City voters defeat 2 incumbent aldermen

Clarendon voters went to the polls Saturday and dashed the re-election hopes of two long-serving City Aldermen, those being Mac Stavenhagen and Billy Jack Land.

Voters instead chose Tommy Hill and Janice Knorpp as new members of the Board of Aldermen and overwhelmingly confirmed Alderman Mark White to a full term in office.  White had previously been appointed to serve out the term of Alderman Smiley Johnson.

A total of 257 voters cast ballots in the city election. That’s more than double the 119 who voted last year but is still a low turnout.

The number of voters registered in the city was not readily available at press time.

The final tallies were White, 219; Hill, 163; Knorpp, 137; and Stavenhagen, 130. Land’s write-in candidacy drew 62 votes. The election will be canvassed this Friday, and the new aldermen will be sworn in May 14.

Howardwick will also have new faces on its Board of Aldermen. Donald Holladay, Sam Grider, and Bobby Murdock were top choices of the voters in that city.

Holladay received 43 votes, Grider got 42, and Murdock had 39. Vernon Byars, the only incumbent in the race, garnered 30 votes.

Sixty-two people cast ballots in Howardwick. As in Clarendon, officials did not know how many citizens were registered to vote. Howardwick canvassed its election Tuesday night. Officials will take office May 14.

Also on Saturday, two incumbents were returned to the Clarendon College Board of Regents. Bill Sansing, who was appointed to serve out R.L. Gilkey’s term, was the top vote getter with 238 followed by fellow incumbent Jack Moreman who received 191. They will be joined on the board by Jim Blackerby, whose total of 149 votes edged out Sherol Johnston’s 139 and Mary Douglas’ 129.

A total of 261 people cast ballots the college election. That’s only 10.2 percent of the registered voters in the Clarendon College District, but the turnout was up slightly from the last election in 2000 when only 7.7 percent bothered to vote.

CC officials said their election will be canvassed, and new regents will be sworn in this Friday afternoon.