ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Wednesday, April 17, 1996              TAG: 9604170052
SECTION: VIRGINIA                 PAGE: A-1  EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JAN VERTEFEUILLE STAFF WRITER
NOTE: Above 

NO BOMBS OR SWORDS GET INTO THIS FEDERAL BUILDING

THE APRIL 19 ANNIVERSARY of violence approaches, but the security buildup here has been continuous and permanent.

Since new security measures began in Western Virginia federal buildings, court security officers have confiscated a hand grenade, a simulated bomb and several pistols.

And those are just the weapons the U.S. marshal has tried to sneak into the buildings.

To check security, the Marshals Service regularly tests its officers and equipment by having someone walk into the building carrying hand grenades hidden in packages or guns wrapped up in briefcases and boxes.

"It's just to make sure we're staying on our toes," Marshal Larry Mattox said.

So far, his security officers have caught every attempt, he said.

After last year's bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building, Chief U.S. District Judge Jackson Kiser ordered entry-level screening in every federal building in the Western District of Virginia that houses a courtroom.

In Roanoke's Poff Federal Building, that meant installing a metal detector at the front door and a state-of-the-art X-ray machine with a color monitor. Other doors are locked or guarded during hours when employees are coming and going.

Two court security officers are at the door all day, passing packages and pocketbooks through the X-ray machine and making sure people who light up the metal detector are checked for weapons.

Before the bombing, the officers provided this security only at the courtroom entrances on the second and third floors when court was in session.

Five or six guns have been confiscated from people coming into the building, as well as several knives and even a sword - which was part of a cane being used by a man visiting a federal agency.

The Marshals Service confiscates a weapon if the owner has no permit. Owners may petition the court to get them back. Most of the guns seized have belonged to women, who apparently forgot they had them in their pocketbooks. People bringing weapons into a federal building can be prosecuted if they had "malicious intent." So far, no one has been taken to court, Mattox said.

"It amazes me that someone can carry a weapon and forget they have it in their purse," he said.

Some federal buildings around the country are planning special precautions Friday - the anniversary of the Branch Davidians' death in Waco and the Oklahoma City bombing. In the Western District, Mattox said he has asked employees to be more cautious about people and packages coming into their offices.

"We're increasing our vigilance - not just on the 19th, but all the time," he said.

Kiser's order is being implemented in the courthouses around the Western District as funding for increased security becomes available, Mattox said. In Roanoke, cameras are being added outside the Poff building. And in Lynchburg, metal detectors outside courtrooms are being moved to the front entrance.

The General Services Administration, which oversees federal buildings, has spent $9 million so far to improve security in the five-state region that includes Virginia, spokesman John Thompson said.

LENGTH: Medium:   67 lines
ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO:  WAYNE DEEL/Staff. Security officers Willie Chambers 
          (left) and Fred Spence watch an X-ray monitor at the Poff Federal 
          Building in Roanoke.