PRINCE EDWARD – After 16 years on Prince Edward County's board of supervisors, Buffalo District Supervisor William “Buckie” Fore has announced he will not seek a fifth term.

“I kind of feel that I have answered the call of duty and I'm willing to let the next chapter be written by a brand new author,” Fore said Monday.

Fore, a lifelong resident of Prince Edward, is a former member of the Virginia Army National Guard, from which he retired after 37 years of service as a Brigadier General in 1993. His last assignment was a six-year tour as Chief of Staff of the 29th Infantry Division (Light), the Army's only reserve force Light Division headquartered at Fort Belvoir.

Fore plans to serve to the end of his term as supervisor in December.

“Hasty decisions are not generally good decisions,” Fore said Monday. “But after careful consideration, I choose not to run for re-election. I think timing is often critical to good local government and I think the timing is right for me to step down. I think the county is…on sound fiscal and financial footing.”

He added that the schools are the focus of careful study for improvement, which is in their CIP plan and that there are several critical issues and projects that have been completed or face completion shortly.

“I think a change in government leaders during periods of stability is the best time to change,” he said. “And, of course, I feel, too, that change is inevitable. It has to come sooner or later. I feel that it would be counter-productive for me to remain in office beyond this term … Personally, I feel like that I've reached my goals and have achieved levels of satisfaction in doing the job for the county.”

Four terms as supervisor, he assessed, “have pretty much allowed me to keep the train on the track that it was on and that we were headed in the right direction and so I'm pleased with that.”

Stepping down, Fore agreed, will give him more time to spend with family. He is involved in some level of County business daily as chairman.

Fore, who has run as a Democrat, had started the process at the end of February to run for re-election. He said he made the decision not to run after the March board of supervisors meeting, noting that he had been thinking about it for awhile.

Fore retired from The Herald in 2001, where he served as advertising manager from 1963 until 1987 and again from 1994 until retiring in 2002. He continues to work part-time in the Herald's Advertising Department.