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

DATE: FRIDAY, April 21, 1995                   TAG: 9504210100
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-1   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: BRIAN KELLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG                                LENGTH: Medium

LONG TO TRY FOR 4TH TERM AS SUPERVISOR

The 11-year Board of Supervisors member from Prices Fork will seek the Democratic nomination June 3. He has no announced challenger in District E so far.

Long said deciding to run for a fourth term was not easy. "I wrestled with this a long time," he said. But he decided he has "a lot left to do."

Included is the effort to build new schools by 2000. School administrators updated the Board of Supervisors last month on a $34 million plan to build a new elementary school in Riner, middle schools in Blacksburg and Christiansburg and a new high school in Shawsville. Administrators say they need new buildings because of current and projected growth.

Board Chairman Larry Linkous has suggested a future bond referendum to pay for all or part of the building scheme. Thus far, the board has had little discussion on the idea.

"The only way I see that we're going to build schools, and I know the schools are needed, is to go for a bond referendum and let the citizens decide," Long said.

Long was among the five supervisors who earlier this month voted to keep the effective real-estate tax rate the same. Because of that vote, the county School Board must slice $1.89 million from its 1995-96 budget.

Long stood by that vote and others in a record of fiscal conservatism. "I'd like to say that I'm proud of our record," he said. "I think that I've supported the schools in many ways."

Long, 73, retired from the Radford Army Ammunition Plant a decade ago after nearly 40 years of service. Since then he's devoted much of his time to county business with the Board of Supervisors and the Public Service Authority, which provides water and sewer to some rural areas of Montgomery. He also guided the development of the county's first staffed recycling and trash collection station near Prices Fork.

Long said he announced his re-election campaign at the board meeting room in the Montgomery courthouse rather than in his district because of all the time he's spent there. "This is my home away from home," he said.

Louise Long, his wife, and his children, Judy Ridinger and Ron Long, attended, along with a small crowd of supporters. Ridinger said she initially worried about the time and work commitment another term would place on her father and mother. (Long said his wife takes many phone calls and does other tasks that support his board efforts.) But, "He enjoys it," Ridinger said. "I guess as long as you enjoy it, that's what's important."

Montgomery's District E includes the Prices Fork, Merrimac, Longshop and McCoy communities along with a portion of Virginia Tech and central Blacksburg.

Keywords:
POLITICS