Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 13, 1990 TAG: 9006130584
SECTION: NATL PAGE: A/1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER, RON BROWN and LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Police estimate that at least a dozen cars have been pelted by the crowds that have congregated along the street at night.
"We are concerned about a very difficult situation, but we do not believe it is an emergency situation," Taylor said after an afternoon meeting with city officials.
Police want to try to curb the violence as quickly as possible, he said, but they do not believe the situation requires emergency measures. Some businessmen in the area have discussed asking for a curfew.
Taylor said racial tension does not seem to underlie the violence, although the drivers of several of the cars that have been pelted are white.
"I was concerned about whether there might be some racial unrest I was not aware of," Taylor said.
"I tried to get fair and factual information. From what I understand, this is not believed to be a racial matter, although there is no denying the drivers of the cars have been white."
Taylor's findings conflict with statements made earlier by Police Chief M. David Hooper.
"I think it's pretty clear" that the attacks are racially motivated, Hooper said. "There have been no cars rocked or bottled where the driver was black."
Although some businessmen and residents in the area agree that race seems to be an initial reason for targeting motorists, they say there are many other factors involved. Among those cited are the influence of peer pressure and a crowd mentality spurred by alcohol and drug use.
Taylor said he has driven through the area several times recently, including Tuesday morning, and has seen whites and blacks socializing.
"I realize the incidents have occurred at night, but I have not seen any evidence of racial tension during the day," Taylor said.
The mayor said he's aware there has been a drug problem in the area. About a year ago, some businessmen contacted him about the illegal drug activity and he said he relayed the concerns to city police.
Dave Pannell, who has owned Dave's Grocery for almost nine years, said a lack of entertainment for youth spurs the problem.
"Ninety percent of the crowd that is out there isn't doing anything wrong," he said. "They don't have anything to do."
Pannell said most of those teen-agers either cruise by in their cars, park in nearby lots or simply stand around talking, dancing or listening to music.
"This is the place they are doing it now. The next month it may be somewhere else. I have dealt with a different set of people every year that I have been here. The crowd moves."
Pannell blames parents for much of the trouble.
"If you are a mother or father, where is your child at 4 o'clock in the morning?" he asked. "There is nothing for a teen-age child down here at 4 o'clock in the morning. They are coming from all over Roanoke. The people from down here are good, respectable, law-abiding people."
Some of the teen-agers are getting older people to buy them beer, Pannell said.
Authorities have cited Tasty's, a Caribbean restaurant on Moorman Road Northwest, as part of the problem.
Tuesday, a new administrative charge was filed by the Alcohol Beverage Control Board against the restaurant's owner, Trevor Bradford.
Jack Powell, assistant special agent in charge of the Roanoke ABC office, said Bradford is accused of allowing an intoxicated person to loiter in the establishment about 1:30 a.m. Saturday.
City police, some in riot helmets and carrying batons, were called to 11th Street to break up a crowd early Saturday, when at least one car was struck by a bottle thrown by a teen-ager.
Bradford's on- and off-premises beer license could be suspended or revoked if he is found in violation.
He still faces earlier administrative charges of allowing disorderly conduct and allowing intoxicating persons to loiter after he and his wife were convicted in April of assaulting law-enforcement officers.
An ABC agent, a city patrol officer and a vice officer were assaulted after they started checking IDs in the establishment.
But in an interview Tuesday, Bradford said he knew nothing of those charges.
Bradford says he has tried to report problems with the crowds on many occasions, but that police seem unwilling to respond unless a police officer is hit by a bottle.
And, he says, he has no control over crowds that gather nearby.
"What happens on 11th Street, it does not have anything to do with what happens in the Caribbean restaurant," he said.
Police, on the other hand, maintain that Bradford's business is a key drawing point for the crowds and note that he has been charged with criminal offenses and violations of the license to sell alcohol.
Bradford, a Jamaican, says he has been discriminated against by a drug-eradication effort dubbed Operation Caribbean Sunset, aimed at Jamaican and Haitian drug dealers who authorities say have infiltrated Roanoke.
"They think that I'm not able to run a legitimate business," he said.
Staff writers JoAnne Poindexter and Deborah Evans contributed information to this story.
by CNB