Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, August 24, 1994                   TAG: 9408240069
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

SCHOOL BOND ISSUE REJECTED

But they might get that chance next year.

Tuesday night a sharply divided Board of Supervisors rejected a proposal for a $30 million bond issue in November that included $20 million for a new Cave Spring High School

Despite strong support from parents in the Cave Spring area for a referendum, the supervisors rejected the proposal 3-2.

By the same vote, they also killed a proposal for a smaller $10 million bond issue that included $3.5 million for a new gymnasium at Northside High School and $4 million for major renovations at several schools.

The larger bond issue also included the other projects in the smaller plan.

Supervisor Fuzzy Minnix, who opposed the November vote on the Cave Spring project, said he will propose the same $30 million bond issue next year.

Minnix, who represents the Cave Spring district, said he didn't like opposing some of his constituents who urged the supervisors to have a referendum this year.

But Minnix said he doubts there is enough time between now and November to persuade enough voters of the need for $30 million for schools.

"I don't think we can do it in 60 or 70 days," Minnix said. "If I had been told last year or earlier that we needed it, I think we could have done it earlier."

Chairman Lee Eddy and Supervisor Harry Nickens also opposed a $30 million bond issue.

"Thirty-million dollars would be the kiss of death because the voters won't approve it," Nickens said. If the voters reject the bond issue, he said, it could have a fallout on future school bond issues.

Eddy said he is not convinced that a new Cave Spring High School is needed to maintain an excellent school system.

Eddy said that county school administrators and the School Board had not planned on a new high school for another eight to 10 years. Eddy said the proposal for a new school now surfaced after Supervisor Bob Johnson raised the idea. He questioned why the School Board had stressed the need for a new school earlier.

"I don't see that conditions are so bad at Cave Spring that we need to take on a larger debt now," Eddy said.