Walkers Creek incumbent
finishes third in race
By Hilary Craig
Walkers Creek challenger A.W. "Buster" Lewis narrowly won the Board of Supervisors race over another challenger tonight, Frank "Pat" Patterson, both of them leaving incumbent K.L. "Monty Fix" a distant third.
"We have a great challenge ahead of us," Lewis said tonight. "I think we are going to accomplish great things in Rockbridge County."
Lewis, 69, who owns the Mountain View Farm Greenhouse and the Jefferson Florist & Garden, said earlier that he has disagreed with most of the decisions the supervisors made during their past four-year term. He said the current board was not doing a good job of listening to the people.
"Time and time again, groups have been appointed to study issues like the sign ordinance and zoning, and they have done a great job," said Lewis. "And then once they have presented their very reasoned study, this board has ignored what they said and gone ahead and done something else. It's not only disrespectful, but not very smart."
However, Fix, 59, who served one four-year term as a supervisor, claimed that he has supported and listened to the district's land owners. He said he worked hard to represent the interest of his constituents.
"I'm just a puppet to them," he said.
Fix claimed that the primary problem in the county was its lack of business.
"We need small businesses to help us out," said Fix. "We need to improve our tax base and take some pressure off our retired people so we can have better school programs and jobs, and work to keep our young people here."
He proposed that the county should do everything it can to accommodate prospective businesses.
"We need to take their hand and work with them to get them here," he said.
While Lewis supported bringing new businesses and jobs into the county to relieve taxpayers, he was not willing to change county policies to accommodate new businesses. He did not approve of the supervisors loosening the county's sign ordinance as a special deal for the Peterbilt truck company to bring it to the county.
"I think that's short-term gain for long-term disaster," said Lewis. "We need to preserve the beauty of our county and set the rules. When people come in here, they need to play by our rules."
Patterson, 60, is a sheep farmer who retired from Virginia Power in 2002. He finished only slightly behind Lewis in the race.
Patterson said that the supervisors needed to "press harder" to create commercial and industrial sites that are "pad-ready" for a company to come in and start building on. According to Patterson, the county needs both blue-collar and white-collar jobs. He suggested that Rockbridge County is in a perfect location to be marketable for a satellite operation for other companies in Virginia.
In addressing how the newly elected board will tackle rezoning in the county, Lewis primarily believes something should be done, one way or the other.
"To do nothing is to go backwards," he said.
Lewis also said that the county needs to have a broader view of economic develoment.
"We should not just focus on industry, but define what kinds of business we want and do very agressive marketing."
Fix offered an alternative to both the time release and sliding scale methods. (More on zoning)
He proposed excluding people who have owned land for 20 or more years from such regulations.
"When someone's farmed for 100 to 200 years, it's hard for me to make a law saying they can't sell it," said Fix. "We need to give farmers the right they have to [sell] their land."
Patterson proposed a new method, which he calls the "25-acre rule." He explained that subdivisions would need to be at least 25 acres in size, with an exception for family members. He said that these large subdivisions would limit development and preserve the county's agricultural areas.
Lewis seved on the planning commission from 1998-2004. He has also been actively involved in education, serving on the Rockbridge County School Superintendent's Advisory Board as a president of the Parent Teachers Association in Fairfield. In addition, in 2005 he was selected as Business Individual of the Year by the local Chamber of Commerce.
Lewis believes that he his experience and vision helped him win the race.
"I know the issues, I know who the players are, and I know how to get things done," he said.
Produced by Washington and Lee journalism students.
Lead supervisor: Prof. Brian Richardson
Reporting supervisors:
Technical supervisor: Michael Todd