Four incumbents re-elected in Conetoe

T. J. ROYAL

Only one new face will appear on Conetoe's Board of Commissioners early next year.

Jesse Petteway, a Barnhill employee, was the lone challenger to earn a spot on the town's board, as Mayor Linda Ingram, Johnny Respass, Milton Goff Jr. and Wilson Jones all won re-election Tuesday night.

Ingram, 57, spent her election night at Heritage Hospital in Tarboro, where she was admitted overnight for a bout of indigestion. She expected to be released from hospital care today.

Each of the elected board members said they looked forward to coming together for the benefit of Conetoe.

Petteway, 64, said that as the new member, learning lessons from the other four members is his first priority once he's installed as a commissioner.

"I've still got a lot to learn from these guys ... (and) I feel like there's a lot I can do to help" Conetoe once he is up-to-speed, Petteway added.

"(But) this is not about us. This (election) is about us helping the town."

Ingram won re-election handily over challenger Linda Covolo Jordan, with 79 votes to 24.

Goff was the top vote-getter for the board, with 67 votes, followed by Jones with 59, Petteway with 57 and Respass with 45.

Respass, a 64-year-old Amerigas manager, won his seat over incumbent Leon Wynn by just two votes.

Linda Meeks received 30 votes, Dickie Harris received 26 votes and Delane Weathersby received 20 votes.

"I came close," Respass said, adding that the crowded field of four challengers and four incumbents for the board "had a lot of people pulling (votes) away" from each other.

He pointed to how "successful" the board has been able to work together in the town, keeping the tax rate low and preparing to have several streets repaved early next year with more than $10,000 from the Powell Bill.

Goff, a Long Manufacturing retiree who worked for the company 47 years, said he appreciated "everybody voting for us" on Tuesday, and looked forward to continuing to work on the board.

Jones, 77, said that he too appreciated the votes, and that as a commissioner, "I like improving" Conetoe however he can.

Ingram said that she would like to see the town acquire a building, in hopes that it could allow Conetoe to add "one or two employees." The only building owned by Conetoe is town hall, and the mayor added that she would like to have something available "to generate revenue" in some way for the town.

Nearly half of the Conetoe's registered voters, 107 out of 215, went out to the polls on Tuesday.

In other county elections:

• Incumbent Joyce Tolson and Suzanne Coker won the two available spots on Pinetops Town Council, with 132 and 135 votes, respectively. Hubert Stephen Burress received 88 votes.

• Incumbent Macclesfield Mayor Mike Keel, as well as incumbent commissioners R.B. Owens and Dennis Sanderson, were all re-elected without competition.

• Whitakers Board of Commissioners incumbents Esterine Pitt, Ronald Gibson and Betty Bullock won re-election without opposition.