ROANOKE TIMES

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

DATE: SUNDAY, August 7, 1994                   TAG: 9408080055
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: E1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By RICHARD FOSTER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium


FORUM FOCUSES ON CRIME

Rep. Bob Goodlatte and state Sen. Brandon Bell held a neighborhood watch meeting for Roanoke on Saturday morning at the Roanoke City Council Chambers.

The two Republicans hosted a three-hour crime conference for their constituents, who were invited to sound off about pending local and federal crime legislation, particularly Gov. George Allen's proposed abolition of parole and President Clinton's crime bill.

The conference also included a Salem police officer who offered crime prevention tips and an assistant commonwealth's attorney from Rockingham County who discussed victims' rights.

"Clearly, crime is one of our country's most critical issues, particularly as violent crime continues to run rampant," Goodlatte said. "This conference is designed to pull together the ideas and experiences of families, law enforcement and elected officials to discuss not only what is being done, but what needs to be done to fight crime."

About 50 people showed up at the conference. Though some sported Oliver North stickers and Republican Party buttons, many attended because they were victims of violent crime and wanted to be heard.

Dara Jilla, who owns a Roanoke carpet business, came because he was frustrated with local law enforcement officials.

Jilla was hit in the head with an aluminum baseball bat two years ago by a man who robbed his office. He said Roanoke police never made an arrest and never answered him when he asked about the progress of their investigation.

Two months ago, a man threatened Jilla in front of his house in Bedford County. Jilla said he triggered his security alarm, but the Bedford County Sheriff's Office refused to dispatch an officer.

Don Hendrick of Vinton claimed that he and members of his family have been robbed in Bedford County and Roanoke more than 30 times. He said that Roanoke police, City Council members and Bedford sheriff's deputies have ignored his family's pleas for help.

Billy Zollman, an elderly Roanoke man, showed Goodlatte the portable electronic siren he wears to ward off attackers. Zollman said he had been robbed and seriously assaulted in his neighborhood twice in 10 years.

The congressman took information from Jilla and Hendrick but said there was nothing he could do to intervene with local police.

Angela Hochmeister, the assistant commonwealth's attorney who spoke about victim's rights, told the men, "Legally, ... if all of your officials are turning a deaf ear, there's not a lot you can do. But officials are elected, folks."

As for Zollman, Salem senior police officer J. David Rorer took his number and offered to help him get in touch with neighborhood watch organizers.

Generally, the speakers agreed there was not a lot that could be done about past crime. Instead, they focused on preventing and deterring crime in the future.

Bell tried to rally support for Allen's plan to abolish parole. Allen will present the plan Aug. 19, and state lawmakers will vote on it Sept. 19 at a special legislative session.

Bell said the money that will have to be spent on housing more convicts if parole is abolished would be offset by the savings taxpayers would realize when repeat crimes by paroled offenders are eliminated.

Generally, audience reaction to the parole-abolition plan was favorable.

When Bell mentioned the recently passed "three strikes and you're out" law - which sentences some criminals to life without parole for their third felony - audience member Stuart Wamsley called out, "One strike and you ought to be exterminated!"

Goodlatte rallied the crowd against the Clinton crime bill. A member of the House Judiciary Committee, Goodlatte said he finds the final draft of the crime bill unacceptable.

He said the real solution to crime is swifter justice, tougher prisons and longer actual prison sentences, none of which the Clinton crime bill would accomplish, he said.

Goodlatte criticized the bill as a thinly disguised jobs bill. He said it would create $33 billion in federal spending for new government agencies and social programs such as midnight basketball leagues to keep people off the streets who are at risk of committing crimes.

The Roanoke congressman also came down hard on the Clinton administration's proposed ban of 19 semiautomatic weapons, which is included in the crime bill.

"This bill affects the rights of law-abiding citizens who hunt and have guns for self-defense, while not restricting guns from the hands of criminals who can find 650 other [semiautomatic] guns that perform the same way."



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