The Daily News Leader from Staunton, Virginia • 1

Sunday February 23, 2003 The Sunday News Leader 113th year, No. 8 ma $1 Serving Staunton, Waynesboro and Augusta County www.newsleader.com 25 ii ii i Public to kw mm Amid more consolidation talks for Staunton and Hampton campuses of Virginia's schools for the deaf, blind and multi-disabled, impacted families and employees wonder what lies ahead. i r' h'vl mm ii 1 uncertain future ir1 1 iJ it 1 laces Hannah Mills works on her ft -'4 kzf speech with Linda Jones-Oleson Emotional roller-coaster throws those involved-for loop after loop at Virginia School for the Deaf could prematurely force her daughter into another educational transition. Even during White's relatively short time at the school, she has been bombarded by the possibility of a state-mandated merger of the Hampton school with the Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind in Staunton, and this year was no exception. But for the first time in 30 years, a study of Virginia's two state-operated schools for deaf, blind and multi-disabled children in Hampton and Staunton could show people what a combined school will look like.

The Board of Education is directed to present a plan for consolidating services at one campus by November 2003 in the General Assembly's draft budget Buried on page 124, the budget amendment is an attempt to salvage a bill proposed by Del. R. Steven Landes, R-Weyers Cave, which stalled in the appropriations committee this session. The difference in the budget wording is critical: It calls for an outline of the steps necessary for merger, funding needed or savings, alternate uses of the Please see FUTURE, Page A4 Vincent LerzThe News Leader Lee's Tyler Crawford shoots against Turner Ashby Saturday night. Riverheads wins; Lee loses in district title game Details on Page B1 Staunton police help capture suspect Details on Page A3 Today Performance STAUNTON The AdamsStevens Duo will perform works by Bozza, Cordero, Miyagi, Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Beaser and Piazzolla at 3 this afternoon at Mary Baldwin College, Francis auditorium.

$5public, $4students and seniors. 887-7294 ''Vv. Intervals of clouds and sunshine today; windy and turning colder. Cold tonight; clouds will return. Morning flurries or showers Monday, then some sunshine.

Details, Page A10 Inflow lilMwA Abby C5 Classifieds D1-12 Comics: Inside Crossword. B7 Death Notices A2 Editorial A8-9 B8-10 Horoscope B7 Lifestyles CM 2 Sports B1-6 TV Week Inside Our commitment: We correct all errors of fact as soon as we learn of them. Corrections and our policy run daily on Page A2. Copyright 2003 The Daily News Leader. Republication without permission prohibited.

We print using oca. ill ICdai CJ rururlMl naner fiber I and earth- friendly soy color inks. I iniii A Forum on Monday for Stonewall Jackson project By Maria Longleystaff mlongleynewsleader.com It's not a new concept. Dozens of cities across the United States during the past decade have partnered with private companies to build hotel-conference center complexes designed to pump tourism and business meeting dollars into their local economies. Staunton's investment in the Stonewall Jackson Hotel and Conference Center would be half the entire project's cost, with the city contributing $9.85 million to the $19.3 million deal to build a new conference center addition at the site.

The city would finance $8.85 million of it by issuing 30-year general obligation bonds, and the rest would come from a possible $1 million community development block grant. Just how much of a public investment is needed to entice private investors depends on two major things, say consultants for public-private ventures. One is the state of the hotel lending market, which has seen lenders unwilling to risk much since Sept. 11, 2001. "It's a tough road to navigate, being sure that all parties are being equitably involved," said Charlie Johnson of Chicago-based CH Johnson Consulting, who's Please see HOTEL, back page this section Rain, snow a bad mix Wet slush, floods prove troublesome By Chris Lassiterstaff classiternewsleader.com STAUNTON Tim Bradley's biggest problem on Saturday wasn't fire.

It was water. A lieutenant with the Waynesboro Fire Department, Bradley said the squad received about eight calls from homes with flooded basements. According to AccuWeath-er, the Valley got about half an inch of rain Saturday, after receiving about 14 inches of snow between last Saturday and Monday. Bradley said none of the damage was major, but even a small amount of flooding can lead to bigger Please see FLOODS, back page this section "TT, Mark MillerThe News Leader and the Blind in Staunton. in Trsnsitisn For the first time in 30 years, plans to merge Virginia's two state-operated schools for deaf, blind and multi-disabled children in Hampton and Staunton will go beyond a routine look at the two programs and create a vision of the consolidated campus.

This News Leader two-day special report examines the impact on families and employees at both schools, who wait and watch as 1 politicians decide their futures. Today Uncertainty has defined VSDB's existence since the 1970s. The future of the VSDB-Hampton campus, A5 Monday Specialized education evolves to meet changing needs. Employees at VSDB wait for a decision SI By Dawn Medleystaff dmedleynewsleader.com Amber White, 1 2, cannot tell her mother that she is finally happy at school, but the longing look at her teacher a Friday afternoon when she leaves for the weekend says more to her mother than a conversation with anyone else in the classroom. "After everything she's been through, we're proving wrong the people who said she would never communicate, never do things independently," White said while she bundled her youngest daughter in a jacket and bright hat.

Amber adjusted stiffly in her small wheelchair, her arms limp as her mother slid them into the warm coat. Her soft brown eyes danced around the room. Blindness, a stroke that paralyzed her right side and symptoms of cerebral palsy isolate Amber from most of the world. Five years ago, when the Whites moved to Virginia from Missouri, where Amber the youngest of five children was a student in public school and then a day student at a specialized school, they hoped it would be a permanent placement. "Transitions are hard for her.

She needs continuity, and it has taken us until just recently to see Vincent LerzThe News Leader Cathy White picks up her daughter, Amber, each Friday at VSDB-Hampton. progress. It has taken her being here for a few years," Cathy White said. But shortly after Amber was enrolled at Virginia School for the Deaf, Blind and Multi-Disabled in Hampton, White learned closure Mexican teenager who underwent botched transplant dies They're very hurt These are human beings." A family lawyer said earlier they didn't want to remove Jesica from life support until an outside doctor verified she was brain dead. He could not be reached later Saturday.

so family and friends could say goodbye, the hospital said in a statement. Medication to keep her heart going was discontinued at 5 p.m.; her heart stopped seven minutes later and a ventilator was then turned off. Renee McCormick, a spokeswoman for a charity created to pay Jesica's medical bills, said the Santillan family didn't know until then that doctors were taking her off life support. "They were hysterical," McCormick said. "The family's been treated so poorly.

urday, two days after the second transplant. Doctors declared her brain dead at 1:25 p.m., said Duke University Medical Center spokesman Richard Puff. She was kept on life support through the afternoon The Associated Press DURHAM, N.C. Jesica Santillan, the teenager who survived a botched heart-lung transplant long enough to get an odds-shattering second set of donated organs, died Sat Roth? Traditional? It's your IRA choice. Wa can stop by, or visit our website RAYMOND JAMFS FINANCIAL SERVICES.

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