ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, April 2, 1997 TAG: 9704020035
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO =ZX NO
VMI women to face same physical tests
RICHMOND - The first class of female cadets enrolling at Virginia Military Institute will face the same physical endurance tests that male students face, including same-sex boxing.
VMI Superintendent Josiah Bunting III said he believes the school should keep as many of its traditions as possible, even after the first class of women joins the Rat Line this August. That will include participation in march, drill, boxing, swimming and other sports, Bunting said Monday.
As of Monday, VMI had accepted 50 women for admission. The school expects its first coeducational class to include up to 30 female freshmen plus 11 female transfer students. The total student population numbers about 1,100.
-ASSOCIATED PRESS
Taxes for roads weighed
RICHMOND - A state transportation commission is looking into the possibility of tax increases to pay for more roads.
Del. William Robinson, D-Norfolk, chairman of the Committee on the Future of Transportation in Virginia, said Monday that the commission should explore tax increases, debt, tolls and other means of financing.
Although no one at the meeting specifically mentioned the gas tax, a penny increase in the state's 17.5 cents per gallon tax would raise $40.5 million a year.
Gov. George Allen has made it clear that he does not approve of tax increases.
- ASSOCIATED PRESS
Continuous care ordered
PETERSBURG - A state mental hospital has ordered nurses to continuously watch patients strapped down in solitary confinement.
The directive came eight months after 31-year-old Gloria Huntley died alone while held to a bed with leather belts at Central State Hospital near Petersburg.
In a March 10 memorandum, Central State medical director Dr. Christopher Jenkins ordered that a nurse must remain at all times with a patient in restraints.
-ASSOCIATED PRESS
LENGTH: Short : 48 linesby CNB