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

DATE: FRIDAY, April 12, 1991                   TAG: 9104121015
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-3   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Medium

ACTIONS OF OFFICIAL PROBED IN ABC CASE

The Virginia attorney general's office will investigate the actions of a senior assistant attorney general who testified in support of an ABC license for a man who had previously had licenses revoked and suspended.

Patrick Bynum, who oversees Alcoholic Beverage Control Department matters, testified in Louisa County on April 2 for Walter "Sonny" Heath of Hanover County. Heath was seeking an alcoholic beverage control license for the Louisa Inn.

Heath had Bynum subpoenaed to appear at the hearing, according to the ABC Department. Bynum had represented Heath in ABC matters as late as October 1988, when he was still in private practice.

"The attorney general got back into town late this afternoon and was briefed about this matter," Bert Rohrer, a spokesman for the office, said Thursday. "She is concerned. This is a very serious matter. We're going to have to look into it."

Susan Stevick, the ABC hearing officer who handled the Louisa Inn application, said she expected to issue an opinion next week.

Opposing Heath's application were Louisa County Commonwealth's attorney John Garrett, Sheriff Henry Kennon, Louisa Town Sgt. Ashland Fortune and Beverly Ripley, the town manager.

"Our office was concerned that his previous record as a licensee and criminal record made him be an inappropriate licensee," Garrett said Thursday. "His presence and his position could be interpreted by the public as having been able to exert influence."

Garrett said he was also concerned with the perception of Bynum, who oversees the section of the attorney general's office which handles the legal affairs of the ABC board, testifying before an ABC hearing officer.

From 1985 to 1989, Heath owned a restaurant called Sonny's in Amelia. The restaurant's ABC license was revoked March 6, 1989, for allowing illegal gambling, the keeping and selling of illegal moonshine, and allowing an employee to possess and sell marijuana on the premises.

by CNB