Thursday, January 25, 2007
By DEBBIE HALL - Bulletin Staff Writer
Three Patrick County candidates have announced they will run in the November election.
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Attorney Harold Edwin “Chip� Slate II will seek the commonwealth’s attorney’s seat currently held by Chris Corbett, who is seeking a fourth term in the post.
Veterinarian Dr. Lock Boyce will run for the Peters Creek District seat on the Patrick County Board of Supervisors now held by David Young.
Boyce, who will formally announce his intentions at a later date, said his campaign will be an “issues-based campaign.�
He said he will make voters aware of his stand on issues, and say “‘OK, here’s what we’re doing good and here’s what I’m for’� as well as issues he does not support.
Boyce, 55 and owner of Boyce-Holland Veterinary Services in Patrick Springs, advocates returning government to the people by listening to concerns and acting on them.
If there is an occasion that calls for an elected representative to vote against the wishes of the majority of his constituents, Boyce said the representative “needs to come out and explain to people, in detail,� why the ballot was cast.
Boyce said he is accessible to residents and invites them to share their concerns.
Corbett, 50 and a Patrick County native, was elected commonwealth’s attorney in 1995 and is finishing his third term in the post.
Experienced prosecution is needed now more than ever because of “an increasing amount of change� in laws and standards, Corbett said.
“I feel we always prosecute our cases in a fair� and even-handed manner, Corbett said, and he feels he has been successful in the post, but “obviously, if you made complete headway, there would be no crime.�
Continuing in the post will allow for the development “of additional proficiency.� Not just in respect to this job, but in any job, “the more you do this, the better you get at it,� Corbett said.
Slate, a Patrick County native, opened a law office in Stuart after receiving his degree in May 2004 from Campbell University’s Norman Adrian Wiggins School of Law.
He was admitted to the Virginia State Bar in 2005, and with the return to Patrick County, “I feel I’ve come full circle� by returning to his hometown to open his law practice, Slate said.
Slate, 27, has worked as a research assistant and intern in the Martinsville law firm of Young, Haskins, Mann, Gregory and Smith, P.C. Before that, Slate held a similar post with Martin F. Clark, P.C, a Stuart attorney.
Between 2002 and 2003, Slate served as the executive case law editor for the Campbell Law Observer in Buies Creek, N.C., where he recruited and assigned case summary writers for the N.C. Court of Appeals, N.C. Supreme Court, 4th Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court.
He is the chairman of the Virginia Motorsports Museum & Hall of Fame and is a member of both the Phi Alpha Delta Law Fraternity and Epsilon Pi Eta Honor Society.
Young has said he is undecided on a re-election bid. He could not be reached for comment.
Source: Martinsville Bulletin, January 25, 2007