Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 27, 1991 TAG: 9102270478
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER/ SOUTHWEST BUREAU
DATELINE: HILLSVILLE LENGTH: Medium
It is the only farmers market in the state to get funding. The money will come from the state's general fund, Jackson said.
The two-term legislator also said at a news conference that he would seek re-election in November.
With new redistricting lines being drawn in April, he said he hoped to unite Carroll County in a single House district. Carroll now is divided between the 8th District, represented by Jackson, and the 10th.
Jackson also announced that Hillsville's Division of Motor Vehicles office, slated for closing, was the last office added to the list to remain open. But it was his farmers market announcement that stirred the most excitement.
"We are in effect a pilot project," he said of the market. "Because of this fact, I believe our region has a tremendous responsibility to the future of Virginia agriculture to make the market work.
"Once the success of our market is established, the way will be paved for other markets across the state to become reality."
The Southwest Virginia project had been planned for more than five years. Jackson said he believed that further delays caused by state funding shortages could mean it would no longer be a priority in some future administration.
The state spent thousands of dollars to determine the feasibility of a system of farmers markets, and to study where they should be built. Carroll County was selected as the Southwest Virginia site and a ground-breaking ceremony was held Aug. 9, 1989.
"Since that time, we have all suffered through two different freezes by two different governors on the funds," Jackson said.
"Over this period of time, everyone associated with the project has experienced more frustration than we would care to admit," he said. "It was tempting to forget the idea, take our ball and bat and go home."
The Carroll County Board of Supervisors did serve notice that it would not hold onto the site forever if some other prospective enterprise for it came along.
Jackson took his case to the House Appropriations Committee. He said he "explained as emphatically as I knew how that the state had broken faith with our area, as evidenced by the fact that Carroll County had spent over $100,000 on site preparation and planning, and also by the fact that the market site was an extremely valuable tract of land that had been held off the open real estate market by the Board of Supervisors for the purpose of being donated for the project."
The committee included the market in its version of the amended state budget. The report of the House and Senate conference committees was approved Saturday by the legislature, and included Jackson's budget amendment for the market.
"The state has made good a promissory note 3 years old, which many thought would have to be written off as a bad debt," he said.
by CNB