DUBLIN COUNCIL PICKS FORMER MEMBER, ALDEN HANKLA, TO REPLACE PIERCE

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

DATE: SATURDAY, January 4, 1992                   TAG: 9201040037
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: RICK LINDQUIST CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: DUBLIN                                LENGTH: Short
DUBLIN COUNCIL PICKS FORMER MEMBER, ALDEN HANKLA, TO REPLACE PIERCE
Former town councilman Alden S. Hankla has been appointed to replace councilman Billy Pierce, who resigned last month because he is moving out of state.
Hankla edged out the only other nominee, planning commission member and one-time House of Delegates candidate Dallas Cox. Council's vote was 3-2 during a special meeting Thursday following a closed session.
Hankla did not attend Thursday's meeting and could not be reached for comment Friday.
After narrowly missing re-election four years ago, Hankla was considered among the top choices to fill Benny Keister's council post when Keister won the mayor's job. But the seat went instead to another former councilman, David Stanley.
Now, Hankla is back, but if he wants to stay beyond this June he'll have to seek election in May, when Pierce's term would have expired. The terms of Keister, Stanley and councilman Sam Gregory also expire this year.
Before the closed session, Patsy Akers, planning commission chairman and a former council member, formally submitted her name, citing her years of public service and regular attendance at council meetings. However, when Keister called for nominations, Akers was not named.
Akers said after the meeting that she plans to run for council again in May. She was thwarted in her re-election bid two years ago when Colbern Linkous and Elsie Repass were elected.
Also at Thursday's meeting, Councilman David Farmer was chosen to succeed Pierce as vice-mayor. His name was the only one placed in nomination.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB