Campaigning has taken a more personal turn in Roanoke County.

The races for the Catawba and Cave Spring district seats on the board of supervisors, in particular, have brought out allegations of misconduct by some candidates and occasional electricity at candidates forums.

Somewhat less fiery have been the races for those same districts' school board seats -- one has a single candidate -- and the contest for clerk of circuit court.

The Catawba District -- geographically the largest in the county and arguably the most diverse in terms of rural versus urban precincts -- has the most candidates.

Both incumbents, Supervisor Joe "Butch" Church and school board member Marion Roark, drew two opponents.

Church, who ran as a Republican when seeking each of his first two terms, left that party and is running as an independent this year. He faces two independents -- Bradford Archer and Jerry Custer.

The challengers have focused on what they see as profligate county spending and too-high taxes, something they hold Church and often the entire board of supervisors responsible for.

Archer, a newcomer to politics, is touting his experience as a construction engineer as a skill the board could use to make sure it is getting the best deals for capital improvement projects.

He said he would work to have the county reassess its capital improvement priorities -- eliminating the recently approved multigenerational recreation center, for instance -- to take care of projects such as improving the Glenvar library.

Custer, a retired 21-year veteran of the county police force, also disagreed with the current board's decision to build a $32 million recreation center in North County and to spend more than $150,000 to refurbish the board meeting room at the county administration center.

"We have to put our money back in infrastructure -- things like schools, libraries and public safety," he said.

Church defended the county's recent capital improvement program, including the rec center, as serving public needs and helping stimulate economic growth that will bring in more taxes for schools and other essential services.

Church said he was proud of being able to lower the tax rate for three years in a row, but expressed frustration with residents who don't understand that the school board, not the supervisors, sets priorities for spending on educational needs.

Church and Custer have engaged in contentious campaign rhetoric. Custer has accused Church of lying about Custer's campaign statements; Church accused Custer of threatening to withhold raises to county police officers if they didn't find stolen campaign signs.

Each denies the other's accusations.

Allegations of dirty tricks extended into the Cave Spring supervisor's race when it was revealed that someone had purchased the "mcneilforsupervisor.com" domain name on the Internet and set it up to direct Web surfers to Charlotte Moore's Web site.

Rodney McNeil, running as a Republican, acknowledged that there was nothing illegal in purchasing the domain name before he got it, but he criticized the Moore campaign for using it.

Moore, a Democrat, has apologized "for any inconvenience," and the "mcneilforsupervisor.com" site no longer redirects Web surfers.

McNeil has been campaigning on his years of service on the planning commission and board of zoning appeals and his leadership experience as a brigadier general in the Virginia Army National Guard.

While he said he wants to keep taxes as low as possible, "we've got to have taxes. People have to decide what level of services they want, and they have got to be willing to pay for that."

Moore, a real estate agent who also runs a landscaping business, touts her experience, albeit of a slightly different sort, in dealing with what she sees as a major issue for the future: growth.

"I also know how important it is to talk to citizens in getting ... their concerns," she said, so they can "give input to the board before a decision is made."

2 ex-teachers challenge school board incumbent

In the Catawba District school board race, incumbent Roark is being challenged by David Wymer and Susan Arnold. Roark, who currently serves as the board's chairman, was first elected in 1995.

Although state law requires all the candidates to run as independents, Roark has been endorsed by county Republicans and Wymer by Democrats.

"I think I still have a lot to offer," said Roark, adding that she wanted to see the completed renovation of Glenvar High School and Masons Cove Elementary School.

"In the 12 years I have been on the school board the school system has grown and improved so much, and I think we can continue along that same route," she said.

Both Wymer and Arnold are former teachers in the Roanoke County school system and both said they were running to see an educator on the board.

"There is a lack of credibility and trust between the school employees and the board in some areas," Wymer said.

"I felt that the school board was out of step with the teachers, that they really didn't get enough input on some important decisions that they made," said Arnold.

Putting records online an issue in court clerk's race

The final contested race in Roanoke County is for clerk of circuit court, where 16-year incumbent Steve McGraw, a Democrat, is being challenged by Mike Keen, a Virginia State Police special agent.

Keen, a newcomer to politics, also owns a truck bedliner business with his wife.

He says that combination of law enforcement and business experience has prepared him to "develop strong, working relationships with the judges, attorneys and law enforcement agencies that utilize the clerk's office," and to "understand that efficiency and stellar customer service are critical to success."

Keen said he would work to correct "numerous weaknesses in internal controls" in the clerk's office found by the state Auditor of Public Accounts. He also said he would "find better ways of both securing information" and getting land records online.

McGraw insists the county has been working diligently to get those and other records on the Internet, but that it is essential to first address identity theft concerns.

His office, along with 80 other clerk's offices in the state, is waiting to get records online through a state Supreme Court system. That is being held up because it's taking longer than expected to remove sensitive information -- including Social Security numbers -- that could be used for identity theft from the records.

Staff writer David Harrison contributed to this report.