ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, June 16, 1996 TAG: 9606170028
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SPONSORS HOPE to highlight the importance of good fathering and bring public attention to children's need for quality time. - Rodney Ragin was gunned down five years ago, but to his daughter he is still the best father around.
Nine-year-old Shahona Braxton of Richmond entered Ragin in this year's Virginia's Greatest Dads contest.
``I was happy because I got to write about my Dad,'' said the shy girl wearing a neat white dress. ``He was like a buddy or my brother.''
Shahona's entry showed a drawing of her father standing next to their house.
The caption, printed carefully in a child's hand, reads, ``My Dad is the greatest because he is my Dad and I love him even though he is dead.''
Shahona's was one of more than 500 entries in this year's contest, sponsored by the Children's Rights Coalition, the Virginia Fatherhood Initiative and the Family Resolution Council. There were four times more entries this year than last year.
The rules were simple: there was no age limit; contestants had to enclose a picture of their father and explain why their father was the greatest dad.
``Our goal here is to get enough involved and responsible fathers to work in their community to get across the idea that the loss of fatherhood is socially debilitating,'' said Michael Ewing, president of the Virginia Fatherhood Initiative.
``Parents should take the responsibility,'' said Murray Steinberg, president of Children's Rights and Family Resolution. ``They both need to be there emotionally for their children.''
The contest handed out prizes to the top 10 dads in a ceremony Saturday on the Statehouse grounds. A few dozen children and their parents then headed off to a picnic.
Steinberg said the judges had a hard time sifting through entries.
``Many just said, `My Dad is great because he buys me things' or `He makes money,' but this is what we're trying to get away from,'' he said.
Some of the entries showed just how much fathers mean to their children.
``He loves me, he spends time with me, he takes me bike riding to the library and the play group and I love him,'' wrote 8-year-old Lindsey Haller about her dad, Chris.
``Even though I'm a girl, he goes to Girl Scout camp with me, we go fishing together, we talk,'' Kacie Singleman, 11, wrote of her father, Doug.
Shahona's grandmother, Bernice Thompson, who is raising the girl after her son's death, said she hoped the contest would make fathers more aware of how important they are.
``I think it makes the ones who are halfway do a little bit more when they see how much their kids wrote about them,'' she said. ``They're missed when they're not there.''
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