DATE: Wednesday, September 3, 1997          TAG: 9709030511

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B2   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Briefs 

                                            LENGTH:  140 lines

HAMPTON ROADS [BRIEFS]

HAMPTON

Crumpler hearings

over car dealership

scheduled to resume

The state hearings that will determine whether Bob Crumpler gets to keep his Nissan dealership were scheduled to resume today in Hampton. Nissan Motor Corp. has been trying to dump the Newport News dealer since December, when Crumpler's videotaped racial slurs were made public. In the state Department of Motor Vehicles hearings, Nissan has alleged, among other things, that Crumpler kicked one of the manufacturer's representatives, referred to blacks as ``niggers'' and made fraudulent warranty claims. Today, Nissan's side was expected to call more witnesses on the fraud allegations.

VIRGINIA BEACH

2,000 expected to help

with annual Day of Caring

About 2,000 volunteers from more than 100 area companies and organizations will spend Thursday painting buildings, landscaping, sorting donated food and clothing, and doing much more for the annual Day of Caring.

The United Way of South Hampton Roads and VOLUNTEER Hampton Roads have sponsored this event for several years. More than 120 local agencies benefit from the 11,000 hours of service provided on Day of Caring, valued at more than $150,000.

Work will be performed from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., followed by a picnic celebration at Norfolk Botanical Gardens from 4:30 to 6:30.

The Day of Caring serves as the official start of the 1997 United Way campaign, which hopes to raise $15 million to support local agencies.

Call 629-0500 for details. NORFOLK

EVMS lands contract

to test contraceptive

Eastern Virginia Medical School's obstetrics and gynecology department has landed a $2.2 million research contract to test an oral contraceptive new to the United States.

Dr. David F. Archer, a professor in the department, will lead the study, financed by drug company Wyeth Ayerst Laboratories.

The new birth control formula, which uses the hormone progestin, has been tested in other countries but is not available in the U.S. market.

Archer said the study will enroll 120 women, who will receive one of four different doses of the contraceptive.

Among other things, researchers will monitor hormone levels in patients' blood and use ultrasound to examine the effect on their ovaries. The volunteers will be seen three times a week for 10 to 12 months.

Archer directs EVMS's Clinical Research Unit, one of nine groups that does contraceptive research for the National Institutes of Health.

Candidate seeks donations

of food for campaign staff

Sharon McDonald doesn't want anybody in her campaign working on an empty stomach.

McDonald, the Democratic candidate for Norfolk's commissioner of the revenue office, is taking a novel approach to keeping her volunteers happy: At the grand opening of her campaign headquarters today, McDonald is asking people to donate food that will be stockpiled to help keep hunger away.

``We're going to have people there at all hours of the day and night,'' McDonald said Tuesday. ``I think the volunteers are critical to any campaign, and I want to treat them nice.''

So along with donations of office supplies, McDonald is requesting such edibles as sodas, chips and other snacks. The headquarters, located at 7536 Granby Street at Wards Corner, has a refrigerator and microwave oven, she said.

The grand opening of the office runs from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. today.

McDonald faces Republican Charles E. Gibson in the November election for the job of commissioner, a state constitutional office whose primary responsibility is assessing the value of automobiles and other personal property. PORTSMOUTH

Committee on aging has

adult day-care questions

The Portsmouth Task Force on Aging is interested in getting feedback from Portsmouth residents who could use adult day-care services.

A committee looking into the need for such a service would like interested residents to call the Portsmouth Senior Center with answers to these questions:

How many days a week would the service be used?

At what hours of the day?

Will transportation be needed?

What special needs would the individual participating in the program have?

Why is this program needed for your family member?

What would the family be willing to pay per day for this service?

Interested residents are asked to call the senior center at 398-3777, preferably between 9 a.m. and noon Monday through Friday. CHESAPEAKE

Conference center pact

may be signed this week

City officials will sign an agreement before the end of this week to begin renting the Chesapeake Conference Center, according to acting City Manager Clarence V. Cuffee.

The lease-to-buy agreement had been scheduled to be signed Tuesday. It was not.

Under the agreement, the city will lease the new building for 30 years with the option to buy. Once the agreement is signed and the city takes over the Greenbrier-area building, the city will begin paying builder Armada/Hoffler yearly rent of about $800,000. The first event in the new building is a fund-raising dinner this Friday for attorney general candidate Mark Earley. REGION

Free screenings offered

to detect prostate cancer

Free screenings for prostate cancer will be offered this month at various sites around Hampton Roads.

About 165,000 men nationwide will be diagnosed this year with prostate cancer, and more than 35,000 men will die from the disease.

But if caught early, prostate cancer can be successfully treated. Annual screenings are often suggested for men between 50 and 70 years old. Because they are at higher risk for the disease, African-American men are encouraged to begin screenings as early as age 40.

The screenings are sponsored by the Sentara Cancer Institute and the Virginia Prostate Center of Eastern Virginia Medical School. They will include a brief physical examination and a PSA test - a blood test used as an indicator for the presence of prostate cancer.

Appointments are required.

In Norfolk, screenings will be held at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital on Sept. 10 and 24 and Oct. 8, and at Sentara Leigh Hospital on Sept. 17 and Oct. 1 and 15.

In Virginia Beach, at Sentara Bayside Hospital on Sept. 16 and 23.

In Hampton, at Sentara Cancer Institute, Peninsula Careplex, on Sept. 17.

For more information or to schedule an appointment for a free screening, call 1-800-SENTARA. MEMO: Staff writers Pam Starr, Jon Glass and Rebecca Myers Cutchins

contributed to this report.

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