Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, March 15, 1990                   TAG: 9003152463
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B1   EDITION: BEDFORD/FRANKLIN 
SOURCE: DAVID M. POOLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ROCKY MOUNT                                 LENGTH: Medium

WOODY QUIET ON NEW MAYOR

Until now.

Woody, who retires at the end of June, will not say publicly whom he supports in the May 1 election that will determine his successor.

"I've got one comment to you on the election: Any qualified voter of Rocky Mount has a right to run for mayor," said the normally quotable Woody.

Woody said his preference between the two announced mayoral candidates - T. Wayne Cundiff and Broaddus M. Shively - is a private matter.

Woody's public neutrality may come as a surprise to many here who say that the former tobacco wholesaler has been working behind the scenes to handpick Shively as his successor.

"He's fighting me tooth and toenail," Cundiff said of Woody.

Cundiff and Woody have been at odds since Cundiff joined Town Council in 1986.

Things came to a head last year when Woody accused Cundiff of leaking information to the press about the town's no-bid contracts and purchases from favored local suppliers. Cundiff denied it.

Cundiff, the president of his family's lumber company, said Woody has been going around town encouraging people to vote against him.

But Shively said he did not know whom Woody supports. "I don't know what his thinking is," said Shively, a political newcomer and president of Central Oil of Virginia Corp.

Cundiff, 39, and Shively, 60, agree on the issues. Both have emphasized the need to construct a new sewage treatment plant, revitalization of the downtown business district and diversification of an economy based largely on textiles and wood products.

The mayoral race will be played out in door-to-door campaigning in this Franklin County town of 4,200. No public debates are planned.

The new mayor, who takes office July 1, is expected to have considerably less clout than Woody, who has ruled Town Hall for two decades and essentially did the job of a town manager. Rocky Mount recently hired a full-time town manager, relegating the mayor to breaking tie votes at council meetings, greeting dignitaries and cutting ribbons at business openings.

The mayor will be paid $400 a month and receive no fringe benefits.

Rocky Mount voters also will select three members of the six-member Town Council on May 1. Two seats are open because of James Cooper's resignation and Cundiff's decision to run for mayor.

Incumbent W.J. "Willie" Mills Jr., 72, is seeking to retain the seat he has held since 1962. Mills is president of Angle Hardware Co..

The other four candidates are:

Steven Carter Angle, 36, a business education teacher and basketball coach at Franklin County High School.

Benjamin Allen Hodges, 25, a fund-raiser for Ferrum College.

Peggy Sigmon Love, 58, the director of business and finance for Franklin County's school system.

James Alton Robertson, 60, a retired machinist for General Electric Co.