Morrison, Hankins vie for seat
Published 8:55 am Wednesday, June 28, 2017
Mike Hankins and Wanda Gordon Morrison are vying for the Brown’s Store District seat — one left vacant following the death of former supervisor David E. Wingold Sr.
Both Morrison and Hankins will appear on the ballot Nov. 7.
In the election, Plymouth District Supervisor T. Wayne Hoover, Beaver Creek District Supervisor Frank W. Bacon and Meherrin River District Supervisor Robert G. “Bobby” Zava will run unopposed. The election will also see Plymouth District Representative Donald B. Carnes, Meherrin River District Representative Amy N. McClure and Beaver Creek District Representative Beverley Hawthorne run unopposed for the county’s school board.
Hankins said if elected his goals include “whatever I could do to save money for
the people of Lunenburg.”
Hankins was appointed by the board of supervisors to serve in the seat on an interim basis in March following the death of Wingold.
“If I’m elected, I will certainly do everything I can to work for the citizens of Lunenburg County and I hope the path I’ve taken so far is something that they agree with and would want me to continue to do,” Hankins said.
He said in the limited time he’d been involved with the board, he’s been involved with the Farmville-based Commonwealth Regional Council.
“We were able to get a grant through them for the school system to basically … end up (purchasing) three school buses and getting one free,” Hankins said. “Through working with the CRC, they got a 25 percent discount.”
He also cited working with the CRC for other grants.
“I look at it as an honor to finish the job that he started,” Hankins said, referencing Wingold.
Prior to Hankins’ appointment to the board, he said he worked in the political arena for 20 years.
He said he worked to get President George W. Bush elected as governor of Texas when he lived in San Antonio, served on a tort reform committee that was appointed to by Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour and for the last seven years he’s served as the chairman of the Lunenburg Republican Party.
Morrison said her goals, if elected, would be to re-establish communication between the citizens of the county and elected officials to bring change to the locality.
“When I say change I don’t mean these huge changes that happen overnight, but as we all have recognized we need more things like stores and activities in the community for our young adults, as well places to shop for regular adults and everybody else,” Morrison said.
She referenced having grown up in Lunenburg County and having left for 30 years before returning to the county in 2009 to see there was no opportunity in Kenbridge for young adults graduating high school.
“There are limited shopping opportunities in our counties as far as our clothing … We should be inviting other things into our community,” Morrison said. “… When I came back and saw there was no growth in Lunenburg County or in Kenbridge since I left, it’s actually depleted … that’s when I decided to run.”
Morrison worked for Suntrust Mortgage for 34 in Richmond, 15 years as a customer service manager.
“In addition to that, I have spent the last 37 years as a United States Army Reserve; I currently serve there as a sergeant major,” Morrison said. “Much of that career has been working with different vendors as well as communicating with other soldiers.”