Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, May 31, 1993 TAG: 9305310094
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B3 EDITION: HOLIDAY
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Not many Volvo drivers get to take a lap at the Charlotte Motor Speedway. But Don Beyer, Virginia's lieutenant governor, got a chance Sunday when he served as grand marshal of the Coca-Cola 600.
What's a car dealer-turned-politician from Northern Virginia doing leading a stock car race in North Carolina?
For starters, Beyer's dad was one of the founders of NASCAR. The elder Beyer raced on the beach at Daytona in the old days and claims the record for end-over-end flips there: 10.
Beyer Sr., who went on to start a Volvo dealership, still keeps up with NASCAR, and his contacts helped land his politician son the grand marshal's spot.
Of course, a Beyer aide admitted, there were some politics involved: Beyer figures a lot of Virginia voters were at the race, and he'll need their help this fall when he takes another lap around the political track. Talking heads helping hearts
\ County Conflicts
Talk about conflicts of interest has generated plenty of smoke but no fire in the campaign for the Hollins District seat on the Roanoke County Board of Supervisors.
Republican Brenda Flora Wainwright got off the first shot. She suggested Hollins residents weren't getting full representation because incumbent Democrat Bob Johnson has abstained on some key votes to avoid a potential conflict. He is president of HCMF Real Estate.
Johnson shot back that Wainwright should ask her GOP ally, Board of Supervisors Chairman Fuzzy Minnix, to quit his part-time real estate sales job for Peery & Flora Ltd.
Last week, Minnix announced that he had done just that to avoid any appearances of conflict.
"My conscience directed me to do this," he said.
Johnson replied that it was "patently absurd" to exclude real estate professionals from politics.
For the record, Minnix's decision comes at little personal sacrifice. His income from real estate had fallen to nothing since January when he took on the added duties of board chairman.
\ Talking heads helping hearts
Veteran TV news reporters Richard Threlkeld and Betsy Aaron talked about their careers - and their 16-year-marriage - before $100-a-ticket donors last week at a fund-raiser for the Roanoke Valley Division of the American Heart Association.
Threlkeld on Bill Clinton: "The good news is he's a very smart man. One of the smartest to hold his office. As is his wife [scattered laughter here] among the smartest women to hold her office - and it is an office.
"The bad news is that he has two serious faults. One is a penchant for trying to please everybody. . . . And second, he has a penchant for not wanting to take responsibility, even for small things."
Aaron on Clinton: "It's wrong to believe Clinton is one of us. One of us didn't run for president.
"I worry more about the people around the president - people we did not elect. Nobody in this group spoke up" when Clinton held up air traffic in Los Angeles for a $200 haircut.
Aaron on network news coverage priorities:
"The audience doesn't always want `serious' stories . . . about Bosnia and Northern Ireland. They say they do, but if they did MacNeil-Lehrer would lead the ratings."
The gathering raised almost $50,000.
by CNB