DATE: Tuesday, October 14, 1997             TAG: 9710140237

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: At Issue 

SOURCE: BY LOUIS HANSEN, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: SUFFOLK                           LENGTH:   95 lines

DESPITE DROP IN JUVENILE CRIME, SOME ARE NOT CONVINCED

Billy Twine Sr. had just stopped at home to pick up some materials to fix his friend's porch. He climbed into his pickup on the way back to the site.

Two young men sauntered toward him in the middle of Causey Avenue.

Billy Twine was about to be mugged for the first time.

``It really did something to me,'' said Twine, 62, a retired Air Force veteran.

``I gave 21 years of my life for those people - it was for their freedom. What are they doing with it? It kills me.''

He reflected on the early-August incident from a high-back chair in his tidy living room, in the middle-class Lakeside neighborhood where he has lived for 21 years. He and his wife, Lottie, reared their son, Billy Jr., and daughter, Sheree, in downtown Suffolk.

Although statistics show that juvenile crime in South Hampton dropped 19 percent from 1995 to 1996, the Twines are not convinced.

``It's getting worse all the time - anywhere you live,'' said the younger Twine, 30, who lives a few miles away from his father, on Chestnut Street.

The elder Twine bought his Causey Avenue home because he could walk to the market or doctor's office as he grew older. It was a long commute to his job in Surry with the Virginia Department of Transportation, but his parents lived in the neighborhood.

But the downtown landscape has changed, and haberdasheries and professional offices shuttered almost as quickly as the residents left for better-heeled, sprawling new suburban developments.

Although there have been some suspicious characters, some vandalism and the occasional slashed tire, crime had not hit Twine personally until early August.

Two young men, ages 17 and 18, approached Twine and demanded money from him as he strapped himself into the seat of his pickup.

Twine refused. The two began to punch and kick him.

He managed to drive off, without surrendering his money.

``I was so mad, instead of pulling out and going to the police, I kind of tempted these guys,'' he said. ``I went after these guys.''

Minutes later, just a few blocks from his house, he saw them again. They carried 2-by-4s, and Twine and the teens had a second violent confrontation.

He shouldn't have done it, he admitted. ``Those fellows could have had a gun or a knife.''

Neighbors called the police, and Twine, despite some deep bruises, insisted on going back to his friend's house to finish work on the porch.

On the way there with his son, Twine spotted the pair for the third time, in front of a convenience store. His son jumped out of the truck and chased the teens over a fence.

Suffolk police, alerted by the store manager, captured the pair quickly.

The 17-year-old has been sentenced to 12 months in a juvenile detention center, and the older defendant is awaiting trial in late October.

Billy Twine Jr. said the experience has changed him. He drives to his parents' house almost every day, checking to see that everything is OK.

``The younger generation has changed - they've gotten bolder,'' he said.

The older Twine still wonders why it happened. He has changed his habits.

``When I walk out of the house, I have pepper spray in my pocket,'' he said. ``My trust in the . . . people around me has been disturbed.'' CANDIDATES RESPOND

Billy Twine Sr.'s question: What can the state do to stop crime in middle-class, urban neighborhoods?

Donald S. Beyer Jr.

We need more eyes and ears in our neighborhoods to prevent crime. I will continue to support the Community Oriented Policing program we funded this year to put 1,000 more community police officers on the streets. I support citizens' efforts to look out for each other, such as Neighborhood Watch. I will enact community notification, requiring neighborhoods to be notified when a sex offender moves in and will make sure there is zero tolerance for drugs in schools.

James S. Gilmore III: Making our neighborhoods safer will be a top priority of mine.

My 21-point anti-crime plan will reduce crime throughout Virginia. One way I will reduce crime is to put approximately 350 new police officers on the streets. This will reduce the ratio of deputies to citizens from 2,000 to 1 to 1,500 to 1.

Second, I will permit no backsliding on the abolition of parole. We must continue to make sure criminals serve their time.

I will also place more restrictions on out-of-state parolees coming to Virginia. To fight drugs, I will conduct anti-drug programs in middle schools, make Virginia's ``Drug Kingpin'' statute more effective, and make it a separate crime to employ a minor to distribute drugs. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by John H. Sheally II

When Billy Twine Sr., left, was mugged in his middle-class...

Photos

Beyer

Gilmore KEYWORDS: ELECTION

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