ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, October 7, 1996 TAG: 9610070072
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RICHMOND
A state senator wrote three letters in the last 20 months, asking state environmental officials to ``get off the back'' of a business in his district accused of pollution violations, The Washington Post reported.
State Sen. H. Russell Potts Jr., R-Winchester, wrote to the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality on behalf of Bowman Apple Products Co., of Mount Jackson, and its owner, Gordon ``Sonny'' Bowman II.
``Can you please look into this and try to get it straightened out,'' Potts wrote in a March 14, 1995, letter to Peter W. Schmidt, then the DEQ director. ``Sonny Bowman is a very close friend, a huge supporter of George Allen and myself, and we really do need to resolve this.''
Bowman's company has been cited 22 times since 1989 for violations of state environmental regulations. No penalties have been levied against the company in recent years.
On Oct.31 of last year, Bowman and his wife, Martha E. Bowman, gave $1,099 to Potts' re-election campaign. On March 28 of this year, Bowman gave an additional $250. The couple also gave Potts $299 in the 1991 legislative election.
Elizabeth Scott, DEQ enforcement officer, said that the department did not change its stand on the Bowman Apple cases as a result of the two-term lawmaker's intervention.
- Associated Press
LENGTH: Short : 35 linesby CNB