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

DATE: SATURDAY, May 26, 1990                   TAG: 9005260263
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Landmark News Service
DATELINE: MARTINSVILLE                                LENGTH: Short

TOWN TO CRITIC: JUST TRY US

Hometown pride is strong in Martinsville, where officials are offering an all-expense-paid trip to the city to a writer who recently rated it one of the worst small towns in America.

Mayor L.D. Oakes said he mailed a letter this week to G. Scott Thomas, author of "The Rating Guide to Life in America's Small Cities," asking the writer to visit and reassess his opinion of Martinsville.

The Martinsville Bulletin has agreed to pay Thomas' travel expenses and council member Al Groden, who owns a nearby inn, said he would house the writer, Oakes said.

"He rated us 213 out of 219," Oakes said. "We didn't quite agree with that, but we didn't want to get defensive. What we're trying to do is take a negative and make a positive, show him what Martinsville's about, see if he'll change his mind.

"Our citizens are taking it pretty seriously," he said.

Oakes said Thomas had no reason to fear a lynch mob upon his arrival.

"We're not going to call him on the carpet," he said. "We're just going to show him what we've got.

by CNB