
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, April 26, 1990                   TAG: 9004260041
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV7   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: MARGIE FISHER RICHMOND BUREAU
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Medium

WILDER, NARROWS STUDENTS COME FACE-TO-FACE

Thirteen-year-old Scott Stafford of Narrows is a man of few words.

Upon meeting Gov. Douglas Wilder, the youngster summed up his impressions this way:

"I thought he was real neat. I mean, pretty cool. A nice dude."

Scott was among 63 seventh-graders from Narrows Elementary School who visited the state Capitol Tuesday as part of a four-day tour in conjunction with their history and geography studies.

Wilder came down to the Old Senate Chamber to talk with them briefly and pose with them for pictures.

Assuming his role as a drug warrior, Wilder said he is convinced that it is young people, through peer pressure on their friends, who will help lead the war against illegal drugs.

"So I like to say to young people, `You're not just going to be leaders of tomorrow. You're leaders of today,' " the governor told the kids.

Those comments seemed to please Heather Atkins, who also was in the group from Narrows.

"It sounds like he's all for the youth and little ones. It sounds like he's for the people of today. I think he's got our future going real good."

The four-day school trip was to take the youngsters to Appomattox, Williamsburg, Jamestown, Washington, D.C., and Charlottesville, among other spots.

The annual tour for seventh-graders has been offered at the school for more than 30 years - at no expense to the pupils.

Its cost - around $10,000 this year - is covered by fund-raising events put on by the school's faculty members. This year they sponsored three spaghetti dinners and a circus to raise the money, according to Frances Breedlove, one of the teachers traveling with the youngsters.

The school's principal, Ronald Skeens, pointed out that many of the fund-raising events are tied in with the local high school's football games. "Depending on how we do with our football season is how we do on our spaghetti dinners," Skeens joked.

Breedlove said this year's trip represented "the first time we ever met with the governor."

She described him as patient and "very warm" with young schoolchildren.

by CNB