THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 5, 1995 TAG: 9511030168
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY GREG GOLDFARB, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 73 lines
If J. Curtis Fruit wins re-election Tuesday, he says he promises to retire at the end of his next term, capping four decades of public service in the Clerk of the Circuit Court's Office.
But before earning that distinction and looking ahead to possibly retiring in 2003, he'll first have to get past Louis M. ``Lou'' Pace, a City Council gadfly and political maverick since 1984.
``If anything were to happen, if I lose this job, that means that everything I have done would have been for naught,'' said Fruit, a Republican. ``I take Lou Pace seriously, and I don't take anything lightly.''
Fruit, only the second Circuit Court clerk in the city's history, succeeded the late John V. Fentress, for whom he began working in 1964. About a year later, Fruit was promoted to deputy clerk and held that position until 1979 when Fentress retired. Fruit then defeated three challengers for the clerk's seat and ran unopposed in 1987 for re-election to another eight-year term.
Although Fruit expected competition from Republicans and Democrats going into this election, he received none. Still, he raised $16,000 in campaign funds this summer. Now, he expects to spend somewhere between $10,000 and $15,000 to fend off Pace, who said he didn't spend any money on his campaign.
Pace, an independent, has not been successful in five previous bids for public office and plans to run for the City Council this spring if he doesn't prevail in this race. He is testing Fruit, he said, because the Red Mill Farm resident has held the $85,000- to $90,00-a-year job too long to continue to be productive.
``I suppose he's been doing a good job, I don't know,'' said Pace, a Hunt Club Forest resident. ``But change is always good. If you don't change some of these professional politicians, they get in a groove and they don't come up with any creative thinking. They don't listen to the taxpayers and they don't care.''
Pace, a salesman, ran unsuccessfully for the City Council in 1986, 1990 and 1994, for the state Senate in 1987 and for mayor in 1988. He said he's qualified for the clerk's job because of his college education and his business management experience. He also has been president of the Hunt Club Forest Civic Association, and a director of the Virginia Beach Council of Civic Organizations.
``I can perform all of the duties of the job,'' said Pace, 60.
But running the clerk's office is not as easy as it looks, counters Fruit, 54.
There is a $1 million annual payroll to meet, 44 employees to manage, and 8,000 civil and 10,000 criminal cases filed every year for nine judges. Land deeds are recorded, title searches are conducted and thousands of marriage and hunting licenses are issued and handled through his office as well as will probates, notary commissions and other business-related documents.
Fruit, who is developing a new visual imaging system to make some real estate information available to the public through personal and business computers, says that if he is victorious again and completes eight more years, he'll be satisfied.
``Forty years. That's enough. That's more than enough,'' said Fruit. ILLUSTRATION: Photos
J. Curtis Fruit
Republican incumbent
Louis M. Pace
Independent challenger
KEYWORDS: ELECTION CANDIDATE COURT CLERK
by CNB