Wanda English Burnett, Editor

Hillary Clinton was the preferred choice for President when Ripley County voters went to the polls on Tuesday. In the county, Clinton received 2946 votes with Barack Obama getting 1375. Republican candidate John McCain pulled far ahead on the Republican ticket with 1842 votes. Mike Huckabee received 286, Ron Paul 123 and Mitt Romney 79.

The trend continued for Democrat victories with Jill Long Thompson, garnering 2053 votes from the county for governor, with Jim Schellinger getting 1799 votes. Incumbent Governor Mitch Daniels received 1862 votes and was unopposed on the Republican ticket.

For US Representative on the Democrat ticket Incumbent Baron Hill was the favored with 2705 votes, followed by Gretchen Clearwater - 707, John R. Bottorff - 270, and Lendall B. Terry getting 367 votes. Republican Mike Sodrel was unopposed and gained 2021 votes.

Incumbent State Representative for District 67 Cleo Duncan was unopposed in the primary election on the Republican ticket and received 1413 votes. Democrat Mike Keller was unopposed on the Democrat ticket and received 2255 votes. Incumbent Robert J. Bischoff ran unopposed on the Democrat ticket for State Representative in District 68, (he serves a portion of Ripley County) and received 692 votes. David Cheatham, who also serves a portion of the county (Otter Creek Township), ran unopposed on the Democrat ticket and gained 329 votes.

Incumbent Superior Court Judge James Morris, Republican, was unopposed and received 2070 votes. On the Democrat ticket, Carl H. Taul ran unopposed and had 3367 votes.

Running for a judgeship for the first time, Lynnette M. Fledderman, Democrat, garnered 3302 votes. As she watched the tallies on the screen in the lobby of the courthouse Tuesday night, she was pleased with the results, saying, “I hope this continues in the fall.” She said several people had told her they crossed from Republican to Democrat to give her their vote in the Primary.

There was an upset with the race for commissioner seats on the Republican ticket in both districts two and three as incumbents Charles Folz (1050 votes) and Lawrence Nickell (840 votes) were unseated by Mark Busching (1197 votes) and Gerald Stutler (934 votes). John Little received 437 votes. As the numbers reflect, the races were close and candidates felt every vote counted. Michael W. Baker ran unopposed on the Democrat ticket for the district 2 seat of commissioner. He received 3191 votes.
In the race for Ripley County Council at Large, Democrat Bill Dramann had the highest votes with 2743, followed by E. George Ammerman with 2074 votes. On the Republican ticket, Bill Warren took the high vote with 1584, followed by Benjamin Peetz, 1385, Donald Dunbar, 1377 and newcomer Frank Hillberg with 862.

Warren was quick to praise the efforts of Hillberg, saying “He is definitely an asset to our county.” Hillberg is a retired law enforcement officer, having served as Chief of Police in an Ohio county for several years. He knows about budgets and was just excited about the election here. “This is a great place to live,” he noted, saying he and his wife bought property here in 2003. While he didn’t win this time, he’s not put off and says voters could possibly see his name again.

Other races of interest included the Osgood Town Board. Incumbent board President Jeffrey J. Volz, had the most votes at 93, followed by newcomer Ed Newman, who had 75, Larry R. Winters, 32, and Rodney Stepleton 15. Clerk Treasurer Tamara Wilhoit was unopposed and had 177 votes. They were all on the Republican ticket.

Incumbent board member for the Milan School Corporation David W. Voss was unseated by Douglas Norman, who ran for the first time in his life. Norman gained 879 to 580 votes for Voss. He noted that he was thankful for the support of those who placed their trust in him. After the results came in and his group of supporters cheered, they quickly paused for prayer, gathering in a circle on the first floor in the courthouse. Incumbent board member Edward Amberger will keep his position with 900 votes over Krista Thompson’s 516 votes.

Incumbent board members for the Town of Holton, will go on to the fall election on the Republican ticket. Paul Hughes had 45 votes, Ryan Lauber, 44, with Angela Farrell getting 43. Newcomer Scott McNeelan had 18 votes. Clerk Treasurer Krista Bartosz was unopposed and had 43 votes.
William Roberts received 906 votes for Jac-Cen-Del School Board with Paul C. Hardy getting 1034 votes for the school board position at large. Neither were challenged.

Others unopposed were:
• Ginger Bradford for Recorder on the Republican ballot with 1970 votes.
• Earline Copeland for Treasurer on the Republican ballot with 1983 votes.
• Ron Buchanan for Coroner on the Republican ballot with 1854 votes.
• Mary Ann McCoy for Clerk on the Republican ballot with 2030 votes.
• David R. Forwalt for Clerk on the Democrat ballot with 3135 votes.

The election process went relatively smooth according to Clerk Ginger Bradford. The first results were posted soon after they came in with Otter Creek Two being the first in. The last township to bring in results to the courthouse Tuesday evening was Franklin with poll workers saying they had “a little trouble with the machine.” There are 20,705 registered voters in Ripley County. With 6,887 votes cast, the percent of voting for the Primary Election was 33.26, about one third.

WANDA ENGLISH BURNETT PHOTO A crowd gathered at the courthouse in Versailles Tuesday evening as results began scrolling on the screens in the lobby of the first floor. Pictured from left are: Barbara Folz, Sue French, Bob Reiners, Bill Dramann, Bill Warren and family members, daughter Julie, granddaughter, Brianna and his wife, Brenda. Dramann won on the Democrat ticket for Ripley County Council member at large, and Warren also won that respective race on the Republican ticket..