DATE: Saturday, September 27, 1997          TAG: 9709270406

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

                                            LENGTH:   98 lines

VIRGINIA [BRIEFS]

PIEDMONT

Racial confrontation

at U.Va. results in

campus investigation

CHARLOTTESVILLE - A confrontation between a white campus police officer and a black professor has prompted an investigation and a review of race relations at the University of Virginia.

The incident occurred Tuesday night at the end of a student forum on a proposal that Congress issue an apology to black Americans for slavery. Among those speaking was W. Avon Drake, a political science professor at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond.

As the event ended, Drake and an assistant U.Va. dean, Ishmail Conway, learned of a developing situation between a black student and a white campus police officer in the lobby outside.

According to various accounts, Officer Deborah L. Higgins asked the student to open his backpack because another student had alleged - incorrectly, it turned out - that the backpack was stolen. The student balked at the request.

When Conway and Drake arrived, Conway identified himself to the officer, who asked him to stay out of the situation. Drake said he was stunned by Higgins' tone and asked her to reconsider.

``She turned to me and told me to get out of there, to leave the building,'' Drake said. He said he refused and was threatened with arrest. He also said he was grabbed and pushed by the officer at one point.

``I have never seen a police officer handle a situation like this,'' Drake said.

Michael Sheffield, chief of U.Va. campus police, has appointed two lieutenants, one white and one black, to investigate. He also asked the president of the Black Student Alliance, who was present at the event, to assist them.

Higgins remains on active duty, Sheffield said.

William W. Harmon, vice president for student affairs, appointed Conway, assistant dean of the office of African American affairs, to head a faculty-student committee to review the incident and its aftermath.

``One of the things I am charged with looking at is the issue of race relations at this university,'' Conway said.

Northern

Man previously pardoned

in trouble with law again

CULPEPER - A man pardoned by Gov. George F. Allen in 1995 in a breaking and entering case faces cocaine distribution charges.

Culpeper County authorities said Christopher Prince was among 38 people indicted or named in warrants that covered 50 charges, from selling drugs to prostitution. The indictments were returned Monday.

The charges stemmed from an undercover drug investigation that began in July, said police Lt. Lee Hart. Prince was charged with two felony cocaine distribution counts.

Allen pardoned Prince, then 19, in December 1995 after two juvenile girls who had testified against him recanted. Prosecutors acknowledged Prince did not commit the crime.

Prince, whose IQ of 75 is considered borderline retarded by some doctors, already had spent 15 months in prison when he was released. His sentence was six years.

$3 million settlement

for oil spill approved

RICHMOND - The State Water Control Board has approved a $3 million settlement with Colonial Pipeline Co. for a massive oil spill in 1993 that polluted nine miles of waterways.

The spill in Fairfax County dumped more than 400,000 gallons of oil when a pipe ruptured. Some of the oil reached the Potomac River.

The agreement, accepted Thursday by the water agency, also must be approved by Gov. George F. Allen and representatives of the federal government and the company. Their approval is expected.

After all parties sign the agreement, it will be submitted to the U.S. District Court in Alexandria. The public will get at least 30 days for comment.

``I think it is a fair settlement, and we fully support it,'' said Manning Gasch Jr., a Richmond lawyer representing Atlanta-based Colonial Pipeline.

There were no injuries or illnesses from the spill, but some wildlife were killed, and drinking water supplies were threatened.

$3 million settlement

for oil spill approved

RICHMOND - The State Water Control Board has approved a $3 million settlement with Colonial Pipeline Co. for a massive oil spill in 1993 that polluted nine miles of waterways.

The spill in Fairfax County dumped more than 400,000 gallons of oil when a pipe ruptured. Some of the oil reached the Potomac River.

The agreement, accepted Thursday by the water agency, also must be approved by Gov. George F. Allen and representatives of the federal government and the company. Their approval is expected.

After all parties sign the agreement, it will be submitted to the U.S. District Court in Alexandria. The public will get at least 30 days for comment.

There were no injuries or illnesses from the spill, but some wildlife were killed, and drinking water supplies were threatened. KEYWORDS: OIL SPILL RACIAL DISCRIMINATION

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