Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, August 4, 1995 TAG: 9508040022
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: BRIAN KELLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ROANOKE LENGTH: Medium
His potential seven-week absence raises the question of whether Keith, a Democrat, is up to this fall's campaign and - if re-elected - to serving another full, four-year term as the county's top prosecutor.
Interviewed Wednesday night at the Roanoke Memorial Rehabilitation Center, Keith showed his sharp, self-deprecating wit as he joked about his hair loss, a side effect of the radiation.
But he was serious when asked whether voters should be concerned about his ability to serve. He expects to return to Riner by Sept. 1 and plans to be out campaigning by Labor Day.
"I love my work and I think I'm still capable of doing the job and I think I've done a good job," Keith said from a wheelchair. "Seventeen years is a long time. I think that's a fairly substantial investment in public service that I'm not willing to kick away."
Keith, 44, acknowledged he'll be unable to campaign door to door, as he did in 1991. Instead, he promised a "nontraditional" campaign of mailings, billboards, radio spots and attending public events.
"I think the voters should have some idea that I can do the job, looking at what I've accomplished," Keith said. He had served as an assistant prosecutor for 11 years before being appointed commonwealth's attorney in 1989 when his predecessor, J. Patrick Graybeal, became a judge. Keith won election to a full term two years later.
His Republican opponent this time, Joey Showalter, has been out this summer going door to door and making his case at various events. The 33-year-old managing partner of Stone, Harrison, Turk and Showalter in Radford said Tuesday he is stressing three qualities needed by the county's top prosecutor: being a good manager, being an effective litigator and being involved with the community.
"Phil's a friend of mine and health is not an issue," Showalter said.
Yet Keith's health has affected the running of his office this summer. He's hired lawyer Sandra Wright for 16 hours a week to help his assistants, Peggy Frank and Skip Schwab, keep up with the caseload. Keith said he checks in daily.
When he began the seven-week course of treatment July 10, Keith optimistically said he would be able to continue working by scheduling the five-days-a-week radiation treatments for late afternoons.
But after the first week, he became too weak to work and was admitted July 16 to Roanoke Memorial Hospital. The radiation had caused brain swelling. "I had a more severe reaction to the radiation than was explained to me," Keith said. "It was very hard, both physically and emotionally, simply because I wasn't expecting it."
He's been recovering across the street at the rehabilitation center, where he's been undergoing physical and occupational therapy.
"The prognosis is that this will carry me through another term," Keith said. "Otherwise I would not be running. It wouldn't be fair to the public or the party."
Keith has battled the benign tumor on the right side of his brain since 1983. He underwent operations to remove parts of the tumor in 1992 and against last year. Both times he missed weeks of work.
The operations improved his condition, though he's continued to have difficulty using the left side of his body. He'd been using a cane to walk and this spring was seen more frequently in a wheelchair, including at June's Democratic mass meeting, where he defeated County Attorney Roy Thorpe's challenge for the nomination with 58 percent of the more than 800 Democrats voting.
Wednesday night, just hours after finishing treatment No. 18 of 35, Keith looked forward to getting back to work. "This isn't going to kill me, it's going to make me stronger. It's going to be a character-building exercise," he said. "My goal is to get out of here as quickly as possible with as much function as I can get back."
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB