THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, February 8, 1997 TAG: 9702080418
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B7 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Briefs
LENGTH: 83 lines
PIEDMONT
5 black students are reinstated< after police clash
WAYNESBORO - After meeting with black community leaders Thursday, Waynesboro High School Superintendent Lowell Lemons agreed to reinstate at least five black students who were suspended after a confrontation with police at the racially troubled school.
Eleven students - 10 black and one white - were arrested last week after police used pepper spray to break up a crowd of about 30 students who had refused to return to class.
The students were agitated about a fight on the previous day between a black student and a white student. Some members of the crowd surrounded and assaulted a police officer when he tried to arrest a disorderly student. The officer suffered scratches and bruises. One parent was arrested.
Lemons also promised to address racial tensions at the school, and the School Board has agreed to hire a consultant to try to settle the school's racial problems.
33 women apply to VMI
LEXINGTON - Thirty-three women have asked to join Virginia Military Institute's first coed class this fall, and the admissions director said the number of applications from women could rise to 55.
In the past, VMI has accepted 78 percent of its applicants. Of those, about 55 percent end up enrolling. If those averages are followed and 55 women apply, 43 would be accepted and 24 would enroll.
VMI's goal is to enroll 30 female cadets. Too few females, they said, could result in problems such as those experienced at The Citadel in Charleston, S.C. Two of The Citadel's four female cadets quit after accusing male cadets of hazing them. Two male cadets also quit because of the scandal.
Five of the 33 women who applied to VMI, or 15 percent, have put down money and agreed to attend. Of the 480 men who have applied, 87 - or 18 percent - have been accepted and sent in deposits, which are due by May 1.
``I think right now we're doing very well,'' spokesman Mike Strickler said of the effort to recruit female cadets. ``If you project it out to the end, we could still be enrolling 20 to 30 in the first class.''
Twenty of VMI's 33 applicants have been accepted.
Flower shop lady missing
STUARTS DRAFT - A flower shop co-owner who was busy filling orders for Valentine's Day has disappeared, and her business partner said he suspects foul play.
Police suspect Dawn S. Snyder, 22, was abducted from the Enchanted Florist.
Snyder's partner last heard from her in a beeper message about 8:15 p.m. Wednesday. About 20 minutes later, Snyder was nowhere to be found.
Her van was in the parking lot, with her purse on the seat and her keys in the ignition. A search of the area turned up no trace of her.
NORTHERN VIRGINIA
Father's charges dropped
MANASSAS - Prosecutors dropped charges Friday against a father whose rush-hour duel with another driver left his 3-year-old daughter gravely injured.
Robert Finck faced reckless driving charges in a Nov. 20 crash on Interstate 95.
Charges were dropped because police couldn't find eyewitnesses to the confrontation near Dumfries and were left with one driver's word against the other's. If additional witnesses come forward to implicate Finck, the reckless driving charge could be reinstated.
COMING UP
TODAY: Fairfax City - Top confectioners from Northern Virginia compete in the 5th Annual Chocolate Challenge, part of the City of Fairfax's Chocolate Lovers Festival, Historic Old Court House, 4000 Chain Bridge Road, Old Town Fairfax. Richmond - Vice Mayor Viola Baskerville speaks to the Metropolitan Business and Professional Women's Clubs, 11 a.m., City Hall. Williamsburg - Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David McCullough speaks at the 1997 Charter Day ceremony at the College of William and Mary. Ceremonies begin at 10 a.m. MEMO: Compiled from The Associated Press