THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, October 15, 1994 TAG: 9410150187
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ROBERT LITTLE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 95 lines
They say Croatan was wild.
Young, rich and exclusive.
Brimming with ``all-night parties, all the cocaine you could possibly want, coke whores, paid prostitutes and wild sex,'' according to a book about the legend.
The neighborhood was where Gov. Charles S. Robb used to blow off a little steam. Nowadays, when Sen. Chuck Robb says he has ``dents in his armor,'' you can assume Croatan put them there. With a jackhammer.
If such innuendo can scar a political golden boy, think what it can do to the innocent, God-fearing, non-coke-snorting populace.
``And it was all somebody's imagination,'' said longtime Croatan resident John McClintock.
``Really, I just don't know where they come up with that stuff.''
The unvarnished truth: Some people used cocaine in Croatan during the high-flying time between 1982 and 1986 when Robb was governor.
The modern-day reality: If the governor hadn't visited, no one would care.
``This neighborhood is no different than any other upper-middle-class neighborhood in America,'' said Rich Dillon, an admittedly perturbed 43-year-old salesman who lives in the older, wealthier section of Croatan.
``Maybe some things did happen here. So what? Things happened all over the country back then. But to generalize about the neighborhood is pretty irresponsible.''
The south-beach neighborhood has long suffered bouts with inferiority. Bordered by Rudee Inlet to the north and Camp Pendleton to the south, it's not as upper-crusty as the North End.
The rumors about Croatan's wild side sprouted with the revelation that Robb, while governor, used to spend his private time with some of the neighborhood's more notorious night-lifers.
His associates were diverse: among the many partygoers, some were convicted on drug charges; a few others were simply granted immunity from prosecution.
And you might say some of Robb's behavior was inappropriate for a married man. He says it, in fact. He just doesn't say what that means.
The residents don't know, and most don't seem to care.
Money still oozes out the neighborhood's beach-front cottages onto the semicircle driveways.
But the people doing the sniffing around Croatan these days are the reporters, residents say.
``There have probably been a dozen kids who moved in just in the last year,'' said Allen Pyle, a local real estate agent and co-president of the Croatan Civic League.
``It's not wild, it's a family neighborhood now. But like anything else, everything's been blown out of proportion.''
Consider the well-publicized Christmas party 10 years ago, which nearly every resident of the then-burgeoning community seems to have attended. Robb sat on the sofa as a woman snorted cocaine off the table in front of him, the legend goes. A blonde was spotted at his side with her bare leg on the table.
Well, McClintock's wife, Nancy, says she's ready to 'fess up. She was the blonde.
``And I was on crutches,'' she said. ``I sat there with my leg on the table because I was in pain. I still can't walk.'' The part about the woman snorting coke, she said, is fiction.
Dillon moved to Croatan in 1988. He liked the neighborhood. It had distinction, not snobbery.
But he hadn't been there a month when the local paper branded Croatan a place where everyone had a BMW in the driveway, a half-million in the bank and a cocaine straw up the nose.
It was the cocaine part that really irked him. He's been reading the New York Times ever since.
The stories have been hashed and rehashed, appearing in the book ``Tough Enough'' by local private eye Billy Franklin, a national news broadcast, federal court documents and kilos of newspaper articles.
One local longtimer said it makes him want to vote for Oliver L. North in November. ``Maybe then, it'll all go away,'' he said.
Most Croatan residents don't expose their political faith with bumper stickers and signs. For one thing, planting a flimsy, cardboard sign on a million-dollar lawn just ain't right.
About the only symbol of electoral leanings that you'll find is the ``Robb for U.S. Senate'' placard staked in front of 25-year-old Michael Wimbrough's modest digs.
``I'm too young to really remember any of those things,'' said Wimbrough, who moved to Croatan for the surfing.
``But all it takes is two or three old ladies talking about something like that for it to just spread like crazy,'' he said. ``Me, I just don't care.
``Look,'' he said, pointing off his porch. ``The sign's still there.'' MEMO: Main story on page A1.
ILLUSTRATION: Photo by MARTIN SMITH-RODDEN, Staff
Croatan is the Virginia Beach neighborhood where Charles S. Robb
attended parties when he was governor in the 1980s.
KEYWORDS: SENATE RACE CANDIDATE CAMPAIGN PROFILE BIOGRAPHY by CNB