Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, May 7, 1993 TAG: 9305070323
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAVID M. POOLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"If anything else, a change in the person in office is a start," said Millican, who manages a Roanoke furniture-parts company.
Millican used the word "change" at least a dozen times during a brief speech, but he declined to say how he would differ from incumbent Democrat Bob Johnson, who is expected to seek a third term in November.
Millican, 49, said he would like to listen to Hollins District residents before he stakes a position on issues such as county funds for the Explore Park.
A second Republican, Brenda Flora Wainwright, is expected to announced today that she will vie for the GOP nomination.
Republicans will meet 11 a.m. Saturday at Mountain View Elementary School to choose a Hollins District nominee.
Johnson, an executive with HCMF Real Estate, will announce his intentions Monday when Democrats meet to nominate their candidate.
Millican stressed his participation in civic groups and in business when announcing his candidacy at the Hollins branch library.
He is manager of the Hickory Springs Manufacturing Co. plant in the Statesman Industrial Park. His civic activities have included Bonsack Ruritan Club, the Bonsack Area Resident Coalition and the county's Community Watch program.
A native of Atlanta, Millican grew up in Florida and served in the United States Air Force in Vietnam.
In his sharpest criticism of Johnson, Millican said the Democrat can be "less than congenial" to citizens who appear before the Board of Supervisors.
When he spoke against Spring Hollow Reservoir two years ago, Millican said that Johnson did not appear interested in what he had to say. As soon as he finished speaking, Johnson lectured him on the need for the reservoir.
"I will be a little bit more open-minded," Millican said.
Johnson told a reporter later it was inevitable that people who disagreed would be upset when he voted with the majority on Spring Hollow.
Millican has been aligned politically with Don Terp, an outspoken critic of the Board of Supervisors and who organized Millican's announcement speech.
Millican insisted he would be his own man.
"I'll be 50 this summer and I've been in business for 23 years. I don't need a coach," he said.
But as Millican answered the next question, Terp flashed him a note to remind him to stress his "Industrial Experience."
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB