DATE: Saturday, July 12, 1997               TAG: 9707120325

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY STEPHANIE STOUGHTON, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   80 lines

WITNESSES PAINT KINDER PICTURE OF CRUMPLER ABOUT 20 SPOKE ON HIS BEHALF, ONE SAYING CRUMPLER IS SORRY FOR THE SLUR

Jessie Rattley, who became the first black mayor of Newport News in the 1980s, testified Friday that auto dealer Bob Crumpler knocked on her front door this winter to ask for help.

The Nissan dealer, who was videotaped last year referring to an employee as a ``nigger,'' was worried that people wouldn't believe that he was truly sorry for making the racial slur, Rattley said.

``He was very humble,'' she said.

Rattley was one of about 20 witnesses who supported the embattled auto dealer during a state Department of Motor Vehicles hearing in Virginia Beach on Friday. The hearings will help determine whether Nissan Motor Corp., which says it is embarrassed by Crumpler's antics, can yank the dealer's franchise.

Earlier this week, witnesses alleged that Crumpler had kicked a female Nissan manager in the rear, called another official a ``Jew boy,'' and ordered that dead rats be placed in a former employee's car.

Nissan's attorneys also have claimed that Crumpler and his Newport News dealership, Bob Crumpler's Denbigh Nissan, submitted fraudulent warranty claims. Those allegations will be discussed in a second set of hearings later this month.

On Friday, Crumpler's supporters - everyone from customers to former Nissan managers - said they had never witnessed the auto dealer making racial slurs or acting violently.

Crumpler has been contrite, his supporters say. But even apologies haven't kept Crumpler from sparking more turmoil.

The newest saga began with his visit to Rattley's house. Shortly thereafter, Crumpler, Rattley and several several state and local NAACP officials met to discuss the situation.

During that January meeting, it was suggested that Crumpler get some sensitivity training, Rattley said. NAACP officials also asked that Crumpler write them a letter, which he said he sent.

Somewhere along the way, Crumpler and Paul C. Gillis, president of the state NAACP, made an agreement that the dealer would make $100,000 in donations to black organizations in Hampton Roads, if he keeps the dealership. Gillis wrote a letter of appreciation to Crumpler.

The agreement has been criticized by at least one local NAACP president, who says it looks like a ``payoff.''

``I don't want to get into that,'' said Crumpler, refusing to discuss the NAACP's spat. ``I don't want him (Gillis) to be mad at me.''

Crumpler said he has taken black leaders' advice. He has hired a Newport News consultant to give him sensitivity training, he said.

On Friday, witnesses said Crumpler may have been hard-nosed, hard-working and sometimes temperamental - but never heartless.

Raeford Eure, a local Shriner, said Crumpler has often donated the use of his Cessna 337 aircraft so the organization could take children with deformities and injuries to hospitals for treatment.

Longtime customer William H. Hunt, a shipbuilding specialist from Newport News, said he frequently chatted with Crumpler about improving his diet - with lots of vegetables. Hunt is black.

In the '70s, Hunt said, he had spotted the sparkling new blue sports car that he craved on Crumpler's dealership. A salesman quickly informed Hunt that the swank automobile belonged to Crumpler.

``He looked at me and he looked at the car,'' Hunt said. ``I know he didn't want to give it up, but he did.''

``I think if he was a racist, he wouldn't have sold me his blue 280-Z,'' he said.

Nissan's attorneys had tried to show that Crumpler had an abnormal amount of dissatisfied customers. But on Friday, Newton Gresham, a Nissan manager who handled consumer complaints from 1992-93, said Crumpler's dealerships ``had more than some'' and ``less than others.''

At the time, Crumpler also operated a Portsmouth dealership, which has since been sold.

And Joe Kelly, the Crumpler employee who decided to leave dead rats as a going-away present for a former sales manager, said he acted alone. A witness claimed Thursday that Crumpler had paid Kelly to dump the rats.

``I was not given $20 to put anything under the seat of that car,'' Kelly said. ``I had planned that for a few days.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]

Bob Crumpler KEYWORDS: HEARING DISCRIMINATION RACE BOB CRUMPLER

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