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Candidates file for election
By Scott Nicholson
The ballot is filling up as more challengers have emerged for
district and county offices.
Republican Dan Soucek, who works in international disaster relief
with Samaritan’s Purse, filed last week as a candidate for
the District 93 N.C. House of Representatives seat.
Dan Soucek
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“I love living in this area and want to represent the needs
and values of this area in Raleigh,” Soucek said. “I’ve
been in the community awhile and I’m at a place in my life
when I feel I can serve well and strongly. I feel there’s
a need right now.”
Soucek, a political newcomer, said he was familiar with the district,
which includes Watauga and Ashe counties, because of his work
with Young Life and working with students and their parents. “I
have a good connection with a broad base of the population,”
he said. “I have the basics of friendships, being part of
the community and raising a family here.”
Ted McEntire of Spruce Pine has filed for 24th District Court
judge. A former Marion attorney practicing domestic, criminal
and juvenile law, McEntire joined the 24th District Attorney’s
office in 1997 and is in his 11th year as an assistant district
attorney.
Marsha Walpole has filed for the school board race, saying she
had enjoyed her volunteer work at Cove Creek School and with the
Friends of Watauga educational support group.
“It’s something I’ve thought about for a long time,”
Walpole said. “We’re No. 2 in the state in SAT scores
and I think we need to be No. 1. We have a lower dropout rate
than the state average and I think we can improve that so every
student finishes school in Watauga County.”
She said community partnerships were important in addressing broader
issues that affected education. “With many of our fine teachers
nearing retirement age, I feel that we need to be proactive in
recruiting and retaining good teachers in our county,” Walpole
said. “The cost of living in our county is high, and we need
to make sure that young teachers are able to live here. We need
to continue the great things for the next crop of kids to come
along.”
Deborah Miller is seeking her second term on the school board.
“I just think we’ve got some unfinished business,”
she said, noting that a number of teachers and principals were
retiring and the school system needed a plan to replace them.
“We’ve got children in kindergarten whose jobs haven’t
even been created yet and we need to prepare them,” she said.
“I’d like to be part of that.”
Incumbent Steve Combs has filed for a third term on the school
board, with three seats open. The top two finishers will get four-year
terms and the third-place finisher will get a two-year term.
Incumbents Greg Horne of Boone, a former assistant district attorney,
and Roy Alexander Lyerly of Banner Elk have filed for reelection
as 24th District Court judges, with three seats open. The race
is non-partisan and the district includes Watauga, Avery, Mitchell,
Madison and Yancey counties.
N.C. Sen. Steve Goss (D-45) and N.C. Rep. Cullie Tarleton (D-93)
have filed for reelection and Boone dentist Jerry Butler as filed
as a Republican challenger to Goss.
U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-5) has filed for reelection, and Roy
Carter of Ashe County and Diane Hamby of Iredell County have filed
as Democratic challengers for the seat.
Incumbent Republican JoAnn Townsend has filed for Register of
Deeds, and Democratic county commissioners Jim Deal and Winston
Kinsey have filed for reelection. The 2008 filing period ends
at noon on Feb. 29. |
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