Prior to Tuesday’s election, Disclosure is bringing you the coverage we’ve given of the majority of our readership area so you’ll be aware of the contested races. This information is appearing in the current print version on stands right now, so if you need a hard copy of it, hurry and get out to pick one up; the new issue is due to hit the stands beginning April 16 and 17, which means we’ll have a full recap of election results in the new issue. In the interim, we’ve opted to go ahead and post the contents of the current issue’s front-page coverage of the ballots by county, to spur interest and ensure that everyone gets out and VOTES. There may not be many contested races, but that doesn’t mean these offices are not important. The school boards, township officials, aldermen/council seats, mayoral races and other items on the ballot, including ballot questions (such as whether a location should remain ‘dry,’ or whether a public safety tax should be imposed) are the bottom-line basics of public service…and they’re being abused daily in Illinois (and everywhere), so it’s important to PAY ATTENTION TO THEM. And the best “attention” you can pay to them is to show that we can do a better voter turnout locally than something in the teens or 20s.
So here is the first of the posts, which will conclude Monday and will be run alphabetically between now and then, starting with Clay.
Clay County: Electing fire district trustees
The big story coming out of Clay County this election season is the appearance on the ballot of those to be elected to the Xenia Fire Protection District.
The Xenia Fire Department Board of Trustees, last August, 2012
This comes after an incident a year ago in April, wherein the entire fire department walked out because of the irresponsibility in handling money, equipment, grants and other matters essential to the running of the department of Daniel Edgington, whose name happens to not appear on the ballot…nor do either of the other two trustees who were on the board when the walkout occurred.
Instead, five names appear for the five trustee positions—five because the ballot initiative last year (November) also increased the number of trustees from three to five, so that power would be more spread out instead of consolidated into a small number of trustees.
The five are Shane Kanitz, Randy Hockman, Burl DeWayne Wesner, Joyce M. O’Donnell and Williams P. Moorman.
This ballot appears not only on the applicable Xenia coverage locations in Clay, but also on the Wayne County ballot, as a northwesternmost section of Wayne is covered by that district.
Village races
Contested races in Clay exist in:
Clay City, where three village trustees will be selected from four candidates: Mike Delonshaw, Dan Patridge, Rod Franklin and Charles E. Felty.
Xenia, where two are vying for village clerk: Dawn Cazadd and Jenny Gould; and five seeking four seats as village trustee: Suzie Hosick, Bill Bradley, Thomas J. Henson, Frank Edwards and Velma Akes.
Larkinsburg Township, where the township supervisor office is being sought by Dem Claye Warren and Rep Eric L. Bailey; and the highway commissioner office is being sought by Dem Eric Yingst, Rep Dean McKinney, and independents Glenn Yingst and Ernest Elledge.
Blair Township, where the highway commissioner office is being sought by Dem Alan Slagley, Rep Ronald L. Kincaid and Independent David McPeak.
Louisville Township, where the office of highway commissioner is being sought by Dem Matt Byers and Rep Tommy Ballard.
Harter Township, where the office of highway commissioner is being sought by Dem Johnny R. Williams, Rep James S. Tackitt and Independent Bob Meares.
Bible Grove Township, where the office of highway commissioner is being sought by Dem Cory Wendling and Independent Andy Wood.
Clay County Township, where the office of highway commissioner is being sought by Darrell Britton, Republican, and Kevin Henry, Democrat.
Township Trustee races
Many township trustee races have a “select four” of five or more slates, including Larkinsburg, Blair, Harter, Bible Grove and Clay City, for township trustees.
In Bible Grove, it’s amongst five: Rep Neil Gould, and Dems Darren Birch, Reggie Birch, Dale Weber and Aaron L. Hardin.
In Blair, it’s amongst five: Democrats Stewart Smith, Steve Porter and Kenny Hilderbrand; and Republicans Dwaine Worthey and Jon Vandyke.
In Clay County, it’s amongst eight: Republicans Terry Woodrow, Chris Young, Roger Herdes and Ross Herdes; and Democrats Bill Staser, Rod Franklin, Steve Spitzner and Tyler Turner.
In Harter, it’s amongst Dems Amy Sailer Leonard, Toby L. Rhinehart and Jim Williams; and Rep Joe Gilliland, Raymond J. Muhs and Ted Whitehead.
In Larkinsburg, the selection is amongst eight: Democrats Wesley Horath, Louise Beccue, Lloyd Weidner and Charles Kraucunas; and Republicans Eleanore Bailey, Daley Wayne McKinney, Roger McKinney and Jenny McKinney.
School boards
A portion of Clay lies in the Effingham Community Unit School District 40, which is selecting three of seven contenders for school board. They are: Steven Bone, James Keith, Kenneth Cleeton II (K.L.) and Laurie L. King in Township 8N Range 6E; and Galen Altman, James Osborn and Brian F. Wick in Township 8N Range 5E.
In Flora Community Unit School District 35, three will be selected from candidates Rob Tillery in Township 3N Range 7E; Curtis Leib, Rick Porter and Courtney Hatcher in Township 3N Range 6E; and Justin Cook in Township 2N Range 6E.
In Jasper Community Unit School District 1 on the northeast side of Clay, three will be selected from five: Mandy Rieman and Jerry L. (Jed) Earnest in Township 6N Range 9E; Gordon Millsap in Township 6N Range 11E; Holly Farley in Township 7N Range 9E; and H. Andrew Pullen in Township 8N Range 8E.
In South Central Community Unit School District 401, a selection of four will be made of five: Julia A. Rose in Township 3N Range 4E; Thomas P. Turner and Dena Hoffmann in Township 4N Range 3E; Michael Vandeveer in Township 3N Range 3E; and Jason Markley in Township 5N Range 4E.