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

DATE: FRIDAY, March 22, 1991                   TAG: 9103220949
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A/1   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

LAWMAKER WAGES OWN WAR ON CRIME

A would-be stickup artist got a rude surprise when he picked on a Colorado congressman.

Democratic Rep. Ben Nighthorse Campbell was returning to his Capitol Hill apartment from a grocery trip Wednesday night when he was approached by a man with his hand in his jacket.

"Give me your money, I have a .45," said the man.

"Let's see the gun," Campbell said. The assailant, who evidently had been bluffing, hit Campbell in the face.

The congressman, who was a member of the 1964 U.S. Olympic judo squad, hit back. A brief round of fisticuffs ended with the would-be robber outrunning Campbell's effort to give chase.

"I found out in one fell swoop I wasn't a 28-year-old judo champ anymore," said Campbell, who tore ligaments in his ankle and wound up on crutches. "I found out I'm a 58-year-old, out-of-shape congressman."

But he took satisfaction from the outcome all the same. "He didn't get my peanut butter and jelly."

by CNB