THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, October 25, 1995 TAG: 9510240166
SECTION: ISLE OF WIGHT CITIZEN PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Linda McNatt
LENGTH: Medium: 80 lines
There's one thing I really like about Debra Quesinberry. She's not a lawyer.
But, whoops, Quesinberry, a pharmacist, may have overstepped even political etiquette recently when her campaign committee sent out brochures showing (who they claimed was) Isle of Wight County's native son, William K. Barlow, wearing a bag over his head.
``I really like Debra,'' I heard one of her supporters say recently, shaking his head. ``But she shouldn't have done that.''
Probably not. It was the talk of the county last week. And there was a lot of head shaking.
As for Barlow, he says, ``It's not my tie.''
Separate the man most of us know simply as ``Billy K.'' from the political arena. He is the product of a family who has been a part of this area for generations. Barlow family products are known for being down-to-earth, hard-working, sincere, honest.
Over the years, they have been farmers, educators, staunch supporters of civic groups and good causes.
Oh, not that Billy K. is Superman. (We don't want to give his opponent ideas, do we?) Certainly, somewhere, he got off track a little. He is a lawyer.
But overshadowing that is the fact that few who have ever met him will deny: Billy K. is one of those rare Virginia gentlemen.
It's a warm, charismatic quality some men have of looking you straight in the eye and making you feel as though they are truly interested in what you have to say, and they really do care.
It's a male thing, I think. Hmm, maybe it's left over from another time. Could be, in this state so steeped in history and tradition. I think George Washington had that quality. And certainly Robert E. Lee.
Hatcher Story, my dear, late friend from Southampton County certainly had it. Ask anybody who knew him.
Another friend, M.H. Robinson, mayor of Windsor for 26 years, has it when he wants to. But M.H. only does anything when he wants to.
Nobody would deny that Mills Godwin, godfather of Virginia politics, has it in abundance. Sam Glasscock, a former local representative in Suffolk and Isle of Wight, also possesses that gentlemanly quality.
His replacement, Robert Nelms, tries hard to fake it. At least he recognizes it. And his efforts are so sincere, that, if he stays in politics - with maturity - he may someday get there. Fred Quayle also recognizes it, and he tries. He's just a little uptight, a little too nervous.
A true Virginia gentleman is unflappable. He's cool and determined, sincere.
I saw it in Billy K.'s brother, Joe, when he led the Suffolk school board for so many years. I don't believe I ever saw the man raise his voice, although you could sense when he felt strongly about certain issues.
In a ``Saturday Night Live'' kind of ploy, Quesinberry has attacked her opponent's integrity, his dignity. And she has bruised a quality as much as a man.
According to her campaign committee, Quesinberry was attacking Billy K.'s voting record. He didn't vote for welfare reform, and he didn't vote for more prisons in the state, they say.
Barlow, in his own defense, says that he eventually did support both issues, that Quesinberry's campaign committee segregated two proposed bills in their early form, that, yes, he did vote that way.
If that's what they think, that's what they should say. Why in the world did they resort to such juvenile tactics? That's what everybody is asking.
I don't claim to be an expert on politics. Once, when a former editor asked me to write a column during some hot, Suffolk campaigns, I wrote about voting for the man - or woman - who wore a gray suit most often. I said it was because I always liked gray horses. Gray is a nice color. Somehow, it adds dignity.
But, that's just my opinion.
It's the opinion of a lot of people that Quesinberry went a little too far. ILLUSTRATION: This brochure by Debra Quesinberry has many residents shaking
their heads.
by CNB