Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, January 3, 1995 TAG: 9501030115
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Long
Instead, church leaders should be calling for a moratorium ``on the slaughter of the unborn,'' said David Crane of the anti-abortion group Citizens for Justice.
``I will be glad to suspend all protests at abortion mills if they suspend the killing of unborn babies,'' said Donald Spitz of Pro-Life Virginia. ``What does he want me to do, just sit on my behind while babies are being killed?''
Spitz, a former Pentecostal minister who describes himself as an anti-abortion evangelist, was referring to a statement Sunday by Roman Catholic Bishop Leo O'Neill of Manchester, N.H.
``I think we all need a breathing period to walk away from this kind of tragedy and do some serious reflection about what is the best possible approach to getting across our message of the sanctity of human life,'' O'Neill said.
Crane and Spitz led a group of eight people Sunday at a prayer vigil outside the jail where the man accused of the shootings, John C. Salvi III, is being held without bond.
Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson, one of the nation's best-known abortion opponents, also condemned the shootings Monday in his daily TV program taped at his Virginia Beach headquarters.
``I want to make it clear, despite what the media may say, that one or two fanatics do not speak for the pro-life movement,'' Robertson said on ``The 700 Club.'' ``There are millions of Americans who deplore the senseless slaughter of unborn children. But they do not, and I do not believe the answer is, to go and murder abortionists. The taking of life is hardly pro-life.''
In Little Rock, Ark., President Clinton on Monday ordered federal prosecutors to mobilize task forces to make abortion clinics more secure.
Clinton said U.S. attorneys would head task forces with local officials to study clinic security in their jurisdictions. He also asked Attorney General Janet Reno to meet with law-enforcement officials about additional steps that might be taken.
``I recognize and respect the range of deeply felt beliefs Americans hold on abortion,'' Clinton said in a statement. ``A continued vigorous debate over abortion is proper. Violence against those who hold differing opinions is not.''
Anti-abortion activists called a news conference in Salem on Monday afternoon to denounce abortion-clinic violence and implore those who are considering it to stop.
Since the killings in Massachusetts and Salvi's apprehension in Norfolk, two anti-abortion groups have received death threats on their answering machines, said Patricia Henry, a spokeswoman for the Catholic Pro-Life Foundation of the Blue Ridge.
The other organization that participated in the news conference was the Virginia Society for Human Life.
"We do not in any way support the violence that is taking place at abortion clinics," Henry said. "We would call on all of those who are contemplating acts of violence to stop."
Henry said that both organizations consider all life sacred, "whether it's an unborn child or a person who would perform an abortion on an unborn child. ... It needs to be made very clear that our group in no way supports these actions."
Salvi, 22, of Hampton, N.H., will be arraigned today in Norfolk General District Court on a charge of firing into the building where the Hillcrest Clinic is located.
The clinic was open at the time of the shooting Saturday, but no one was hurt. Two receptionists were killed and five people were wounded in the shootings at two clinics Friday in Brookline, Mass.
Unresolved as of Monday was whether Salvi would be tried first in Virginia, where the charges against him carry a maximum penalty of two to 10 years in prison.
``Until tomorrow's proceeding, it's hard to tell,'' Norfolk County, Mass., district attorney's office spokeswoman Nina Flaherty said Monday. ``We hope everything happens this week, but it is a holiday week, and it's hard to tell.''
A jail supervisor who declined to give his name said Salvi has refused all interview requests since his arrest and had no visitors other than police investigators. Spitz tried unsuccessfully Sunday and Monday to arrange meetings with Salvi.
Salvi's former boss said Salvi acted like ``Mr. Neutral'' about abortion but also ``really had this rage inside him.''
Mark Roberts hired Salvi to work for his North Naples, Fla., maintenance company in 1991 because Roberts knew Salvi's parents.
Salvi's parents moved to Naples nearly a decade ago. He graduated from Naples High School in 1990 and lived in Naples until 1992, when he left to return to his hometown of Ipswich, a Boston suburb.
``In the beginning, he was real calm,'' Roberts said. ``But he could lose his cool and lose it. Everything changed for him.''
Salvi's weight ranged from 145 to 200 pounds. The young man's mood changes, weight shifts and overly muscled body led Roberts to believe that Salvi was on steroids.
Before Salvi left town after a 1993 visit, he showed Roberts a gun that Roberts had sold him at least a year earlier.
Authorities say a similar gun was used in the Boston-area shootings. It has not been confirmed that it was the same gun.
Roberts said he got the feeling that Salvi leaned toward the abortion-rights movement from things he said.
``He was always kind of Mr. Neutral,'' Roberts said. ``But I really thought he was on the opposite end of things.''
He also said Salvi seemed hungry for attention.
``He always wanted the recognition, always looking for a way to get recognized, with sports and everything. Just everything.''
Staff writer Dan Casey contributed information to this story.
by CNB