DATE: Wednesday, November 19, 1997          TAG: 9711190050
SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E6   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY ALEXIS SMITH, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   64 lines

BEACH HANDWRITING FIRM WILL BE FEATURED ON TV SHOW

A VIRGINIA BEACH handwriting analysis company will be featured on tonight's episode of ``American Scientific Frontiers: Beyond Science,'' which airs at 9 on WHRO.

The program will focus on non-traditional skills that are available to people beyond the realm of science and explore what is fact and what is fiction.

Datagraph Inc., the Beach company, will be one of several areas of interest addressed by the program. Others include therapeutic touch, dowsing, the Roswell UFO crash and the possibility of building free energy machines.

Datagraph chairman Jack Donovan is excited about the national exposure the show will afford his 20-year project.

``I'm ecstatic and hopeful that the program may break down doors and show we have a scientific product to market,'' he said. ``I think the uniqueness of this program will show these skills being used frequently and that they work.''

The theory behind handwriting analysis is that when a person takes pen in hand, his or her conscious, subconscious and unconscious combine to portray a personality on paper, which then reveals a history of the psyche.

Such analysis becomes useful in employee hirings and criminal investigations, which comprise the bulk of Datagraph's work with companies across the United States.

To help prove that the program is reliable, Datagraph contracted two years ago with John B. Nezlek, research institute director and professor at the College of William and Mary, to conduct a study that would scientifically validate its methods.

The study was conducted with William & Mary students taking a standardized personality test. The students then provided samples of their handwriting to Datagraph for analysis.

The two were compared by examining 14 basic personality traits to determine how accurate the Datagraph system was.

The testing began in 1996 and Nezlek issued a preliminary report in August saying that ``the results of the testing suggested that the Datagraph Shanan system does provide descriptions of individuals' personalities and I would encourage more testing. The results were very encouraging.''

Armed with those scholarly findings, Donovan and his associate, Dixon Ogden, flew to Boulder, Colo., hoping to lend their skills to the JonBenet Ramsey murder case.

Donovan told the Boulder police, ``If we affect an arrest and conviction, pay us, if not, you'll never see us again.''

Their efforts were spurned, however, by John Eller, chief of detectives and chief investigator, who told Donovan he had no administrative procedures to use their services, thereby rejecting their offer.

But Donovan does not give up easily. He obtained samples of handwriting that were submitted of the ransom note and a sample of Patsy Ramsey's handwriting.

Donovan hopes to compare his company's analyses to the profile of the killer created by John Douglas.

John Douglas is the retired chief of the FBI's Investigative Support Unit and a profiler that was hired by the Ramseys to investigate the case.

Meanwhile, Donovan is hoping that tonight's program will earn Datagraph greater respect and quite a few more believers.

After two decades of research and development, he's happy that viewers will have a chance to render their own opinions.

``Then we can begin to aggressively market our product, the next goal,'' Donovan said.

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