Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, October 29, 1994 TAG: 9410310034
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: STEPHEN FOSTER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
The man Virginia Tech hired last spring to be its spokesman for the "smart highway" project says he had "no inkling" he would be asked to take the helm of the project's research center. The invitation came this week when its leader stepped aside during a state police embezzlement investigation.
Nevertheless, Ray Pethtel, a former state highway commissioner hired in May as University Transportation Fellow, said that, as the interim director for the Center for Transportation Research, he would "move forward ... kind of aggressively" with its smart road pursuits.
Pethtel was shuttled into the directorship Wednesday after Antoine Hobeika, who had headed the center since its birth eight years ago, temporarily resigned to avoid jeopardizing Tech's smart road aims. A state police investigation into a sale of computer software developed at Tech for the federal government turned up a $2,500 check made out to Hobeika from the Hong Kong Port Authority.
Hobeika, who also is the subject of an internal university audit scrutinizing the sale of the intellectual property and how it relates to scholarly conduct, has not been charged and remains on the faculty.
In interviews Thursday and Friday, Pethtel acknowledged that the timing of the resignation made it imperative that the center have a leader immediately. Hobeika stepped down less than three weeks after Tech learned it was part of a General Motors-led consortium that won a $150million federal grant for smart road and "smart car" research.
With the doubled-up responsibility for promoting Tech's and the state's desire to build a technology test bed that eventually will serve as a bypass between Blacksburg and Roanoke, Pethtel said he wouldn't be caught unprepared.
"I've never been a caretaker in any job I've ever had," said Pethtel, who served from 1986-94 as commissioner of the Virginia Department of Transportation and before that as director of the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission with the General Assembly for 12 years. "I'm not an outsider coming in brand new."
Tech stands to see $12million to $20million placed in its research coffers once the GM-led consortium decides how to divvy up the money, Pethtel said. That money could double the research funds the center has now. Tech also is maneuvering for a spot alongside the consortium's nine general partners.
For now, though, Pethtel said he was working to get to know the people and projects at the center. He said Hobeika had asked him previously to take a greater leadership role with the smart road project, though of Hobeika's resignation: "I had no inkling that was coming."
Though he spoke of developing a "strategic assessment" for the center's future, he shied away from questions about whether he might take over permanently.
"It's not even an issue," he said. "I was very happy doing what I was doing as transportation fellow," a two-year appointment.
"My charge from the university ... is to not only continue the [center's] operations but move forward, if necessary," on an interim basis, he said.
"We're not going to change the vision of the center," he said. "It's at a critical juncture right now. People have said to me, 'that smart road - it's down the tube.' It's not down the tube.
"I'm not going to concede that [Hobeika's] not going to be able to return. I have a great deal of professional respect [for Hobeika]. He's a friend," Pethtel said. "I understand why he chose to step down ... "
The university and state police reported no new developments in their investigations Friday. "We've got a lot of work to do on this," said Lee Bradley, a state police special agent with the Bureau of Criminal Investigations.
Leonard Peters, vice provost for research and one of Hobeika's bosses, said Hobeika is expected to provide an explanation for the allegations against him "in a week or so. He needed some time and opportunity to review the allegations and some time to address them," Peters said. He would not comment on possible allegations not made public.
by CNB