ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, April 30, 1996 TAG: 9604300098
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: DUBLIN
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
You can say this for Colbern Linkous: he livens up an election.
The three Dublin Town Council incumbents seeking re-election - Dave Farmer, Sam Gregory and Alden Hankla - seem to be running on the same platform, as is Mayor Benny Keister, although he has no competition for a third term.
All three council members point to the acquisition of the 101-acre Burlington Industries property and its continued development as an industrial park and a future site for the town hall and other facilities as the current council's premiere achievement. They also uniformly stress the need for cooperation with Pulaski County, as with the boundary adjustment allowing the town to take the former Burlington property into its corporate limits.
Linkous, on the other hand, is an unabashed Dublin-firster. He says the town has gotten too involved with the county, even in such programs as recreation where he notes the county has more representation than the town on the board that runs it.
He says the county courthouse should not have been rebuilt at Pulaski, after being gutted by a fire several years ago, but placed in a more central area like Dublin. He does not believe Dublin citizens derive all that much benefit from the nearby New River Valley Airport, and says the county alone should fund it.
Farmer, a Maddy Realty associate broker, has served on council for eight years and as vice mayor. Hankla, who worked as a pharmacist, has been on and off council under three mayors, including Keister. Gregory, with two council terms behind him, is a self-employed general contractor.
Keister is a retired educator who has taught, coached or counseled in Pulaski, Wythe and Montgomery counties. It was Keister who first proposed the idea of approaching Burlington to see if a deal could be worked out to acquire the vacated property with its buildings.
LENGTH: Short : 42 lines KEYWORDS: POLITICS CITY COUNCILby CNB