THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, October 9, 1996 TAG: 9610090420
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Briefs
LENGTH: 75 lines
Politicians' popularity is about average in Virginia
Montana's governor is the nation's most popular, Maryland's has the lowest rating and Virginia's fits in the middle range, with 58 percent of George Allen's constituents rating his performance in office as ``excellent'' or ``good.''
Virginia's senior senator, John Warner, ranks No. 31 among U.S. senators with a 60 percent positive rating. Junior Sen. Chuck Robb is No. 96 out of 100, with a 36 percent rating.
Those rankings are according to a poll of voters in all 50 states conducted by Mason-Dixon Political/Media Research. People were asked whether politicians' performance in office was excellent, good, fair or poor.
Both governors and senators generally are more popular now than four years ago. Parents say school failed threatened girl
Parents of students at Gar-Field High School say school administrators did not do enough to protect a 14-year-old girl who was allegedly attacked by three fellow students Oct. 1 as she stepped off a school bus.
The girl was beaten four days after telling school officials she was being threatened by gang members.
The girl's mother said Monday that her daughter repeatedly told Gar-Field administrators that she was being stalked and had been assaulted at school.
Prince William County police charged three Gar-Field students with felony assault. A fourth student was charged Monday with two counts of brandishing a firearm.
Parents said school administrators acted irresponsibly by not taking action against the students who allegedly were harassing the girl.
Weather wrecks county's Halloween harvest again
NEW KENT - The rainy, cool summer has left a mess in Virginia's leading county for growing pumpkins.
This is the second straight year for a local shortage of pumpkins.
Some growers who always open their fields each fall to visits by school children turned to out-of-state suppliers so they would have enough to show.
Some fields were so wet that farmers couldn't spray fungicides to control diseases that damage the vines and leaves. Water stood in soggy fields and rotted the roots of the plants.
Stewart U. Taylor of Toano, a pumpkin grower for 35 years, said this year's crop was about the worst he's seen. He estimated he lost half of the 30 acres planted at his Fairview Farm.
Car vest for dogs honored
ROANOKE - Three students at the Roanoke Valley Governor's School for Science and Technology have designed a restraining device they think will help reduce injuries and provide protection for dogs in car accidents.
The invention was a national winner in the transportation and travel category of the 1996 Young Inventors and Creators Program.
The students - Shana Waller, Josh Deitz and Gregory Holder - will be flown to Washington this month for NITA's Creative and Inventive Thinking Conference.
The device is a vest with straps that slips over the dog's body. The dog is placed in the vehicle's seat, and the seat belt loops are fitted through the straps.
The vest will be on display at the Smithsonian Institution.
The students designed the doggie vest using a model dog, because a Governor's School rule prohibits the use of vertebrate animals in any student research project.
COMING UP
TODAY - Fredericksburg: Reps. Herbert Bateman and Thomas Bliley will speak 3 p.m. at the Gateway Shopping Center for the opening of the GOP regional headquarters. MEMO: From Associated Press reports by CNB