Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 30, 1993 TAG: 9306300312
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By DAVID M. POOLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Kohinke released a statement saying his spats with other politicians - most recently with Roanoke County Clerk Steve McGraw - have overshadowed his more positive efforts.
He listed among his actions on the board: a bond referendum, a new zoning ordinance, the county's economic development strategy and First Union training funds.
"Unfortunately, some recent publicity about me might indicate to some that I have been doing nothing but floundering around in indecision and picking fights with other local politicians for the last year and a half.
"That is most certainly not what my tenure in office was intended to be, and it is most certainly not how I strive to do things."
In his apology, Kohinke mentioned the "low-level" shot in January that he took at Roanoke Mayor David Bowers for blaming the valley's economic woes on the failure of a 1990 consolidation referendum.
Kohinke also admitted that he "bungled" questions about the real estate developments of McGraw and others in the Masons Cove area.
"I'd just as soon drop the whole thing and move on from here," he said in an interview.
This is not the first time that Kohinke has pledged to stop writing letters that attack other politicians.
On June 22, Kohinke said he would no longer make an issue of McGraw's practice of developing houses in the county.
Two days later, however, he sent a reporter a letter blasting McGraw for suggesting that Kohinke should resign for switching positions on Explore Park, the living-history state park. Kohinke noted that McGraw did not call for the resignation of Supervisor Bob Johnson when Johnson was arrested for drunken driving a few years ago.
"It boggles my mind," Kohinke wrote, "that `waffling' is a greater sin in McGraw's mind than DUI."
Kohinke now says he means it when he says he is through with his poison-pen attacks.
"I've learned a very tough lesson - not to put anything in writing," he said. "Anyway, my typewriter is broken - at least for the time being."
by CNB