Dean C. Cox

• Running for: Mayor
• Age: 72
• Occupation: Retired construction manager
• Community Roots: Pulaski native
• Affiliations: Life member of Virginia Jaycees and American Legion, served in the U.S. Air Force, past president of Pulaski Chamber of Commerce amd past records and recognition chairman for Virginia Jaycees
• Education: Pulaski County High School graduate and attended Indiana Tech for two years

Election index

• Other candidates in the NRV answer your questions

Why should voters vote for you to serve as Pulaski’s mayor?

Dean Cox: I think that I’m in a position, with my experience, my life experiences, to correct some of the things that I don’t feel that are being done now that I disagree with ... controversies that are holding us down and some of that stuff. I don’t think that the people are getting the accountability that they deserve, too much stuff in secret.

Rhonda Hodge of Pulaski asks: “What will you do to help the economy in Pulaski and bring in more tourism and business?”

DC: Well, the economy in Pulaski is at a standstill right now, and we need to look at all the problems in the town and correct those and the businesses and the tourism. I don’t see tourism in this town. There’s nothing here to draw tourism outside of Gatewood [Reservoir]. I mean you got one little park up there that will bring in a few people, but until you clean the town up and do what is supposed to be done. ... This is the county seat of Pulaski County, and all they’re doing is bickering back and forth with the county when we should all be working together — because I’m just as much a part of the county as I am the town of Pulaski and everybody else has seem to forgot that. And some of the things that we’re duplicating here in the town needs to be eliminated, and they need to develop the downtown into what it is, a governmental, cultural and professional area. It’s never going to have businesses in it as it has in prior years, not in that location.

What do you see your role as mayor being, asks town resident Jennifer White.

DC: PR [public relations] and leadership. We need to get established back the connection between the county and the town, and I think the mayor is responsible for the leadership to get that done.

Kathy Denny of Pulaski wants to know: How do you plan to work with nonprofits to combat the drug and alcohol problem in the community?

DC: First of all, they got to admit they got one. ... That goes back to something else. I think first of all we have to revamp our police department. I went to a meeting the other night and they talked about they had had five arrests in Pulaski and they got 5 grams of coke or something or other, and I’m sure there’s more than that that passes hand every night down there. It seems like everybody knows where the crack houses are, people should be doing something about it. ... We do have a problem. I realize that. I think anything we can do would be great, but I think that’s the main thing. We just need to get our law enforcement doing that and not doing other things they’re doing.