SHAKE-UP WON'T SLOW CRANWELL'S EFFORTS TO SECURE GAMES FUNDS

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

DATE: SUNDAY, February 2, 1992                   TAG: 9202020090
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: C3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: SCOTT BLANCHARD SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
SHAKE-UP WON'T SLOW CRANWELL'S EFFORTS TO SECURE GAMES FUNDS
Del. Richard Cranwell, D-Vinton, a major force in securing state funding for the Commonwealth Games of Virginia, said Saturday that he is puzzled by the dismissal of the Games' founder and executive director, Doug Fonder.
The board of directors of Virginia Amateur Sports, which Fonder created to run the Games, cut its ties with Fonder by switching to an all-volunteer staff.
"I was surprised," Cranwell said from his Vinton office. "I thought Doug had done a tremendous job of putting on a highly successful state games. I wasn't aware there was any dissatisfaction."
At this year's General Assembly, Cranwell has requested money for the Olympic-style sports festival for the next two years. He said Fonder's exit won't change his efforts because the event's economic impact and benefits to athletes make it a worthy cause.
Cranwell said two factors might affect future state funding: how the event is run and where it is held.
Roanoke lawyer Ken King, chairman of the VAS' board of directors, has not returned repeated telephone calls to his home and office to explain, for example, how the event will be run at its current level of participation without a paid staff. There were 5,676 athletes in 36 sports last summer, making a $4.5 million economic impact on the Roanoke Valley.
Cranwell said the economic impact of this summer's Commonwealth Games and the participation level are crucial to future state funding. Cranwell, chairman of the House Finance Committee, is an influential voice on how the state spends its money.
"If the Games turn out not to be a success [in those areas]," Cranwell said, "then I expect the legislature would be reticent in appropriating money."
Cranwell said he supports passing legislation to make the Roanoke Valley the permanent site of the Games. The VAS board has not said whether it plans to try to keep the Games in Roanoke. Roanoke, Richmond and the Tidewater area have been preparing bids to play host to the Games from 1993 to '95.
A source familiar with the Games said the VAS board may try to join with Richmond-based Sports Virginia Inc. to consolidate and sell the sports festival to an interested market. Sports Virginia has run its own Virginia State Games in the state capital for the past two years.
"I had hoped we could make Roanoke the permanent site of the Games," Cranwell said. "The people in Richmond, in my opinion, have done a very poor job."
The Governor's Commission on Physical Fitness and Sports evaluated the Roanoke and Richmond games in 1990. The commission, along with the National Congress of State Games, sanctioned Roanoke's Commonwealth Games.
If the Games are not held in the Roanoke Valley, Cranwell said, his support would be in doubt.
"That may reshape my perspective just a tad," he said.
Fonder approached Cranwell in 1989, and Cranwell pushed through $175,000 for the first Games in 1990. The '91 Games, again with Cranwell's help, were to receive $56,200 from the state as the statewide budget crunch intensified; that figure was cut to $42,188.
State money is not guaranteed from the current General Assembly, but Cranwell said, "We're trying awfully hard."
Cranwell would not give his opinion on Fonder's ouster, saying he was not close enough to the daily operations of VAS.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB