SUPERVISOR SAYS STATE GAMES MUST REMAIN HERE

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

DATE: TUESDAY, February 11, 1992                   TAG: 9202110050
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MARK LAYMAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
SUPERVISOR SAYS STATE GAMES MUST REMAIN HERE
Local government and business leaders should get together soon to figure out a way to keep the financially troubled Commonwealth Games of Virginia in the Roanoke Valley, Roanoke County Supervisor Bob Johnson says.
"We can't afford to have [the Games] fail now," Johnson said Friday, after sending a memo to the other members of the Board of Supervisors suggesting that such a meeting be held "with utmost haste."
"I think we ought to go to war over this, just like we would any industry" that was being lured away from the valley, he said. "If anybody wants to cooperate, this is one you could do it on."
Johnson suggested that the county's economic-development and public-relations staffs lend a hand to Virginia Amateur Sports, the organization that runs the games. The county, which contributed $25,000 to the Games this year, also should consider increasing its financial support, he said.
"I don't want it to be a government operation," he said. But "somebody has to be there to answer the phone, to make contacts."
The Games, which began in 1990, have the most participants of any sporting event in the state. But their future is uncertain because of state funding cuts, the loss of CorEast Federal Savings Bank's title sponsorship and the firing of the Games' founder and executive director, Doug Fonder of Roanoke.
Now there is talk of merging the Commonwealth Games with Richmond-based Sports Virginia Inc., which runs its own state games. That could mean the Games would be held in Richmond rather than the Roanoke Valley - where they have had a big economic impact the past two years. Last summer, 5,676 athletes competed in 36 sports, pumping an estimated $4.5 million into the valley's economy.
This year's Games are scheduled for June 23-30 at sites around the Roanoke Valley.
Virginia Amateur Sports, with assistance from the Roanoke Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau, is expected to submit a bid this week to keep the Games here from 1993-95. Bidders from Richmond, Charlottesville and Tidewater also want the Olympic-style sports festival.
Del. Richard Cranwell of Vinton, chairman of the House Finance Committee, is pushing for continued state support for the Games - but he's made it clear he wants them to stay in the valley.
Virginia Amateur Sports, which has overseen the Games since they began, now has only one paid staffer - a secretary who is doubling as interim Games Director. For now, the Games are being planned by an all-volunteer staff.
"We ought to do whatever we can to keep [the Games]," said Roanoker magazine publisher Richard Wells, president of the Convention and Visitors Bureau. "I know the hoteliers felt like the Games had been a major new event in the valley and [has] given their business and the restaurant business a huge shot in the arm at what is usually a dead time in the valley."
"My intent from Day One was to have these become a permanent fixture in the Roanoke Valley," said county Supervisor Harry Nickens, who is on the Virginia Amateur Sports board.
Johnson's son-in-law, Bob Hartman, was director of the Games but left Virginia Amateur Sports to take a sales job last month.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB