Muncie Evening Press from Muncie, Indiana • Page 2

PAGE 2 THE MUNCIE EVENING PRESS, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 1988 GOP FALLS 235 VOTES SHORT Democrats hang on to County Council In the Press of things a plus." Election tidbits include how we did at predicting, and those computer woes Donati Hartley Thornburg By IOAN D. UCUARDIA Evening Press politics wnter Democrats retained their '4-3 majority on Delaware County Council but about midnight Tuesday it looked like Republicans had a chance to grab control When all the votes from Tuesday's general election were counted, however, Democrats had retained two seats thanks to incumbent Robert Donati and newcomer Robert Hartley. Republican Richard Thornburg was also a winner in the three races for at-large seats. Donati, who will begin his second consecutive term on council, led with 25,829 votes. He also served on the council from 1979 to 1982.

Thornburg, a former Republican County Commissioner, was second with 22,975. Hartley, a retired Chevrolet-Muncie supervisor, slipped in with 22,007, only 235 votes ahead of Republican John Wright In spite of Democrats' strength in the heavy turnout and in the wake of Evan Bayh's gubernatorial victory, Democrat control of the council was in doubt until 1 a.m. when the final totals were at last announced. Hartley remained at Democratic Headquarters where he joined an unusually subdued crowd to watch returns being posted. "I squeaked in," Hartley said today.

"It was nip and tuck there for awhile. John Wright was ahead of me until the tail end. John is a Democrat Tom Bennington with 21,670 votes and Republican "Dub" Fike with 21,032. Donati, an insurance agent, said he was surprised by the Republicans' strength in the council race. "I went to bed at about midnight, and I still didn't know who had won.

I thought all three Democrats would probably pull this out but then in the at-large races a Republican generally has won in the past few elections." Donati, who also led the council vote in 1984, said he had not been hurt by negative sentiment about the county's handling of the new jail. "I think most people knew where I stood on the jail. Even though it was an issue four years ago, people knew something had to be done, even if it wasn't what everyone wanted. Just the fact of getting it done and out of the way is probably Hole makes County Building comeback by beating Riggin i Dailey overwhelms Hall for judgeship registration drives by the political parties, and the watchers had to go back to their calculators. For the record, the official turnout here was a respectable 76.5 percent (49,741 of the 65,014 registered voters).

Evening Press reporter Bob O'Bannon was able to get a close-up view of an anxious candidate Tuesday as he spent much of the evening in the apartment of his uncle, Frank O'Bannon, who was elected lieutenant governor. In spite of pre-election polls that predicted a victory for Democrats O'Bannon and governor-elect Evan Bayh, the mood in O'Bannon's downtown-Indianapolis apartment was calm and quiet In fact early reports from Marion County that showed a tight race between Bayh and Republican John Mutz created a slight feeling of apprehrension among the relatives and volunteer workers who had gathered in the apartment. "It's time to start eating," said O'Bannon's wife, Judy, after reports showed the race even at 50 percent. The 20-some people in the apartment spent most of the evening eating, drinking and closely watching television reports on the state and national elections. Frank O'Bannon was not to be seen for much of the evening, however, as the tired candidate snuck away into a walk-in bedroom closet in the back of the apartment to take a nap.

By the time Frank emerged, reports were much more positive for Bayh. And when Frank took the stage at Democratic headquarters in the Convention Center at about 10:15 p.m., he was obviously wide awake. Rules are rules, a Muncie voter learned Tuesday morning while standing in line at precinct 34 at West View Elementary School. Waiting to cast votes for the candidates of her choice, she was told to remove a red, white and blue campaign button. The badge showed a young, handsome, smiling man and his running mate, an older, balding politician with a wrinkled face.

It read, "America needs Kennedy-Johnson." As U.S. Rep. Phil Sharp approached the polling site in his home precinct Tuesday, he was approached by two young campaign volunteers, armed with literature endorsing their favorite candidate U.S. Rep. Phil Sharp.

"I am Phil Sharp," said the seven-term congressman, who would be elected to his eighth term later in the day. The young supporters were reportedly reluctant to believe Sharp's claim, but were eventually convinced that he was in fact the candidate and that he had his own vote. While Dick Stodghill takes the day off, this 'In the Press of Things" column is a collection of election stories written by The Evening Press staff. Stodghill will be back Thursday. The Muncie Evening Press election proposticator, Joan LaGuardia, correctly predicted the outcome of nine of 1 1 races in Tuesday's balloting.

(Eleven of 13 if you are generous and include the uncontested judge and commissioner races.) She correctly predicted that two Democrats and a Republican would win council seats, but wrongly identified the GOP winner. Joining Democrats Robert Donati and Robert Hartley winning choices is Republican Richard Thomburg. LaGuardia had chosen Republican John K. Wright, who narrowly lost to Hartley by 235 votes. LaGuardia was looking for Republican Kent Riggin to take the treasurer's race in a surprise victory over Scott Hole, who proved her wrong.

However, Hole's lead over Riggin showed him running well behind other Democrats on the ballot. However, Cordell Campbell, a dissident in the Democrat party, totally bested the prognosticator. She thought he would lose to Republican Ray Parsons, whom he beat by more than 3,000 votes. The new ballot-counting computer in the County Building annoyed those waiting for election results Tuesday night by proving itself to be considerably slower than the Borg-Warner computer used in past elections. County Clerk Jack Donati, secretary of the Election Board, said a representative of the computer manufacturer ran a test of all 76 precincts before beginning the actual count.

