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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, November 8, 1995                   TAG: 9511080047
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: S.D. HARRINGTON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

GLENVAR TEACHER TAKES FOUR-WAY RACE FOR CATAWBA SEAT

SPIKE HARRISON OVERCAME his opponents' charges that he could not represent the district fairly.

\ Catawba District residents elected Glenvar High School teacher Spike Harrison to the Board of Supervisors in a four-way race to replace incumbent Ed Kohinke, who did not seek re-election after a falling-out with the Republican Party.

Harrison's opponents said he would be no different from Kohinke or former board member Steve McGraw, who they said did little in representing the Catawba District. Kohinke and McGraw endorsed Harrison, the Democratic candidate.

But 44 percent of the voters didn't buy that claim Tuesday.

Harrison won in all but two of the seven precincts, grabbing 52 percent of the vote in his home Glenvar precinct, the largest in the district.

Warren Brown Jr. and Robert Crouse each won one precinct. The fourth candidate, Douglas Graham, didn't win any precincts.

Harrison said he thought the voters chose him for two reasons: He strongly supports county schools, and he didn't join in any mudslinging.

"I've always been very pragmatic," Harrison said. "I want to see things done."

Brown said that Crouse may have cost him the election. Brown had won the Republican nomination in a contest with Crouse.

"We lost by about 700 votes, and Crouse took 1,000," Brown said. "It was Crouse that hurt us."

All three of Harrison's opponents expressed their displeasure at the outcome. They said the district will not be represented fairly by the newly elected official.

Because Harrison is a schoolteacher and has vowed not to vote on budget issues where there could be a conflict of interest, Brown said the Catawba District will be "cut out of the budget pie."

Crouse and Graham, both retired, repeatedly attacked Harrison during the campaign, contending he would be too preoccupied with teaching to devote enough time to the board.

The attacks didn't stop Tuesday night.

"Where is he going to have the time ... and still give the quality of service to the Board of Supervisors?'' Crouse asked.

Keywords:
ELECTION

by CNB