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

DATE: SATURDAY, July 30, 1994                   TAG: 9408100037
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: LAURA WILLIAMSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

CLINTON'S REFORM-PLUGGING BUS TOUR ARRIVES SUNDAY

The Health Security Express - President Clinton's latest effort to sell his version of health care reform to America - will roll into town Sunday, without its expected guest of honor, Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown.

Brown tentatively was scheduled to ride a bus Sunday morning from Bristol to Roanoke, along with three busloads of people supporting Clinton's proposed health care reform package.

He canceled the trip Friday afternoon because of a scheduling conflict, according to a Commerce Department spokesman.

The caravan is scheduled to arrive - without Brown - in time for lunch at the Henry Street Music Center. It will be met by Mayor David Bowers and other city officials.

As has been the case at several stops around the country, the buses won't be rolling into completely friendly territory.

A counterdemonstration - organized by the Roanoke Regional Chamber of Commerce; Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Roanoke; and Citizens for a Sound Economy, a group affiliated with former Republican Senate hopeful Jim Miller - is scheduled to take place an hour after the buses arrive.

``Basically, it's to give another point of view,'' said Tim Phillips, a spokesman for Goodlatte's office.

Unlike other opposing rallies, however, this one is not scheduled to take place right in front of the Clinton supporters. Opponents of the Clinton plan will gather at the City Market.

There will be ``no protesting or waving of signs,'' Phillips said, adding that his group was ``not trying to crash'' the Clinton event.

Dick Robers, president of the Blue Ridge Health Care Coalition, will be at the rally to oppose employer mandates, he said.

Robers, a Democrat, said opponents of the Clinton plan would be there from both political parties.

``I believe in free-market competition,'' Robers said. ``I wish the government would stay the hell out of providing this service for us.''

Hillary Rodham Clinton launched the bus campaign in Oregon last week to salvage support for the President's reform package, which has been losing ground in Congress and with the public.

There are five groups of buses - carrying supporters of the Clinton plan and people with health care problems.

All are making their way on various routes across the country to their destination in Washington, D.C.

They are scheduled to arrive next week, in time for congressional debate on health care bills put forward by the leaders of both houses.

Roanoke is the seventh stop along the Southern route, which started in New Orleans. The buses are expected to leave for Charlottesville at 2:30 p.m.

by CNB