THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, December 19, 1995 TAG: 9512190299
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B11 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium: 75 lines
House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who has suggested resurrecting orphanages for welfare children, on Monday helped the Virginia Home for Boys kick off a $3.1 million fund-raising drive.
Gingrich was in Richmond while the federal government was partially shut down because of the budget deadlock. During a brief appearance at the boys home, he praised the facility for promoting caring, nurturing and discipline with little government assistance.
``What young people need are those who care enough about them, who really pay attention to their development, '' Gingrich told about 150 people.
``That doesn't mean, by the way, that it's always sugar cookies and positive reinforcement,'' he said. ``It also means sometimes . . . you have to say, `Yes, you really have to do your homework,' or `Yes, you really have to clean up your room.' ''
Gingrich provoked controversy last year when he recommended denying welfare aid to teenage mothers and using the money to provide services to children, such as orphanages and group homes.
When first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton dismissed the idea as ``unbelievable and absurd,'' Gingrich urged her to see the old Mickey Rooney movie ``Boys Town'' as an example of how an orphanage should be run.
Gingrich received a warm welcome at the home. A group of boys greeted him with a welcome banner as the helicopter carrying him descended on their soccer field. Richmond-based CSX Corp. donated the use of the helicopter, said Barbara Stults, the home's director of development.
After Gingrich's speech, Ryan Skorupa, 15, presented the Georgia Republican with a box of personalized greeting cards made in the home's print shop.
Forty boys live at the home. Some are orphans; others have been abandoned or abused, or their parents are incarcerated. They range in age from 12 to 18.
The Virginia Home for Boys celebrates its 150th anniversary next year. It is the second oldest such home in the country, Stults said. The oldest is the Bethesda Home for Boys in Savannah, Ga., founded in 1740, she said.
The nonprofit Richmond home hopes to make capital improvements and add places for 10 more boys through the fund-raising campaign.
Gingrich was invited to speak by Rep. Thomas J. Bliley Jr. Bliley's father has been a member of the home's governing board for 50 years.
Gingrich said of all the things he could do in Richmond - such as meet with legislators or Republican Gov. George Allen - Bliley wanted him to visit the home.
``This is the right kind of thing for the people of Virginia to be involved with,'' Gingrich said.
Earlier Monday, Gingrich attended a $75-a-plate fund-raising breakfast for Bliley, a 7th District Republican who chairs the House Commerce Committee.
Gingrich urged President Clinton to sign appropriations bills Congress has passed that would reopen the government. The president, however, vetoed two spending bills Monday and planned to reject a third today. Clinton objects to GOP provisions in each measure that include aspects of the Republican legislative platform.
Republicans passed a seven-year balanced budget plan last month but Clinton vetoed it, saying it would inflict unacceptable cuts on Medicare, Medicaid and other programs.
The speaker told about 1,200 people at the breakfast that he and Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole would welcome a call from Clinton.
``This is not like negotiating with a foreign power. `I will go to Congress' is not like `I will go to Moscow,' '' Gingrich said. ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS
House Speaker Newt Gingrich, left, talks with boys at the Virginia
Home for Boys in Richmond on Monday. During a brief appearance,
Gingrich praised the facility for promoting caring, nurturing and
discipline with little help from the government.
by CNB