MAY 30, 2006 RUNOFF ELECTION

Coming up on May 30th Union county still has a decision to make about the make up of their board of commissioners. Four candidates are vying for 2 spots and it seems very clear that there are 2 distinct factions. Seems like people are dividing them by Openshaw/Stone against Mills/Rushing.
Three of the four candidates are currently or have been commissioners. The lone person (Openshaw) is a Marvin councilmember. Each candidate has good and bad points depending on who you speak to about them. Below is a breakdown of each as I see the them:

Parker Mills: Previous commissioner, won't tell anybody if he is for the APFO or not. Not sure if its the APFO he doesn't understand or like or the idea of it or what. Criticized for previous tenure as commissioner, not sure if we could expect anything different though time has passed.

Richard Stone: Senior member of the commissioners 12 years I believe. Seems to be the best politician of the bunch to have lasted this long. Seems to work well with others. Strong stance for schools and APFO.

Stony Rushing: current commissioner and probably the most negative person I have ever seen on a board of any kind. Voted no on just about every item on an agenda. Even voted no on expanding 911 services!! States he is conservative, but seems like its his way or he pouts. Served as the foil to Mr. Hughie Sexton (not in runoff election) and will argue seemingly anything. For some of the same reasons people didn't vote for Sexton he shouldn't be reelected either.

Lanny Openshaw; the only one of the four with no county political experience. Well prepared, knowledgeable, can seemingly reason a difficult decision for the betterment of the citizens. Came in 2nd just missing the cutoff for enough votes and should definitely be a commissioner. Strong supporter of schools and APFO.

There you have it as I see it...trouble is will anyone bother to vote besides a few people? That is the main question? It is imperative that we vote whenever given the opportunity. Our country was founded with that right and too many people gave their lives to preserve that right for it to be ignored. I'm too busy, don't care, those are not answers but they are excuses. It takes a couple of minutes. Don't make excuses get out and VOTE>>>>>>>>>>