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

DATE: FRIDAY, January 28, 1994                   TAG: 9401280193
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Margaret Edds Staff Writer
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Short

A 2ND LOOK AT DAY CARE?

When "Pam" from Sterling hooked up with Gov. George Allen on his radio talk show Thursday to ask what he plans to do about "horrendous overregulation" of day-care providers, Allen answered with gusto.

"This is a prime area where our blue-ribbon strike force can look at regulations to see if they're overburdensome, whether they're unnecessary, whether they can be amended," he said.

Day-care advocates, who last year completed a three-year overhaul of laws that experts had called among the nation's weakest, responded gamely, but a tad incredulously.

"There's no question that the great majority of people believe the regulation we were successful in passing was a step forward," said Sen. Stanley Walker, D-Norfolk. As for a task force review, "I don't have any fear of that. . . . That legislation can withstand any scrutiny."

If Allen finds that the new regulations are "overburdensome," he'll want to ease them, Ken Stroupe, Allen's press aide, said.

by CNB