ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, April 3, 1997 TAG: 9704030008
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV4 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: PULASKI
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER THE ROANOKE TIMES
After two months of changes on Pulaski Town Council, the governing body is at full strength again.
Gerald Bolen knew he was being considered for a vacancy on Pulaski Town Council, but was surprised at a telephone call asking him to attend Tuesday's council meeting.
He asked whether he shouldn't at least wait until council voted on his appointment.
Bolen, who works part time as a Realtor, did not know that council's Human Resources Committee had already confirmed his appointment behind closed doors last week. Because the committee meeting was attended by the entire council, there was little possibility that the decision would change.
In fact, town officials had arranged to have county Clerk Woody Lookabill on hand to swear in Bolen immediately after the unanimous vote on his appointment. So Bolen found himself thrown into his first council meeting as an active participant.
His interest in local government dates back to 1983, when a referendum on consolidating all the local governments within Pulaski County was voted down.
Bolen opposed it, too, although he now says there are conditions under which such an idea could have merits. "It was an interesting concept. It was just not a very thorough, well-prepared approach," he said.
A native of Mullins, W.Va., Bolen graduated in 1951 from Virginia Tech and returned to West Virginia to work in a company's coal division. Although his degree was in business, he found himself mainly supervising engineers.
After five years, he got a new job with Hercules at the Radford Army Ammunition Plant. But he found himself supervising engineers again.
He was married in 1955 and his wife, who is from Pulaski, was not that crazy about West Virginia, he recalled. "Had to leave West Virginia or leave her, and I wasn't about to leave her," he said.
The couple has two daughters and two granddaughters. Bolen's brother moved to Pulaski before he did. He has another brother in Moneta and a sister in St. Augustine, Fla.
When he retired from Hercules after 23 years, he took on the real estate job because it got him out of the house and allowed him to meet people, he said.
Council also passed a resolution honoring W.H. "Rocky" Schrader Jr., the man Bolen replaces on council, and held a reception in Schrader's honor. Schrader had served as vice mayor and Finance Committee chairman, and been on council since 1986.
The changes began in January when Mayor Andy Graham stepped down because of some required hospitalization. The governing body chose Councilman John Johnston to succeed Graham as mayor, then had to find someone to fill Johnston's council seat.
Council chose Joe Weddle, director of American Electric Power's Pulaski Division. But in February, another vacancy was left when Schrader stepped down because of increasing job responsibilities. Council first chose lawyer Lee Chitwood to succeed him, but Chitwood could not serve because he had recently been appointed as a substitute general district court judge. Bolen's appointment finally filled that slot.
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