Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, October 5, 1995 TAG: 9510050075
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PULASKI LENGTH: Long
Shockley, a Republican seeking a fifth term, is intense, hard-driving and can be, as many defense attorneys have learned, a give-no-quarter opponent. He was only 28 in 1979 when he wrested the office by a mere 89 votes from four-term incumbent A. Dow Owens, later appointed and since retired as a circuit judge.
He admits to some unease on his first day as prosecutor, thinking about the trust placed in him by voters and wanting to convince them it was no mistake. "So I went about it very vigorously from the get-go," he said. "I've always tried to give them what I said I would. And I think I have."
Shankman, the first Democrat to challenge Shockley since 1983, has an easygoing, laid-back demeanor punctuated with self-deprecating humor and the occasional country lawyer witticism that sums up a case in a few words. If grandfatherly actor Wilford Brimley were 20 years younger, he could play Shankman perfectly.
Shankman says he is running to give voters a choice and because he believes in public service. He has practiced law in Dublin since 1989 and is campaigning door-to-door, just as Shockley did in 1979 when he first ran.
Shankman said he gave the decision much thought, because people warned him that the race would be difficult and costly. "And it is. It's every bit as hard as they told me," especially while maintaining a private practice, he said. "I encourage people to get in it, but I encourage them to know the dark side of it because everything else is going to slow down for them."
Most of Shankman's visits in the parts of the county he has covered so far come after people get home from work, and are sitting down to dinner or television - a time when many people do not like being interrupted. "I dreaded it, but I've enjoyed it. The people have been really nice," he said. "They seem to be truly interested in this election, both my election and the sheriff's election." The sheriff, Democrat Ralph Dobbins, is the only other county constitutional officer facing a challenger, Republican Norman Dowdy.
Shankman said he would like to see more emphasis on juvenile crime prevention, with the commonwealth's attorney working with the Sheriff's Office and other agencies, such as the recently formed Cultural Awareness Redemptive Education organization that held a summer program for youngsters. Shankman has been helping that organization get set up, just as he and John B. Spiers Jr. helped establish the New River Valley Legal Aid office some years ago.
"If I was elected, I'd try to interrupt this process where your juvenile defendants all of a sudden become your adult defendants," he said. He would do that by involving parents and other adults to help with "whatever it takes to get them off the streets ... The No.1 way is to participate, be involved. The second way is to actively encourage groups like CARE."
Shankman also questions whether the county prosecutor's office needs two full-time assistants. He said the head man needs to be involved more with General District Court, where most of the county's crime is handled, and Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court. "You can't send your assistants all the time. You've got to go yourself."
"With all due respect to Mr. Shankman, he obviously doesn't know the demands of this office," Shockley said. "We are inundated with work ... All three of us stay very, very busy."
Besides, Shockley said, the prosecutor's office gets the bulk of its funding from the state, which would simply send the money elsewhere if one of the assistant positions was dropped. "So all he's talking about doing is taking a third of our prosecutorial resources and giving it to another jurisdiction."
Shankman has not said he would definitely eliminate an assistant's position, but that he would see if the same services could not be provided more economically.
He also said he would move the prosecutor's office from Dublin to Pulaski. Shockley said the Board of Supervisors makes that decision, not the officeholder, and that the new and expanded county court facilities still contain no office space for the prosecutor.
Previous prosecutors operated out of their offices because it was a part-time job. That changed when the 1980 census put the county population above 35,000, the magic figure for requiring a full-time office.
When Shockley became full time in 1983, the county had to pick up overhead for his office if it did not provide one. Shockley said that covers such mortgage payments, taxes, insurance, water bills, cleaning and repairs.
Shockley had been a criminal defense lawyer for just three years when he first ran. "I really liked criminal law. But, as I sat in the courtroom as a citizen of the county, I felt the courts were way too lenient, particularly with repeat offenders."
He also thought the parole system was "somewhat of a fraud perpetrated on the public," since many offenders served only fractions of their sentences. "As a citizen, I sat there and got sick to my stomach."
