I recently read an article in the Roanoke Times that gave me some pause.
The article implied that Radford City was on the edge of reverting to town status due to recent economic occurrences.
The article seemed to show a subtle bias toward one of the mayoral candidates in Radford, David Horton.
I was glad to hear that the other candidate for mayor, Councilman Keith Marshall, emphatically stated that he was opposed to reversion.
I believe most citizens in Radford would be opposed to losing independent city status.
Most concerning to me, however, is the conflict of interest for candidate David Horton, who works in the administration at Radford University.
I simply cannot grasp the fact that we could have a mayor who is a part-time employee for the city and who reports to the university for his full-time employment.
This position would create an unavoidable conflict of interest. Radford University is very important to Radford’s economy, but RU should not be in control of the city governing body.
The David Horton for Mayor signs may tell the story best. These signs are red and black. I assume that the red stands for RU and the black represents our high school team colors.
I worry that these signs could be a premonition of things to come as Radford faces a future under Horton where the red is always on top.
Brenda W. Bird
Radford