ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times

DATE: Thursday, April 17, 1997               TAG: 9704170079
SECTION: VIRGINIA                 PAGE: C-5  EDITION: METRO 
DATELINE: DALE CITY
SOURCE: KARI PUGH POTOMAC NEWS

2 CARS HAVE CRASHED INTO THEIR HOME COUPLE EXPERIENCES THE UNEXPECTED TWICE

Doug and Janet Michel are campaigning for officials to put a stop to speeding on the road near their home.

Doug and Janet Michel joked about the cracked plaster and broken glass left by the pickup that slammed into their home. But the accident has them scared.

It was the second time in a little over a month that a car smashed into the Michels' house on a curved stretch of Dale Boulevard. Last time, no one was hurt. This time, a passenger in the pickup was critically injured.

``Something needs to be done, if only to prevent somebody being killed,'' Doug Michel, 52, said as he walked a parade of insurance agents, building officials and friends through his damaged home. ``This is all just stuff. Stuff can be replaced.''

The Michels, retired government workers, were sitting on their sofa watching television when they heard a deafening crash about 9:45 on a recent Thursday night. Lamps and knickknacks toppled, but the two managed to move.

Police allege that 43-year-old Kenneth Leteff Jr. of Dale City was speeding when he passed a slower moving car, jerked back into the left lane and lost control, careening through a power box and into the Michels' house.

Leteff's father suffered severe facial injuries in the crash, Prince William County police spokeswoman Kim Chinn said.

Police charged his son with driving while intoxicated and reckless driving after the crash, Chinn said. He was not seriously injured.

In the 24 years they've lived in the home, Doug and Janet Michel have heard plenty of car crashes outside their windows. But Feb. 26 marked the first time a car ever hit their house.

A teen-ager lost control on the curve near their house. The teen-ager's car ripped through their wooden fence and into the back of their 1997 Lincoln Town Car, sending a fence post into the door of their garage.

The Michels figured such an accident wouldn't happen again, but they started campaigning for police and local officials to put a stop to speeding on the stretch of Dale Boulevard, where the speed limit drops from 45 mph to 35 mph.

But it happened again. Leteff's pickup ripped out their front door, damaged their rental car, broke their front windows and left huge cracks in their walls.

Prince William police conduct radar checks near the Michels' house almost every day. But the couple says that's not enough.

LENGTH: Medium:   56 lines
ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO:  ASSOCIATED PRESS. Within a month's period, the home of 
          Doug and Janet Michel of Dale City has been hit twice by passing 
          motorists.