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

DATE: TUESDAY, April 24, 1990                   TAG: 9004240031
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: SCOT HOFFMAN CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: GILES                                LENGTH: Medium

MOST OF THE SEATS CONTESTED IN MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS IN GILES

On May 1, Giles residents will choose mayors and council representatives from the county's five municipalities. And this year, with 22 of 25 seats contested, the election promises to be a doozy.

Longtime Pearisburg Mayor C.J. Taylor will be opposed for only the fourth time in his 44 years on the job. He'll run against David L. Greenlief.

This will be the 19th consecutive mayoral race for Taylor, who, at 80, is the oldest mayor in the country. He was first elected in 1946, when Pearisburg mayors served two-year terms. They now serve for four years.

Greenlief, who hasn't held public office in the county before, said he's not worried about facing Taylor despite Taylor's formidable winning streak.

"I don't think that really makes a difference," he said. "I just felt like people should have a choice."

In Pembroke, Barbara Ann Meredith will try to unseat William Donald Martin, mayor for 24 years, and become Pembroke's first female mayor.

"It's about time we got a new mayor," she said. Martin has "been a real good mayor for a long time, but we need a new one."

Meredith, who has lived in Giles all her life, has not held public office before. She said she decided about three years ago that she would run for the top job.

Gary L. Eaton, a council member for Rich Creek, will seek the town's highest position unopposed. He said he decided six months ago to run for the postion. The seat will be vacated by by Roy Kemper for health reasons. Kemper has held the office for 16 years.

Glen Lyn Mayor James Howard Spencer Jr. and Mayor Donald Edward Richardson of Narrows each will seek another term in office unopposed.

In Rich Creek, eight candidates will vie for five open Town Council seats: Emory Lee Eaton, Donald Wade Ferrell, Palma Whitlow Kantsios, Betty Perry Letsinger, Vanus Porter Mann, Joseph Harvey McClung, Joseph W. Moore and Jackie R. Thornton.

There are eight council candidates in Pembroke seeking to fill five vacancies: Charles Burks Andrews Jr., Garnett W. Atkins, Joseph Clark Falls, Donald Levi Marshall, Larry James Martin, Lester Cleveland Tickle, Robert Essie Thorn and Ronald Baber Whitehead.

In Narrows, Michael Jackson Kirk, Ronald Allen Stafford and Jeffrey Allen Turner will run for two open seats.

Glen Lyn residents Richard A. Atkins, Rickey Leon Crawford, Thomas R. Ould Jr., Carl Baker Patteson, James H. Spencer III, Bernard Mason Smith, Lake E. Thompson and Roger Wayne Whitt will seek five open seats.

And in Pearisburg, six candidates - Jack C. Davis, Rebecca Hargis Moses, John B. Roller Jr., Vincent Day Scott Jr., James Robert Williams and Frank M. Winston - will vie for three open council seats.

by CNB