ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times

DATE: Monday, April 7, 1997                  TAG: 9704070115
SECTION: VIRGINIA                 PAGE: C-3  EDITION: METRO 
                                             TYPE: NEWS OBIT 
SOURCE: JON CAWLEY THE ROANOKE TIMES
STAFF WRITER JOHN WARREN CONTRIBUTED INFORMATION TO THIS STORY.
   
   He was a Navy veteran, police chief and town council member. Lastly, 
though, Harry Hood is remembered for his courage in the face of an impending 
death.
   
   A Buchanan town council member and former police chief died Saturday in a 
Roanoke hospital after a nine-month fight against cancer.
   Harry Lawrence Hood died of lung cancer at Carilion Roanoke Community 
Hospital two days after he was admitted for complications from the disease. He
was 62.
   Hood was a motorcycle aficionado and had raced Harley Davidsons in his 
younger days, his wife, Shirley Hood, said Sunday. Hood was diagnosed with 
cancer after a trip the couple took on their Honda to Williamsburg in July.
   Politics drove him from the police department, and his retirement from the 
police department in turn led him into politics.
   As anyone who frequented Main Street in Buchanan would attest, his old Jeep
Scrambler was often situated in front of Town Hall. Shirley Hood said her 
husband had remained active on council until three months ago, when his 
illness prevented him from attending council meetings. 
   Until three weeks ago, she said, he believed he would beat the cancer.
   At the time of his death, Hood still held his council position, as well as 
post and district commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars. "He had thought 
about giving [the positions] up because of the illness, but just couldn't 
bring himself to do it," Shirley Hood said. "Then the illness just took over 
so fast. He just couldn't beat it."
   Hood first served as a Buchanan patrol officer under Sgt. Carl Delp. When 
Delp left the force, Hood was made chief of police - a position created for 
him in Buchanan. 
   Hood resigned after a prolonged imbroglio with town council's police 
committee. After a politically charged election, the newly appointed committee
assumed control of much of the department's operation.
   "He got tired of the hassle and just quit," Shirley Hood said.
   A period of constant - and much publicized - tumult was to follow over the 
next several years. At various points, a town police car was trashed, and town
hall was stormed after a radar-happy town officer was accused of driving 
business away.
   The town police department dissolved about three years ago, with the 
Botetourt County Sheriff's Department assuming control on a contract basis. 
Hood - who once weighed a run for county sheriff - was council's most 
outspoken opponent of the move, saying the town should maintain its own police
department.
   Buchanan vice mayor Tom Middlecamp, a close friend of Hood's, said the 
three-term councilman served with common sense and a dry wit.
   Hood would often use that sense of humor to lighten meetings, Middlecamp 
said. "He knew when to turn it on and turn it off.
   "I knew he went through a lot of suffering [with the cancer] but I never 
heard him complain," Middlecamp said.
   Hood, who served in the Navy, will be buried Wednesday at Fair View 
Cemetery with full military honors.

BUCHANAN COUNCIL MEMBER, EX-POLICE CHIEF DIES AT 62 RESIGNATION FROM POLICE FORCE KICKED OFF A PERIOD OF MUCH-PUBLICIZED CONTROVERSY

LENGTH: Medium:   66 lines