Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, November 3, 1995 TAG: 9511030026
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: ROBERT FREIS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PEARISBURG LENGTH: Long
That's the feeling from loud rumblings of concern voiced by candidates seeking local offices this fall.
The epicenter of attention is the county's courthouse complex, where Giles County's supervisors meet, constitutional officers work and criminal trials are held.
Present office holders are on the defensive, as challengers take them to task for everything from feuding to financial chicanery to snootiness.
It's not the chimney-crumbling and plaster-cracking earthquake of 1897, but rural Giles County has been through some convulsive changes as of late. Within the past four years, county government has assumed an expanded role in providing basic services such as solid waste collection and utilities. The county also intends to build a new social services building and is planning upgrades of other facilities such as court and municipal offices and schools.
Incumbents call all the activity progress. Some taxpayers, on the other hand, view new fees and governmental expansion with alarm, particularly when they hear their officials say per capita indebtedness willonly increase five-fold.
Confidence in elected officials hasn't been bolstered by several on-going controversies, either. Members of the Board of Supervisors and county Treasurer Rick Cook have sparred repeatedly over record-keeping. And an unpopular annexation agreement involving the Town of Pearisburg agitated many citizens.
A number of candidates who spoke during an Oct. 19 election forum at the county courthouse said Giles County has an "image" problem, generated by a lack of cooperation and foresight among its leaders. "We need to bring back financial security and pride," said Timmy Brown, a contender for the Board of Supervisors.
Incumbents, such as Supervisor Bobby Compton, assert that they've confronted tougher issues than any previous board. "Somebody has to stand up and make a decision," he said.
Compton and fellow board members George Hedrick, Herbert "Hub" Brown and Larry "Jay" Williams are all seeking re-election. Each has opponents, and many contenders are making political hay over Giles County's growing pains.
New services, costs
The county is struggling to unify water systems operated by its five towns - Pearisburg, Narrows, Glen Lyn, Pembroke and Rich Creek - into a single public service authority. Earlier this summer the county bought a small water system in the Hoges Chapel area. Also, the county is paying part of the cost to build a new system for the Ram/Wayside community.
Until enough water customers are brought on line to make the system profitable, the county will be financially subsidizing its public service authority, which is designed to be self-sustaining eventually. County officials say the water system is necessary, but don't know how much time and money will be needed to make it viable.
That open-ended situation makes some uneasy. Others object to paying nonuser fees for declining to hook up to the system. A few flinty landowners have refused to grant easements for water lines to cross their land.
Solid waste collection - another responsibility of the county public service authority - has also caused a stink. County residents were charged for the first time in 1993 for residential garbage pickup. Meanwhile, the county has reduced the number of green boxes by consolidating trash collection sites, a move some citizens say is inconvenient and an invitation to litter.
Also unpopular was an annexation agreement negotiated between the county and Pearisburg, which would add several neighborhoods and about 2.66 square miles to the town's boundaries.
Opposition to the agreement was nearly unanimous among 250 county residents who attended an August public hearing. At least one candidate for the Board of Supervisors, former county administrator Barbara Hobbs, was influenced to run because of the annexation agreement, which she criticized as showing "total disregard" for public sentiment.
Giles' debt load
Several other board hopefuls used the Oct. 19 forum to criticize the present supervisors' decision to authorize more than $2 million to pay for a new social services building and court and county office improvements.
They said new buildings and all of the other utility projects are creating overwhelming debt pressure on the county, and point to an incident in September when the county nearly bounced a payment check to fund on-going improvements to Narrows Elementary School as symptomatic.
Some hot races
One player in that controversy - and many others over the past four years - was county Treasurer Rick Cook, who has compared his relationship with the Board of Supervisors to the gunfight at the OK Corral.
Cook and the supervisors have squabbled over accounting procedures in court. He and a former employee settled a defamation suit out of court. Throughout, Cook has defended his record as one of fulfilling promises and refusing to play "good 'ol boy politics."
Whether to defeat Cook or obtain the $44,000-a-year treasurer's job, six opponents will join him on the ballot Tuesday. One of these, Bendy Shrader, is a former bookkeeper in Cook's office whom the current treasurer has accused of subterfuge. The unresolved question: will votes split among so many candidates oust Cook or ensure his re-election?
Another race that's generated much vitriol yet less attention is the contest for commonwealth's attorney between incumbent James Hartley and challenger Garland Spangler.
Spangler's campaign ads in the local weekly newspaper, the Virginian Leader, have taken Hartley to task on a number of topics, from an excessive number of plea bargains to his "boasted elitist university education and social status."
Hartley, first elected in 1983, angrily denied Spangler's charges at the Oct. 19 forum, while he crumpled up a copy of the newspaper ad and tossed it aside from the podium.
The sheriff's race between incumbent Larry Falls and challenger Keith Hale has been considerably less intense, with both men touting their record without directly criticizing one another.
Neither has the county's first school board election generated much heat, or interest, for that matter. Four of the School Board's five seats up for election are contested, yet the county's education association decided not to endorse candidates as similar organizations in other counties did.
"A lot of people aren't aware that school board elections are happening," said County School Superintendent Robert McCracken.
The tax issue
The bottom line with most voters will be Giles County's ability to maintain its low-tax status. According to the latest available statistics, in 1993 the county ranked 121st among Virginia's 136 counties and cities in lowest per capita tax revenue.
Herbert "Hub" Brown's pitch to voters at the Oct. 19 forum was that the county's average $108 debt per citizen was the state's lowest. He asserted that an increase up to above $500 - estimated to cover the various expenses incurred by the county over the past few years - would still be pretty low, comparatively speaking.
In June only a handful of citizens showed up at a public hearing to protest the county's $28.5 million budget. It might be a different story next year, no matter who wins on Tuesday.
"It's going to be a shocker," said current Supervisor Ted Timberlake, who is retiring from office - voluntarily.
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB