News from November 4, 2004 issue

There are going to be several new faces around the council table and in the board room, and Republican Fred Brown has an abbreviated term as county judge-executive following a near-record turnout of 4,255 voters or 67 percent of those registered in Crittenden County.

Half of the Marion City Council will be newcomers starting in January, and in Crittenden County School Board races, two of three challengers beat incumbents.

Brown, who was appointed interim judge last spring by Gov. Ernie Fletcher when Pippi Hardin resigned, handily defeated Democrat and former state trooper Robbie Kirk by 30 percentage points. It was the biggest margin of victory for a county judge in more than 40 years.

Brown, a former city councilman and magistrate, said local races held a positive tone and for that he is thankful. Brown will serve the next two years. Normally a judge serves four years after winning election, but this one is short because Brown is filling Hardin's unexpired term.

"I appreciate the gentlemanly manner by which my opponent Robbie Kirk handled himself during the campaign, and for that matter, the way the entire election was handled by all of the candidates. I wish it could set a precedent for state and national campaigns," the judge said.

Brown, who received a great deal of bi-partisan support, believes the victory is a mandate for continuing progress made since he took office about six months ago.

"I think the people recognize the hard work and that I am willing to try to get some things done," said the 58-year-old former business owner and former Siemens employee. "We need to continue to work on the projects started by Judge Hardin and some of the new things we have going, and we need to continue the bi-partisan effort to gain more attention from Frankfort.

"I am very humbled and thankful for the support I received and look forward to working with Republican and Democratic leaders to get some things done and to take some positive steps forward," said Brown.

School Board Races
In three local, non-partisan school board races, incumbent chairman Bill Asbridge was the only member to retain his seat. Asbridge won by a convincing 40-percent margin over former teacher and school librarian Darl Henley.

Asbridge got 56 percent of the vote from Precinct 4, one of three polling places in District 1 that lies within the city limits. In his back yard at Frances and Dycusburg, Asbridge collected sweeping 85 and 76 percent margins at the two rural polling places.

"I want to thank the Lord and the people of my district. It's been an honor to work with Mark Williams and Larry Threlkeld and I look forward to working with Red Howton and Chris Cook.

"The main thing we need to do as a board is focus on the kids and move forward. I think that's what the community wants us to do," said Asbridge, who operates an automobile body shop in Frances.

Although there was not a clean sweep for challengers, it appears voters sought some change in regard to the school board. Circumstances over the past year in regard to the superintendent and other issues created a climate ripe for voter input. In the two other races, the city fire chief, Ronald "Red" Howton, beat Mark Williams and Chris Cook defeated Larry "Bird" Threlkeld.
Williams had been appointed to the school board last year to fill the unexpired term of Dr. Donald Wight, who resigned for health reasons.

Threlkeld, a former school board chairman, was defeated by a wide 30-point margin by Chris Cook, whose family has deep ties in the school system. Cook's mother and grandmother are former educators and his sister-in-law is currently an elementary school teacher. The relationship of a sister-in-law does not constitute a conflict, according to Kentucky statute.

Threlkeld, who had served on the board five years, was originally an appointment to fill the unexpired term of Donnie Phillips, who was required to leave the board by law because his wife had a job in the school system. Threlkeld ran unopposed four years ago.

Cook, who won the District 3 seat, believes voters considered a variety of issues when casting ballots for the three school board races. He said that is illustrated by the mixed results in the races where the chairman won easily and two other incumbents lost.

"I don't think the vote was based on one issue," said Cook, alluding to the biggest newsmaking conflict with Superintendent Fredericka Hargis. "I think they looked at several issues and other factors."

Hargis, who was awarded a four-year contract extension about a year ago, is now suspended and the board is trying to remove her from the position.
Asbridge's 40-point win over Henley was the largest among all local races.

City Council
There will be three new faces on the Marion City Council although each of them has strong ties to local politics and public service.

Incumbents Mike Byford, Dwight Sherer and Allen Lynn were the top vote-getters in the non-partisan race for city council where 10 candidates sought six positions. Byford, who has the longest tenure on the council after serving a decade and half, got the most votes, 732, almost 100 more than he received two years ago as the third-highest vote-getter in the last election.

Jim Brown, Junior Martin and Jason Hatfield will be newcomers on the council, but each share a common thread in that they've previously embraced public service. Brown is a former city police officer and served briefly on a city agency. Martin, a civic leader and former county magistrate, is a preacher. Hatfield, at age 30, is the youngest member of the council in recent memory. His family has a history of public service, including stints by his father and father-in-law on the city council.

Ronnie "Doorknob" Hughes was the only incumbent to fail in his bid for re-election. Hughes had served on the city council for 10 years, the second longest of any member. Local developer Richard Cruce, who was appointed to the council last spring to fill the unexpired term for Fred Brown, did not win election. Also, Cindy Davidson and Donald Hooten were denied in their first bids for election to the city council.

Current councilwoman Janet Pierce did not seek re-election following two terms in office.

Marion native wins senate seat in First District
FROM STAFF & AP REPORTS

An historic election indeed.

There was a record turnout with more than 120 million voters nationwide casting ballots in the presidential race, and in Kentucky voters turned out in record numbers for the election despite long lines at polling places and rain.

More than 1.7 million Kentuckians cast ballots in the presidential race Tuesday, marking a 64 percent turnout statewide, said Les Fugate, a spokesman for the secretary of state's office.

"In sheer numbers, it was the most Kentuckians ever to cast ballots," Fugate said.
Kentucky had a higher percentage of registered voters cast ballots in 1992, when 73 percent voted in the presidential race. But, Fugate said, there were fewer registered voters in the state then.

During the 2000 general election 60.4 percent of the 2.56 million registered voters in Kentucky cast ballots for a presidential candidate.

Nationally, about 120 million people cast ballots in Tuesday's election, or just under 60 percent of eligible voters ­ the highest percentage turnout since 1968, said Curtis Gans, director of the nonpartisan Committee for the Study of the American Electorate. He expected more detailed figures later Wednesday.

Kentucky was one of six states to set new voter-turnout highs, according to Gans' analysis.

There were 2.79 million registered voters in Kentucky on election day, an increase of 237,471 voters, or 9.2 percent over the number registered in the 2000 presidential election year.

Winters wins in 1st District
Crittenden County native Ken Winters won his state senate race in the First District, giving Republicans a huge advantage in the state Senate and complete control of far western Kentucky's Senate seats.

Winters grew up in Crittenden County and still has strong family ties here. Local leaders hailed Winters' victory because it will give Crittenden County one more attentive ear in Frankfort.

Winters, who lives in Murray, beat Democrat Dennis Null of Mayfield.
Winters will represent the district that includes Carlisle, Hickman, Fulton, Graves, Calloway, Trigg and Lyon counties.

Long-time legislator re-elected
Long-time state Rep. J.R. Gray of Benton held off challenger Marvin Wilson of Eddyville as Democrats held onto the Sixth District House seat. The race was very close with Gray getting 51 percent of the vote.

U.S. Senate loses minority leader
South Dakota Sen. Daschle, the senate Democratic leader, was surprisingly defeated by Rep. John Thune, giving the GOP a major victory in that race.

GOP picks up U.S. House Seat
Republican Geoff Davis won the U.S. House seat in Kentucky's 4th District, leaving Democrats with just one of Kentucky's six congressional seats. The other four GOP incumbents swept to easy wins.

In his first bid, Davis lost to Democratic U.S. Rep. Ken Lucas in 2002 by about 6,000 votes. Even in his concession, Davis vowed to run again.

On his second try, the Republican defeated Democrat Nick Clooney on Tuesday to reclaim the northern Kentucky district for Republicans.

"I learned a long time ago, when I was a kid, I heard someone in church who said, `Never, never, never quit,'" Davis said.

Davis, 46, a manufacturing consultant from Hebron, overcame Clooney's famous name and folksy charm to win in the conservative district that snakes along the Ohio River and covers much of northern Kentucky. Clooney is the father of movie star George Clooney.

With 99.8 percent of precincts reporting, Davis had 159,648 votes, or 55 percent, and Clooney had 128,186 or 44 percent. Independent candidate Michael Slider had 5,010 votes, or 2 percent.

Marriage Amendment wins big
Social conservatives scored a lopsided victory Tuesday, as Kentuckians overwhelmingly voted in favor of a proposed amendment outlawing same-sex marriages and civil unions.

Crittenden County issued a resounding 3,282 votes for the amendment to protect the sanctity of traditional man-and-woman marriages against 447 who oppose the idea.
Kentuckians voted 3-to-1 for a constitutional amendment that defined marriage as something exclusively between a man and woman and also banned civil unions. The vote was 1,213,187 votes for it, or 75 percent. Other states to pass same-sex marriage amendments Tuesday were Arkansas, Georgia, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Ohio, Oregon and Utah.