Those became his campaign issues, and still are. Three-fourths of his campaign brochure is made up of comments from crime victims or their families lauding Shockley's effectiveness as a prosecutor.
Shankman was born in Pittsburgh, Pa., but his family moved to Marion when he was in the third grade. "I consider myself a Southwest Virginian ... I don't remember anywhere else, really." He got his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Virginia, then worked at the Gilmer Sadler Ingram Sutherland & Hutton law firm in Pulaski from 1973 until 1984. Then he and Tommy Baker, a Republican member of the House of Delegates, shared a law office for a few years. Otherwise, he has practiced law on his own except for two years in Charlotte, N.C., when he did some corporate finance work to try something different.
"Missed the mountains and came back pretty quick," he said.
Shockley, a native of Salisbury, Md., came to Virginia Tech where he met his future wife, Evangeline, a student at Radford University. After he earned his law degree at William and Mary, they located in the New River Valley, where he worked at a Blacksburg law firm for about six months. In November 1979, he opened his own office in Dublin.
"At that time, I was the only attorney in Dublin," he said. "I think there are about six of us now."
And two of them, who work almost within sight of one another, are campaigning for the same job.
Name: Byron Ross Shankman
Party: Democrat
Age: 46
Residence: Pulaski
Family: Married, five children
Campaign theme: Openness
How he got into law: ``I don't think I knew what a lawyer was until I got out of law school. I think we all have to offer some public service. If we could all be Phil Sadlers [a reference to the late Pulaski lawyer Phil Sadler who was quietly involved in many civic endeavors], we'd all have a better reputation."
Criminal punishment: "I think we need to strengthen it at the hard core, what we do with them. I hate to say it. Maybe I'm getting conservative in my old age," he said, but "we can't tolerate having people out here who repeatedly do violent acts ... If they can't function with us, then they've got to go away and stay away."
Spare-time reading: ``I get one author and try to run them." Among favorites are Leon Uris, Irving Wallace, Ken Follet and John Grisham, whose background as a small-town lawyer makes for better stories, Shankman believes, than the books of Scott Turow.
Favorite sport: In college, it was rugby. "I went there to play football, but I got hurt and [was] out of the program for several years." Being on the rugby team, however, gave him the chance to play in Scotland, Ireland and England. These days, sports are a way to stay in shape. He jogs, plays racquetball and lifts weights. "My wife is a very good weightlifter," he said. "I go with her and try to do what she does." His wife, Becky, teaches at Critzer Elementary School.
The office: Shankman's involvement in public service work during law school has continued with the Pulaski United Way, YMCA, New River Legal Aid Society and New River Community Sentencing, among other agencies. His belief in public service is one reason he is running. He says he is "glad to finally get a chance to be a public servant."
Name: Everett Parker Shockley
Party: Republican
Age: 44
Residence: Dublin
Family: Married, two children
Campaign theme: A Voice for the Victim
How he got into law: Shockley started out as a finance major, but in his sophomore year in college became more interested in his legal courses. "I just sort of fell in love with criminal law."
Criminal punishment: Crime and punishment may be the No. 1 social issue of the day, Shockley says. "People all over the country are concerned, sometimes afraid to go out at night. ... Crime is becoming more frequent and more violent," he said, and its perpetrators need to be punished harshly.
Last book read: Shockley's bedside reading is usually legal journals and reviews he has not had time to read at work. "I don't do any reading of novels. I don't have time for that."
Favorite sport: Shockley's dream as a youngster was to play major league baseball. On his office walls are autographs from some 70 players mounted on framed portraits or photos. He grew up a Baltimore Orioles fan and, when they got into the World Series in 1966, his father got him a ticket to the fifth game. "Unfortunately, the Orioles won the series in four games." He has played men's softball for the last 12 years or so.
The office: "Much like ministers say they have a calling to the ministry, I feel very strongly that I have a calling to do this job. ... I consider myself a career prosecutor. I'm here for the long haul if the people will have me."
Keywords:
POLITICS PROFILE
by CNB