DATE: Saturday, November 22, 1997           TAG: 9711220360

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS

DATELINE: RICHMOND                          LENGTH:   43 lines

VIRGINIA IMMOBILIZES CARS OF DEADBEATS WHO IGNORE CHILD SUPPORT ``BOOTS'' PAINTED BLUE AND PINK ARE PLACED ON VEHICLES IN LATEST CRACKDOWN.

Virginia's latest crackdown on parents who fail to pay child support could leave dozens of deadbeat dads and moms going nowhere fast.

The program involves placing metal ``boots'' on cars to immobilize the vehicles of child-support debtors until they agree to a payment schedule.

The car-booting program, launched in the past few weeks, also has a color theme. The steel boots are painted blue and pink - to remind parents of their neglected sons and daughters.

``We're not going to put up with people failing to support their children,'' Robert C. Metcalf, state secretary of health and human resources, said Thursday.

The boot program can have an immediate impact.

On Wednesday, for example, an Alexandria man went into an office supply store. When he came out he found a blue boot clamped onto the front wheel of his car, officials said.

The man immediately went to the Fairfax child support office with $100 in cash, but he owes $7,000 in back payments. ``I needed to see that he was going to make a good-faith effort to pay up,'' said Loretta Swope, the local district manager.

She said the car-booting project is intended to get delinquent parents into a structured payment schedule. The Alexandria man's car was taken to a vehicle-impoundment lot.

``We're not here to take anybody's car or take their driver's license or boot their cars. We're just here to say, `Hey, you need to pay your child support,' '' Swope said. ``If someone owes $100,000, we're willing to make a payment arrangement. Just don't avoid us. We just want you to be responsible.''

In June, Gov. George Allen announced a statewide campaign to pursue the most egregious cases of child support deadbeats. Since then, the state has collected almost $10.1 million in back child support, and 211 people have been arrested. KEYWORDS: DEADBEAT PARENTS CHILD SUPPORT CAR-BOOTING

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