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

DATE: THURSDAY, March 14, 1991                   TAG: 9103140245
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

TUCKER NAMED U.S. ATTORNEY/ DRUGS, VIOLENCE TO GET TOP PRIORITY

E. Montgomery Tucker, who has been acting U.S. attorney for the Western District of Virginia since July, has been confirmed to fill the position for a four-year term.

The U.S. Senate unanimously confirmed Tucker's nomination to the post late Tuesday. The confirmation comes four months after Sen. John Warner, R-Va., announced Tucker was the preferred candidate among seven whose names he submitted to fill the vacancy left by the retirement of John Perry Alderman.

Tucker, who has bachelor's and law degrees from Washington and Lee University, has worked in the U.S. attorney's office in Roanoke since 1973.

He was sworn as interim U.S. attorney July 16, the day Alderman formally retired. U.S. Judge James Turk indefinitely extended Tucker's interim appointment in November.

"I'm quite elated," Tucker said Wednesday. "I've been waiting a long time for this. It's a great opportunity."

Tucker, 52, said he intends to continue giving high priority to drug, financial and violent-crime cases. He said that in his 18 years with the U.S. attorney's office, he has watched the "whole spectrum of work broaden and grow considerably."

Tucker said he also intends for his office to reach out to civic groups, schools, colleges and businesses in particular to help combat drugs.

"I'm not suggesting we supplant state and local efforts," Tucker said. "It's going to take a coalition of efforts to try to get on top of the overall drug problem."

Tucker, of Roanoke, was one of three U.S. attorneys confirmed Tuesday. The others were in Idaho and Texas.

by CNB