Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, September 17, 1993 TAG: 9309170260
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PULASKI LENGTH: Medium
A 30-year-old poem recited by Pulaski Town Manager Tom Combiths helped to persuade him.
Cox, a retired business executive, was hired as a part-time director for the ailing program last year. But he has put in more than full-time hours in recruiting new business for downtown Pulaski.
He told the board that his goal "was to fill all of the stores we could possibly fill in six months to a year, period. . . . Now, along the way, I decided we would put Pulaski on the map."
He promoted Pulaski as an arts, antiques and dining center with billboards, magazine advertisements and press kits, resulting in many inquiries and articles on what has happened in Pulaski during the past year.
But not all the promotions have worked out as Cox hoped. A July 3 rock concert at Pulaski County High School - planned as a fund-raiser - lost money, and the board was looking at putting restrictions on spending.
Cox, a self-described "benevolent dictator" who works independently and dislikes having to go through too many restrictions before making spending decisions, said he thought that his time with PMI had peaked, and his resignation would be effective immediately.
"I need to get back to playing golf. . . . From the standpoint of day-to-day operations and everything, I'm tired," he said.
"I said, `My God, I am not indispensable, and I am not the Lord,' " Cox said. "I have done as much as I can for you all. I've seen that for the last several weeks. I think it's time for you to do something for yourselves."
PMI President Billy Smith said Cox's announcement caught him flat-footed.
"The only thing we were trying to do is get some direction here, because we were running out of money," Smith said.
Board member Karen Graham told Cox she would not accept his resignation.
She reminded Cox that he had said several weeks ago that he would stay on until the end of the year, and she wanted to hold him to that. New board members Jeanette Stephens and Debbie Jonas added their pleas for Cox to remain.
Combiths said that he, as town manager, has to be concerned with programs to which the town contributes, and that those concerns may have prompted some of Cox's frustrations.
"Roscoe, you can't leave now. It's just begun. You really can't," Combiths said.
Combiths proceeded to read a poem he had unearthed, although he did not know the author, about a man who had worked for development in Pulaski 30 years ago. Many of the problems cited in the poem, including space for parking, are the same concerns PMI is dealing with today, he said.
It was at the end of the poem that the identity of its subject was revealed as "Go-Go Cox." It had been written in Cox's honor when he lived and worked here the first time, before retiring and returning to Pulaski in recent years.
That was when Cox relented. He agreed to stay on into January, until the PMI membership meeting could be held and plans made for the coming year.
"I feel that we have a wonderful opportunity in this community, right at this present time," he said. "I feel that we are at a crossroads. . . . Any place that you go in the state of Virginia, you will hear people talking about Pulaski."
by CNB