Myers earns write-in seat; voters don't flock to polls

A last minute write-in campaign by Craig Myers nabbed him a two-year term on Greencastle Borough Council in the Nov. 6 general election. No one had previously filed for the position. He received 159 tallies. He also received 104 write-in votes for a four-year term.

Those three seats went to Nancy Dunn 384, incumbent Chris Grimm 377 and H. Duane Kinzer 279. Gerald Pool, Harold Duffey and Don Coldsmith did not run for re-election. Myers' shorter term was due to a council vacancy to which Grimm was appointed when Kate Deater resigned in December 2006.

The Antrim Township Board of Supervisors will continue to be run by Republicans, as Rick Baer defeated Democrat John Alleman 984 to 528 for the six-year seat. Fred Young III, running unopposed for a two-year seat, received 1279 votes.

Republican J. Brian Kirkpatrick defeated Democrat Justin M. Lahaza 1194 to 248 to return to his post as Antrim Township auditor.

The election drew most attention at the county level. Incumbent Republican Bob Thomas was elected to another four-year term as Franklin County Commissioner, leading vote totals with 12,759. Running mate David Keller received 11,189. Democrat Bob Ziobrowski earned the final seat with 8491 votes. Cheryl Stearn, a Democrat, came up the loser with 6563 votes.

In Greencastle school board candidates ran unopposed. Incumbent Howard Ritchey was the front-runner, accumulating 1493 votes. Relative unknown Kristy Faulkner was second at 1469. The final three seats were won by incumbent Arnie Jansen 1404, Eric Holtzman 1310 and Paul Politis 831. Ron Troskoski and Pam Ott did not run for re-election.

Candidates for the county row houses, all incumbents, ran without competition. Returning to office are: William Vandrew, Clerk of Courts; Carol Fix Diller, Controller; Jeffrey Conner, Coroner; John Nelson, District Attorney; Linda Beard, Prothonotary; Linda Miller, Register and Recorder.

Dane Anthony was elected sheriff with no challenger. Judge Richard J. Walsh was retained in the Common Pleas Court for another 10 years, with 13,910 'yes' votes and 5256 'no' votes.

Voter turnout in Greencastle and Antrim Township was less than in Franklin County as a whole.

Figures released by the county commissioner's office reveal 25 percent of eligible voters went to the polls county wide. In the borough of Greencastle the number was closer to 24 percent and in Antrim Township 20 percent. With seven precincts, 2214 voters turned out the first Tuesday of November.