Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Ware says career is effort to fulfill God's special plan
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The latest from our Blue Ridge Caucus politics blog
From The Roanoke Times
Onzlee Ware
- Democrat
- Age: 53
- Occupation:Lawyer
- Education: Bachelor’s degree from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University; law degree from North Carolina Central School of Law
- Political experience: House of Delegates, 2004 to present
- Family: One daughter, one granddaughter
- Web site: www.onzleeware.com
Onzlee Ware was told from a young age that something special was planned for him.
He was born into a single-parent family and was sent to live with his aunt for three years. She, and later his schoolteachers, noticed he was a little different from other boys and told him God had something in mind.
But after Ware reached college, it looked for a while as if that wouldn't turn out to be the case. While a student at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University in Greensboro, N.C., Ware indulged in some "fast living," he said.
"I got involved with some guys who were involved with heroin, and they showed me how I could make a few dollars -- and I tried it," Ware said.
It caught up with him in September 1975, when officers from the Greensboro Police Department, based on an informant's tip, served a search warrant on Ware's house and car. According to court documents, officers found drug paraphernalia, marijuana and a tin foil packet with a white powder. Ware was charged with possession of heroin and marijuana. The charges were later dismissed after Ware became a police informant.
The arrest, he says now, was a "wake-up call from God."
"I realized God had something special for me to do," Ware said.
That was amplified a year later. Ware's identity as an informant came out in a federal court proceeding, and a day later Ware was "critically wounded by a shotgun blast," according to the prosecutor's dismissal form. He eventually lost his left leg due to the wound.
Ware hasn't spoken publicly about the charges since he moved to Roanoke in the mid-1980s, but earlier this month, one of his political enemies provided the case file numbers to The Roanoke Times on the condition that the source's name not be revealed. Last week the files were verified at the Guilford County Courthouse.
Ware's opponent in the race for the 11th House District is independent Mac McCadden, who said he was aware of Ware's history but chose not to use it politically. Still, he said the 32-year-old arrest should be considered by voters.
"I'm not questioning his qualifications to be in the General Assembly, but as a voter, it goes to credibility," McCadden said.
He argues that the arrest is part of a pattern that has affected Ware's representation of his district. McCadden said it showed in 2004, during a hot budget debate. When it came time for the critical vote, Ware was in Las Vegas on vacation; he flew back at the last minute and just barely made it in time. It showed again this year, McCadden said, when Ware "took a walk" rather than vote to oust a Portsmouth judge who a black delegate argued was racist.
But Ware doesn't think the 1975 arrest is relevant to the job of delegate, and he notes that he was not convicted of either charge.
"That is part of my life," Ware said. "But you can look yourself, anybody that knows me, can look and say, 32 years ago, 21 years old, what is he doing now?"
But he doesn't argue the experience hasn't shaped his life. It's become a motivation for him. Ware even asked doctors to leave the bullet -- he thinks it was from a .45-caliber weapon, not a shotgun -- in his body.
"I need to be, every now and then, able to reach back and grab my butt and remember where I was and how far I've come," Ware said. "It does remind me I've been blessed and I was saved for something. And Lord knows, here we are: I'm a member of the House of Delegates. And I do not believe God would bring me this far and allow that to be the end of it."
Ware also uses the incident when talking to troubled youth who may be dealing with similar problems.
"I think I lasted on the street as a 'hustler' hustler, probably six months," Ware said. "That's the story I tell -- without detail -- to young people: 'I've done what you've done. I really have. I know what you feel. But I also know where it's going to lead you.' "
Ware's troubles with drugs have also lent his perspective on political issues.
During the General Assembly session earlier this year, Del. Frank Hargrove, R-Hanover County, drew headlines when he questioned the need for a slavery apology, which the General Assembly was then debating and eventually passed. Blacks should "get over it," Hargrove told a reporter.
Ware responded that wasn't "the Frank Hargrove I know." A few days later, during his campaign kickoff, McCadden said Ware's comments were an attempt to "play both sides of the issue" and were "Uncle Tomish" in nature. McCadden now says his comments were misinterpreted.
"In my community what we consider to be an act of Uncle Tomism I think occurred, but in terms of the perception, I did not make a slur or call him a name," McCadden said. "I said the act was that way."
Ware's not buying that. "Uncle Tom" is a racial slur, he said, and it's "the worst thing one black man can call another black man."
As for Hargrove, he said the older delegate had given him advice and tips from his first days in the General Assembly. And Ware said he saw honest contrition in Hargrove's words and actions after his comments were made public.
"I believe in forgiveness," Ware said. "I believe in redemption."
Ware said his own past also factored into how he handled the placement of a methadone clinic in Northwest Roanoke.
He initially drew praise for sponsoring a bill that eventually became a law that prohibits methadone clinics from operating within a half-mile of schools and state-licensed child care centers throughout most of Virginia.
The law also requires state officials to notify local governments and community service boards of plans for methadone clinics within 15 days of receiving applications from prospective clinic operators.
But since the CRC Health Group clinic on Hershberger Road opened in early 2005, however, Ware has abandoned efforts to shut it down. He's also dating the clinic's director, Letitia Malone.
"My opposition has never been against treatment," Ware said. "I think prevention and also recovery is the answer, especially when they [addicts] go to jail. When they come out, if you don't address the situation, it's recidivism all over."
But his flip-flop has angered those who still want to close down the clinic.
"Onzlee sold the community out, as far as the methadone clinic goes," said Jeff Artis, a community activist who is president of the Roanoke chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
McCadden has attacked Ware on the issue of the methadone clinic, too.
Early in the campaign, he issued a mock report card on Ware that gave the incumbent an "F" for his handling of the methadone clinic issue.
