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VOTERS WENT to the polls Tuesday for a special election to fill the 3rd District House of Delegates seat made vacant by veteran delegate Jackie Stump's resignation. Seated from left, poll workers Marlene Ratliff and Jesse Thacker assist an unidentified voter at the South Grundy Precinct voting area at the Grundy Town Plaza. (Staff photo/Scotty Wampler.) |
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Bowling Is New Delegate
Third District Voters Cast Ballots in Special Election
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by
Cathy
St.
Clair
News
Editor |
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Voters in the Third Legislative House District left no doubt who they wanted as their new delegate, choosing Democrat Danny C. (Dan) Bowling II by a margin of more than two to one in Tuesday’s special election.
Voter turn-out -- at 25.20 percent -- was low throughout the third district which is comprised of Buchanan and Tazewell counties and three precincts in Russell County.
District-wide, unofficial results released Tuesday night saw Bowling tally some 6,575 votes (60.35 percent) to Republican T. Shea Cook’s 3,064 votes (28.12 percent); Independent Jerry Elkins’ 999 votes (9.17 percent); and Independent Brian Wright’s 256 votes (2.35 percent) to win the election.
One write-in vote was cast in Buchanan County in the South Grundy precinct where the name of James Keen was written in.
Keen had initially announced his intent to run for the post, but withdrew his name from consideration the day before a district Democrat convention.
The January election was necessitated by the December resignation of long-time Del. Jack Stump.
Citing health reasons, Stump stepped down from the post just in time for the special election to be called and held prior to start of the 2006 session of the General Assembly next week.
District-wide, Bowling tallied 60.35 percent of the 10,895 votes cast to Cook’s 28.12; Elkins’ 9.17 percent; and Wright’s 2.35 percent.
Bowling won all but four precincts in the district.
In Tazewell County, he tied with Cook in the Freestone precinct; while in Buchanan, Cook was the winner at Paw Paw and Elkins won two precincts at Oakwood and Contrary.
Buchanan County had the highest voter turnout by percentage of voters in the district in 19 precincts at 26 percent compared to Tazewell -- where both the
Democrat and Republican candidates hailed from -- at 24.85 percent in 23 precincts; and Russell, where the turnout in that county’s three eligible precincts was 23.88 percent.
Buchanan County vote tallies showed Bowling with 56.89 percent of the vote with 2,505 votes; Cook, 24.76 percent with 1,090 votes; Elkins, 17.62 percent with 776 votes; and Wright, .70 percent with 31 votes. |
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story, see the print edition of the Mountaineer, on sale at
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Index Change To Cost County $2.08 Million
Required Minimum Funds For Schools Up in 2006-07
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by
Cathy
St.
Clair
News
Editor |
|
Buchanan
County
will
have
to
find
some
$2.08
million
more
in
local
funds
for
education
for
the
coming
academic
year
due
to
a
change
in
the
composite
index
for
the
county.
Superintendent Tommy P. Justus noted the new
index
figure
released
last
week
will
see
the
burden
for
funding
education
shift
somewhat
from
the
state
with
more
of
the
responsibility
for
funding
schools
falling
to
county
taxpayers.
The composite index number assigned to each
of
the
136
school
divisions
in
the
state
is
a
reflection
of
the
state’s
perception
of
a
locality’s
ability
to
pay
for
education.
The index in Buchanan County jumped
from
.2788
to
.3205.
“That’s a substantial jump,” Justus
said,
noting
that
when
the
index
went
from
.2377
to
.2788
two
years
ago,
that
jump
was
also
substantial.
The change, Justus said, will see the
county’s
minimum
required
share
of
education
funding
jump
from
$6,242,168
in
the
current
year
to
$8,327,466
for
next
school
year.
This
year,
the
board
of
supervisors
funded
education
above
the
minimum
required
level,
approving
$6.5
million
for
county
schools
to
operate.
“It’s frightening what that kind of a
jump
does
to
the
local
share
of
education
costs,”
Justus
said.
The composite index is a complex formula
developed
by
the
state
which
factors
in
adjusted
gross
incomes,
true
value
of
property,
retail
sales
taxes,
enrollment
and
population.
For the index number just arrived
at,
the
county’s
true
property
value
is
assessed
at
$2,227,270,670.
The
adjusted
gross
income
figure
for
the
county
is
$238,377,287.
Taxable
retail
sales
are
estimated
at
$112,152,118.
School
enrollment
used
for
the
formula
was
3,622
and
the
county’s
overall
population
was
listed
at
25,500.
In addition to those numbers, Justus
said,
the
state
used
other
criteria
to
determine
a
school
division’s
entitlements.
Justus noted the $8.32 million
local
funding
requirement
just
released
is
well
above
even
the
highest
amount
the
county
has
ever
funded
the
local
school
system.
Five years ago -- before consolidation
--
he
said,
the
county
allocated
$7.9
million
for
the
school
system.
The
numbers
went
down
after
consolidation
occurred,
but
he
said,
they
have
gradually
climbed
back
up.
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story, see the print edition of the Mountaineer, on sale at
newsstands now. To subscribe to the Mountaineer,
call 276-935-2123 today.
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