DATE: Tuesday, June 3, 1997                 TAG: 9706030334

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B2   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: Staff writers Katrice Franklin and Louis Hansen contributed to

        this report.

LENGTH: 132 lines

HAMPTON ROADS

HAMPTON

Heaven's Gate name

for Christian church

will stay, pastor says

The Rev. Charles Robinson believes the Heaven's Gate mass suicide was a ``direct spiritual attack from the devil'' on his church.

But Robinson sees some benefit in having chosen that name for his new, unrelated storefront church, which opened a few weeks before the March 22 deaths of 39 cult members in California.

Heaven's Gate Church of the Living God International.

The sign for the 17-member Heaven's Gate Church of the Living God International went up last month.

According to Robinson, the name came to him in prayer a few months before the church opened. After the suicides, he contacted his bishop to ask if he should change it. But they agreed they didn't want to tamper with divine inspiration.

VIRGINIA BEACH

Construction to begin on

Higher Education Center

Site work will begin this week on the $14 million Virginia Beach Higher Education Center on Princess Anne Road between Tidewater Community College and the Farmer's Market.

Passers-bys will notice large amounts of fill being trucked to the site, and then work will cease for 90 days while the soil is compressed. Afterward, construction will begin on the two-story, glass-domed building with 55 classrooms and laboratories, and two 100-seat lecture halls.

The center is a joint project of the city and Old Dominion and Norfolk State universities. It will replace the temporary center on Little Neck Road that now attracts 4,000 students a year. The new facility will have a capacity of 7,000 students. ODU and NSU will split the cost on a 70-30 basis, with ODU having the larger share and owning the 35 acres of land donated by the city.

The cost of the center will be covered by bonds guaranteed by the city and retired in full by tuition fees.

Classes are scheduled to begin in the fall of 1998.

The Higher Education Center will offer third- and fourth-year programs, as well as graduate courses. This will make it possible for two-year degree students from TCC to walk across the joint campus to finish their educations.

NORFOLK

Nauticus helps foster kids

better understand oceans

To kick off the yearlong Deep Sea Challenge national building contest, hundreds of local Lego-maniacs will use more than 100,000 Lego bricks to build underwater laboratories, submarines and deep sea research vessels at Nauticus Saturday.

Created by the National Maritime Center and the Lego Toy Company, the Deep Sea Challenge is designed to foster children's appreciation for marine resources.

The contest, which runs through Dec. 31, 1997, invites children 5-12 to construct their visions of futuristic deep sea-themed inventions using Lego bricks. The grand prize is a submarine trip to the Pacific, followed by a 12-day trip to Antarctica.

Saturday's event is from 10 a.m. to noon.

CHESAPEAKE

VDOT to negotiate rights

of way for road widening

The Virginia Department of Transportation will soon contact property owners to negotiate rights of way through land affected by the widening of Kempsville Road.

Property owners will be compensated for the value of rights of way being acquired, as well as for any damages caused by construction.

The state plans to widen Kempsville Road from Centerville Turnpike to Battlefield Boulevard. Construction will follow three phases: first, the state will widen Kempsville Road between Volvo Parkway and the Virginia Beach line; second, the road between Battlefield Boulevard and Greenbrier Parkway; third, between Greenbrier Parkway and Volvo Parkway.

An informational brochure, ``Right-of-Way - A Guide for Property Owners and Tenants,'' is available. For more information, call Jack Chapman, right-of-way engineer, at 925-2500.

Sheriff's Office shows off

its strength at fund-raiser

Officers from the Chesapeake Sheriff's Office proved their strength Saturday by pulling a 70-ton jet plane 12 feet at the Dulles Airport Plane Pull.

The Chesapeake team managed the feat with the lowest gross weight of any of the 41 law-enforcement teams who participated in the event, which raised $50,000 for Virginia Special Olympics.

It was the first time the Chesapeake Sheriff's Office had participated in the event at Dulles Airport, but the team did participate in the first plane pull at Norfolk International Airport last September, when they came in first with the fastest pull of the day.

Virginia Special Olympics, the state chapter of Special Olympics International, provides year-round sports training and athletic competition to 11,000 children and adults with mental retardation in the Commonwealth.

SUFFOLK

Candidates for House seat

make appearance today

Candidates for the 76th district seat in the House of Delegates are scheduled to appear today at 11 a.m. at the Holland Senior Center, 7650 S. Quay Road. The two Democratic and three Republican candidates will give brief statements and answer questions.

The Democrat candidates are Suffolk businessman Charles Parr and Chesapeake teacher Michelle Degnan. The Republican candidates are Suffolk city councilman S. Chris Jones, college professor Betty Jolly ``Kitty'' Perkinson and Amos D. Neill.

The candidates are vying for the seat being vacated by Republican Robert E. Nelms. Primaries will be held June 10.

COMING UP

WEDNESDAY

Williamsburg - Virginia Department of Transportation will present the public information on proposed transportation improvements in Interstate 64 corridor between Richmond and Newport News from 4 to 7 p.m. at Magruder Elementary School.

Suffolk - The Suffolk Civic Forum, a group of residents who meet monthly to discuss different topics, will meet at noon at C&C Restaurant, 1226 White Marsh Road. The meeting will focus on finding the solution to several topics: the conditions of Suffolk schools, finding qualified educators, raising children, improving parenting skills, offering quality jobs and training for those positions, the deterioration of the community and finding community volunteers.

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