gilmore said.
The district operates the plant under an Environmental Protection Agency permit. Sewage from the district and several Northern Virginia and Maryland communities is treated at Blue Plains.
Blue Plains' permit expired in February 1996. The EPA reissued the permit in January over Virginia's objections.
Gilmore said at least 20 percent of Virginia's population in localities between Washington and the Chesapeake Bay is affected by the plant's sewage discharges into the Potomac River.
Jo Anne Robinson, the district's acting corporation counsel, did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.
-ASSOCIATED PRESS
Hopewell councilman drops plan for King statue
HOPEWELL - City Councilman Curtis Harris has withdrawn his long-standing proposal to have a statue of Martin Luther King Jr. placed on city property.
``You are not going to allow African-Americans to put any statue on any property of the city of Hopewell,'' Harris told fellow council members Tuesday night.
Harris' latest plan for a King statue was to place it at the city's new visitor center, a plan that other council members believed would lead to more disagreement over the already controversial placement of the visitor center away from downtown.
Since 1994, Harris has proposed putting a King statue on the front lawn of the city's courthouse and at the Municipal Building.
Both proposals were rejected.
-ASSOCIATED PRESS
Inmate collapses and dies in Stafford prison yard
STAFFORD - An inmate at a state prison in Stafford County collapsed and died on a ball field, authorities said.
Lynn E. Hill, 30, fell to the ground about 1:45 p.m. Monday at the Stafford Correctional Unit, Corrections Department spokesman David Botkins said.
Hill received immediate medical attention and was transported to Mary Washington Hospital, Botkins said.
Authorities are waiting for the state medical examiner to determine a cause of death.
Botkins said Hill's death is not believed to be suspicious.
Hill was serving a 15-year sentence for malicious wounding and attempted robbery convictions in Montgomery County.
-ASSOCIATED PRESS
Victim in police wreck to receive $2.9 million
VIRGINIA BEACH - A gardener whose face was crushed in a New Year's Eve 1993 accident with a police car will get $2.9 million from the city over the next 40 years.
City Council, in a closed session Tuesday, approved an out-of-court settlement in a lawsuit brought by Daniel Hoosack of Norfolk. Hoosack, 31, suffered brain damage and had his face rebuilt with plates and screws after the accident.
The crash occurred when a police cruiser rammed into the rear of a car in which Hoosack was a passenger. The impact shoved Hoosack's face into the windshield.
A police investigation found that the officer driving the cruiser wasn't paying attention to where he was going.
The settlement ``takes care of Danny Hoosack for the rest of his life, and that's the idea,'' said his attorney, John Drescher.
-ASSOCIATED PRESS
Richmond's police chief bans free doughnuts
RICHMOND - The free coffee and doughnuts often viewed as a perk of police officers have turned cold and stale to Police Chief Jerry Oliver.
In a new regulation, Oliver has prohibited Richmond officers from accepting free or discounted foods, goods or services.
``We have to tighten up a lot of the practices in the past. This is another one of them,'' Oliver said Tuesday. ``I don't like the image of officers getting free coffee, getting free meals.''
Senior officers said nothing in particular prompted the change, one of about a dozen new regulations issued last week.
-ASSOCIATED PRESS
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