Proctorville voters approve police levy

 

Incumbent County Commissioner Freddie Hayes Jr. narrowly won his Republican primary against challenger Colton Copley on Tuesday night.

In final, unofficial results, with all 84 precincts in the county reported, Hayes had 51.29 percent of the vote, compared to 48.71 for Copley.

Hayes will go on to face Democrat Robert McCollister, who ran unopposed in his primary, in the fall general election.

The contest between Hayes, seeking another term on the three person-commission, and Copley, who currently serves on South Point’s school board, was the only contested local race on Tuesday’s primary ballot.

Otherwise, it was a quiet night at the Lawrence County Courthouse, where votes were counted, with only a handful of observers on hand to watch the results come in.

The other countywide races saw Republican incumbent Lawrence County Auditor Jason Stephens and Democratic challenger Jason Tolliver unopposed in their primaries, as well as Democrat Donald Capper and Republican Christen Finley with no opposition in their primaries for Lawrence County Common Pleas Court judge.

Voters in Proctorville delivered a victory for their police department, approving a 3-mill funding levy.

Mayor Rick Dunfee was thankful for the results.

“This is the best thing to happen to Proctorville in a long time,” he said of the results. “It will help us out 100 percent.”

Dunfee has said the levy funds will mainly go toward salaries for officers and freeing them up for more backstreet policing, rather than writing traffic tickets.

The levy will go into effect in January 2019.

Voters in Coal Grove were asked to decide on five options for alcohol sales. All were approved by wide margins, with all but one leading by a 2-1 ratio.

In regional races, incumbent U.S. Rep. Bill Johnson easily won the Republican primary, defeating challenger Robert Blazek. Johnson will face Democrat Shawna Roberts, who won her primary by a similarly large margin, in the fall.

In the 90^th District state representative race, Adrienne Buckler defeated challenger Jodi Fearing in the Democratic primary. Buckler will face Republican Brian Baldridge, who defeated three challengers, in the fall.

In the 93^rd District state representative race, Democrat Jim Rumley was unopposed. He will face incumbent Republican Ryan Smith, who also had no primary challenge, in the fall.

In the State Senate 17^th District race, incumbent Republican Bob Peterson will face Democrat Scott Dailey in the fall. Neither faced a primary challenge.

In the race for two seats on the 4^th District court of Appeals, incumbent Judge Marie Hoover and Valarie Gerlach faced no primary opposition. In the Republican primary, Jason Smith defeated Kris Blanton for one spot on the fall ballot and Mike Hess defeated Kathleen Madden for the other.

The general election is set for Tuesday, Nov. 6.