Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, May 6, 1995 TAG: 9505080042
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAVID POOLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: GREEN BAY LENGTH: Medium
The slogan is too long to fit on a bumper sticker, but Robert T. Robinson sums up his campaign for sheriff of Lunenburg County like this:
``Some people call this `Lunatic' County,'' he said. ``Now they have a lunatic running for sheriff.''
The 62-year-old retired merchant marine cut loose a belly laugh.
``I don't take myself too seriously."
Still, Robinson is attracting a lot of attention around this Southside Virginia county of 12,000 people because of his campaign promise to establish an armed civilian militia.
His proposal to deputize a fatigue-clad posse equipped with assault weapons drew doubts from the start. But the Oklahoma City bombing last month and the arrest of a suspect with ties to paramilitary groups has forced Robinson to modify his platform.
``I'm dropping the name 'militia' now because there are so many bad connotations,'' he said Thursday.
Robinson is prone to dressing in fatigues, but he claims no affinity with paramilitary groups preparing to do battle with what some militia members consider a treasonous federal government. Rather, he said, the local sheriff's office, which has six road deputies, needs help weeding out drug dealers, wife beaters, burglars and other bad actors.
He's now talking about an ``auxiliary'' force of about 200 people, or about one armed volunteer for every 60 county residents.
Just as Robinson tries not to take his candidacy too seriously, many county residents appear to feel the same way.
Police Chief Jesse Carter of the town of Kenbridge laughed when asked about Robinson's chances.
``The ones I've talked to feel the same way,'' Carter said.
The local weekly newspaper, The Kenbridge Victoria Dispatch, has ignored Robinson. The newspaper is waiting to see if Robinson can gather the 125-or-so signatures he needs to put his name on the ballot to challenge Wesley ``Pee Wee'' Adams, the incumbent sheriff. Adams declined comment on Robinson or his militia idea.
``I think it goes without saying,'' Adams said. ``Let him dig his own."
Robinson, who bought a 140-acre farm here in 1980, is still considered an outsider in this tightly knit county, where it can take a generation or two to shed the newcomer label.
He said he grew up in a children's home in Milwaukee after his parents were unable to care for him. He joined the Navy at 17, he said, and went on to become an engineer with the merchant marine. Now retired, he grows tomatoes for sale and shares his property with four dogs.
A bachelor who has kept to himself most of his life, Robinson decided to run for elected office as a way to reach out to the community. He said he identified with Scrooge in the film ``Muppets Christmas Carol."
``I used to be a Scrooge,'' he said, ``but I don't want to be one anymore."
He is also motivated by what he considered a less-than-aggressive sheriff's investigation into several burglaries on his property. He further resents having been charged with failing to buy a county decal for his 1972 Cadillac.
If elected, he would seek to repeal the decal requirement and abolish the police departments in the towns of Victoria and Kenbridge.
He also said he was concerned that Sheriff Adams' wife was appointed this year to serve as the county's commissioner of revenue.
``I think there may be the possibility of corruption and nepotism when one family gets too powerful politically,'' he said.
Adams said those concerns are without basis. ``Those two offices have absolutely nothing to do with one another,'' he said.
At noon Thursday, Robinson drove into Victoria to gather signatures for his petition. He plopped himself down on two empty milk crates outside the door of the Star Value grocery and greeted customers as they arrived and left.
Henry McLaughlin, a retired railroad worker, agreed to sign even though he admitted later that he probably would not support Robinson.
McLaughlin said everyone should have the chance to get on the ballot - and he liked the idea of civilian militias in case the federal government abuses its power.
``I don't think it's on that line now,'' McLaughlin said. ``If it does, you need someone who could do something about it. There has to be some kind of resistance when they start trying to do you that way."
Robinson said his idea of an armed ``posse'' might help defuse some of the rage that militia types feel toward the government.
``I think if the police would have employed their talents properly," he said, the Oklahoma bombing "could have been avoided."
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB