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

DATE: THURSDAY, December 23, 1993                   TAG: 9312250118
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-8   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

PANEL COVERS WIDE RANGE

When the Montgomery County Human Relations Council asked the supervisors for money six months ago it had 21 members. Since then three more groups have joined.

Its members represent government, law enforcement, religious and special-interest groups.

The membership includes representatives of: the Montgomery, Blacksburg and Christiansburg governments; the county schools, the Sheriff's Department; the Christiansburg and Blacksburg police departments; the two chambers of commerce; Virginia Tech's Cranwell International Center for foreign students; the Montgomery NAACP; the Blacksburg and Christiansburg ministerial associations; Tech's student affairs office; the county Human Services Council; the Tech campus ministeries; the League of Women Voters; and the Montgomery branch of the National Organization for Women.

The Human Relations Council also includes representatives of four ``communities'': Asian, Jewish, Muslim, gay and lesbian and the disabled.

Though the specific ``community'' organizations are not named in the list given to the Board of Supervisors, they include an Asian student group from Tech and the New River Valley Islamic Society, Schroeder said.

by CNB