Influx of new faces set for county commission as primary pares field
Published 8:48 am Wednesday, May 7, 2014
The Carter County Commission will likely have a group of new members after the August general election.
Voters selected three candidates from each district. The winning candidates from this election will face the independent candidates in the August general election.
In the first district, newcomer Jerry Proffitt won with 18.78 percent with 778 votes. Incumbents Buford Peters and Willie Campbell rounded out the three. Peters had 16.81 percent with 693 votes and Campbell had 15.21 percent with 627 votes.
Other candidates in the first district were William Birchfiedl with 14.09 percent with 581 votes. Mark Blevins with 10.33 percent with 426 votes. Freddie Taylor with 10.21 percent with 421 votes. Gary Sams with 9.24 percent with 381 votes and Gary Perry with 5.04 percent with 208 votes. There were eight write-in candidates.
In district two, incumbent Nancy Brown led with 27.06 percent with 656 votes. Newcomers Mike Hill, with 21.58 percent with 523 votes, and Al Meehan with 18.89 percent with 458, were the top three. Other candidates were Richard Guinn with 17.16 percent with 416 votes and Paul Campbell Jr. with 15.18 percent with 368 votes. There were three write-in votes.
In district three, Beth Depew led with 35.28 percent with 665 votes. Incumbent Ronnie Trivett was second with 34.69 percent with 654 votes. Billy Peters was third with 29.23 percent with 551 votes. There were 15 write-in votes.
In district four, Danny Ward led with 31.97 percent with 810 votes. Incumbent L.C. Tester was second with 25.26 percent with 640 votes. Next was Isaiah Grindstaff with 23.99 percent with 608 votes. The other candidate was Jeffrey Hughis with 17.44 percent with 442 votes. There were 34 write-in votes.
In district five, the top three candidates were Ross Garland, with 27.27 percent with 441 votes; Timothy Holdren with 25.05 percent with 405 votes and incumbent Bobbie Gouge-Dietz with 21.46 percent with 347 votes. Other candidates were Harmon Duncan with 17.5 percent with 283 votes and Scott Snell with 8.47 percent with 137 votes. There were four write-in votes.
In district six, all elected in the primary were newcomers to the commission. Randall Jenkins led with 22.82 percent with 615 votes. Gary Bailey was next with 19.89 percent with 536 votes followed by Larry Miller with 18.18 percent with 490 votes. Other candidates were Thomas Miller with 17.07 percent with 460 votes. M.L. Jack with 13.8 percent with 372 votes and James Dabbondanza with 7.64 percent with 206 votes. There were 16 write-in candidates.
In district seven, Scott Simerly led with 49.52 percent with 674 votes. Richard Burleson had 43.5 percent with 592 votes. There were 95 write-in votes.
In district eight, newcomers Robert Carroll had 22.15 percent with 443 votes, and Cody McQueen had 19.1 percent with 382 votes. Incumbent Robert Gobble had 17.05 percent with 341 votes. Other candidates were James Hughes with 16.25 percent with 325 votes. Michael Hardin with 12.95 percent with 259 votes and David Nelson with 12.25 percent with 245 votes. There were five write-in candidates.