THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, October 12, 1996 TAG: 9610120323
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
LENGTH: 84 lines
ABINGDON - A two-state search is on for a man wanted in the killing of his girlfriend, the wounding of a former girlfriend and the rape of another woman who was abducted apparently at random.
Brad Duane Osborne, 27, also is accused of trying to force a fourth woman into his car, but she escaped, officials said.
The search for Osborne began Wednesday night after his former girlfriend was shot at a motel on U.S. 58 in Abingdon.
He was last seen driving a gold 1981 Pontiac Phoenix with Tennessee tags 671-MQW. But investigators believe he may have ditched the Pontiac and stolen the murder victim's car. Blizzard baby boom
RICHMOND - Virginians were doing more than playing Scrabble when last winter's snowstorms confined them to their homes. The evidence is in hospital delivery rooms.
Births in August were the highest for that month in four years, and September deliveries were up at least 16 percent compared with last year, said a spokesman for Richmond's Columbia hospitals.
Delivery room staffs said even more babies will be born in October, which is exactly nine months from last January's blizzard. TB notification delayed
GLOUCESTER - School officials in Gloucester County weren't notified about a teacher being treated for tuberculosis until more than two months after the teacher was diagnosed.
The Gloucester High School teacher, who had been diagnosed by a Virginia Beach doctor in July, was put on leave Oct. 3, the day they learned of the condition.
The director of the Virginia Department of Health's Bureau of Tuberculosis Control said the teacher's doctor notified the Virginia Beach Health Department July 15 of the case, as state law requires.
But instead of contacting the Gloucester County Health Department with the information, the department notified an employee in the state tuberculosis control bureau. NORTHERN VIRGINIA Parkinson's link found?
CHARLOTTESVILLE - A research team led by two University of Virginia scientists has identified a possible link between a genetic defect found within energy-producing cells and Parkinson's disease.
The findings were published in the October issue of Annals of Neurology.
Parkinson's disease affects more than one million people in the United States. The illness attacks part of the nervous system, causing tremors and progressing to stiffen muscles.
Researchers found the genetic defect in bacteria-sized structures called mitochondria in cells. U.Va. scholarship change
CHARLOTTESVILLE - The University of Virginia, without making its decision public, changed a privately funded scholarship program for black students to allow awards to other minorities and poor whites.
The change was made in the fall of 1995. The program was created under state orders, but without state money, in the early 1980s. It offers full four-year scholarships for 50 black students. A school official said the university voluntarily expanded the program's reach to encourage other minorities. Also . . .
QUANTICO - A potentially fatal virus is spreading through the deer population at Quantico Marine Base.
More than 20 deer have been found dead on the base's 50,000 forested acres. The director of the base's Fish, Wildlife and Agronomy section believes epizootic hemorrhagic disease, which poses no threat to humans, is infecting the deer. COMING UP
Amherst - The start of a two-day Garlic Festival, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., in Rebec Vineyards.
Lexington - Virginia first lady Susan Allen leads a horseback trail ride to benefit the Virginia 4-H Foundation on the grounds of Virginia Horse Center at noon. MEMO: - From Associated Press reports by CNB