6th

Mark Sage
Wytheville Enterprise: News
Fri Aug 14, 2009 - 04:44 PM

By WAYNE QUESENBERRY/Staff

Recognizing the value of locally owned businesses, 6th District Democratic candidate Carole Pratt visited Wytheville’s downtown earlier this week. The retired dentist from Pulaski County also met with officials at Wythe County Community Hospital as part of her health issues platform.
“Economic development, education and health issues are my key priorities,” Pratt remarked. “They are all so interrelated. It all starts with a good, solid education.”
The Medical College of Virginia graduate recently received the endorsement of the Virginia Education Assoc.
“I’m really proud to get that endorsement,” Pratt commented.
Unanimously nominated for the Virginia House of Delegates by the 6th District Democratic Committee, she will face Republican incumbent Anne B. Crockett-Stark of Wytheville in November. Pratt launched her Local Business Listening Tour last week in Pulaski and visited the Bland County Fair.
Pratt plans to visit downtowns in Giles and Tazewell counties in the coming weeks.
The 6th District includes all of Bland County, the Max Meadows Precinct, East Wytheville Precinct, West Wytheville Precinct and the Black Lick Precinct in Wythe County. It also covers two precincts in Tazewell County and parts of Pulaski and Giles counties.
Commenting on the layout of the 6th District, Pratt remarked, “I support bi-partisan redistricting and if elected I will work to ensure the districts are better designed.”
According to Pratt, visiting with home-grown, locally owned businesses will provide her with additional information on the challenges and opportunities facing these businesses. It also will help equip her to represent them in the House of Delegates.
Pratt and her husband, Dr. Richard Mansell, owned and operated a general dentistry practice in Pulaski County from 1976 to 2008. Both are still licensed dentists but are retired.
She has served her community as a family business advocate. Pratt is a former president of the Pulaski County Chamber of Commerce and chaired the New River Economic Development Alliance and Virginia’s Small Business Advisory Board.
Pratt is a member of the Virginia Economic Development Partnership Board and Pulaski Encouraging Progress, the county’s economic development organization.
“Unemployment rates in our district have doubled in the last year,” she pointed out, “and our current delegate voted to reject over $125 million in federal stimulus money that would help Virginia families hardest hit by the economic crisis. We need a representative who fights for us, not party bosses, in Richmond.”
Health care in rural Virginia is a particular concern of Pratt’s. She is one of 11 National Rural Health Association Fellows in the U.S. and is working to establish a database of rural health professional education programs.
Pratt is a member of the Pulaski Community Hospital board of trustees. She is a former chairman of Virginia’s Board of Health and former vice chairman of the Virginia Medicaid Board.
“As a hospital board member,” Pratt said, “I have spent decades helping members of our community. I understand the need for quality rural health care and I will continue working to bring outstanding providers to Southwest Virginia.”

http://www.swvatoday.com/comments/pratt_goes_downtown/news/5791/