Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, October 18, 1995 TAG: 9510180032
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RICHARD FOSTER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BEDFORD LENGTH: Long
Bill Wentz was three days and 40 miles deep in enemy-held territory in South Vietnam when the hand grenade went off.
Thrown by a Viet Cong soldier, it killed the commander of Wentz's platoon. Fragments from the grenade left Wentz bleeding from the head.
The platoon medics were busy attending to other soldiers, so Wentz dressed his own wound, moved to cover and returned fire. Dizzy from a loss of blood, he crawled under fire and drove the enemy back until his unit was flown out by helicopter seven hours later and he was hospitalized.
That kind of tenacity - which earned Wentz a Silver Star for gallantry, two Bronze Stars for valor and two Purple Hearts in the Vietnam War - is what Wentz says he would bring with him if elected Bedford County commonwealth's attorney.
"In all my employment and life experiences, I've been very dedicated to duty and I've worked very hard and long hours, in some cases at personal sacrifice, and I'll do the same thing as commonwealth's attorney," Wentz says.
"I'll be bringing a lot more to the office" than incumbent Randy Krantz. "I would be coming in with a broad perspective."
Even though he hasn't been a prosecutor before, Wentz says his legal work and life experience forge a combination that would make him both tough on crime and a good manager.
Wentz, who holds a master's degree in business administration, worked for nine years as a supervisor in the U.S. General Accounting Office, where he audited defense spending and worked on a fraud task force.
In 1986, at age 42, he gave up his job to pursue a law degree. After finishing school in 1989, he worked as a judicial clerk for a year in the Virginia State Court of Appeals in Lynchburg.
Wentz "was very hard-working, very dedicated to what he was doing," says Washington, D.C., lawyer Judy Wheat, a former judicial clerk who worked with him. "He was the kind of person who would double-check everything and leave no stone unturned."
After leaving the state appeals court, Wentz went into private practice in Lynchburg and Appomattox. In 1992, he moved to Bedford, where he specializes in bankruptcy and criminal defense cases.
As such, he has represented drug dealers and drug users. But that doesn't always sit well with him, and he's making stronger prosecution of drug offenders a key part of his platform, he says.
"As much as I would rather see these guys locked up, it's my duty as a defense attorney to give them a zealous representation to preserve the integrity of the system."
If elected, Wentz says he would try to prosecute major drug crimes in federal court, rather than state court, because the penalties are often tougher.
For example, he says, he recently defended a drug dealer who sold a large quantity of crack cocaine to an undercover state police agent.
State sentencing guidelines call for the dealer to receive eight years in prison. The judge sentenced him to seven. Because the offense occurred before the state's no-parole law became effective, he'll be eligible for parole in 18 months.
"Under the federal system, he would've gotten probably more than 10 years in prison, and he would've had to serve at least 85 percent of it," Wentz says.
Wentz also pledges to be accessible.
On the wall of his office, Wentz has a framed quote by Abraham Lincoln: "A lawyer's time and advice are his stock in trade."
"That's just a reminder that I can't be a charity," Wentz says. "I have such a soft heart; I need reminders that my time is valuable. But in a small town like Bedford, you still end up giving a lot of free advice."
Wentz volunteers his services free or at a reduced rate for HONOR-QUEST, a Bedford County-based nonprofit shelter that helps battered women and at-risk youth.
"I had a woman whose boss called me and asked me for help because this woman had been beaten ... she had some pretty bad bruises," says executive director Jack Mills. "I took her down to Bill Wentz and asked if he would help her get her separation. HONOR-QUEST paid the court costs, and he did the legal work for free.
"When you have a woman who's been beaten, who's homeless, who has no resources, she's pretty much at the mercy of the court. These people have a terrible time getting legal representation, but Bill Wentz is doing something about it and that tells me a lot about him."
Because of his practice and his volunteer work, Wentz says he doesn't get as much time to campaign as he would like, but he's still knocking door to door at least a few times a week.
"It's hard," he says. "I put my clients first and my campaign in the back seat. I wish I had the luxury like sheriff's candidates Doug Maynard or Mike Brown to take a leave of absence, but it's very difficult when you have clients who need you."
BILL WENTZ
Age: 51
Occupation: Lawyer
Family: Married, one child
Hobbies: Fishing
Party: Independent
Education: Law degree from Dickinson School of Law in Carlisle, Pa., 1989; master's degree in business administration from Virginia Commonwealth University, 1976; and bachelor's degree in business administration, The Citadel, Charleston, S.C., 1966.
Military: A Vietnam veteran, Wentz was a green beret and received a Silver Star for gallantry, two Bronze Stars for valor and two Purple Hearts. He retired from the U.S. Army Reserve last year with the rank of lieutenant colonel.
Experience: From 1977 to 1986, Wentz worked as manager and auditor for the General Accounting Office in Washington, D.C., and served on the GAO's fraud task force.
After earning a law degree, he served a year as a judicial clerk to Judge Norman Moon of Lynchburg in the Virginia Court of Appeals. Since then, Wentz has been in private practice, at first in Lynchburg and Appomattox, and in Bedford since 1992.
Platform: Increased availability to residents, seeking federal prosecution for major drug crimes, lobbying for stricter state sentencing guidelines and hiring a full-time victim-witness coordinator.
Keywords:
POLITICS PROFILE
by CNB