First candidate forum of 2012 elections produces no sparks

The only contested school board race is for the At Large District 8 seat currently occupied by Mitch Churchill. He said he works for a regional company that operates an eight-store Arby’s franchise. He also is the board of education’s vice chairman.

His opponent, Phil Thornton, said he is a retired educator who taught in Madison and Jackson counties and served as principal of two Barrow County elementary schools and one middle school.

Front and center in the race for the District 1 seat on the Barrow County Board of Commissioners were Joe Goodman, who has served on the Barrow County Planning Commission for five years, and Jerry Lampp, a previous member of the BOC who lost his position in the 2008 elections.

Appearing as candidates for the District 2 seat on the BOC were former commissioner Bill Brown and local businessman Kenny Shook.

Scott Vickery, who is running against incumbent Steve Worley for the District 3 seat, also made his first campaign appearance. Vickery said he works for Gwinnett County’s transportation department. Worley is the public works director for the City of Monroe.

Participating as candidates for the chief magistrate post were incumbent June Davis and Monica Hunter Durden.

Davis, who also serves as Winder’s municipal judge, said she is seeking her fourth term. Durden has training and experience as a legal secretary and paralegal and works for the law firm of Scott, Wells & McElwee in Athens.

In the audience of the forum were Sen. Frank Ginn and BOC Chairman Danny Yearwood, who is challenging the first-term senator for the District 47 seat in the Georgia Senate.

They will participate in a forum the chamber is sponsoring June 20 for candidates who want to represent Barrow County in the Georgia Senate and Georgia House and are in contested races. That forum is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. in the Town Hall building at the Georgia Club in Statham.

The Barrow County Republican Party also has three candidate forums scheduled as follows:

• 7 p.m. Monday, June 25, at the Colleen Williams Theater in the Winder Cultural Arts Center. At that event will be 10th U.S. District Rep. Paul Broun and the candidates in the races for Georgia House District 114, Georgia Senate District 47, District 2 and District 3 of the BOC, the At-Large District 8 seat of the Barrow County Board of Education, and chief magistrate.

• 7 p.m. Thursday, July 9, at Bramlett Elementary School near Auburn. Participants will include candidates for the House District 114 and Senate District 47 races, and all local races other than those for the BOC, since Auburn is not inside any of the BOC districts with open seats.

• 7 p.m. July 19 in the auditorium of Statham Elementary School. Participants will include Stephen Simpson, the Republican challenger to U.S. Rep. Broun, candidates in the House’s District 117 race, the District 1 BOC race, and the BOE and chief magistrate races.

Incumbent Republican Sheriff Jud Smith and former Braselton mayor Patricia Graham, who is running unopposed for BOC chairman, also will speak at all three GOP forums.

The Barrow County Democratic Party has put forward three candidates, but since they have no competition and have locked up their party’s nominations, they will not participate in any forums before the July 31 primaries.

Chamber president Tommy Jennings said there would be a candidate forum prior to the Nov. 6 general election featuring each race with both Democratic and Republican candidates. A date has not been scheduled.

To read what the candidates had to say about themselves and about local issues, pick up the June 20 edition of the Barrow Journal.