The Virginian-Pilot
                             THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Saturday, February 10, 1996            TAG: 9602100286
SECTION: LOCAL                    PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 
DATELINE: RICHMOND                           LENGTH: Short :   40 lines

ALLEN APPOINTS NEW CHAIRMAN OF PAROLE BOARD

Gov. George Allen on Friday named former U.S. Attorney E. Montgomery Tucker to chair the Virginia Parole Board, which has been through turmoil that led to a former chairman's resignation in November.

Tucker was U.S. attorney for the Western District of Virginia from 1990-93 and since then has been legal counsel and office chief for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. in Dallas.

``Monty is a highly respected, honest and extremely capable prosecutor. His law enforcement experience and management background will certainly be of tremendous service to the Virginia Parole Board's operations and decisions,'' Allen said.

Tucker succeeds Bruce Morris, director of the Department of Criminal Justice Services, who has been filling in since John B. Metzger III resigned as parole board chairman in November.

Metzger had offended others on the five-member board by telling off-color jokes and clashed with them over the power of board members and the chairman.

An internal auditor and the Virginia State Police also looked into whether Metzger had manipulated parole warrants but found no evidence of criminal wrongdoing.

Metzger had been chairman since April 1994, when Allen replaced all the parole board members. Later that year, the General Assembly approved Allen's plan to end parole for all crimes committed after Dec. 31, 1994.

Inmate advocates have contended that Allen's board effectively ended parole before the law took effect. The state had granted parole to 40 percent of eligible inmates in 1993, but the rate dipped as low as 5 percent in 1994.

KEYWORDS: APPOINTMENT VIRGINIA PAROLE BOARD by CNB