THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Monday, September 12, 1994             TAG: 9409120047
SECTION: LOCAL                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 
DATELINE: RICHMOND                           LENGTH: Short :   50 lines

ADVISER APOLOGIZES FOR USING RACIAL SLUR HE SAYS HE DID NOT KNOW ``WETBACK'' IS A DEROGATORY TERM FOR HISPANICS.

An adviser to Gov. George F. Allen has apologized to Virginia Secretary of Transportation Robert E. Martinez for referring to some members of the state's road crews as ``wetbacks.''

Martinez and Hispanic community leaders were angered by the remark by Walter E. Barbee, whom Allen appointed to the executive committee of a strike force reshaping state government. Barbee is also the head of the Family Foundation in Springfield, a conservative group that opposes abortion, gay rights and sex education.

Barbee used the term while discussing state contracting with private businesses at a recent public meeting. Barbee commented that he had noticed trash pickup crews along the roads had plenty of ``wetbacks on the job.''

Members of Martinez's staff returned from the meeting and told him about the remark.

``I had not been pleased when I heard about the comment,'' Martinez said last week. ``It's very derogatory, obviously.''

Martinez called Allen's office to complain. The governor's chief of staff, Jay Timmons, called Barbee. He promptly apologized, saying he didn't realize the word is an ethnic slur.

``It just really didn't cross my mind,'' Barbee said. ``Unfortunately, my political correctness indoctrination training hadn't proceeded to the right level. It has now.''

The expression ``wetback'' originated as a reference to Mexicans who illegally enter the United States by swimming or wading the Rio Grande.

Martinez said he accepted Barbee's apology and believes he meant no harm. ``A lot of people from certain parts of the state just haven't known a lot of Hispanics,'' he said. ``He was clearly upset and very concerned that he didn't mean to insult me or Hispanics.''

Jose Santaballa, chairman of the Republican Hispanic Assembly of Virginia, said that while he doesn't consider Barbee prejudiced, ``I'm extremely perturbed that Walt used that phrase because it's extremely inappropriate to call these people wetbacks.''

``Wetback way back in the '50s and '60s may have been the word, but it's very derogatory and totally uncalled for,'' Santaballa said. ``These people deserve to be treated like human beings.'' by CNB