ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, May 8, 1996 TAG: 9605080059
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG
SOURCE: KENNETH SINGLETARY STAFF WRITER
TWO INCUMBENTS and one newcomer were winners in an eight-way Town Council race. All proposed going slowly on plans for a town pool.
Voters returned two incumbents and gave political newcomer Richard Ballengee a chance to serve on Town Council in an eight-candidate election that many people saw as a referendum on the town's recreation program.
The program calls for building a recreation center now and a swimming pool later, as money becomes available. Several of the eight candidates on the ballot advocated moving the pool up in the 10-year building schedule.
Incumbents Wayne Booth, who has served more than two terms, and Scott Weaver, who has served seven terms, called for proceeding with the recreation plan as it is laid out. Booth garnered the most votes: 808. Ballengee was close behind with 790. Weaver won 573. The nearest challenger, Bob Hockett, was 38 votes behind Weaver. The other four challengers were more than 100 votes behind Hockett and clustered within 22 votes of each other. Three seats were up for grabs.
Ballengee is a semiretired school administrator and longtime town resident.
"I said all along, let's pay as you go, and I think that's the attitude of the voters of Christiansburg," Ballengee said.
At an election night Town Council meeting, council unanimously voted to proceed with the recreation plan and ask for bids for the project. A swimming pool will have to come later, they said.
The election drew the most candidates anyone can remember. At least one new person was guaranteed on council with longtime member Truman Daniel's retirement.
Hockett, who served on the town's recreation advisory committee, said, "This is what the town wants. ... We're going to have to live with it and continue to work on it. We did as good a job as we could."
Jay Newman, another challenger, said the full slate of candidates may have split the reform vote. Candidates believed the field was divided among four who represented the status quo and four who represented change.
"I think people are pretty well saying they are happy with the way things are going," said Bob Abraham. "I thought this was time for change, but obviously that's not the view of a majority of voters in Christiansburg."
Despite the all-day rain, 1,553 residents voted, or 20 percent of the electorate, the biggest turnout in recent elections.
Many of those voters were older residents, a group Ballengee focused on.
"I got the feeling the election would be carried by our older voters," said Ballengee, who spent the last weeks campaigning heavily in neighborhoods where many older voters live.
LENGTH: Medium: 57 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshots) Ballengee, Booth, Weaver. KEYWORDS: ELECTIONby CNB