AB EX-COUNCILMAN GETS LIFE

Judge Gives Maximum for Drug Distribution

FLORENCE - Former Atlantic Beach councilman Vander More Gore was
sentenced Wednesday to life in prison as the kingpin in a 20-year
conspiracy to deal drugs.

He was the only one of eight co-conspirators to receive the maximum
sentence in the federal drug case. There's no possibility for parole.

Testimony painted Gore, 67, as the leader of the group, and witnesses
said he gave the orders.

Gore's son, Jeffrey Lee Gore, was sentenced Wednesday to 30 years in
prison. Vander Gore's nephew, Johnny Lee Gore, was sentenced earlier
this year to 30 years, and another nephew, Ronell, got 10 years.

Jeffrey Lee Gore received a lighter sentence than the prosecution
requested because he had pleaded guilty and because the judge said he
took into consideration the fact that he was Vander Gore's son and
that his involvement in illegal activities probably was influenced by
his father.

Federal Judge C. Weston Houck announced Vander Gore's sentence after
unsuccessful pleas from Vander Gore, his wife and his daughter.

"I am a leader, but not of drugs," Vander Gore said. "I'm a leader of
doing good things in the community."

Vander Gore told the judge he and his family don't have nice
possessions or anything else to indicate they've made money from the
drug trade.

"I don't have nothing," he said. "I don't have nothing to show for no
drugs. I've worked hard day and night."

Gore's daughter, Jackie, 38, made a tearful plea to the judge for a
lighter sentence for her father.

"He's not going to give in to something he knows he didn't do," she
said with tears streaming down her face.

Gore's wife, Carolyn, also spoke to the judge.

"He's my friend, he's my husband, he's my lover," she said in a quiet,
unsteady voice. "He's everything to me."

Vander Gore was convicted in July of conspiracy to distribute drugs in
a federal investigation that spanned a decade.

He had been a councilman for about seven years when he was arrested in
June 2001.