Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Politics Kept Area Hopping All Year Long

Off-season politics kept area residents busy during 1998, making it one of the year's top stories.

In Gurdon, incumbent mayor Rick Smith was challenged in the primaries by Danny Paull.

County-wide races were hot and heavy, with most offices being contested, including the office of County Judge.

Those three candidates were incumbent Grady Runyan, Ron Daniell and Floyd "Buddy" Manning.

The trio campaigned tirelessly during the primary, which ended with Daniell getting eliminated and Runyan and Manning in a runoff.

The race for circuit clerk also wound up with a trio of candidates, with incumbent Billy C. Williams, first tossing his hat in the ring, then pulling out.

Pamela King then faced two others, Linda F. Hill and Wonda Clark.

This race kept all three covering the roads and towns in the county busy with their campaigning.

When time came for the primary in May, King surprisingly pulled in more than 50 percent of the overall vote to capture the office outright.

Meanwhile, back in Gurdon, the mayoral race stayed relatively subdued as the two candidates vying for the office went about their campaigning quietly.

Incumbent Rick Smith, though, was able to retain his seat when the primary election results had been tabulated.

This brought the area to the school elections, which carried a millage request for upgrades at Gurdon Primary School, a new football field and athletic complex along with a new physical education building for the new middle school.

Five candidates tossed their hats into the pot for two openings on the school board.

Charles Ledbetter, president of the board at the time, had two challengers, Mike King and James Otwell.

Tommy Overbee was challenged for his position by Wanda Kuhn.

The three-mill tax request saw the district work overtime for its passage.

The Gurdon coaching staff got behind the issue and visited with groups urging them to vote for the millage increase.

The proposal was to do some $800,000 work on renovating GPS, build a new physical education building with two classrooms at the Cabe Middle School and construct a new football field, track and field house for the Go-Devil grid crew, along with a new concession stand for fans.

When the September school election rolled around, the millage was narrowly passed by a margin of 354-309.

Additionally, Overbee retained his seat on the board, but Ledbetter was ousted by Otwell.

Bonds for the construction plans were sold immediately by the district so construction could begin with little delay.

Finally, when the November General Election rolled around, all the major local issues had been settled, leaving primarily state races and a few amendments to be voted on.