THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, April 30, 1996 TAG: 9604300339
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DAVID M. POOLE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Long : 111 lines
Byrd Park is a 287-acre preserve near downtown where families paddle boats, feed the ducks and attend outdoor theater.
But it has another side.
National gay travel guides promise visitors will find plenty of ``cruisy'' action at Byrd Park. Some local gay men tap into computer ``chat rooms'' to arrange anonymous sexual encounters there.
Richmond police made 186 vice-related arrests last year in Byrd Park, more than twice as many as any other park in the city.
The park's reputation has cast a shadow over the political career of Suffolk Del. Robert E. Nelms, who was arrested there earlier this year for indecent exposure.
Last week, Nelms accused Richmond police of trying to ruin his good name by misrepresenting the location of his arrest. Though a Richmond judge dismissed the charge on a technicality, prosecutors on Monday will ask a grand jury to issue a new charge.
Nelms also lashed at the media for making a statewide sensation out of a Feb. 15 incident that he said involved nothing more than his urinating in the woods near the James River.
``The worst convicted murderer has not received more attention than I have over this ridiculous situation,'' he wrote in an ``open letter'' to constituents.
Nelms said the media attention and speculation have been difficult for his wife and young son.
In making his claim of police misconduct, Nelms provided this account of the event: An undercover police officer confronted him near the James River and made him drive ``over a mile'' to Byrd Park, where the summons was issued.
``Why did he do this? Could the statistical data have something to do with it?'' Nelms asked in the open letter.
Richmond authorities won't talk about the case unless it goes to court.
But a police spokesman said it is standard procedure for an undercover officer to move a suspect before issuing a formal arrest warrant or summons.
``You go somewhere else to write a summons, or else your cover is burnt,'' explained spokesman Carl Holzbach.
Lt. Herb Nichols, who heads the Richmond police vice unit, said the officer had no reason to misrepresent the location because arrests near the river are included in Byrd Park crime statistics.
Earlier this month, a Richmond judge dismissed the original summons after Nelms cited a constitutional prohibition on the arrest of lawmakers while the General Assembly is in session.
On Monday, prosecutors say, they will ask a grand jury to issue a new charge. Nelms has not said whether he will try to block the new charge or argue his case in court.
In his open letter, Nelms noted that police confronted him not in Byrd Park, but in an area near the river known as Three Mile Locks Park.
``Would you be surprised to learn that I was not in Byrd Park?'' he wrote.
Nelms later provided local newspapers with a Richmond parks map that makes it appear that the two parks are a considerable distance apart.
In fact, Byrd Park and the smaller Three Mile Locks Park are separated only by two-lane Pump House Drive.
Police say the Pump House Drive/Three Mile Locks Park area is one of the most notorious gay cruising spots in Byrd Park.
``It's an annoyance for all of us who live here,'' said Katherine Hudson, a resident of Kanawha Trace condominiums on Pump House Drive. ``There's a big noon crowd that starts at 11:45. Then it starts back up later in the day.''
One afternoon last week, John and Bobbi Brownson of Nevada said they noticed nothing amiss as they walked through Three Mile Locks Park.
``This is the second time we've been here, and we've haven't seen anyone,'' Bobbi Brownson said.
The couple left. Within five minutes, four cars had pulled up to the entrance at Three Mile Locks Park. Each car had a lone male occupant. One man left his car and climbed in the passenger side of another. The two men drove away.
``At the moment, it really is a meeting place,'' sighed Bill Trout, a member of the Virginia Canals and Navigations Society, which hopes to turn the site into a museum.
A Republican source said Nelms had every reason to be aware of Byrd Park's reputation before he went there at dusk on Feb. 15.
Four years ago, Nelms was robbed at gunpoint in a nearby section of the park. Republicans were alarmed when The Richmond-Times Dispatch, quoting police sources, reported that Nelms was in a car with another man at the time.
Nelms insisted he was alone. His position is backed by an April 16 letter from a retired police supervisor now living in Oregon.
The Republican source - who spoke on condition of anonymity - said he and others were sufficiently concerned by the 1992 Times-Dispatch article that they firmly advised Nelms to stay away from Byrd Park.
Nelms says no one warned him about Byrd Park. ``That's absolutely false,'' he declared last week.
Nelms, 36, said he went to the park during a rare break during the General Assembly. Nelms said he wanted to get some exercise and check the James River, which was running high because of heavy snows.
Three Mile Locks Park offers limited views of the James. The river is visible at the end of a quarter-mile trail that runs along the canal. The trail never gets closer than 100 yards to the river.
In the interview, Nelms said he could see the river just fine through a hole in a chain link fence. ILLUSTRATION: Del. Robert Nelms was arrested in Richmond's Byrd Park, accused
of idecent exposure.
JOHN CORBITT
The Virginian-Pilot
SOURCE: City of Richmond
KEYWORDS: ARREST INDECENT EXPOSURE by CNB