HIS PLEA WAS HEARD

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

DATE: FRIDAY, January 10, 1992                   TAG: 9201100314
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-1   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: KEVIN KITTREDGE NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG                                LENGTH: Medium
HIS PLEA WAS HEARD
When the governor asked James "Sarge" Sargent to stand up Wednesday before a statewide television audience, his maintenance-shop buddies felt somebody'd finally noticed.
The last time Sargent and his fellow workers at the state Transportation Department got a raise was in July 1989.
Since then, they say, repeated insurance rate increases and other expenses have whittled their paychecks to a whisper.
Not that there was much to begin with.
"I make a lot less than $20,000 a year," said Sargent, a mechanic who supports a wife and 9-year-old son.
Sargent had written a letter to Gov. Douglas Wilder more than a year ago about the life of a working man with a frozen paycheck, facing rising insurance costs.
He figured it was long forgotten by the governor - he has even misplaced his own copy - when the governor's press office called him this week and invited him to visit.
"I figured it would hit the trash," Sargent said of his letter.
Instead, Sargent and his family were whisked from the Transportation Department maintenance shed in Christiansburg on Wednesday to the governor's office in Richmond, driven by state police car. Sargent - who can't even afford a telephone - assumed that his own 1969 Plymouth would never make the trip.
In Richmond, the Sargents ate pizza at state expense and chatted with the governor for the better part of an hour. Later they were led to a VIP area in the House of Delegates chamber to hear the governor's speech.
"I talked to senators," said Sargent. "I talked to dignitaries." He put in a word for his buddies at the shop whenever he could.
Finally, as the governor gave his State of the Commonwealth address, the bearded Pilot resident even heard a part of his rough-hewn letter - which was co-signed by his friends at VDOT - read in Wilder's speech.
"Mr. Sargent, representing himself and 23 other state employees, wrote me a very heartfelt letter that I'd like to read from tonight," said the governor.
Wilder went on to read a portion of Sargent's letter in which the mechanic argued that insurance premiums should be frozen along with wages.
Wilder noted that a state worker with a $19,000 salary faces an additional $73-a-month deduction for insurance unless something is done. "Our state employees deserve a fair shake, and we must insulate them from these insurance-premium increases," the governor said. "We will do so."
The governor even had Sargent stand up and be recognized.
Sargent did not stay in Richmond after the governor's speech - "I didn't want to use up any more money than I had to," he said - and was returned to his home about 1 a.m. Thursday.
But it had been a big day for the Wise County native and his co-workers, who said Thursday that they believe they and other low-level state workers are being asked to bear the brunt of Virginia's budget woes.
"The fact they actually gave us some consideration was incredible," said Bob Royce, one of Sargent's co-workers. "I think it blew more people away than us when the governor asked Sarge to stand up."
"I still can't believe it," said another co-worker, Calvin Richardson.
"It's great for morale," said Royce.
Dan Brugh, the Transportation Department's resident engineer in Christiansburg, said he supports Sargent's right to speak his mind.
"I think he expresses the sentiments of many state employees, not just Transportation [Department] people," said Brugh. "I didn't have any problem with the letter."
Sargent, who has worked at the Transportation Department for four years, said it was the first letter he had written to the governor since he was assigned to do so in school. The 35-year-old mechanic is a graduate of Pulaski County High School.
Sargent said he always has spoken his mind, and won't hesitate to write the governor again if he feels the need.
He is in no hurry to go back to Richmond, however.
"Everything's stacked on top of each other," Sargent said of the state's capital city. "It's not my kind of place to be."

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB