Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, May 2, 1995 TAG: 9505020138
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JAN VERTEFEUILLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Doors other than the revolving door out front will be locked or staffed by a court security officer; employees must use their employee identification cards to get in.
The changes began Monday as a result of a Friday order by U.S. District Judge Jackson Kiser requiring entry-level screening in all federal buildings in the Western District of Virginia that house federal courts.
"It's the same security a lot of federal buildings already have," said building manager Phyllis Gray of the General Services Administration, which oversees security for the building.
Entry-level screening would have begun anyway when the former post office on the first floor is turned into another courtroom within the next year. The Oklahoma City bombing of a federal building hastened that increased security.
Employee reaction has been "overwhelmingly" positive, said U.S. Marshal Larry Mattox, whose office oversees court security.
"We're trying to make people feel as comfortable as possible in their environment," he said of the more than 500 federal employees who work in the building.
Besides two courtrooms and the judges' chambers, the Poff Building houses the Social Security Administration, the Internal Revenue Service, military recruiting offices and other offices that the public regularly visits.
Those visitors could lose the free parking around the Poff Building as well. The lot on one side of the building that provided 10-minute parking - mostly for postal customers when the post office was located there - is closed and is being turned into parking for the handicapped.
The two-hour parking lot on the other side of the building also may close, although Gray said no decision has been made.
"Most federal buildings don't have visitor parking," she said.
The Roanoke and Abingdon courthouses began entry-level screening Monday; Charlottesville already had such screening. The other four in the district - Lynchburg, Big Stone Gap, Danville and Harrisonburg - will begin as soon as equipment and personnel are in place.
The U.S. Bankruptcy Court is located in the Commonwealth Building on Church Avenue owned by the city of Roanoke. Security will be upgraded there "eventually," Mattox said, although a court security officer already is stationed there full time.
"The problem we're having is, we don't really have enough manpower to do it the way we'd like to do it," Mattox said.
He said he hopes to get money in the next fiscal year, if not sooner, to hire more guards.
by CNB