November ballot crowded with candidates for 3 offices

By Robert Mihalek

Yellow Springs voters will have plenty of choices when they go to the polls on Election Day on Nov. 8.

Enough candidates filed that it appears three of the four local races — Village Council, Yellow Springs Board of Education and Miami Township Board of Trustees — will be competitive.

The contest for Yellow Springs mayor, however, features only one candidate, the incumbent, David Foubert, who will receive his eighth term in office.

The ballot in Yellow Springs and Miami Township will also include two levies.

The filing deadline for candidates seeking to list their names on the ballot this fall was Aug. 25. The Greene County Board of Elections must still certify some candidates’ petitions.

With eight villagers filing, the race for three seats on Council will be the most competitive in Yellow Springs this year.

Just one candidate, Bruce Rickenbach, is an incumbent. Rickenbach was appointed to Council in April to fill the seat held by George Pitstick when Pitstick resigned.

The other candidates seeking a seat on Council are John Blakelock, Carmen Brown, Kathryn Chase, Frank Doden, Judith Hempfling, Kathryn Van der Heiden and Karen Wintrow.

The other Council members whose terms expire this November, Tony Arnett, the Council president, and Denise Swinger, are not seeking re-election. Arnett is resigning this month because he is moving to Wisconsin.

The two candidates in the Council contest with the most votes at the polls will receive four-year terms, and the candidate who receives the third highest number of votes earns a two-year term. The top three finishers in the Council race will join Mary J. Alexander and Jocelyn Hardman, both of whom were elected in 2003, on Council.

Five candidates are seeking three seats on the Yellow Springs school board, and like the Council race, just one, Angela Wright, is an incumbent.

The other candidates are Anne Erickson, Aida Merhemic, David Triplett and Terry Whorton.

Mary Campbell-Zopf and Bill Firestone, the other school board members whose terms expire at the end of the year, are not seeking re-election.

The winners of the school board race will receive four-year terms. They will join Richard Bullock, the school board president, and board member Richard Lapedes, both of whom are in the second year of their four-year terms.

Five candidates will be listed on the ballot for the Miami Township trustee race. Two seats are available on the Township Board of Trustees.

The incumbents whose terms expire this year, Lamar Spracklen, the board president, and Mark Crockett, are seeking re-election.

They will be challenged by David Heckler, Suzanne Patterson and John Struewing.

The winners of the Board of Trustee race will receive four-year terms, and will join trustee Chris Mucher, who was re-elected in 2003.

In addition, four people are seeking four seats on the Village of Clifton Council: Chris Rainey, Steve Robbins, Anthony Satariano Jr. and Anthony Satariano Sr.

Local voters will also decide two levies on the Nov. 8 ballot.

Miami Township is asking voters to approve a five-year, 3.8-mill renewal levy for the fire department.

The Greene County Public Library system, which includes the Yellow Springs Library, has placed on the ballot a 1-mill, five-year levy, which will fund operating expenses.