THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, September 26, 1996 TAG: 9609260287
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
LENGTH: 88 lines
The state will open a section of the Chesapeake Bay to oystering despite scientists' warnings that it would imperil some of the Bay's last healthy adult oysters.
The Virginia Marine Resources Commission voted 5-4 Tuesday to open the Tangier and Pocomoke sounds to oystering in December and January. Watermen will be limited to a catch of 2,500 bushels for the two-month period.
Jim Wesson, the commission's oyster scientist, said while there are large oysters in the sounds, there are few young ones to replace them. Disease has decimated Virginia's oyster population.
``Once these oysters are removed, they are gone,'' he said.
But Jeff Crockett of the Tangier Waterman's Association said oyster beds must be cultivated like farm fields, removing oysters to provide fertile areas for the next generation.
The commission also set seasons for the James River and the Atlantic Ocean side of the Eastern Shore. The James will be open to oystering from Oct. 1 to April 30; the Eastern Shore from Nov. 1 to Jan. 31.
The Rappahannock River will be closed, as will most of the rest of the Bay.
Watermen took only 3,709 bushels of market-size oysters from Virginia waters last fall and winter, down from 328,000 a decade ago, according to commission records.
SHENANDOAH VALLEY No clues in fatal illness
HARRISONBURG - The mystery of how two toddlers at a day care center were infected with bacterial meningitis may never be solved, a state health official says. One of the children died.
``The presumption is that it was somebody in that circle of that day care center,'' Dr. James Walker of the Harrisonburg branch of the state health department said Tuesday.
He said the carrier may no longer have the disease because the 35 other children in the toddler group were treated with antibiotics. Ex-actress denies plot
STAUNTON - A former soap opera actress charged with trying to hire a hit man to kill her husband denied in court papers that she planned to harm him.
Catherine Ann Christianson said in divorce papers she never intended to hurt Charles E. Chittum.
Chittum alleged in the divorce case that Christianson, 39, was cruel and intended ``bodily harm.''
Chittum sued for divorce after his wife was arrested July 24 for allegedly offering a police informant $20,000 to kill him.
Christianson had a recurring role as a character named Jane on ``All My Children.'' She also has appeared on ``One Life to Live.''
SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA Furor surrounds review
RADFORD - The governing board of Radford University has asked for a performance evaluation of its new president a little more than a year after he took the office.
Some students and faculty members contend the decision is the start of an effort to oust Douglas Covington, and a petition circulating in support of Covington suggests a racial motive.
Covington, the university's fifth president, is black. The school is predominantly white.
James Stutts, the school's rector, said Tuesday the board of visitors has no plans to get rid of Covington. Last month's request for an evaluation has been ``blown way out of proportion,'' said Karen Waldron, the board's vice rector.
But board member Nancy Wilson said discussion of firing Covington, who came here in June 1995, surfaced within the board this summer. She would not elaborate. Also...
HAMPTON - Christopher Dozier, 24, who admitted that he strangled 23-year-old April Brown and dumped her body in Suffolk's Lake Cahoon, has pleaded guilty to first-degree murder.
RICHMOND - Virginia will spend $1 million to expand the Head Start program to serve another 751 disadvantaged preschool children. Coming Up
Today - Vigil by Murder Victims' Families for Reconciliation, noon, Greensville Correctional Center, Jarratt. MEMO: Compiled from AP reports. by CNB