Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 15, 1995 TAG: 9506150038
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: BRIAN KELLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
No challenger met the Tuesday filing deadline to appear on the November ballot against the 61-year-old incumbent from North Fork Road.
"I was quite frankly surprised," Meredith said Wednesday. "I'm very glad."
Montgomery Democrats did not field a candidate by their June 3 mass meeting, and despite last-minute recruiting efforts, were unable to find a candidate by Tuesday. Likewise, no independent stepped forward. Meredith defeated former county School Superintendent Arnold Saari in 1991.
Meredith, first elected in 1971, will seek his seventh term. He underwent open-heart surgery and a quadruple bypass operation in February, but returned to work in the spring. He was back up to speed by mid-May, when he nominated an accountant in his office, Helen St. Clair, to be the Republican candidate for the commissioner of revenue post against Democrat Nancy Miller.
Aside from his county duties, Meredith also serves as pastor of Riverview Holiness Church in the Ellett Valley.
Montgomery County will have only one other uncontested race: for the District F Board of Supervisors seat. Mary Biggs, a Democrat, will have no Republican or independent opponent on the ballot. Biggs teaches at Harding Elementary School in Blacksburg and is a longtime observer of the board for the Montgomery County Education Association. She defeated two other Democrats for the nomination. District F extends from northwest Blacksburg to the Giles County line along Gap Mountain. It includes the McBryde Village and Hethwood neighborhoods, portions of Glade and Toms Creek roads and Laurel Ridge.
Board of Supervisors Chairman Larry Linkous, the Republican who currently holds the seat, is seeking election to the House of Delegates against Democratic Del. Jim Shuler. Linkous' term ends Dec. 31.
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB