Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 14, 1991 TAG: 9103140471
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-4 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
The Local Anti-Drug Trust Fund Authority was created amid a flurry of drug legislation passed by the 1990 General Assembly at the urging of Gov. Douglas Wilder.
The authority is the first of its kind in the country, said Del. Ed Eck, a Richmond Democrat who sponsored the bill and chairs the group. Partnership for a Drug-Free America, a New York organization, also said it had heard of no similar state authorities.
Eck envisioned the 11-member authority would raise money from corporations and private citizens and use the funds for drug law enforcement in the donors' communities.
"We've got a long way to go before we ever get to that point," he said. "It's a slow process."
After three meetings, authority members have concluded they need to start by raising $50,000 to $100,000 that would be paid to a fund-raising company, Eck said.
"What we all acknowledged was that all of us didn't know a lot about fund raising," he said.
Eck said fund-raising companies require the fee to be paid before they will manage a campaign but they don't give any guarantee of how much they will raise.
"You look at their track record," he said.
The authority started its work last summer when the state was sliding into a recession that has made fund raising difficult for many groups.
"It's a terrible time to raise money in terms of the corporate side," said David Saunders, an authority member who is an associate professor of social work at Virginia Commonwealth University.
"Money is the name of the game and there's very little to go around," said Roanoke Sheriff Alvin Hudson,another authority member. "This program is desperately needed. I would love to see it moving forward at a faster pace than it is right now."
Eck said some corporation officials have agreed to meet with him, but he has no promises of money yet.
Although the governor supported creation of the authority, it was not one of his anti-drug ideas, said Robert Northern, Wilder's drug-policy aide.
"We certainly encourage any type of effort that gets the private sector involved," he said.
He said the governor's office is working on its own program to raise private funds for all types of anti-drug programs, not just law enforcement.
But Northern said he did not think the governor's program would duplicate Eck's effort.
"We've been trying to get funding for law enforcement agencies through other means," Northern said. "That's the real reason why we haven't been so involved with Ed Eck's program."
Those other means include taking assets forfeited by drug dealers and increasing fines paid by traffic and criminal offenders. The law increasing fines by $2 has raised about $2 million since it took effect last year. The first grants to police in drug-plagued communities will be made in the next two months, Northern said.
Eck said the governor's office has been very cooperative with his authority.
by CNB