Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 22, 1994 TAG: 9405220062
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: E-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WYTHEVILLE LENGTH: Long
Stanley, who moved from North Carolina to the Crockett area of Wythe County three years ago, is a former Army lieutenant colonel. He popped up in national news stories recently with responses to an anti-North article in Playboy magazine by David Hackworth, still another former lieutenant colonel.
"Colonel Hackworth and I shared a lot of things in common - the Korean War, the Vietnam War," Stanley said. "I knew him by reputation as being an outstanding soldier."
But he took issue with Hackworth's depiction of North as a loose cannon who was used by terrorists to get weapons in the Iran-Contra arms-for-hostages scandal during the Reagan administration.
Stanley said the article would have no effect on Southwest Virginians because more of them read the Bible than read Playboy. Only one store in Wytheville sells the magazine, and even there it is concealed under a black tarp marked "adults only."
"I think veterans will play a more important role in this campaign than any campaign," Stanley said after the 9th District Republican convention here May 14. "We signed up 150 more today."
In the previous week, he said, he got donations for North's campaign for the Republican candidacy from fellow veterans in Kentucky, Alabama and California, as well as Virginia. "I don't know if that's because they know me or they know Ollie."
He said a retired Harrisonburg serviceman promised to recruit a battalion on North's behalf.
"And we really only got started in the last few weeks . . . Our goal is to have maybe 5,000," Stanley said. "I'm just one."
North, who spoke at the convention along with rival Jim Miller, told the 768 delegates from Roanoke west that "We've got literally thousands of veterans all across the Old Dominion who are lining up to support my campaign."
Stanley retired from the service in 1974 and entered law school. His first glimpse of North came during the televised Iran-Contra hearings.
"I liked this young Marine who gave the Congress a five-minute civics lesson every time they asked him a question," Stanley said. He liked him enough to contribute to North's defense fund.
He was less sure how he felt about North as a GOP Senate candidate. "I read everything, pro and con, about him."
Stanley was already unhappy about Congress' cutting off aid to Contras trying to overthrow Nicaragua's Marxist government. "This country has a habit of abandoning its friends," he said. He thought North was only following orders from Reagan security adviser John Poindexter in not telling a congressional panel everything he knew.
"Ollie did not tell the whole truth . . . Hey, there were times when I couldn't tell my family where I was. I used a cover story. Ollie North gave a cover story," he said.
As for the arms deal, he said, "I did not see a violation of law that reasoned legislators had passed. I did not see a violation of the Constitution. So I put those things behind me."
North had also been convicted of illegally accepting the gift of a home security system. "I can't fault the man for accepting something to protect his family," Stanley said. He said North sought government protection, which was denied.
Finally, Stanley objects to news summaries saying North's convictions were overturned on a technicality. An appeals court ruled that some of North's congressional testimony obtained under a grant of immunity may have been used against him.
"A trial isn't over 'til it's over. I mean, the appeal is part of the process. He isn't convicted until you've exercised all of your rights," Stanley said.
Having gotten by all those doubts, Stanley contacted North's headquarters and did what the Army says never do: He volunteered.
"Once I make up my mind, then I want to do it. And I'm a very sore loser," Stanley said.
Stanley has a daughter who practiced law with him in North Carolina and a son who graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy and has flown Navy jets for 15 years. But his son is leaving the Navy this summer because budget cuts have left planes short of fuel and spare parts, Stanley said.
Stanley came up through the ranks. He joined the Air Force as a teen-ager and was a gunner on B-29s before switching to the Army and flying gunships in Vietnam.
As a company commander in Europe in the 1950s, he said, he saw his unit torn apart by an accusation of homosexuality. With gays in the military, he said, "isn't the barracks going to be an interesting place on Saturday night?"
As for women, he thinks they should serve in jobs they can physically handle but not in combat. From his own experience in parachuting from planes with 90 pounds of equipment and being in hand-to-hand combat, he said, "I'm glad that I was a strong man and not a little girl."
As a lawyer in North Carolina, he said, "I sued cops." He was one of the few who would take civil rights violation cases. "Fortunately, I had my military retirement to fall back on, because those clients can't pay."
He said he believed in each case he took. He would not have represented Rodney King in the Los Angeles beating case, he said. In fact, he contributed to the defense fund of one of the policemen accused of beating King.
He came to Wythe County on a land deal that did not work out. But while driving home on U.S. 21, he saw a tract that he decided to buy if it was for sale. It was, and he did.
Now he has gotten involved in the politics of his new state. "And you know what? I feel good every night about what I'm doing."
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB