THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, March 14, 1996 TAG: 9603150656
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 05 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ALEX MARSHALL, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 84 lines
Algie T. Howell fought to integrate a segregated lunch counter in the 1950s.
He protested poor city services in dilapidated East Ghent in the 1960s.
His career in the 1970s and '80s was to help blacks, whites and others work together well in the Navy.
Now, he would like to serve on City Council, a position he views as a natural steppingstone given his past community service and career.
``I know it's a lot of hard work, but I've always welcomed hard work,'' Howell said from the back room of his barbershop off Virginia Beach Boulevard near Military Highway.
If elected, Howell says, he would work to increase business employment in the city and expand the tax base. Good jobs are the most important thing, he said.
``Businesses help support the city,'' Howell said. ``You've got to build a tax base.''
He speaks from the background of being someone who owns two barbershops that bear his name. The barbershops are his principal employment after 20 years in the armed forces, most of that with the Navy.
Howell grew up in Holland, Va., in what is now Suffolk. He attended Nansemond County ``Training'' School, a term Howell said was used to describe all-black high schools.
At Norfolk State University, he was elected president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the organization founded by Dr. Martin Luther King that was a leader in the civil-rights movement.
It was during this time that he began barbering at a shop on Merrimac Avenue that he now owns. He was working his way through college. Howell already had served a stint in the Air Force, but the G.I. Bill he expected to pay his way through college had expired. So he had turned to barbering.
After college, Howell taught at Hampton High School - the first black to do so - where he says he helped integrate the cheerleading squad and chess team. After getting his master's at Hampton University, he unexpectedly decided not to return to teaching but to join the Navy after then Del. William P. Robinson Sr. informed him of a job opening.
There, he worked in varying capacities as a labor and employment specialist, helping ease the tensions of an armed services getting used to people of different races and backgrounds living and working together.
All his experiences, Howell said, suit him to become a councilman. He's skilled at negotiating, working with different types of people and seeing all viewpoints.
``I understand business, I understand government,'' Howell said. ``I think I'm in a position to bring something to the table.
``In any type of government, there is always a need for negotiation. You want to understand the other person's point of view, but also you want to do what is is in the best interest of all the people.''
Howell is running in a crowded field, alongside several other candidates who have similar backgrounds in community service and similar pledges to work hard for the city.
Like others, Howell says he trusts voters to make a good judgment.
Howell also favors paying better salaries to police officers, teachers and firefighters. He did not say what taxes he would raise or services he would cut to get the money to do this.
``That's the only way you are going to get good people,'' Howell said. ``It has to be a priority.''
He also promised to make himself accessible to all, if elected.
``Anyone can walk in here and talk to me,'' Howell said. ``Their concerns will be my concerns.'' ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
Photo
Office sought: City Council seat, Superward 7.
Occupation: Retired Navy labor and employment specialist, owner
of two barbershops, real estate development.
Age: 58.
Education: Master's in education, Hampton University; bachelor's
degree, Norfolk State University.
Community service: past president, Ingleside Civic League; past
president, Ingleside PTA; former member, Urban League Committee for
Equal Justice; past master, Progressive Lodge No. 80, F&AM.
KEYWORDS: NORFOLK CITY COUNCILMANIC RACE CANDIDATE
SUPERWARD 7 by CNB