ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, March 28, 1997 TAG: 9703280091
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK THE ROANOKE TIMES
Ward resigned from the school system in November, four days after his drinking and driving became public.
A Roanoke judge sentenced former Lord Botetourt High School football coach Andy Ward to two days in jail Thursday for violating his probation on a drunken driving conviction - the first in a string of such charges that eventually cost him his job.
Circuit Judge Clifford Weckstein will allow Ward to report to the city jail at 8 a.m. Monday, his day off from his current job as a telephone sales representative.
Ward was charged with drunken driving in Roanoke in December 1995, and again in Botetourt County in February 1996. After being convicted on both those charges, he was pulled over in Botetourt County in August driving 90 mph in his star running back's car.
After receiving a total of 54 days in jail on the Botetourt County charges, Ward was back in court Thursday on charges of violating his Roanoke probation by not attending Virginia Alcohol Safety Action Program classes and failing to pay his fines.
Weckstein found that Ward violated his probation, but chose to revoke only two days of a 30-day suspended sentence for his Roanoke DUI conviction.
Defense Attorney Tony Anderson argued that Ward had been punished enough.
Ward has "blackballed himself by his action and conduct from achieving the kind of success that had come to him as recently as last fall." Lord Botetourt's football team had one of its most successful seasons in years in 1996, making the regional playoffs.
In November, four days after his problems with drinking and driving became public, Ward resigned from the school system.
LENGTH: Short : 41 linesby CNB