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

DATE: THURSDAY, March 9, 1995                   TAG: 9503090071
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-1   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: BRIAN KELLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

MONTGOMERY TREASURER, ON THE MEND, TO SEEK RE-ELECTION|

Montgomery County Treasurer Ellis Meredith is home recuperating from open-heart surgery and a quadruple bypass. But it won't keep him from running for re-election this fall.

"I'm going to run. I will run again," Meredith said Wednesday.

First elected in 1971, Meredith will seek his seventh four-year term in November. So far, no challenger has emerged.

Meredith took a short walk outside Wednesday before the weather turned bad. It was just two weeks and a day after undergoing surgery at Roanoke Memorial Hospital and just a week after being discharged.

The 61-year-old Montgomery official has had a steady stream of visitors to his North Fork Road home in the past week. On Tuesday, for instance, both Sheriff Ken Phipps and Circuit Court Clerk Allan Burke stopped by to catch up.

"People are very kind," Meredith said.

Back at the county courthouse, meanwhile, Assistant Treasurer Freda Conner and the 15 other staff members are holding down the fort. They're in the middle of selling county auto decals, which must be on windshields by April 1. (Christiansburg's decal deadline is April 15; Blacksburg's is June 15.)

Conner said Wednesday she's been trying to fill the shoes of her tall, burly boss. "It's sort of hard because he has such large shoes," she quipped.

Meredith, who also serves as pastor of Riverview Holiness Church in the Ellett Valley, expects to return to work after April 1. That's after he consults with his physician, surgeon and cardiologist.

"I'm coming back very strong," he said.

by CNB