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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 17, 1991                   TAG: 9104170443
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B8   EDITION: BEDFORD/FRANKLIN 
SOURCE: Landmark News Service
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Medium

JUDGE PROVIDES FOOD STAMPS

While her two children were fed at their school in Lynchburg, Robertson and her husband, who is disabled, subsisted for weeks on one meal a day because their public assistance check was too small for more.

Robertson went to the Lynchburg Department of Social Services on March 4 to apply for food stamps. Federal law requires that applicants get help, or an explanation of why they don't qualify, within 30 days.

But after 39 days, Robertson had been told only that she'd have to wait another one to three weeks because the agency still was working on cases from January.

The Virginia Poverty Law Center and other legal aid groups say the Robertson family's plight is typical of that facing thousands of Virginians in need of and legally entitled to food stamps. They allege - and state officials have acknowledged - that one-quarter of the applicants for food stamps in Virginia endure unlawful delays in the processing of their applications.

On Monday, U.S. District Judge Robert Merhige ordered state welfare Commissioner Larry Jackson and his department to give Robertson and two other plaintiffs in a suit filed Friday the food stamps they are due.

And he told department officials they have one business day to get food stamps to other qualified applicants brought to their attention between now and May 17, the date Merhige set for a hearing on a preliminary injunction.

Jackson and other state and local welfare officials blame the recession for a sudden, sharp rise in the number of food stamp applications. The boom has overwhelmed many local agencies, which already are struggling to work with smaller staffs brought on by state and local budget cuts, officials said.

"I think we recognize how important we are as a resource for people," said Ray C. Goodwin, Jackson's deputy in charge of local programs. "But the economy is down and the number of food stamp applications is up."

According to state figures, more than 33,600 food stamp households have been added to state rolls since December 1989, a 24 percent jump. About half of those, 17,300, were added in the last four months, bringing the statewide number of food stamp cases to 172,208 in March.

Burt Richman, manager of the food stamp program in Virginia, said a record 20,764 families applied in January. That was more than 4,000 above the previous monthly high.

"We're not seeing any relief," Richman said. In February, there were 17,982 applications, and in March, 17,482.