Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 4, 1993 TAG: 9302040131
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
MONTGOMERY BOARD ELECTION PETITIONING IS HALFWAY TO GOAL
At the end its first month, a petition drive for a referendum in Montgomery County this fall on an elected school board has reached nearly half of its goal.Lynn Linkous of Christiansburg said petition organizers had collected 2,022 names by the end of January.
"This is just going real well; I'm real pleased," Linkous said.
Linkous and other supporters of an elected school board for the county need the names of 2,928 registered county voters on petitions to get the issue on this fall's ballot. That number represents 10 percent of the county's registered voters as of Jan. 1.
The group wants to collect 4,500 names, though, to ensure that it has enough bona fide voters to meet the requirements of the referendum law.
The petition drive is an outgrowth of the public debate over whether the county school system should return to traditional Christian names for school holidays that fall on Christmas and Easter. Those holidays are now called winter and spring break on the school calendar.
Linkous and her husband, Danny, and five other couples who support a return to the Christian names started the petition drive because they believe they have no voice in the school system, she said.
Currently, members of the School Board are appointed by the Board of Supervisors.
Referendums for elected school boards were allowed on the ballot for the first time in November. Those referendums were approved by voters in all 33 counties and nine cities where they were held, including in nearby Pulaski, Craig and Bland counties.
At the end of each month, Linkous said she will be at the county farmers' market near Wal-Mart in Christiansburg to collect petitions. She'll be there this month on Feb. 27.