THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, March 6, 1996 TAG: 9603060619
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MIKE KNEPLER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 97 lines
The field is set for the May 7 city council and school board elections in the five cities of South Hampton Roads.
In some cities, voters will have to sort through some interesting challenges.
Portsmouth's mayoral election features Mayor Gloria O. Webb, 63, seeking her third term. But her opponents include former mayor James W. Holley III, 69, who wants his old job back after voters recalled him in 1987.
Holley, the city's first black mayor in modern times, was forced from office after he was implicated, but never found guilty, in the mailing of a series of threatening letters to black leaders who opposed closing I.C. Norcom High School. He continues to maintain his innocence.
Webb also is being challenged by Frank Harte, 75, who is retired from Norfolk Naval Shipyard. He made an unsuccessful run for mayor 10 years ago.
The Portsmouth council election, meanwhile, will feature seven candidates running for three seats, all held by incumbents.
Portsmouth voters, for the first time, also will vote for school board members in their city.
In Virginia Beach, citizens are being asked to elect a school board in the midst of leadership and financial crises facing the city's school system. Seven of the board's 11 members have resigned since early February and a new superintendent has been on the job since last month.
The turmoil has spurred about 50 residents to run for the board. The voter registrar had certified 41 of them by the 7 p.m. filing deadline on Tuesday. Eight more will be reviewed today.
Curiously, no one filed to run for the Virginia Beach Boroughseat on the School Board. Apparently, the Circuit Court will appoint someone.
Meanwhile, the Virginia Beach council election will have 10 candidates for five seats.
Meyera E. Oberndorf is seeking her third term as mayor and sixth term on the council. She is being challenged by neophyte Robert F. Yurina, 33.
Besides choosing council members, Virginia Beach citizens also will vote in an advisory referendum about the future of their voting system for city council elections.
Under the present system, citizens can vote for all 11 council members, though seven members are considered borough representatives and must live in their respective boroughs.
The proposed change calls for the seven district representatives to be elected only by residents of their district. Voters who support the current system would vote ``yes'' on the ballot question; voters who would rather change the system would vote ``no.''
Results of the advisory referendum will be forwarded to the Virginia General Assembly, which will make the final decision in its 1997 session.
In Norfolk, citizens will be electing only two of the city's seven council members. Only the superward seats are involved this year.
Incumbent Dr. Mason C. Andrews, 72, a council mainstay for 22 years and a key mover in downtown's revitalization, faces three challengers in Superward 7. They are retired police chief Charles D. Grant, 75, and newcomers Fred G. Bashara, 58, and E. Toles Summers, 35.
Summers is the son of the late Robert E. Summers, who served on the Norfolk council from 1966 to 1986. If elected, he would be the fifth generation of Summers to serve on council.
Norfolk's Superward 6 has six candidates vying for the seat being vacated by the Rev. Joseph N. Green Jr., who is retiring.
This week, Green and two fellow councilmen, Paul Riddick and Herbert Collins, created a stir when they criticized Horace ``Tommy'' White, a white man, for running in a predominantly black district.
In Chesapeake, voters will elect a school board for the second time in six months. This time, candidates have more time to campaign than last fall.
In a 1993 referendum, Chesapeake city voters approved the switch from an appointed to an elected school board by a margin of nearly 5-to-1. But the first election wasn't held until last December after the Justice Department decided to drop its objections to the city's at-large system.
There are nine candidates for the Chesapeake School Board, including one incumbent.
Mayor William E. Ward is seeking re-election against a challenge by John A. Cosgrove, an electronics engineer.
The council election has drawn nine candidates for three seats. There are two incumbents.
In Suffolk, three council seats are being contested, with incumbents in each borough.
There also are six candidates for school board.
April 8 is the deadline to register to vote in the May election. MEMO: Staff writers Mac Daniel, Jon Glass, Alex Marshall, Vanee Vines, Denise
Watson, Karen Weintraub, Katrice Franklin, Tom Holden and Toni Whitt
contributed to this story.
ILLUSTRATION: STEVE EARLEY color photos/The Virginian-Pilot
Michael B. Moore, left, filing to run for the Beach school board, is
helped by Gail Labyak, a voter registration supervisor.
KEYWORDS: ELECTION TIDEWATER SCHOOL BOARDS CITY
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