ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, January 29, 1996 TAG: 9601290007
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-2 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: GENERAL ASSEMBLY NOTEBOOK
SOURCE: DWAYNE YANCEY, DAVID M. POOLE AND ROBERT LITTLE
Del. Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, knows how to write one heck of a gossip column.
Like many legislators, he sends home regular "reports from Richmond" to the weekly newspapers in his district. But where most legislators columns tend to be turgid recapitulations of technical bills before the General Assembly, Griffith approaches his public relations duty with a certain flair.
Take, for instance, his latest dispatch.
He informs his constituents that he dropped in on a recent college basketball game in Richmond, which featured "former Salem Spartan stand-out Mark Byington" who "played an excellent defensive game." Griffith also dutifully listed, by name, nine Salem fans who came down to see Byington play.
He also recounted, under the heading, "Rescue of the Honda Prelude," how rising floodwaters in Richmond nearly washed away the car belonging to his legislative aide. Fortunately, the legislator himself rushed to the scene "and found the brown muddy water only feet away from the Prelude. Several aquatic fowl were loitering near the vehicle and a muskrat was spotted floating around the newly formed swimming area."
Dogging it
The highlight of Griffith's "report from Richmond" may have been his account of a recent cultural conflict between legislators from the eastern and western parts of the state - over the proper treatment of hunting dogs:
"Joe Johnson and the dogs of Southwest Virginia: One of those little dry, innocuous bills turned humorous in the Agriculture Committee meeting the other day ... The debate left humane society policies and suddenly veered towards whom takes better care of their dogs: those in eastern Virginia or those in western Virginia.
"It seems, according to several of the delegates from eastern Virginia, that there is an annoying habit among the eastern hunters hard to believe. They actually adopt dogs just before hunting season and then either destroy or abandon them after the season.
"This brought much derision from the western Virginia delegates who could not believe the ignorance of their eastern brothers. Culminating in Joe Johnson, delegate from Abingdon, advising the committee that he knew not what other parts of the state might do, but where he came from, some allow the hunting dog to ride in the front seat of the truck while the wife and children ride in the back. No further debate was needed. One of my aides, who is from Franklin County, advises me that in his part of the state, the hunting dog is often treated as a member of the family."
Down the river
A bill that would block the Lake Gaston pipeline is going nowhere fast in the General Assembly - thanks to Democrats from Hampton Roads.
House Speaker Thomas Moss, D-Norfolk dispatched the bill to a committee that would look favorably on Virginia Beach's bid to withdraw water from the Roanoke River basin.
The General Laws Committee then assigned the bill to a subcommittee headed by Virginia Beach Del. Glenn Croshaw. The panel will take up the bill on Tuesday afternoon.
"I think they wanted to put it somewhere it would get due deference," Croshaw said with a grin.
LENGTH: Medium: 67 lines KEYWORDS: GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1996by CNB