DATE: Tuesday, April 22, 1997               TAG: 9704220422

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B2   EDITION: FINAL 

                                            LENGTH:  110 lines

HAMPTON ROADS - BRIEFS

REGION

Five sailors hurt during salvage work off Cape Hatteras

Five crew members aboard the Navy salvage ship Grasp were injured Monday afternoon when a mooring line snapped above the site of a downed helicopter they were trying to salvage off Cape Hatteras, N.C.

Navy and Marine Corps helicopters picked up the injured shortly after the 2:30 p.m. accident and flew them to shoreside hospitals. All were in stable condition Monday night.

One of the sailors suffered fractures of both legs, another suffered one broken leg, another a possible concussion. A fourth had possible broken ribs, Navy officials said, and a fifth complained of back pain.

The Grasp, based at Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base, is off Cape Hatteras attempting to recover the wreckage of a Florida-based Navy helicopter that vanished March 13 with four crew members aboard. Once over the site, it set three anchors to keep it positioned over the chopper's wreckage, using mooring lines 10 inches in diameter.

A Navy spokesman said initial reports indicated that one of those lines may have slipped from a decktop capstan and traveled across the deck ``at a pretty high rate of speed,'' knocking down the five sailors.

NEWPORT NEWS

Crumpler to fight Nissan's attempt to yank dealership

The owner of a local Nissan dealership has challenged the automaker's attempt to yank his franchise after he was secretly videotaped making racial slurs last year.

Bob Crumpler, president of Bob Crumpler's Denbigh Nissan Ltd., has requested a state Department of Motor Vehicles hearing on Nissan Motor Corp.'s plan to remove his franchise, The Associated Press reported Monday. DMV officials said that as of Monday, no hearing date had been set.

A hearing officer from the state Supreme Court will review the evidence and examine whether Nissan had ``good cause'' to end the franchise agreement. The hearing officer will then make a recommendation to the DMV commissioner, who will decide the case.

Crumpler sold his Portsmouth dealership voluntarily and negotiated the sale long before the videotape was telecast Dec. 6.

NORFOLK

Firefighter, resident hurt; fire damages 4 apartments

One firefighter and one resident of a burning apartment building suffered minor injuries Monday night during a blaze that damaged four apartments in the city's Ocean View section.

The firefighter sustained minor burns and the resident suffered smoke inhalation, according to Jack Goldhorn, a spokesman for Norfolk Police and Paramedical Services. Both victims were taken to DePaul Medical Center.

Firefighters were called to the 1200 block of Little Bay Ave. about 5:35 p.m., when they found a blaze in a first-floor apartment in the eight-unit building, Goldhorn said. It took firefighters nearly half an hour to get the fire under control.

The blaze was ruled accidental, Goldhorn said. Four apartments were so badly damaged that they cannot be occupied, he said, and damage was estimated at $50,000.

CHESAPEAKE

If the airport looks too far, a nearby wheat field will do

A small plane that made an emergency landing late Sunday in a field near the Great Dismal Swamp will be fixed there and then flown back to its home airport in Chesapeake, police reported Monday.

After the engine began to fail Sunday evening, the pilot told police, he feared he might not make it back to Chesapeake Municipal Airport. So he put the Cessna 150 down about 6:30 p.m. Sunday in a wheat field just west of George Washington Highway near Ballahack Road.

The pilot was identified as Philip Decker, the passenger as Jim Bates - both Navy aviators, authorities said. Neither was reported injured, and the aircraft was not damaged, police said.

Bates said afterward that he'd never seen Decker make a better landing.

They rented the plane Sunday from Mercury Flight Center and took off from the Chesapeake airport, police said. About 15 minutes later, Decker and Bates told police, smoke started coming from the engine - and Decker decided it would be wiser to set down immediately rather than risk not making it back to the airfield.

State police said Monday that Mercury Flight officials plan to fix the plane where it is, then move it to a runway near the field and fly the plane back to the airport.

Collection service will track delinquent property taxes

City Treasurer Barbara O. Carraway has enlisted the help of Credit Service, a private company experienced in the collection of delinquent revenue for municipalities, to track down and collect more than $1 million in property taxes owed by Chesapeake property owners.

The debts go back to 1992 and are owed by people who apparently have left the state and cannot be traced with the resources available in the treasurer's office.

The collection service will be provided at no cost to the city. Virginia law permits localities to add a 20 percent administrative cost to overdue taxes for collection agency fees, which will cover the company's fees.

About 10,000 bills are being turned over to Credit Service, a small percentage of the 155,000 tax bills the city sends out each year, Carraway said.

Six other Virginia localities - including Prince William, Hanover, Henrico and Albemarle counties and the cities of Hopewell and Williamsburg - contract with Credit Service to assist with delinquent tax collection.

VIRGINIA BEACH

City residents may hear grinding work on Route 44

Crews are shaving about one-eighth of an inch off uneven pavement patches on eastbound and westbound lanes of Route 44.

The work will take place weeknights, from 9 p.m. until 5 a.m. While it's not deafening, residents adjacent to Route 44 may hear the work. It has to be done at night because traffic is too heavy to close lanes during the day.

Crews began working near the Witchduck Road interchange last week. They will work at locations between Witchduck Road and Great Neck Road throughout the summer. The work is to be completed in September.

Send Suggestions or Comments to webmaster@scholar.lib.vt.edu