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

DATE: TUESDAY, March 9, 1993                   TAG: 9303090232
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C3   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE                                LENGTH: Short

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VETERAN DELEGATE RETIRING

Del. Thomas Forehand has announced he will step down from his General Assembly seat this year after 14 years as a lawmaker.

Forehand, a Democrat, has endorsed Chesapeake City Councilman Lionell Spruill Sr. to succeed him in the 77th District, a black-majority area since redistricting in 1991. Spruill, 46, a telephone company technician, launched his campaign Saturday.

Spruill is expected to be challenged for the Democratic nomination by Willa Bazemore, a 68-year-old former City Council member who lost a bid to unseat Forehand two years ago.

Two other people also have expressed an interest in representing the district, which stretches from Chesapeake through South Norfolk to downtown Suffolk.

Eileen Olds, a 35-year-old Chesapeake attorney, has said she plans to seek the Democratic nomination. Curtis Alexander, 51, a college professor who has written books on African culture, said he will run as an independent.

All the known potential candidates are black, and that is as it should be, said Forehand, who is white.

"When the new black majority districts were drawn, the long-range plan was that African-Americans would have the majority view as to who should represent them, ultimately an African-American," he said.

Keywords:
POLITICS

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