Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, September 8, 1995 TAG: 9509080082
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR AND BRIAN KELLEY STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"People are always concerned about not having a voice in the Northwest community," said Onzlee Ware, chairman of the 6th Congressional District Democrats and member of "The Group," a minority leadership organization that is sponsoring the rally. "If we bring to the table a substantial block of votes, politicians will tend to listen."
The push for voter participation has three parts: registration itself, educating people on the power of their vote, then actually getting people out to vote, Ware said.
The registration drive's focus is a segment of Northwest Roanoke with an estimated 7,700 registered voters of an eligible 16,800.
It's a part of the city that consistently votes Democratic, and where increased registration and turnout presumably would benefit the two Democratic legislative candidates running there this fall - Del. Clifton "Chip" Woodrum and John Edwards, who is challenging Republican state Sen. Brandon Bell.
"This is about trying to get the Northwest community organized, not just organized for this election but many elections in the future," Ware said. "Hopefully, it's a movement. We have to learn that we have to take care of ourselves. Those who organize will be the ones who will be heard."
Guest speakers include Del. Jerrauld Jones, D-Norfolk, chairman of the General Assembly's Black Caucus, and Roanoke Valley Democratic candidates.
The rally will begin at 10 a.m. and end at 2 p.m. Washington Park is at Orange Avenue and Burrell Street.
Marye offers no apologies
A new twist on an old maxim: He who lives by the quip can be hurt by the quip.
State Sen. Madison Marye, D-Shawsville, known for his quick, witty remarks, has stirred up a hornet's nest of unnecessary trouble among some state troopers and their supporters with comments made last week in Pulaski.
His Republican opponent, Pat Cupp, on Wednesday called on Marye "to publicly apologize for his assault on our state troopers and their families."
On Aug. 29, Marye endorsed Pulaski County Sheriff Ralph Dobbins, a Democrat, over challenger Norman Dowdy, a Republican and former state trooper. But in doing so, he took a swipe at retiring Republican sheriffs Ken Phipps of Montgomery County and Dick Carrico of Carroll County.
"In Montgomery County we have an ex-state trooper as sheriff. Even the Republicans want to get rid of him," Marye told The Southwest Times, a local newspaper in Pulaski. "In Carroll County they have an ex-state trooper as sheriff, and they're ready to dump him.
"I'm gonna tell you the ex-trooper isn't a sheriff. Don't be fooled by the glamour that is sometimes associated with being a state trooper," Marye said.
Marye said Thursday he was surprised anyone commented on his remarks at all.
But aside from Cupp, Phipps took it seriously. He said this week his retirement, announced in January, had nothing to do with party politics - although his chief deputy and handpicked, would-be successor failed to win the Republican nomination in May. (In Carroll, Carrico lost the nomination to a challenger.)
And Phipps said demeaning state troopers makes little sense at all. "Shooting from the hip may look cute and may draw a few laughs, but in his talk, he was way off target with the facts as they happen to be," Phipps said.
Marye, who represents Montgomery, Smyth and Grayson counties, the city of Galax and parts of Pulaski and Carroll, saw no need to apologize Thursday. "I intended no offense," he said. "If anybody is offended, they haven't called me and told me that."
He praised Virginia's troopers as "probably the finest state police force in the nation." But he drew distinctions between the law enforcement skills of troopers and the additional political and administrative talents needed by an elected sheriff.
"Some state police step right in and do an excellent job," Marye said. "But just being ... or having been a state policeman, doesn't necessarily mean that you are automatically qualified to be a sheriff, and that's what I was trying to say."
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB