Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, April 3, 1994 TAG: 9404030111
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: D-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL REED LANDMARK NEWS SERVICE
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"It is such an honor to have a voice for the people of Virginia - a voice of everyday Mr. and Mrs. Virginia," she said Saturday.
In naming the 40-year-old woman, Gov. George Allen said he was fulfilling a campaign pledge to have crime victims represented on the five-member panel.
The board has the power to grant or revoke parole and make rules governing parole of state prison inmates. Allen replaced the entire panel.
Pitman, a kindergarten teacher's aide at a Virginia Beach elementary school, was raped in her Greenbrier home on an April night in 1989 by a knife-wielding intruder.
Waterfront laborer Tony Brown, 30, was charged with and convicted of the attack in 1993. He was handed two life sentences plus 20 years. It was the third rape conviction for Brown, believed by police to be the "Greenbrier Rapist," who had terrorized the community for several years in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Between the assault and the conviction, Pitman went public with her ordeal, referring to herself as a "rape survivor" rather than a victim. She became a rape counselor and has lobbied for stricter laws on sexual assaults.
Pitman vowed to continue her advocacy role in deliberations as a parole board member.
"Now I will have chance to do something about victims' rights," she said. "At [my] school, they're so excited that the governor has appointed just a regular person, rather than a political person with an agenda."
Allen, in announcing her selection to the Parole Board on Friday, said, "Linda Pitman's appointment sends a message that the concerns of the victims and their families will be represented."
John Metzger III of Roanoake, who is finishing a temporary term as U.S. marshal for the Western District of Virginia, was named chairman of the Parole Board.
by CNB