NEWS- Grant's charge: Schools vet wants supe seat

<P>If there's one thing of which Rio District constituents can be sure, it's this: if they elect former journalist Gary Grant to the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors for their district, he won't be a shrinking violet.
<P>Grant, 56, who announced his Republican ticket candidacy on Monday, May 2, showed his open government style in a lengthy WINA radio career as well as during his 1990s editorship of <I>The Observer</I>, a now-defunct weekly.
<P>During his three-year term on the Albemarle County School Board from 2000-03, Grant became famous for his weekly emailed newsletter which served as a window onto the behind-the-scenes maneuvers of County Schools. Some criticized him for publicizing the names of teachers whose contracts had not been renewed, but others praised him for keeping the heat on school administrators, who, among other things, had condoned the unlicensed watching of Disney movies on school bus trips as well as class trips to the Lotus Shrine at Yogaville.
<P>An Earlysville resident who works as a part-time driver for Goff Transportation, Grant says he intends to walk and bike through the Rio District from now through election day to "find out what registered voters believe local government should and should not be doing."
<P>Grant will face Thomas Jakubowski for the seat being vacated by David Bowerman. The election will be held November 8.
<P><B><img src="/images/issue0214/hotseat-grant.jpg"> <br>Gary Grant </B><br>FILE PPHOTO BY JEN FARIELLO
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