Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, November 8, 1995 TAG: 9511080028
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A9 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: RICHARD FOSTER AND BETTY HAYDEN STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: BEDFORD LENGTH: Medium
Wheeler, a 42-year-old appliance salesman, beat John Sublett, a former board chairman and retired meat packer, for the seat that represents Stewartsville, Hardy and part of Chamblissburg.
Wheeler has a good idea of what put him over the top in this election:
"It could be all the holes I have in my shoes from walking and shaking hands."
Sublett, who served on the board from 1975-83, campaigned against a growing county bureaucracy and cited what he saw as wasteful spending and excessive borrowing.
Wheeler supported keeping taxes low while encouraging new commercial and residential growth.
In Montvale, Bob Crouch, a 60-year-old machinist, defeated Pollard for the seat vacated by Supervisor Gus Saarnijoki, who chose not to seek another term.
Crouch pledged to donate his salary as a supervisor to the Montvale volunteer fire and rescue squads. But he raised eyebrows after he suggested that county taxpayers refuse to pay a $2 monthly county surcharge on their phone bills until they get answers about the progress of the E-911 system.
Not paying the surcharge is a misdemeanor punishable by a $100 fine.
In Huddleston, Roger Cheek, 48, a body-shop owner, defeated the incumbent Hobbs, a 69-year-old retired lake resident.
A longtime member of the county's Public Service Authority, Hobbs was appointed to the board last year after the death of the former chairman, Jim Teass.
Running unopposed, incumbents Tony Ware and Lucille Boggess also were re-elected.
In other races, voters elected four candidates to the county School Board who were backed and funded by a countywide group of vocal and angry parents and teachers who call themselves "Citizens Who Care."
Incumbent Russell Wright defeated Wesley Gordon in Stewartsville; Betty Earle defeated Eugene Erb in Big Island; incumbent Shirley McCabe defeated former School Board member Hunter Hale in Montvale; and in Goode, Stanley Butler defeated incumbent chairman Benny Shrader.
Keywords:
ELECTION
Memo: ***CORRECTION***