Appalachian Power’s proposed rate hike would hurt families, harm jobs and hinder economic recovery, area residents told State Corporation Commission (SCC) officials during a public hearing Thursday night.

The hearing was held at Franklin County High School in Rocky Mount. About 125 people attended, and numerous residents of Henry and Patrick counties traveled to the hearing aboard two buses chartered by Del. Ward Armstrong, D-Collinsville, and the House minority leader.

As a home health nurse, Connie Martin of Collinsville sees a lot of people who are on fixed incomes.

Electricity is not discretionary spending, Martin said, yet many people she cares for in the area are “facing a choice now between paying their electric bills, buying medicine and buying groceries.”

Because she wanted to be a voice for those people, she boarded a bus and headed to a State Corporation Commission public hearing in Rocky Mount on Thursday to oppose a proposed Appalachian Power rate hike.

For the second time in less than two years, Martinsville Schools Superintendent Scott Kizner is one of three finalists for a superintendent post in another school division.

“I see this as a professional opportunity for me. It is an opportunity to work for a good school system and a larger school system,” Kizner said Thursday afternoon.

Laurence Verga wants to run for the 5th District House seat in November to get “Washington back on track.”

“I’m very concerned about the direction President Obama and the Democratic Party are taking this country,” Verga said Thursday before he addressed supporters at the Sirloin House in Martinsville.

After watching Congress, Verga said he decided not “to outsource the job” anymore and announced his candidacy in August.