Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 21, 1993 TAG: 9304210229
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: LON WAGNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ROCKY MOUNT LENGTH: Short
So a proposal Tuesday afternoon by Supervisor Page Matherly - a former tobacco grower - that the board speak out against a $2-per-pack national cigarette tax was approved with little opposition.
Even Supervisor Homer Murray - who didn't mind going toe-to-toe with land-use zoning opponents two months ago - wouldn't vote against the resolution. Murray admitted he opposed the resolution, but he abstained from voting when the roll was called.
"I'm afraid I'd get run out of the county," Murray said when asked why he stood aside.
Matherly's resolution passed 5-0, with two abstentions. U.S. Sens. Charles Robb and John Warner and Rep. L.F. Payne soon will receive letters letting them know just where Franklin County supervisors stand on the cigarette tax.
A majority of the board members smoke - something. Chairman Wayne Angell smokes a pipe. Supervisor Charles Ellis - who debated the tax after the meeting while puffing a cigar - usually smokes cigarettes, as do Supervisors Hubert Quinn and Matherly.
But board members said it was their support of tobacco growers - not their own smoking habits - that prompted the vote.
"This country was founded on tobacco," Matherly said.
"Are there any other aspects of the national economy or social programs this board would like to discuss?" Angell asked.
Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.