Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 11, 1992 TAG: 9203110297
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By MARK LAYMAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
It was the third meeting in a row at which the supervisors had discussed the power line. To recap:
Last year, the supervisors filed a "notice of protest" over the power line with the State Corporation Commission.
On Feb. 11, the supervisors voted 3-2 to withdraw the protest. Supervisor Ed Kohinke sided with the majority.
Under pressure from fellow Mason Cove residents who oppose the power line, Kohinke told Chairman Lee Eddy the next day that he wanted to switch his vote. So Eddy asked the county attorney not to withdraw the protest.
On Feb. 25, the supervisors voted 4-1 to keep the protest on file. But because of a parliamentary maneuver by Supervisor Harry Nickens - who voted with the majority even though he actually wanted to withdraw the protest - the issue was back on the board's agenda Tuesday.
And the sparks flew again.
The supervisors voted 3-2 - with Nickens and Bob Johnson dissenting - not to reconsider the Feb. 25 vote.
But Nickens kept trying to get the issue on the table. Finally, Eddy told him, "I think all this parliamentary mumbo jumbo is meaningless. If there's something you want to say, I wish you'd say it so we can move on."
Then Johnson spoke up, saying Nickens was "hardheaded" on some issues, and this was one of them. And he said Eddy made "a grievous error" by "arbitrarily" asking the county attorney not to withdraw the protest after the Feb. 11 vote.
Nickens said it was "scary" that Eddy would do that.
Of course, Eddy realized at the time that Kohinke's flip-flop meant a majority of the board favored keeping the protest on file.
He said the fuss was "kind of silly" and suggested that the supervisors quit arguing about the power line and get on with their business.
Finally, they did.
by CNB