Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, July 11, 1995 TAG: 9507110059
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SHANNON D. HARRINGTON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Details still are being worked out, but the pageant board is looking into possible changes in its verification process, said Bud Oakey, spokesman for the Miss Virginia Pageant.
Now, local pageants are responsible for verifying information presented by winners, Oakey said.
After a new Miss Virginia is crowned, the state pageant checks her fact sheet before a new one is submitted to the Miss America Pageant.
Linda Haas, director of the Miss Hampton-Newport News Pageant, said she didn't think it was necessary to check the fact sheet. Haas signed the fact sheet along with Ballengee before it was sent to the Miss Virginia Pageant.
"Because of the caliber of this organization and the caliber of women we are working with, I didn't think it was necessary," she said. And because this was Ballengee's fourth appearance in the Miss Virginia Pageant and had worked under three other local pageant directors, Haas "never thought about having to check anything out." She said she had known Ballengee before the pageant and thought very highly of her.
But Haas and Oakey both questioned the feasibility of verifying information for all contestants, because local and state pageant officials volunteer their time.
"It's a detailed process," Oakey said. "When you're a volunteer organization, you've got to account for the time it's going to take."
Getting high school and college transcripts is a difficult process, and because of time restraints, probably the most logical thing would to be for the girls to supply the transcripts, Haas said.
It was revealed last week that Ballengee's fact sheet incorrectly said she was a member of Phi Beta Kappa honor society, that she graduated from Virginia Tech magna cum laude and that she was named Most Outstanding Female Athlete at her high school in Yorktown.
In fact, she graduated cum laude, which requires a lower average, and was named Most Outstanding Cheerleader at her high school.
Ballengee attributed the mistakes to "miscommunication" and "misunderstanding," and pageant officials have said the matter is closed.
Problems with exaggerated fact sheets have occurred in state pageants before, said Dana Phillips, one of five judges in this year's Miss Virginia Pageant and executive director of the Miss Oregon Pageant. Phillips has been involved in the Miss America program since 1972.
"Sometimes it's a miscommunication" - but sometimes it's not, she said.
The Miss Oregon Pageant guards against such problems by having school transcripts sent to the pageant, said Phillips, who lives in Seaside, Ore.
"Every state works differently," she said.
But Phillips said the fact sheets completed by each contestant are not used to decide the winner.
Judges use a shorter version of the fact sheet to come up with questions for a 12-minute interview with each contestant before the pageant, Phillips said.
Contestants are judged only by the results of that interview and their stage performances. From that perspective, she said, Ballengee was the most qualified for the crown.
"The young lady was excellent," Phillips said, calling the fact sheet mistakes "a minor detail."
"She's held out as a trouper," Oakey said. "This board supports her 100 percent, and we're going to stick by her."
Oakey said that Miss America Pageant officials supported the state pageant's decision to allow Ballengee to retain her crown.
Miss America officials in Atlantic City, N.J., did not return phone calls Monday.
Miss America Heather Whitestone, who held a news conference unrelated to Miss Virginia at the Hotel Roanoke and Conference Center on Thursday, said she "does not support lies" but that she could not comment on Ballengee's situation because she did not know the specifics.
by CNB