THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, February 11, 1995 TAG: 9502110082
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ROBERT LITTLE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium: 90 lines
The state snake is dead.
Well, it's not dead, really. It was never alive.
OK, it was alive, but it was never really the state snake. And now it probably never will be.
It seems the state Senate is a mite serious for such slippery, small-time silliness.
A measure that would have made the timber rattlesnake ``the official reptile of the commonwealth'' was bagged, tagged and fricasseed by the legislature Friday.
``I'm terrified of those things,'' barked Senate majority leader and resident sourpuss Hunter B. Andrews of Hampton.
He called the measure ``a ridiculous bill - probably the worst one put in.''
Andrews, like several of his colleagues, refused to formally honor any animal ``admonished to crawl around on its belly.''
``There are enough snakes walking around upright here,'' he testified. ``We do not need to get down slithering and sliming on our bellies.''
House Bill 1889 was a simple one. It merely designated the timber rattlesnake - that one on the ``Don't Tread On Me'' flag and many others - as the state's official reptile.
``And this is a very serious bill,'' deadpanned sponsor Charles D. Waddell to a chorus of fricative harrumphs.
Actually, the Leesburg Democrat has no soft spot for serpents, he just supported the bill on behalf of some constituents. A group of home-schooled kids made the bill the goal of their joint biology/civics lesson.
Sen. John H. Chichester, R-Stafford, began Friday's debate, trying to amend the bill to make Route 3 the official state snake. Then he changed his mind.
Sen Charles R. Hawkins, R-Danville, proposed the toad as the official state amphibian. ``We kiss a lot of those,'' he said.
Waddell sounded serious in his support of the measure: the timber rattler has a long, proud, squiggly history in the state, he said.
Lawmakers were amused, but not enough to make the thing law.
They didn't actually kill the bill, they sent it back to the Senate General Laws Committee.
(Of course, privately, they say they did that just to keep the kids' hopes alive. In reality, it's as dead as a diamondback in the crosshairs).
And for Andrews, who prides himself in running an orderly chamber, dead was just the way he wanted it.
``If I come across something like those things, I just run,'' Andrews said. Then he made his thumb and finger into a pistol and pointed at the ground.
``And I am pleased to say that my wife is a good shot.''
More serious matters occupied the Senate Committee on Rehabilitation and Social Services, which acted on the Democratic welfare reform plan passed earlier this week by the House of Delegates.
The committee changed the plan to make it conform to the Republican measure preferred by the full Senate. The 10-5 vote came despite strong objections from some Democrats.
But Friday's vote may be virtually meaningless. Next week, a House committee is likely to change the Senate's Republican welfare reform bill to make it look like the Democratic proposal.
A conference committee then would hammer out a compromise.
``Stay tuned,'' said Sen. Joseph Gartlan, D-Fairfax, who voted against the Republican plan.
Republican Sen. Mark Earley of Chesapeake sponsored the Republican measure, which is backed by the Allen administration. It would force able-bodied adult recipients younger than 60 to work within 30 days of receiving their first check. The plan would be phased in over five years, but it wouldn't begin until July 1996.
The Democrats' plan adds to a welfare overhaul package that passed last year but was never implemented by the Allen administration. It includes much of the same philosophy as Allen's initiative but moves slower and has less stringent work requirements. Recipients of Aid to Families with Dependent Children would get a year of education or training before they must accept a job.
Virginia's Attorney General James S. Gilmore III is making his first foray into the 1997 gubernatorial waters with a luminary-loaded GOP fund-raiser scheduled early next month.
On March 4 in Richmond, Gilmore supporters will throw a $100-a-ticket bash featuring Oliver North, U.S. Sen. John W. Warner, former Reagan budget director James Miller, former lieutenant governor candidate Michael Farris and most of the state's GOP congressional delegation.
The stated reason is to help Gilmore prepare to run for ``something'' in 1997. It is presumed he will be the Republican gubernatorial candidate. MEMO: The Associated Press contributed to this report.
KEYWORDS: GENERAL ASSEMBLY STATE REPTILE WELFARE by CNB