Arch A Moore

Former three-term Gov. Arch A. Moore Jr., convicted of corruption and characterized as remorseless by prosecutors, was sentenced Tuesday to five years and 10 months in prison and fined $170,000. Moore, 67, pleaded guilty to charges of mail fraud, extortion, obstruction of justice and filing false income taxes during his 1984 and 1988 campaigns and during his third term, from 1985-89. He lost the 1988 reelection bid.

Former three-term Gov. Arch A. Moore Jr., convicted of corruption and characterized as remorseless by prosecutors, was sentenced Tuesday to five years and 10 months in prison and fined $170,000. Moore, 67, pleaded guilty to charges of mail fraud, extortion, obstruction of justice and filing false income taxes during his 1984 and 1988 campaigns and during his third term, from 1985-89. He lost the 1988 reelection bid.

Gov. Arch A. Moore Jr., the silver-haired patriarch of the state Republican Party, announced Monday that he will seek another four-year term.

A $100-million lawsuit has been filed by the state of West Virginia against 75 asbestos producers, charging that they knowingly failed to warn officials of the hazards of asbestos and asbestos products in state buildings. The suit against manufacturers in 17 states and firms in Canada, South Africa and England was filed on behalf of Gov. Arch A. Moore Jr. and at least 15 state agencies.

Gov. Arch A. Moore Jr. ordered corrections officials to refuse new inmates at West Virginia prisons, saying that poor prison conditions continue because of overcrowding. Prosecutors and judges assailed Moore's action, saying that he had no right to tamper with the judicial system. The order will remain in effect until Moore and Corrections Commissioner A. V. Dodrill determine that conditions "are appropriate and warrant the acceptance of additional inmates," Moore said in Charleston.

Treasurer A. James Manchin today backed down on his threat to halt all state government checks because of a state Supreme Court decision invalidating the budget. "It's nothing more than a token action to appease the West Virginia Education Assn.," Manchin said of Tuesday's 3-2 ruling by the court, which said the Legislature had appropriated $26 million more than Gov. Arch A. Moore Jr. said would be available. The state constitution requires a balanced budget.

Lawyers for former West Virginia Gov. Arch A. Moore Jr. said he was pressured into pleading guilty to five federal corruption charges and wants to withdraw the pleas. The Justice Department will ask U.S. District Judge Walter Hoffman to deny Moore's request to rescind his guilty pleas and sentence him July 10, U.S. Atty. Michael Carey said in Charleston, W. Va.

Michael S. Dukakis won West Virginia's six electoral votes. U.S. Sen. Robert C. Byrd, a five-term veteran who intends to step down as Senate majority leader, defeated a bid for his seat by freshman GOP state Sen. Jay Wolfe. The Republican was unable to match Byrd's well-financed campaign and slick television spots and prompted an outcry with one of his own anti-abortion ads that showed a bloody fetus. In the governor's race, multimillionaire businessman Gaston Caperton defeated GOP warhorse Gov.

West Virginia's financial troubles have eaten up the funds set aside for celebrating the 125th anniversary of statehood this summer. Norman Fagan, commissioner of the state Culture and History Department, said his agency had saved $100,000 for the event. Before any plans could be completed, however, the money was taken to help pay the state's backlog of bills. "We'll have something, but it will be small and modest. But that might be more appropriate," Fagan said Tuesday.

The number of forest fires raging throughout the Southeast declined Wednesday, but a state of emergency was declared in West Virginia. The toll in one of the region's worst fire seasons on record neared 600,000 acres, with some states already having lost more than in all of 1985. At least four persons have died while fighting fires, three in Tennessee and one in Ohio.