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

DATE: SUNDAY, June 17, 1990                   TAG: 9006170041
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: D5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

ROANOKE VALLEY DRUG TASK FORCE BEGINS ITS WORK

One of the biggest challenges facing the newly appointed Drug and Alcohol Abuse Council will be convincing the Roanoke Valley that the entire area has a significant drug problem, one member said Friday at the council's first meeting.

"I feel very strongly that our valley has been in denial," said Bob Lynn of Lewis-Gale Hospital's alcohol and drug treatment program.

"Hopefully we are emerging." he said. "But there are certain parts of the community that I feel have a very strong denial problem."

Philip Trompeter, a Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court judge who is heading the 32-member council, took issue in his opening statements with a recent Roanoke Times & World-News editorial suggesting that the city is losing its war against drugs.

"Whether we lose it or win it, it is our collective responsibility to the community to show that efforts can be made to make a difference," Trompeter said.

Formation of the council, whose members were appointed by City Manager Robert Herbert, is one of the key recommendations made last year by a task force that studied the drug problem in Roanoke.

The council now will attempt to follow through on as many as possible of the more than 50 recommendations in the task force study.

"The original task force did not want this study to just stay on the shelf," said Director of Human Resources James Ritchie.

The makeup of the council crosses all segments of the Roanoke Valley - including law enforcement, educators, businessmen, the clergy, drug treatment specialists, civic groups and local-government administrators.

Included on the council is Dr. Carol Gilbert, director of the trauma program at Roanoke Memorial Hospital. "There's not a day that I don't make my rounds and deal with a victim of drugs or alcohol," Gilbert said.

The council will form subcommittees to deal with prevention, enforcement, treatment, public information and legislative issues.

Although the council's meeting Friday was mainly organizational, comments by members gave some insight into the uphill battle they face.

"I spent the last two decades watching the drug problem develop, and I hope to see in the next two decades something done about it," said Roanoke Police Chief M. David Hooper.

by CNB