Posted: 3/12/03

Incumbents have good, bad days in area town board elections

It was a good news-bad news day for incumbents in area town board elections on Tuesday. Both incumbents were ousted in Columbus Township while in Linwood Township, the two incumbents won reelection.

In Wyoming Township, two incumbents lost out in tight races, which a third squeaked by to retain his seat.

Driven by the controversial comprehensive plan, 607 voters turned out in Wyoming Township.

Incumbent Larry Parker seized victory for Seat A gaining 306 votes to challenger Lou Sibikís 294 votes; there were 7 blank ballots.

Roger Elmore took Seat B with 263 votes, beating out incumbent Don Waller who took 159 votes and former board member board member Gene Patrin who earned 179 votes. There were six blank ballots, one write in vote and four defective ballots in this race.

Three votes made the difference for Wyoming Townshipís seat D as Richard Berglund won with 299 votes to incumbent Jeffrey Eifflerís 296 votes. There were three write-in votes and nine blank ballots for this question.

Columbus voters overwhelmingly rejected the reelection bids of incumbent supervisors Nick Waldoch and John Gross.

Claiming the two town board seats were challengers Mark Walsh and John Wallner.

Wallner won the Seat D race with a 513-85 win over Waldoch.

In the Seat E contest, Gross was defeated by Walsh, 506-85.

In Linwood, the one town board seat where there was a contest was won by incumbent Marie Holm. She won reelection with a 202-142 victory over challenger Brad Hansen to retain Seat C on the town board.

In the Seat B election, incumbent Rudi McCurdy, running unopposed, was reelected with 282 votes.

Tammy Lukkonen won a three-way race for the town treasurer position replacing Tamara Barnaal who did not run.

Lukkonen won the election with 160 votes.

Vicki Erickson received 127 votes while Suzanne Barry had 43 votes.

A total of 346 Linwood voters took part in Tuesdayís election. The township has 2774 registered voters.

In New Scandia Township, two town board seats were on the ballot with no opposition. Both are three-year terms.

In the Seat 3 contest, Dennis Seefeldt, the current town board chairman, was reelected with 38 votes.

In the Seat 4 race, Lisa Crum was elected with 35 votes. Crum was appointed to the board last November to fill the seat vacated by John Martineauís resignation due to a job reassignment.

A total of 42 votes were cast on Tuesday. Scandia has about 2500 registered voters, township officials reported.

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