ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, November 6, 1996 TAG: 9611060058
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-5 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: ROCKY MOUNT
SOURCE: TODD JACKSON STAFF WRITER
Alice Hall discovered Tuesday that her 43 years of experience in the Franklin County Circuit Court clerk's office means something.
Hall won one of the most politically charged races ever waged for the clerk's position, defeating county Sheriff's Capt. Bill Overton by 2,600 votes. She took all but three of the county's 22 precincts.
"When I started to work in 1953, I had a goal of working my way to the top," Hall said. "I had one more step to take, and I did that tonight.''
Hall, an independent, and Overton, a Democrat and the son of Sheriff W.Q. "Quint" Overton, hugged each other outside Rocky Mount Elementary School just before the polls closed. Each wished the other well.
It was a feel-good end to a heated contest that pitted the Overtons' network against that of their political opponents.
"That really makes me feel good when I see something like that," said voter Percy Boles, who saw the embrace.
With her experience in the clerk's office, including the past 38 years as senior deputy clerk, Hall won't have any problem getting acquainted with the clerk's job.
In all that time, though, she never had to campaign.
Last year, when Clerk Bill Walker announced his retirement, Hall, at 61, decided to give it a try - even after she fell last October and broke her arm.
Hall ran a quiet campaign and decided not to take a leave of absence from her clerk's office job.
Tuesday, she said, Franklin County voters validated her years of work in the office by electing her.
The Overtons campaigned for months. Quint Overton, who has never lost an election and is one of the most popular public figures in the county, worked as hard for his son as he would have for himself.
Although there were five candidates for the job, most expected the race to boil down to a battle between Hall and Overton.
The Overtons have a wide base of support across rural Franklin County that they've built over the years through their law-enforcement positions. Hall had the support of the majority of the local lawyers - the group that uses the clerk's office the most - and many workers elsewhere in the courthouse.
Hall also was also aided by a perfectly timed endorsement from Walker, who wrote a letter to the Franklin News-Post on Friday praising his former employee.
Republican Ben Pinckard Jr. finished a distant third. At 26, it was his first run for elected office.
"The job will be open again in three years, and I may take a look at it again," said Pinckard, an internal auditor for Carilion Health System.
Independent candidates Dan Boone and Amanda Davis finished fourth and fifth, respectively.
LENGTH: Medium: 58 lines KEYWORDS: ELECTIONby CNB