| MAN SHOT WHILE USING PAY PHONE - A man was shot and killed while talking on a pay phone outside the Go-Mart on Bigley Avenue in Charleston late Sunday, according to Charleston police. A 911 dispatcher said a clerk from a Go-Mart called 911 at 11:08 p.m.Police found the man dead on the sidewalk.
GOVERNMENT DENIES POW'S IRAQI MONEY - A Wood County woman is questioning why her son cannot receive civil damages from Iraqi funds under US control. Mary Ann Sweet of Washington, WV says the government is putting Iraqis over former Gulf War POWs. Sweet's son, Robert, was held in solitary confinement for 19 days after his plane was shot down during the 1991 war. Robert Sweet, now an Air Force major, and 16 other former POWs filed a lawsuit against the Iraqi
government seeking damages over their captivity.
US District Judge Richard Roberts had awarded the ex-POW's a total of 959 million dollars in damages. The soldiers had contended they were entitled to some of the money from Iraqi assets frozen in a special Treasury Department account.
The Bush administration has exempted the funds from being awarded to the ex-POW's, saying the money will be used to rebuild Iraq.
STATE TROOPER INVOLVED IN FATALITY - Police were responding to a fight on US Route 60 in Greenbrier County when a State Police trooper's vehicle hit a man's car. 34-year-old Neil Parker
died Saturday after undergoing emergency surgery at Charleston Area Medical Center.
State Police Sergeant Jay Powers says a Lewisburg police officer was responding to a fight along Route 60, and
that two State Police troopers noticed the Lewisburg officer drive by with lights flashing and followed to assist. A trooper apparently crashed into stopped traffic.
The State Police were assigned to special duty at the WV State Fair.
A Greenbrier County deputy sheriff was shot over the weekend when he made a traffic stop for no MVI. The subject was wanted for killing his wife and boyfriend in another state. The deputy is reported in stable condition in a local hospital. The suspect was also shot, his condition critical.
MOTORCYCLIST CRUSHED BY OVERWEIGHT TRUCK - The WVDOH weight enforcement division said a dump truck that coasted backward down a hill and killed a motorcyclist was overweight. The truck was loaded with gravel and weighed 41,500 pounds, well above the maximum weight of 26,000 pounds for that type of truck, said Jeff Davis. Thomas Chandler, 62, of Charleston was struck and killed by the truck. Witnesses told police that Chandler abandoned his
motorcycle when he saw the truck heading toward him and attempted to crawl away on his hands and knees, but he could not get away. West Virginia has a long history of not enforcing weight limits.
WV WATER SEEKING INCREASE - West Virginia-American Water customers will get a chance to attend public hearings on the company's request for a 16.4% rate hike. The utility, now foreign owned, has 164,000 customers in West Virginia. The proposed hike would go into effect in January, 2004. All the water companies are now owned by English and German corporations. Most of the state's water companies were orginially financed by tax money.
DO NOT CALL ME LIST - West Virginians are getting on the national "Do Not Call" Registry, but not in the numbers expected. Senior Assistant Attorney General Charley Fulton says 180,000 state residents, about 10 percent of the state's population, have already signed up for the list which outlaws telemarketers from
calling you at home starting in October. You can call from the phone you want on the list, the number is 888-382-1222 or register On-Line at www.donotcall.gov
PARENTS AWARDED $1.5 MILLION IN DAUGHTERS DEATH - The parents of a former West Virginia State softball player has been awarded money for their daughter's death. A Kanawha County jury found former Kanawha Valley doctor, Phillip Surface, negligent when he was preparing Heather Allen for surgery. She died at Thomas
Memorial Hospital. Her heart rate went out of control after the doctor administered a shot of epinephrine. Testimony showed he was told of Allen's problems but didn't do anything to help. Dr. Surface now practices medicine in North Carolina.
HOME SCHOOLING ON INCREASE - The number of home-schooled children in West
Virginia has jumped more than seven-hundred percent over a decade.
The state Department of Education says home schooling increased
from 600 children in 1991 to more than 4,2OO in
2001.
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