Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, July 21, 1995 TAG: 9507210062
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: VIRGINIA EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARY BISHOP STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
It's Amber Medlin's turn to prove she deserves to be Miss Virginia.
Within an hour after the dethroning of Andrea Ballengee, runner-up Medlin was hustling to get off her job as sales clerk and sometime sandwich-maker at the P.J. Baggan Wine Cafe at the Beach, a gourmet wine shop and coffee house in Virginia Beach.
"Margaret called me a little while ago," Medlin said at lunchtime, referring to Margaret Baker, executive director of the Miss Virginia pageant.
The news was, Medlin probably will be the next Miss Virginia - barring any problems like inaccuracies on the contest questionnaire she filled out in May.
Medlin, 23, Miss Virginia Beach, needed to leave work and gather records substantiating all the achievements she listed. She'd be rounding up letters confirming she's in Alpha Epsilon Rho, a national radio-television honor society, for instance, and documentation of her music awards.
"Proof," she called it.
She was up for some scrutiny like she'd never had before. Was she worried about any misrepresentations, even inadvertent? "No, not at all," she said.
Pageant board member Harlen Gudger confirmed that Medlin's background is being checked out. "We certainly can't confirm her until we check out all her qualifications," he said, "but we are in the process of doing that now. We expect that it will all check out and that she'll be confirmed as soon as possible."
Medlin, like Ballengee, is a pageant veteran. She was fourth runner-up in last year's contest and her questionnaire says she was among the 10 finalists in 1993.
She wouldn't talk about Ballengee's downfall. "I really can't comment on anything," Medlin said. "Margaret asked me not to."
Her boss at the wine and coffee shop said it was in the middle of lunch that Medlin got the news she might be giving up restaurant work for something a bit more glamorous. "We turned on the TV and she started crying," shop owner P.J. Daly said.
He said it's unlikely anyone will find discrepancies in Medlin's records.
"The only thing [is], she probably understated her grade average because she couldn't average it," Daly said. "She's a little girl who cares a lot about her job and what other people think about her. She's really a nice person."
Medlin listed a 3.0 grade-point average at Radford University. Citing privacy laws on student records, Radford spokeswoman Deborah Brown wouldn't comment on Medlin's grades, but she confirmed that Medlin graduated in 1994 with a major in speech communications and a concentration in broadcast journalism.
Brown also confirmed that, as Medlin stated on the questionnaire, she was a member of Alpha Epsilon Rho and taught music in the Radford Community Arts School. National offices of her social sorority, Alpha Sigma Alpha, in Springfield, Mo., said yes, she was a member of Radford's chapter.
Medlin's questionnaire says she had 15 years of classical piano training, two years of voice and violin, four years of ballet and gymnastics and two years of tap and baton.
A 1990 graduate of Frank W. Cox High in Virginia Beach, she said she received an advanced studies diploma and won "cum laude" honors in national Latin exams while there. She said she was "Miss Cox High School" in 1989, a cheerleader, "Neptune Princess," a homecoming court member, executive council member and "Pres./VP of my classes." A guidance supervisor at Cox High said the school could divulge no information about former students except to say that Medlin graduated from there.
While at Radford, Medlin said, she took first place at a Hollins College music festival. A Hollins spokeswoman couldn't confirm that, but said there have been a couple of different kinds of festivals there in recent years and all records probably weren't available Thursday.
Among other accomplishments listed by Medlin were "superior ratings - National Guild Piano Competitions," membership in Special Olympics International, internships at WTKR-TV3 in Norfolk and WRAD Radio in Radford, and volunteer work at Virginia Beach General Hospital, a muscular dystrophy campout, a cystic fibrosis softball-a-thon, Adopt-a-Highway, Adopt-a-Spot, Hope Haven Home for Kids and the Challenger Little League. Much of her volunteer work apparently was in her hometown of Virginia Beach.
Medlin said she wants to be a hospital administrator or medical journalist.
She is expected to arrive in Roanoke today to meet with pageant officials.
Staff writer F.J. Gallagher contributed information for this story.
by CNB