By Cindy Beamon
\nThe Daily Advance
\nWednesday, November 3, 2010<\/p>\n
CURRITUCK \u2014 With the exception of the sheriff\u2019s race, a tsunami of anti-incumbent voting swept across Currituck County on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Voters swept all three Democrats on the Board of Commissioners from office, giving Republicans their first ever monopoly on the seven-member board.<\/p>\n
Three incumbent school board members also failed to win re-election on Tuesday, as did the Clerk of Superior Court who had held the office since 1986.<\/p>\n
The only incumbent left standing when the votes were counted was Democratic Sheriff Susan Johnson, who won a third term by garnering 4,651 votes, or 59 percent, to Republican challenger Donnie Norrell\u2019s 3,280 votes, or 41 percent.<\/p>\n
In the commissioner races, Republican challenger Paul Martin ousted incumbent Democrat Gene Gregory for his at-large seat; Marion Gilbert defeated Democrat Janet Taylor in the 5th District; and Republican H.M. \u201cButch\u201d Petrey defeated unaffiliated candidate David Palmer in District 3.<\/p>\n
Martin garnered 4,858 votes, or 63 percent, to Gregory\u2019s 2,862 votes, or 37 percent. Gilbert garnered 4,451 votes, or 58 percent to Taylor\u2019s 3,176 votes, or 42 percent. Petrey collected 4,885 votes, or 64 percent, to Palmer\u2019s 2,659 votes, or 35 percent.<\/p>\n
In the school board races, former schools superintendent Bill Dobney defeated school board Chairwoman Pat Stretar for her at-large seat; former school board member Jackie Simmons defeated Crawford Township incumbent Sharon Martz; and newcomer Karen Etheridge ousted Poplar Branch incumbent Cathy Midgette-Hatcher.<\/p>\n
Dobney finished with 3,993 votes, or 61 percent, to Stretar\u2019s 2,567 votes, or 39 percent. In the closest of the school contests, Simmons garnered 3,256 votes, 51 percent, to Martz\u2019s 3,171 votes, or 49 percent.<\/p>\n
In the Poplar Branch Township race, Etheridge finished with 3,781 votes, or 40 percent.<\/p>\n
Michael Payment garnered 2,070, or 30 percent; Douglass collected 1,313 votes, or 19 percent; and Midgette-Hatcher finished last with 687 votes, or 10 percent.<\/p>\n
In the closest race of the day, Democratic incumbent Clerk of Superior Court Shelia Tyler lost to unaffiliated challenger Ray Matusko by 32 votes. Matusko collected 3,437 votes, or 50.23 percent, to Tyler\u2019s 3,405 votes, or 49.77 percent.<\/p>\n
Interviewed Tuesday night, Martin said he was \u201celated\u201d by his nearly 2,000-vote victory over Gregory.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think this mirrors what is going on across our nation,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was time for a change. This is the first time in the history of Currituck County that the board of commissioners will be 100 percent Republican. It\u2019s a huge responsibility.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gilbert also said she was happy with the results.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m excited, elated and ready to go to work,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t thank the citizens of Currituck County enough for trusting me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Etheridge said she was \u201chumbled and thankful\u201d to voters for her victory.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am thankful to them for the trust they have shown in me to represent their children. I want to do everything in my power to do what is right for the kids of Currituck,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Turnout for the Currituck election on Tuesday was 48 percent. Republicans were aided by the fact that 1,258 Republicans voted a straight GOP ballot, while only 793 Democrats did.<\/p>\n
Voters interviewed outside the polls Tuesday expressed strong support for Republican candidates.<\/p>\n
Cameron Tabor, 56, a salesman, said he knows both Petrey and Palmer but chose Petrey in the Poplar Branch race because he is a Republican. He called the election a \u201creferendum against the powers that be.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sharon Priest, 59, a Virginia Beach school teacher, said she voted for Gilbert in the 5th District race because she \u201chas had dealings with Taylor, and I was not really impressed with her backbone.\u201d<\/p>\n
Priest also said she had had \u201cdealings with (Martin) and I like the way he addresses people and he asks what you think rather than telling you what he thinks.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want (Martin) back in office,\u201d said a self-employed senior citizen at the Moyock precinct. \u201cHe was a school teacher, and I think he would be good for the county.\u201d<\/p>\n
Voting for Gilbert, Petrey, and Martin, a 50-year-old unemployed voter said, \u201c I have been to commissioners\u2019 meetings, and it seems everything is arranged before the meeting has happened. I would like to have a little better representation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Voters also expressed dissatisfaction with the current school board incumbents.<\/p>\n
Susan McNair, a 50-year-old bus driver, said she voted for Dobney because her children were in school when he was superintendent and that she was pleased with how the school system was run then.<\/p>\n
A mother and daughter said they voted for Simmons and Etheridge because they wanted to vote against the current school board.<\/p>\n
At the Coinjock precinct, Pat Kreisel said she voted against anyone on the ballot who was a school board member. She said she voted for Dobney, Etheridge and Simmons.<\/p>\n
Kreisel blamed the school board and the superintendent\u2019s office for what she said is low morale among the teachers.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody needs an attaboy once in a while,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd they\u2019re not getting one at all.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Cindy Beamon The Daily Advance Wednesday, November 3, 2010 CURRITUCK \u2014 With the exception of the sheriff\u2019s race, a tsunami of anti-incumbent voting swept across Currituck County on Tuesday. Voters swept all three Democrats on the Board of Commissioners from office, giving Republicans their first ever monopoly on the seven-member board. Three incumbent school […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nomcb.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nomcb.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nomcb.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nomcb.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nomcb.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=558"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nomcb.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/558\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":560,"href":"https:\/\/www.nomcb.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/558\/revisions\/560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nomcb.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nomcb.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nomcb.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}