ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, April 15, 1997 TAG: 9704150097
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-2 EDITION: METRO
Va. plans tobacco stings
RICHMOND - Two state agencies will submit requests to the Food and Drug Administration next month for authority to enforce new federal rules aimed at stopping the sale of tobacco to minors.
The enforcement by the departments of Health and Alcoholic Beverage Control will mean as many as 300 investigations a month using teen-agers in undercover sting operations at stores, according to FDA guidelines given to state officials last week.
The FDA has begun requiring merchants to check photo identifications of tobacco buyers under 27. Virginia law requires them to check IDs only of people younger than 18.
``We will be enforcing [the FDA rule] as a function of our current enforcement of state law,'' said Dr. Donald R. Stern, the state's deputy commissioner of health.
Officials said the state's enforcement plan will be based on the Health Department's experience in monitoring retailer compliance with prohibition on tobacco sales to minors and the ABC department's experience in conducting undercover operations for illegal liquor sales.
The Health Department has used minors to test compliance with ID checks since 1994.
-ASSOCIATED PRESS
I-64's westbound lanes reopened after rock slide
AFTON - Westbound lanes of Interstate 64 on Afton Mountain were reopened late Monday morning, about 16 hours after a rock slide dropped two boulders onto the highway.
No one was injured in the slide about 7:15 p.m. Sunday. Westbound motorists were rerouted onto U.S. 250 at Crozet and then back onto I-64 at Waynesboro.
State police Capt. Howard Gregory said a geologist from the Virginia Department of Transportation assessed the situation and approved reopening the westbound lanes.
-ASSOCIATED PRESS
Tree surgeon dies after tree falls with him
VIRGINIA BEACH - A tree surgeon died Monday from injuries suffered when he fell about 30 feet to the pavement from a tree he was trying to cut down, police said.
Christopher DeRouchers, 23, of Newport News, was in the tree at a Virginia Beach home, secured with a safety trap, when he cut a large branch, police said. The branch swung back and struck the tree below him, causing the tree and DeRouchers to fall, police said.
DeRouchers, who suffered a head injury, died an hour later at Virginia Beach General Hospital.
-ASSOCIATED PRESS
Ex-postmaster sentenced for skimming funds
RICHMOND - The former postmaster of Colonial Beach was sentenced Monday to one year and one day in prison for misappropriating postal funds.
Nathaniel E. Williams Jr., 46, admitted in federal court in January that he had skimmed more than $40,000 from his branch's cash receipts last year.
Williams, a U.S. Postal Service employee from 1972 until his resignation in November, also was sentenced to perform 100 hours of community service.
-ASSOCIATED PRESS
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