Drys win wet/dry vote in Crab Orchard; new mayors elected in Stanford, Hustonville

STANFORD — All eight incumbents on the ballot in the countywide races won re-election, the dry votes edged out the wets in Crab Orchard, and both the Stanford and Hustonville mayors were unseated in Tuesday’s general election.

There were actually only four countywide seats up for grabs this election with Property Valuation Administrator David Gambrel, County Attorney Daryl Day, Jailer Rob Wilson and Coroner Farris Marcum all unopposed in their races.

Ultimately, three incumbent Democrats – Teresa Reed, Jim W. Adams Jr. and George O. “Sonny” Spoonamore IV – and Republican incumbent Curt Folger kept their seats.

Reed received 5,166 votes in the Circuit Court Clerk’s race while challenger Dwight Hopkins picked up 3,010 votes. In the Judge-Executive’s race, Adams edged out challenger Jerry Lee Shelton 4,172 to 3,907.And, in the County Clerk’s race, Spoonamore earned another term with 5,406 votes to 2,765 for his challenger, William Gregory Snow.

The wet/dry option up for vote in Crab Orchard was a controversial topic, with many people throughout the community voicing heated opinions on whether the decision would be good or bad for the community. In the end, it would be a close verdict, but the no’s had it with 217 votes, only about 47 more than the 170 yesses.

The citizens of both Stanford and Hustonville voted to put new people in the mayor’s seat. Scottie Ernst was elected to replace Eddie Carter as Stanford Mayor and Lowell “Marc” Spivey was chosen over current Hustonville Mayor David Peyton.

Ernst, a current Stanford City Council member and one of three people running for mayor, won the Stanford election with 521 votes. Timothy C. Lair finished second in the voting, just 36 votes behind Ernst with 485. Carter finished last in the voting with 306 votes.

Spivey, a current Hustonville City Council member, won his mayor’s seat with 110 votes compared to 50 votes for the sitting mayor, Peyton.

Crab Orchard Mayor Billy Reed Shelton would be the only current mayor retaining his seat. Shelton was challenged by Priscilla Eldridge for his job and he kept his position by a vote of 220 to 156.

Stanford City Council

The incumbents in the Stanford City Council race all retained their seats with Ronnie Deatherage, Sara Givens, Dr. Naren James and Peggy Denham Hester among the top six vote getters. Deatherage had the most votes with 752, Givens came in next with 657, James had 602 votes and Hester got 541 votes.

Dalton Miller had the highest vote count among the challengers, earning a seat on the council with 662 votes. Ella Mae Curlis claimed the sixth council seat with 537 votes.

Hustonville City Council

Four current Hustonville City Council members were seeking re-election Tuesday, but only two of the four kept their seats. Jimmy Lane and Jimmy Evans won another term, with Lane receiving the most votes in the race with 94 and Evans picking up 87 votes.

Seven others had thrown their hat into the ring for the council race and four were successful in their bid for a seat, led by Richard W. Cooper who received 91 votes. Donna Hendricks earned a seat with 83 votes, Margaret Smith comes on with 72 votes and Timothy P. Smith claimed the sixth seat with 64 votes.

Crab Orchard City Commission

Two of the current four Crab Orchard City Commissioners, Keith Saylor and Juanita Pettit, filed for re-election this year. Saylor was elected to another term Tuesday. Pettit was not. Saylor received 185 votes, which ranked him third among the vote getters. Pettit had 144 votes.

Challenger Bill Dyehouse led the voting with 252 votes and fellow-challenger Kenneth Manuel had 227 votes. The fourth seat went to Mike Eldridge who had 175 votes.

Magistrates

Three of the current magistrates retained their seats, with David Faulkner, Lonnie Lee Pruitt and Joseph Stanley all re-elected. Jeff Ruckel will be the new face on the fiscal court in January as he won the District 3 seat.

District 1 – David Faulkner 1,490; Dennis Miller 761.
District 2 – Lonnie Lee Pruitt 1,154; Terry Pettit 923.
District 3 – Jeff Ruckel 928; Johnnie Padgett 648; Jimmie Ray Sims 285.
District 4 – Joseph Stanley 1,319; David Tyler McGuffey 587.

Constables

District 1 – Robert Adams 1,668.
District 2 – Jesse Harris 1,679.
District 3 – Delbert Lee Mitchell 1,425.
District 4 – Eddie “Popcorn” Brown 1,255.

Member of Board of Education

District 1 – Winfield S. Smith 1,082.
District 2 – Ricky C. Lane 1,243.

U.S. House District 5

Harold “Hal” Rogers 6,241
Kenneth S. Stepp 1,732

State Representative

David Meade 6,512

Commonwealth’s Attorney

Eddy Frank Montgomery 6,317

Supreme Court District 3

Debra Hembree Lambert 4,746
Dan Ballou 1,554

Circuit Judge

Jane Adams Venters 2,434
Keith Allen McLamb 1,989
Melinda Gillum Dalton 1,924

District Judge
1st Division

Bill Oliver 5,588

District Judge
2nd Division

Janet C. Booth 5,251
Eric Paul Wright 1,665

Constitutional Amendment Marsy’s Law

Yes – 4,191
No – 3,061