"Easy access to the upcoming session of the General Assembly is another casualty of the terrorist attacks on America.

There will be identification checks, metal detectors, more police officers and reinforced doors at the state Capitol.

The assembly's Joint Rules Committee approved yesterday security measures that resemble what airline passengers go through. These will apply for the 60-day legislative session that will begin Jan. 9.

After meeting privately for almost 90 minutes, the Rules Committee quickly agreed to recommendations of the Capitol Police and state Sen. Kenneth W. Stolle, R-Virginia Beach, chairman of a public safety subcommittee.

Under the new rules, the west entrance to the state Capitol, the one most often used, will be accessible only to the 140 legislators, their staff members and their spouses.

Other people will be able to enter through the north entrance. Lobbyists and reporters will use the east entrance, although they also can go through the north entrance. Everyone will have to pass through a metal detector. Metal detectors also will be installed at the entrances to the General Assembly Building at Ninth and Broad streets.

A lot across Ninth, now a small park, will be converted into a parking lot to ease parking pressure in Capitol Square during the session. During previous sessions, cars were often parked on sidewalks at the Capitol.

Reporters and lobbyists will be issued ID cards.

The Rules Committee also authorized the Capitol Police to hire 18 additional police officers and acquire two additional bomb-sniffing dogs. There currently are 103 authorized police positions and two dogs.

Crash bars will be installed on the north, east and south doors at the Capitol, so, if they are locked from the outside, someone inside can push the bar to open the door. Heretofore, the doors have often simply been unlocked much of the time.

At an earlier session, the Rules Committee authorized a payment of $500,000 for new security equipment.

The committee's decisions yesterday: drew two dissenting votes - from House Majority Leader H. Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, and the chairman of the House Republican Caucus, Del. Leo C. Wardrup Jr., R-Virginia Beach.

Wardrup said he felt the committee was overreacting to the terrorist threats and hurting public accessibility to the assembly. Griffith could not be reached for comment." (Tyler Whitley, The Richmond Times-Dispatch, November 20, 2001)