ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Wednesday, January 3, 1996             TAG: 9601030072
SECTION: VIRGINIA                 PAGE: C-3  EDITION: METRO 
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: Associated Press 

PANEL DELAYS DECISION ON ASHE STATUE

The Richmond Planning Commission decided Tuesday to consider an international competition to design a statue of tennis star Arthur Ashe, despite having earlier approved a work by a Richmond artist.

The commission gave preliminary approval six months ago to Paul Di Pasquale's design for a statue on Monument Avenue, a boulevard studded with sculptures of Confederate heroes. Tuesday's meeting was called for a vote on minor changes in the design, which shows Ashe wearing a sweat suit, holding a racket and books, and surrounded by children.

But the commission heard from a number of people in the Richmond arts community who said the statue wasn't appropriate or of sufficient quality.

The commission decided to delay its decision for two months until it can see a final version of Di Pasquale's statue with a redesign that shows Ashe interacting more closely with the children. The delay also will give the arts community time to come up with a plan for a design competition.

The vote was 6-1 with two abstentions to delay the approval of Di Pasquale's design.

``The commission can do what they want to do,'' Di Pasquale said after the vote. ``The decision to accept the statue was made in April. I thought they were still accepting it. Now it's as if we were starting from ground zero.''

Commission member Terone B. Green was initially opposed to any delay, urging the group to approve the design and put the matter to rest. But he changed his mind once it became clear the commission wanted to put a statue of Ashe on Monument Avenue, just not necessarily Di Pasquale's work.

``It's apparent a lot of individuals don't like the current statue,'' Green said. ``You have to delineate those who don't like it and those who don't want it on Monument Avenue. As an African-American, that's an important distinction. There should be a statue of Arthur Ashe on Monument Avenue, and there are going to be a lot of African-Americans fighting for that.''

Tuesday's discussion was sparked by an opinion piece by Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe, widow of the tennis star, in Monday's Richmond Times-Dispatch. She wrote that Ashe thought the statue would stand in front of an African-American Sports Hall of Fame he proposed for Richmond.

LENGTH: Medium:   52 lines
ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO:  AP. Artist Paul DiPasquale (far left) explains to the 
          Richmond Planning Commission his conception of a revised Arthur Ashe
          monument. The panel may scratch DiPasquale's plan and hold an 
          international competition to design the monument (ran on C-1). 
          color.