DATE: Saturday, November 1, 1997            TAG: 9711010658

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B3   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY JANIE BRYANT, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH                        LENGTH:  102 lines

INCUMBENT AND 2 OPPONENTS VIE IN RACE TO BE PORTSMOUTH SHERIFF

At stake is a $76,000-a-year job managing an $8.6 million budget, 177 deputies and the City Jail, which houses an average of 500 inmates.

Add to those responsibilities court duties, civil process and all those extra programs that give incumbent Sheriff Gary S. Waters and his men in brown an increasing visibility in the community.

Such as the Drug Abuse Resistance and Education program that has been offered to more than 25,000 fifth-grade students.

Or the more than 900 funeral escorts that deputies handled free for residents over the past year.

Throw in the inmate work crew that earned a first-place award from Keep Virginia Beautiful Inc. this year for more than 42,000 hours of trash pickups and other community services.

Waters, a Democrat who has been Portsmouth's sheriff for 16 years, has two opponents hoping to oust him in Tuesday's election:

Voyce D. ``Mac'' McGinley Jr., the Republican candidate who served 25 years as a police officer and 8 1/2 years as a sheriff's deputy before leaving nine months ago to run against his former boss.

Paul Battle, running as an Independent, who worked in the jail for one year in the 1970s and has held a variety of jobs since.

Battle, 49, has worked with the Portsmouth Police Department, the Parks and Recreation Department and the Portsmouth Community Services Board.

He currently is a resident initiative specialist for the Portsmouth Redevelopment and Housing Authority and a senior member of the grant-writing team.

He also has owned and operated a five-bed adult residential care facility in Cavalier Manor for three years.

One thing that hasn't changed much over the years with Battle is his desire to be sheriff. This is his third bid for the office.

McGinley, 56, also says being sheriff is a longtime ambition and that the job would bring his career full circle.

``This is something I have been thinking about for 10 years,'' he said at a forum sponsored by the League of Women Voters.

Both of Waters' opponents have criticized overcrowded conditions at the jail and the practice of housing federal prisoners there.

McGinley said at a Cradock Property Owners Association forum that he would weed out prisoners who don't need to be in the jail. Later, he explained, he would do that by keeping federal prisoners only for short times while they are awaiting trial, and by speeding up the release of prisoners who are eligible for bond.

Battle has said he would not keep more than 50 federal prisoners over the 193 inmates the jail was designed for.

Battle said the practice of housing federal prisoners is a ``money-making venture.''

But he says the practice is not really making money because of the costs of the prisoners' food, clothing and medical needs.

But according to city figures, total revenue from housing federal prisoners in the fiscal year that ended June 30 was $1.1 million. About half the money eventually is returned to the Sheriff's Office.

Waters, 53, said it's the same issue raised the last time he ran for re-election, and the ``public overwhelmingly elected me.''

Waters added that the jail would be overcrowded even without the federal prisoners and that some relief will be available when the Hampton Roads Regional Jail is completed.

Waters also said that with the city's financial needs, it would be foolish to turn his back on $1 million a year in federal money.

In addition, Waters said, all of the federal prisoners at the City Jail are awaiting trial in Norfolk, and they are moved the day after their sentencing.

Battle also has campaigned on a promise to beef up the jail's rehabilitation programs with everything from self-esteem building to delinquent payment services and teaching inmates individual, family and community responsibilities.

McGinley has said he would improve rehabilitation by using volunteers to increase educational offerings for inmates.

At the Cradock forum, Waters reminded homeowners about the time their civic league president called and asked for help removing ``a few tires.''

``Those few tires ended up being 4,000 tires. So our inmates worked the entire week,'' he said. ``My philosophy is, if it's legal, ethical, moral, and I have the resources to do it . . . we'll do it.''

However, there are those who claim that Waters uses his resources on the campaign trail at election time.

At the same forum, an opponent's supporter raised the issue of Waters using official sheriff's office brochures as campaign material. Lt. Elizabeth A. Aronson, public affairs officer for the sheriff's office, later said she had brought the informational pamphlets.

Aronson said they were the same brochures she always takes to civic league meetings and other community events and that when she was told it was inappropriate to use them for the campaign, she stopped using them.

As the incumbent, Waters also has benefited from a much healthier campaign fund than those of his opponents.

As of Oct. 27, Waters had raised more than $24,500, including $16,700 in small contributions. Some of the small contributions were from about 1,300 tickets sold for two pancake fund-raisers that raised more than $6,500, Waters said.

Contributions over $100 included several from deputies, many of them for $200.

McGinley has raised nearly $3,900 and used about $1,250 of his own money.

Battle raised about $1,575 and used about $1,940 of his own money. ILLUSTRATION: Photos

Waters

McGinley

Battle KEYWORDS: ELECTION CANDIDATE PORTSMOUTH SHERIFF'S RACE

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