Glenn Pruitt
Bradley Boyd
PINNACLE — Incumbent Glenn Pruitt has won his bid for re-election as a Soil and Water Conservation supervisor for Surry County. Pruitt collected a total of 11,539 votes with all 29 precincts reporting in while Boyd had 8,795. A total of 135 write-in votes were cast for 20,469 total votes in the contest.
“I’d like to thank those who supported me,” said Pruitt. “I hate it for Mr. Boyd because he seems to be a nice fellow but someone has to win and someone has to lose. This win is a good feeling for me and I look forward to serving Surry County the best I can.”
Pruitt lives in the Shoals community of Pinnacle and was in the last year of his first three-year term in the office of supervisor. Pruitt lives in rural Shoals with his wife, Wendy, and their daughter, Gracie, who is 10. Pruitt has cattle and grows tobacco as well as hay and grass.
“I enjoy helping farmers like myself,” said Pruitt as he explained why he was interested in running for the post. “You want to preserve your farmland and conserve water. the folks over at Soil & Water are all good folks and they do a great job. It’s (Soil & Water Conservation) a great thing for the county. I like to give back to the community. The board also helps community members with stream restorations and secured funding from the state for farmers, which is also important.”
Pruitt said he plans to continue “doing what we’re doing now. A lot of state money is out there available to put back into agricultural practices that allow us to continue to be good stewards of the land.”
He said there is only so much land and it’s important to stop stripping the land of its fertility and keeping water clean and creeks clear of waste water.
“We have to take care of issues like this because we are all affected by water quality. You want to preserve your farm land and conserve water,” said Pruitt. “My interest is to look after my little county. I want to look after doing things in the best interest of Surry County. I’m a farmer just like my father and his father and I know what it takes to produce crops and looking after your neighbors and taking care of one another. I want to be sure we don’t let erosion take the land’s future away.”
“A typical person doesn’t know why soil and water are so important and there’s a lot to it. Rural farmers are helped by people in the city and people in the city are helped by rural farmers,” said Pruitt. “I hate to see anything happen to agriculture. Things we took for granted growing up, kids don’t have now.”
Boyd sounded optimistic in spite of the defeat to Pruitt in his first run at the commissioner’s seat.
“I think the difference probably was that Mr. Pruitt had a term behind him and under his belt,” commented Boyd. “I plan to try to volunteer some with the soil and water conservation office in the future to continue to help the county and I’m not sure if I’ll run for that office again or perhaps I’ll look at the agricultural commissioner of North Carolina office.”
Boyd explained how he wanted to run last time for the post but had getting married, buying a house and being in the middle of renovations of the Cross Creek golf course to deter him from running. He has served as a golf course superintendent. Boyd is married to Lana Boyd and has two stepchildren, Lauren and Mason Chaney.
“I do appreciate everyone who did vote for me and everyone who stood behind me in this race,” added Boyd. “I want to congratulate Mr. Pruitt for his successful bid for soil and water conservation commissioner.”
Reach David Broyles at dbroyles@heartlandpublications.com or 719-1952.
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