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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 11, 1995                   TAG: 9501110088
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MICHAEL HARDY RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH
DATELINE: RICHMOND (AP)                                 LENGTH: Medium

NO, ALLEN'S OFFICE ISN'T REALLY A ZOO

Unlike some of his predecessors, who favored antiques and objets d'art, Allen has added a touch of the outdoors to his inner sanctum.

His small office on the third floor of the Capitol has the hides of a kangaroo and a springbok draped over two formal chairs, two mounted animal heads on a wall and a variety of other wildlife on the mantel above the fireplace.

Allen, an outdoorsman who likes to wear cowboy boots and Western hats, eagerly gave a reporter a tour of his office - as well as a running commentary - last week.

Above a portrait of his hero, Thomas Jefferson, is a mounted boar's head. A portrait of Patrick Henry shares a wall with the skull of a bull Allen picked up in Nevada.

And that strange-looking coat hook on the door?

``It's a deer hoof,'' Allen explained.

Leaning against another wall is a wooden wagon wheel, which Allen said he found while hunting in Albemarle County, where he has lived for years.

The mantel contains enough beasts for a small zoo, including are an armadillo and a frog from Mexico and the smallish head of a crocodile and a piranha from Brazil. The baby crocodile's teeth bite into a sign that reads ``Abolish Parole Now.''

The unique decor has caught the attention of at least one state official.

After a recent visit to Allen's office, Senate Majority Leader Hunter Andrews, D-Hampton, joked that he had left with wild animal hairs all over his suit coat. ``Hunter was upset that the upholstery was fraying'' on the window seat, Allen said with a laugh.

That's not all that's old. Allen said his office radio was a gift from his late father in 1977, when Allen was attending law school at the University of Virginia.

Allen also keeps a plastic cup on his desk in which to deposit the results of his snuff-dipping.

On a higher plane, the governor has an inspirational aphorism sitting alongside a group of photographs. The reminder is from President Reagan: ``If not us, who? If not now, when?''