Collegiate Times

Last Tuesday the Blacksburg Town Council broke the traditional means of governmental appointments with the confirmation of Mary Holliman. The Blacksburg Town Council appointed Holliman to fill the recently vacated town council seat.

Holliman is the former town council planning commissioner, a position she opted to leave in favor of the town council seat.

The council confirmed Holliman?s appointment in a public meeting Tuesday night, a method atypical from the traditional means of local government appointments. In the past, the town council kept such discussions confidential, utilizing an option under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act.

Holliman is the sixth woman to be elected to the Blacksburg Town Council, and the first woman to ever sit on the council dais.

She will fill the recently vacated term of Mayor Ron Rordam until 2008.

Under the town charter, the council maintained the option of selecting anyone deemed fit to fill the recent vacancy. Other candidates included Wendell Hensley and Frank Lau.

In May, six candidates, including Holliman ran for the three open council seats. Holliman placed fourth on May 31 votes behind the incumbent candidate Al Leighton. But her background as the planning commissioner gave her the advantage Tuesday.

In 1968, Holliman attempted her first try for council with an unsuccessful bid for a seat. The 76-year-old owns a book publishing company, the Pocahontas Press ? a business specializing in books of local and regional interest.