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Blacksburg town elections have often been sleepy affairs - witness the 3.3 percent voter turnout for 1998's slate of unopposed candidates. But sometimes an election issue causes a furor, like the Toms Creek sewer has this year. Sometimes the events surrounding an election overshadow the contest itself.

Here are a few of Blacksburg's more memorable elections of the past three decades:

1974

Thirteen candidates ran for three council seats and Mayor John Barringer squared off against Vice Mayor Joe Gorman in an election season dominated by the grand jury indictment of the police chief and questions of city status. Blacksburg's chief was indicted - and months after the election, convicted - on a charge of official misconduct for fixing traffic tickets. Other allegations swirled around the case. Another officer was said to have tipped drug suspects to arrest plans. The grand jury said the town manager and elected officials should have done more to curb police behavior. In addition, there was much talk about whether Blacksburg should become a city, stay a town or merge with Montgomery County and Christiansburg. Despite all the thunder, voter turnout was just above 30 percent, much lower than predicted. Barringer kept his seat, but none of the other incumbents in the race held onto theirs. The top vote-getter in the 1974 council election was newcomer Al Leighton, who remains on the council today.

1980

Think Blacksburg, a pro-development citizens group, spent the then-unheard of sum of about $3,200 to back three council candidates, including Jim Shuler, who now represents Blacksburg in the House of Delegates. There was much talk about bonds, but a main issue became Think Blacksburg itself. Residents and candidates criticized the group for raising the stakes for Blacksburg politics, and Councilwoman Frances Parsons, running for re-election, said such spending would take elections "out of the grasp of ordinary citizens." Parsons ended up as the top vote-getter, while second was Roger Hedgepeth, who ran as an opponent of widening Toms Creek Road. None of the Think Blacksburg candidates gained a seat and the group faded away, though some involved in the effort stayed active in town doings. This year, two of Think Blacksburg's principals, developer Georgia Anne Snyder-Falkinham and Bill Aden of Draper-Aden Associates, are backing Parsons in her write-in campaign.

1986

Councilman Michael Chandler launched a fiery campaign against Roger Hedgepeth, who had become mayor in 1982, saying the town needed better planning and leaders who were more open to public input. Hedgepeth countered that the town was doing well without a "proliferation of committees" and that links to residents were being strengthened through measures such as the recently launched public access television channel. Hedgepeth took nearly 61 percent of the vote and remains mayor today. Chandler, who was first elected in 1984, stayed on the council until 2002, when he moved out of town. Appointed to fill the remainder of his term was J.B. Jones, who is running for re-election this year.

2002

A vigorous campaign by six candidates for council and three for mayor saw attempts to register Virginia Tech students and the first local political involvement by Blacksburg members of the Green Party, which previously had concentrated on national issues. Growth and planning were again big issues. On the night before the election, council candidate Allie Berg, a Tech student and one of two candidates endorsed by the Greens, was arrested and charged with felony conspiracy in connection with a rash of anti-rape graffiti on the Tech campus. Berg finished last in an election that saw three council incumbents and Mayor Roger Hedgepeth keep their seats. The charge against Berg was dropped three months later. Some of her supporters complained that the timing of the arrest was politically motivated to smear Berg and the Greens' other endorsee, mayoral candidate Don Langrehr, who ended up taking second with about two-thirds of Hedgepeth's vote total. This year, Langrehr is making an independent bid for a council seat.

Staff researcher Belinda Harris contributed to this report.