ROANOKE TIMES

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

DATE: THURSDAY, October 5, 1995                   TAG: 9510050039
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG                                LENGTH: Short


HEART ATTACK WON'T STOP BID, SHERIFF CANDIDATE SAYS

Garnett Adkins, one of two independent candidates running for Montgomery County sheriff, returned home Tuesday after being hospitalized last week with a heart attack.

"I feel good," Adkins said Wednesday, and will continue his bid to become sheriff.

"This election means a lot to me ... I'm charging up there. I'm going to stay up there. I didn't get in this just to sit back [now]."

Adkins is one of four candidates for sheriff. The others are Democrat Jerry Olinger, Republican Doug Marrs and independent O.P. Ramsey.

Adkins, 40, said he and doctors had been monitoring his health for about a year, since he first believed there was a problem with his heart. At a checkup in May, doctors decided to keep monitoring him and discovered a 95 percent blockage of a blood vessel.

Adkins had a heart attack the morning of Sept. 28 and went to Radford Community Hospital. He was transferred to Roanoke Memorial Hospital, where an angioplasty was done to repair the damaged vessel.

Adkins said he will be off from his job as a Radford deputy sheriff for six weeks, but has been cleared to continue campaigning as long as he doesn't overexert himself.

"They said I could go ahead and keep on campaigning and get out there and work," Adkins said.

Adkins said he plans to attend a Montgomery County candidates' forum Tuesday at the Prices Fork Grange Hall. That forum starts at 7 p.m. and is scheduled to include comments from candidates for many Montgomery County offices and a question-and-answer period.

Keywords:
POLITICS



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