handley read edited by durango--lynn chiffed AROUND VIRGINIA ± FROM STAFF REPORTS ROAD WORK VDOT fails to give notice of morning paving job Paving operations held up traffic Tuesday morning on U.S. 221 in Southwest Roanoke County, surprising many commuters. Today, the paving contractor will start work at 8:30 a.m. That schedule will be followed the rest of this week, as well. "We messed up," said Laura Bullock, spokeswoman for the Virginia Department of Transportation in Salem. The usual public notice for such traffic-delaying work wasn't given in this case. The pavers will be at work during the afternoon rush hour, but that's not usually as congested as the mornings, Bullock said. People don't all leave work at the same time in the afternoon. The contractor is repaving four miles of the highway, also known as Bent Mountain Road. It carries about 10,000 vehicles per day. The work can't be done at night, as is sometimes done on interstate highways, because the two-lane road has less room for vehicles to pass the construction equipment safely. - Ray Reed RULING Judge finds search made after traffic stop legal A federal judge ruled Tuesday that the search of a Mexican man after a traffic stop alongside Interstate 81 was not illegal. Chief U.S. District Judge Samuel Wilson found that Gabino Barrera allowed Special Agent Gary Meredith of the Virginia State Police to search his car Jan. 1. Meredith had stopped Barrera for speeding and an erratic lane change, according to the opinion. Meredith gave Barrera a warning, then continued to talk to him for about two minutes, according to court testimony. In the meantime, a canine unit Meredith had called in during the traffic stop arrived, according to the opinion. After Barrera gave consent to search his Ford Thunderbird, the drug dog alerted on the car. Barrera was later charged with possession with intent to distribute more than 500 grams of methamphetamine. Barrera's attorney, Phillip Lingafelt of Roanoke, argued that as a Mexican national, Barrera would not have felt free to leave the scene of the traffic stop when a law enforcement official continued to question him. - Jen McCaffery ACCIDENT Former Roanoker dies from crash injuries in Ala. A former Roanoke man died Monday of injuries he suffered in a traffic crash Sunday in Alabama, police said. Carl David Rutherford Jr., 18, was headed east on McFarland Boulevard in Tuscaloosa when the crash occurred just after 2 p.m. Sunday, Tuscaloosa spokesman David Hartin said. According to the Tuscaloosa Police Department's accident report, Rutherford's 1995 Chevrolet Lumina crossed a grassy median and struck a 2002 GMC Yukon head-on. The Yukon's driver died at the scene. - Shawna Morrison STABBINGS 2 men injured in separate attempted robberies Two men were stabbed during attempted robberies that happened within a 20-minute span early Tuesday. Roanoke police were investigating whether the two incidents were related. At 2:01 a.m., police were called to a home in the 1500 block of Patterson Avenue Southwest, where Racceion Jones said he had answered a knock on his door to find two strangers demanding money, police said. Jones, 31, was cut in the left hand and stomach as he struggled with the men, who fled without taking any money. About 2:19 a.m., police were called to a home in the 1800 block of Moorman Avenue Northwest. Leon Price, 45, said he was outside his home when two men drove up in a Jeep and demanded money, police said. Price said he was cut in the stomach after telling the men he had no money. - Laurence Hammack