Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, May 4, 1995 TAG: 9505040089
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JEFF STURGEON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
A Richmond group that favors keeping tight limits on alcoholic-beverage advertising is getting help with its campaign from an unusual ally: Roanoke County School Superintendent Deanna Gordon.
Community Leaders for Responsible Alcohol Policy gained exposure for its message when the Roanoke County schools reprinted the group's handbill arguing the risks of unrestricted advertising. The message was duplicated on school stationery and sent to principals last week.
School employees are forbidden from taking positions on public issues without approval of the School Board, said board Chairman Frank Thomas.
In this case, Thomas said, he believes the school system stopped short of taking a position on the issue. "That is information," Thomas said. "It was nothing about a position."
The handbill material dominates an April 26 flier announcing that members of the state Alcoholic Beverage Control Board will conduct a public hearing in Roanoke County on Monday to get feedback from citizens about how the agency is doing its job. The flier is printed below the schools' seal and the words, "Office of the Division Superintendent, Roanoke County Schools."
In it, a passage borrowed from the group's handbill warns that the ABC Board, "largely on its own initiative," is prepared to allow "full-page `Happy Hour' advertisements in newspapers" and "a tidal wave of alcoholic beverage novelties and souvenirs ... distributed in children's sizes for the first time."
"Virginia has a history of a controlled and moderate approach to state regulation of alcoholic beverage advertising and merchandising," the passage states. "That system is presently under attack by those who wish to allow greatly increased promotion of alcoholic beverages in Virginia."
The passage concludes that ``this liberalization of Virginia's alcoholic beverage control system will not take place, however, if the ABC Board hears these changes are opposed by the people of Virginia and the local officials and community leaders who represent them."
Curtis Coleburn, secretary to the ABC Board, said the Richmond group's handbill and, thus, the school system's flier, misstate the intentions of the ABC. The board has received a proposal from alcoholic beverage makers to loosen advertising restrictions, but has not evaluated it, he said.
The Community Leaders for Responsible Alcohol Policy is an informal group that formed in recent weeks to oppose lifting of alcohol-advertising regulations and encourage people to attend the ABC hearings, according to The Vectre Corp., a Richmond public relations firm hired to spread its message.
Babette Cribbs, immediate past president of the Roanoke County Council of PTAs, said she received the handbill from the Richmond group and gave a copy to Marty Robison, executive assistant to Gordon. Robison showed it to Gordon.
Gordon said she agrees with the handbill's argument against lifting advertising restrictions, and that she authorized Robison to prepare the flier. She said she acted without determining who wrote it.
The flier went to principals to help them answer inquiries from the public about the ABC meeting, Gordon said. Principals were free to send copies home with students, but Gordon did not know if any did so.
Alcohol ads on television tempt young people to drink, Gordon said. "I don't think we need to be making it any more enticing than it is."
Gordon said use of school stationery was not inadvertent. "I wouldn't apologize for that," she said.
Coleburn said citizens can discuss any issue related to the ABC at the hearing, which begins at 7:30 p.m. at the Roanoke County Administration Center, 5204 Bernard Drive. The board will conduct six hearings before taking action.
Memo: ***CORRECTION***