
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, March 29, 1990                   TAG: 9003290717
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B8   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                                LENGTH: Short

PANEL WANTS GUARD EXCLUDED AT GREEKFEST

The National Guard should be excluded from plans to oversee crowds during this year's Labor Day weekend, says a city subcommittee drafting a law enforcement strategy for the weekend.

"It's the subcommittee's feeling that they would create more problems than they would settle," said Linwood S. Branch, co-chairman of a security subcommittee helping to plan the September weekend.

Branch said Wednesday that using the National Guard for crowd control could send a negative message to young blacks who resented heavy police preparations for last year's end-of-summer Greekfest that erupted in clashes between young blacks and police.

The report was delivered with others to the full Labor Day Community Coordination Committee, a 70-member volunteer body overseeing programming, security, private investment and other aspects of this year's event.

All plans for the three-day weekend ultimately must be approved by Mayor Meyera E. Oberndorf and the City Council, which appointed the planning panel.

- Associated Press

by CNB