Anti-Gang Law Targets Owners of Bars, Restaurants

RICHMOND, May 2 -- Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) signed into law today a bill that will crack down on the owners of bars and restaurants who allow gang activity to occur in their businesses.

The bill, which the General Assembly unanimously approved in March, allows the state Department of Alcohol Beverage Control to revoke or suspend a license to serve alcohol if a business serves as a meeting place for gangs. ABC agents will also be able to fine those businesses.

"Often times management of these establishments are not just innocent bystanders, they are willing partners with gang members, tacitly or sometimes actively supporting the criminal activity,'' Kaine said.

Kaine ceremoniously signed the bill at a meeting of the Virginia Inter-Agency Anti-Gang Workgroup, a group working to combat the gang problem statewide.

Earlier today, Kaine petitioned the federal government to declare Virginia's blue crab population a Fishery Resource Disaster, allowing Congress to appropriate economic assistance for watermen.

"The blue crab fishery is in dire straits and our watermen are enduring serious hardship," Kaine said in a statement.