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

DATE: SATURDAY, July 2, 1994                   TAG: 9407040096
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: BRIAN KELLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG                                 LENGTH: Medium

TEACHER AT PRIVATE SCHOOL NAMED TO LIBRARY BOARD

The Montgomery County Board of Supervisors appointed Jane N. Mitchell of Christiansburg to the Library Board on Monday.

Mitchell, a teacher at Blacksburg's Dayspring Christian Academy since 1988, paid $86.84 in delinquent county taxes that day to qualify for the appointment, according to a county record.

The board selected Mitchell over one other candidate. Incumbent board member Curtis O. Jones did not seek reappointment.

Mitchell holds a master's degree in English and taught for a year in the county school system after moving to the area to attend graduate school. "I love books," she said.

The appointment comes amid the controversy over keeping the book, "Daddy's Roommate," on the shelves of the children's sections at the library system's three branches. In April, the Library Board voted 5-3 to back the library staff's decision to keep the book, which depicts two gay men raising a child, in the Easy Reader's section. Jones, of Christiansburg, was in the minority with the two Floyd County representatives.

Asked her opinion of that action, Mitchell declined to comment.

Last month, Nita McNerlin, the Blacksburg parent who has spearheaded the drive against the book, presented a 1,000-name petition to the supervisors requesting they compel the Library Board to reverse its decision by withholding funding. The supervisors have taken no formal action.

Also this week, the supervisors:

Reappointed Gloria C. Roberts of Blacksburg to the New River Valley Community Service Board and appointed Shirley Gerken to the New River Community College Board to replace David G. Larsen, who was ineligible for a new four-year term.

Reappointed Emily Stuart and Supervisor Jim Moore of Blacksburg to the Social Services Board, Margaret K. Bassett to the Human Services Commission and Supervisor Nick Rush to the New River Community College Board.