The Press-Dispatch
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The Press-Dispatch Local Wednesday, November 4, 2015 A- 9 Election Returns (Contested Races Only) Petersburg #1 Petersburg #2 Petersburg #3 Petersburg #4 Winslow Totals Petersburg Mayor R.C. Klipsch (R) 97 63 98 79 337 Stacy Mosby (D) 46 31 54 36 167 Petersburg City Council Dist. 2 John Melhiser (R) 100 50 96 75 321 Sandy Lee McBeth (D) 30 41 56 31 158 Petersburg City Council Dist. 3 Gary Evans (R) 63 38 67 61 229 Bertis C. Jenkins (D) 70 51 86 47 254 Petersburg City Council At-Large Rick Ross (R) 52 33 59 47 191 Fran Lewis (D) 82 60 98 65 305 Winslow Town Council Ward #1 Norm Sweet 68 68 Rick J. Mathias 70 70 Jeff Downey 27 27 Richard W. Brewster 93 93 Winslow Town Council Ward #2 Billy J. Marshall 57 57 Greg Simmons 129 129 Andrew Hickman 65 65 Winslow Town Council Ward #3 Terry J. Strobel 91 91 Kavin "Squeak" Gayhart 49 49 Robert J. Brewster 51 51 Mick Aldridge 64 64 Winslow Town Clerk-Treasurer Beth Ann Bennett 152 152 Candace Downey 99 99 PETERSBURG Continued from page 1 Lewis said that Ross ap- proached her shortly before the polls closed at 6 p.m. on Tuesday evening. "He said he just wanted to meet me and he said, 'I would go to people's homes to campaign and they would say, I'm voting for Fran Lew- is,'" Lewis recalled. "He said, 'I heard that a lot.' He was really nice and polite." Lewis said the fact that all five incumbents won re-elec- tion was a sign that the vot- ers think the city was head- ed in the right direction. "I think we're headed in a great direction," Lewis said. "R.C.'s doing a great job as mayor. I think we have a council that likes to speak up at the meetings. We like to know what's going on. But I think our direction will re- main what we've been work- ing on, which is cleaning up the city, and we've got so much going on with I-69 out there. We can't let up on things like that. We've got to make sure that Petersburg gets to be known." Ross said that he knew running against a five-term incumbent would be a diffi- cult challenge. "I ran against someone who had been seated in that position (20) years, so I think the campaign went well," Ross said. "She would be hard to beat. I mean, she's a very nice lady and very competent. I wish her the best of luck." "I couldn't have asked for a better campaign, a cleaner campaign, or a better oppo- nent," Ross added. "I'm hap- py with 191." In the only other contest- ed council race, Republican incumbent John Melhiser defeated Democratic chal- lenger Sandy McBeth 321- 158. "I think everyone gave a good run," Melhiser said. "With everything that's re- ally on our plate right now, we can continue on with it, and fulfill those goals that we have, and work for the people, the taxpayers. That's who put us in there, and that's our job – to work for them." McBeth, who was also making her first run for pub- lic office, learned of her elec- toral loss while conducting a Girl Scout meeting. "My main goal for run- ning for an office was, even though it would have been nice if I had won, just to let John know that we need representation there, at the meetings, because he miss- es a lot of the city council meetings," McBeth said. "I'm concerned. How can he really represent the peo- ple if he's not there? " "I have no problems with John winning the election," McBeth added. "We went to the same school and every- thing. I was a year ahead of him and we've known each other all of our lives." McBeth said that she did not know if she would chal- lenge Melhiser again in four years. "We'll just have to wait and see how John does the next four years," McBeth said. "If his attendance is good and I feel like he's do- ing a good job and he's rep- resenting the people, prob- ably not." Two council members – Republican Gary Leavitt in District 1 and Democrat Bri- an Van Meter in District 4 – ran unopposed. Meanwhile, Klipsch swept all four precincts while win- ning his first bid for public office. "I didn't really know what to expect," Klipsch said. "I know we worked at it pretty hard. I already talked to Sta- cy earlier. I certainly appre- ciate the way our campaign was. I was very pleased with that, and, obvious- ly, I'm pleased with the re- sults. You never know about things like this. But I'm very happy about the results. Klipsch said he was also very pleased with the fact that every incumbent mem- ber of the city council won re-election. "There were some close races, but the incumbents all won," Klipsch said. "We've got a lot of work to do. We have lots of projects and things we're working on and it's a very serious time for Petersburg. I hope we can go forward and have some success with some of the these projects, because we do really have a lot that's going on. It's kind of an ex- citing time. A telephone message left for Mosby had not been re- turned as of press time. According to unofficial election returns released by the Pike County Clerk's Office, 521–393 by machine, 128 by absentee ballot, of the 1,601 registered voters in the City of Petersburg cast ballots, a 32.54 per- cent turnout rate. Twenty- eight straight party tickets were cast for Republicans while 21 straight party tick- ets were cast for Democrats. me today about what I thought the outcome would be and I wouldn't even ven- ture a guess," said Strobel. "I think because most people either take me on my word or most of the people wanted somebody in there that they have known and who has never been in that type of office. I don't think they thought I'm some kind of smart guy, but they think I'm go- ing to try," said Strobel. "I said the main prob- lem in town isn't (that) we don't have money or good workers. We just don't have good management. I want to give people good man- agement and give people a say about the problems. I'm just like they are. I don't like high water bills and I don't want the things they don't want," said Strobel. In Ward 2, Greg Sim- mons carried 51 percent of the vote in the three- way race with 129 voters. He defeated Andrew Hick- man, who had 65 votes and Billy J. Marshall, who re- ceived 57 votes. "No, not really. I have never done anything like this. I would get the feel- ing I was going to get it, but then I would feel I like I wasn't going to win. I just really didn't know what would happen," said Sim- mons about the election. He said he thinks what helped him in the election is, "Just people knowing my name, I have been here all my life. I have worked here and lived here all my life." Simmons said he doesn't have any big plans to be- gin with. "I want to get the town cleaned up and see where we are. I want to spend some time with Dick and Terry and talk to some former councilmen." Beth Bennett was re- elected with 60 percent of the vote. Beth Bennett was seeking her second term as Clerk-Treasurer. She beat Candace Downey 152 to 99. The town of Winslow is all in one precinct. There were 259 votes cast or 41 percent of the 629 regis- tered voters. WINSLOW Continued from page 1 you can learn a lot from the Newspaper! Encourage your children to make reading the newspaper a part of their everyday routine for lifelong learning. Newspapers are living textbooks, helping students develop reading, math, social studies and language skills while exploring the issues affecting our world today. 1 Year Subscriptions start at just $27.00 for Pike and Surrounding Counties CALL 812-354-8500 or e-mail subscriptions@pressdispatch.net $24.00