DATE: Thursday, May 29, 1997                TAG: 9705290483
SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B9   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Briefs 

                                            LENGTH:   93 lines

VIRGINA [BRIEFS]

SOUTHWEST

VMI's first women

to sleep in unlocked

barracks, report says

ROANOKE - The first women cadets at Virginia Military Institute will get close-cropped haircuts and can't wear lipstick, and they'll sleep in unlocked barracks, VMI said Wednesday.

In a report filed in U.S. District Court, VMI said 32 women have accepted admission and paid deposits to attend the Lexington school starting in August. At least four female cadets will be assigned to each of the eight companies at VMI.

The 25-page report also outlined the school's sexual harassment and fraternization policies. The Citadel in South Carolina, which along with VMI comprised the nation's last all-male, state-supported military colleges, ran into problems of sexual harassment after enrolling four women last August.

The school will ban jewelry and cosmetics for the first semester. VMI also decided to keep the locks off all rooms in the barracks.

The progress report, the last before the school year begins, also was notable for what it didn't include. VMI ignored a Justice Department request for more detailed information on such things as the number of women denied financial aid and the reasons for the denial, and an explanation of why VMI fitness standards aren't being changed.

The fitness standards require a cadet to do a minimum of five pullups, 60 situps in two minutes and run 1 1/2 miles in 12 minutes or less. Northern

Minority, white students

await admissions ruling

ARLINGTON - More than 30 minority students are waiting to learn whether their admission to Arlington's magnet schools will be revoked because of a court ruling striking down a race-based enrollment policy.

An equal number of white children are awaiting word on whether they will be given the slots initially promised to the minority students.

U.S. District Judge Albert V. Bryan Jr. ruled May 13 that the Arlington public schools' policy of giving preference to minority applicants at its three magnet schools was unconstitutional.

Bryan has scheduled a hearing in the case Friday. School officials say they may ask for a delay so the minority students who were told they will be admitted will not be disappointed.

At each of the magnet schools, officials held a lottery to determine who would be admitted. They reserved half of the slots for minority children.

That meant officials often skipped over white children who did well in the lottery in favor of minority children whose lottery numbers were not as low.

CENTRAL

Holiday speeding tickets

surpass last Memorial Day

RICHMOND - The State Police wrote 15 percent more speeding tickets over the Memorial Day weekend than they did for the same heavily traveled holiday in 1996.

State troopers nailed 4,628 speeding drivers this year compared with 4,016 last year. Reckless driving arrests increased 12 percent, to 1,210, over Memorial Day 1996, and there were 173 drunken driving arrests this year compared with 160 the previous year.

New cemetery for veterans

dedicated by the governor

AMELIA - Gov. George Allen presided over the dedication of the 125-acre Virginia Veterans Cemetery in Amelia County.

``Today's dedication is an enduring opportunity to appropriately honor and gratefully remember each soldier, sailor and airman who patriotically answered duty's call,'' Allen said.

The $3.3 million project came in $100,000 under budget, Allen said. The state and federal governments split the cost almost evenly.

The first phase will consist of 13,250 graves, columbarium and cremains. The cemetery eventually will be the final resting place for nearly 54,700 Virginia veterans.

``We hope and pray their bodies find peace in the sacred soil of Virginia's heartland, and that their souls find comfort in the eternal glory of God's heaven,'' Allen said.

COMING UP

Today

Richmond - First lady Susan Allen speaks to eighth-graders at Manchester High School on the importance of physical fitness, 9 a.m. At 11:30 a.m., Gov. George Allen officially launches the Governor's Commission on Physical Fitness and Sports, Bell Tower, State Capitol, followed by 2-mile walk across the Manchester Bridge.

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