Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 17, 1995 TAG: 9503170021
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: BRIAN KELLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Call him "Honest Curtis."
"Oh, I'm fascinated by him," Blacksburg's Curtis Cox said of President Lincoln. "If you're to emulate someone in history then you could not pick a better character, especially if you're a Republican."
Cox has portrayed Lincoln - in black suit and other trappings - at events such as the opening of the GOP headquarters in Christiansburg in 1993.
The 40-year-old is seeking the Republican nomination to challenge Supervisor Joe Gorman in Montgomery's District G.
Gorman said this week he will seek re-election. The first-term supervisor, a Democrat, will make a more detailed announcement later.
Former county School Board member Don Lacy, who had been considered a possible independent challenger, said last month he probably will not run.
Cox, who has a son in the Coast Guard, comes from a family with roots in the Mount Tabor community just outside Blacksburg. His parents, Robert Lee and Alma Cox, own a farm adjacent to Slusser's Chapel.
Cox graduated from Blacksburg High School and has been a machinist for more than 20 years. He's been an hourly worker with Wolverine Gasket Co. of Blacksburg for 11 years and describes himself as "Joe Blue-collar."
Why's he running? "I'm desperately concerned about the apathy that's taken place," Cox said. "The people who don't vote decide elections more than the people who do."
Cox pledged to try to get more people involved in government, and to do so while running a "cordial" campaign.
"I'm concerned about ... making yourself alienated to those represented by your opponent because of the animosity that was created during the election process," Cox said. "I can understand why people have become apathetic about the process. Many times it gets down to Election Day and they don't want to vote for either candidate because they've been so disheartened by what's taken place during the election process."
Three other board seats will be on ballots this fall, including: District B, now represented by Nick Rush; District E, represented by Ira Long; and District F, represented by Larry Linkous, who is leaving the board to run for the House of Delegates seat held by Jim Shuler. Rush and Long are expected to seek re-election.
District G, the smallest of the county's seven election districts in area because of its dense population of more than 10,600, is bordered by the U.S. 460 bypass to the northwest, Happy Hollow and Bishop roads to the northeast, Harding Avenue to the southeast and North Main Street and Toms Creek Road to the southwest.
by CNB