Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, December 17, 1993 TAG: 9312170221
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-4 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Grubbs' victory in the vote of the circuit's largest bar association was announced by Patrick Graybeal, one of two other candidates for the endorsement.
Graybeal, a Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court judge for the 27th District, asked the bar to make its endorsement unanimous, sending a single voice to the General Assembly.
"This Bar Association vote determined that their choice is Judge Grubbs, and I support them fully," Graybeal said.
When Devore announced his plans to retire, the judgeship was widely regarded as Graybeal's to inherit after more than a quarter-century in public service. Graybeal, 61, was Montgomery County's commonwealth's attorney for 25 years before ascending to the bench in 1989.
But Grubbs at first quietly expressed interest in the position, then was encouraged more strongly by several people to seek the nomination.
Douglas Brinckman, a Christiansburg lawyer and Radford University faculty member, later made it a three-way race.
Grubbs has been a General District Court judge since 1988, when he was appointed by the General Assembly to fill a new seat in the 27th Judicial District that Sen. Madison Marye, D-Shawsville, and members of the Montgomery-Floyd-Radford Bar Association had sought for years because of overloaded dockets.
The district covers the counties of Montgomery, Floyd, Giles, Pulaski, Wythe, Bland, Grayson and Carroll, plus the cities of Galax and Radford.
Grubbs was a substitute judge primarily in Roanoke before taking the full-time judgeship. Before that, he practiced in Christiansburg, originally sharing a practice with Devore in 1969, then working on his own.
Grubbs received the bar's endorsement on the first ballot.
"Whomever you choose is going to set the tone of this court as we go into the 21st century," Grubbs told the lawyers before the vote. "You're speaking for the future of this court."
Colin Gibb, a lawyer based in Giles County and living in Blacksburg, received the Bar Association's nomination to replace Circuit Judge A. Dow Owens of Pulaski, who will retire in June.
Gibb, 44, has practiced law for 18 years and is a partner in the firm of Warren Gibb and Scheid. Gibb also has received endorsements from the Giles, Wythe and Bland county bar associations. Gibb's win of the Montgomery-Floyd-Radford endorsement came on the third ballot after a runoff with Michael Barbour.
Barbour, 36, who has practiced law with the Pulaski firm of Gilmer Sadler Ingram Sutherland & Hutton since 1982, received the Pulaski County Bar Association's endorsement earlier this week.
John Quigley, a Christiansburg lawyer and substitute judge, was endorsed Thursday by the Montgomery-Floyd-Radford lawyers as their choice to replace Grubbs on the lower court bench should Grubbs be appointed by the General Assembly.
Quigley was picked on a fourth ballot after a field of five candidates was narrowed to three: Quigley; John Buck, a Radford lawyer, substitute judge and former commonwealth's attorney; and Peggy Frank, an assistant commonwealth's attorney for Montgomery County.
After the local bar associations endorse candidates, the legislature's Courts of Justice Committee interviews them, then the Democratic caucuses of the House and Senate make a recommendation, which is sent to the entire General Assembly for approval.
by CNB