That resulted in a delay of about 45 minutes. The slowness of the new printer also meant long gaps between results, and the final tallies were not ready until well after midnight. The situation may be aggravated in the next election (1990) if county commissioners follow through with plans to increase the number of precincts to 105. Stay tuned for further results. The new computer system at first seemed to be giving election watchers a valuable piece of information when it was instantly reporting the percentage of voter turnout in each precinct.

In the old days election buffs had to calculate that number using the number of ballots cast and the number of voters registered in each precinct The bubble burst when some of the precincts tabulations showed more votes cast than voters registered never a good idea. Election Board member Donald Dunnuck explained that the computer was doing its figuring based on mid-summer registration figures. Since then there have been good guy. We're old buddies from the fair board." This morning, Wright called Hartley with congratulations. Last night Republicans speculated about a recount but Wright said he was undecided.

It did not appear that he would ask for another count He did, however, suggest that he might be asking voters for another chance in two years. Long after midnight Wright sat with a radio on his lap and listened carefully to last-minute precinct-by-precinct tallies. With 60 of the 76 precincts counted, Wright was leading Hartley by 250 votes. Republicans gathered around Wright in the Carolina Room at Country Village shopping center and cheered as they posted midnight vote tallies increasing Wright's margin. Coming in behind Wright was Dailey Caldemeyer and his wife as the couples went out to eat Tuesday night "He's been quite a gentleman," Dailey said.

"They are very nice people." Hall attributed his loss to straight-ticket voting by Democrats. "I would assume they voters looked at the party as opposed to the people," Hall said. "Sometimes it's a Democrat year and sometimes it's a Republican year, and it turned out to be a Democrat year in Delaware County." Hall added that "an incumbent judge is very difficult to unseat" Hall said he would not rule out the possibility of running again for a judge's position. "I certainly would not let this stop me," he said. "I don't think it was anything personal against me.

I'm still a good lawyer." 1 1.1 Thornburg, a farmer and employee of Hydra-Matic Division of General Motors (formerly tnev- rolet-Muncie), was able to save the Republican council spot vacated by Brad Razor, an unsuccessful bidder for the 35th District Indiana House seat Thornburg, who was commissioner from 1979 to 1982, managed to claim almost 17 percent of the votes cast for council candidates in spite of the strength of Democrats. He lost re-election attempts in 1982 and 1986 and did little campaigning this year. "You don't have to be a high profile campaigner," he said late Tuesday when his victory was assured. "I think people realize that you work hard when you get in. I think a lot of canidates need to -possibly work a lot harder when they get in and not so hard to get elected.

"Maybe I don't put out a lot of signs, but I work behind the scenes. I ask people for their vote," Thornburg said. Wright attributed his relative strength to' precincts in county areas where he has been an educa tor and a 4-H leader as well as to areas near Ball State University, where he is a career counselor. "I had met with a lot of students at Ball State. I was able to be more than 500 votes ahead of any of the Democrats in Precinct 26," Wright said.

his first bid for public office, could sneak past Hole. "He's probably one of the best candidates who has ever won as far as doing the things the candidates have to do," David Taylor, Riggin's campaip chairman and the only Republican on City Council said of the GOP candidate. "He worked the hours, spent the time and effort. He wanted to win. He had high name recognition." Shortly before 1 a.m., Riggin was forced to concede defeat.

"It's been fun," he said. "We enjoyed it. We'll do it again. I'm not disappointed a bit considering the trend has been what it is. We had to buck everybody.

It was tough," Riggin, 50, is sales manager for Riggin's Dairy. Hole, 46, who also has two terms as city clerk under his belt, said he was not confident coming into Tuesday's election. "I've ran several times, and I've never felt confident," Hole said with about half of the precincts in. "I still don't feel that way." Part of the Democrat's apprehension as Election Day approached was based on his inability to seek votes during the final three weeks of the campaign due to a bout with bronchial asthma. Hole, who defeated incumbent Treasurer Garland Miller in the Democratic primary, praised Riggin as "a formidable candidate." 2nd PISTRICT COMMISSIONER Cordell H.

Campbell (D) 24,905 Ray L. Parsons (R) 21,839 COUNCIL AT LARGE Tom L. Bennington (D) 21,670 Robert Donati (D) 25,829 Bob Hartley (D) 22,007 WHFike(R) 21,032 Richard W. Thornburg (R) 22,975 John K. Wright (R) 21,772 INDIANA SUPREME COURT Shall Justice Randall T.

Shepard be retained in office. Yes 19,702 No 12,466 Shall Justice Brent E. Dickson be retained in office. Yes 21,634 No 8,947 INDIANA TAX COURT Shall Judge Thomas G. Fisher be retained in office.

Yes 21,319 No 9,286 PROPOSITION 1 Shall Section 8 of Article 15 of the Constitution of the State of Indiana be amended by removing the language that prohibits lotteries? Yes 27,362 No 16,751 PROPOSITION 2 Shall Section 4 of Article 7 of the Constitution of the State of Indiana be amended so that criminal appeals with sentences of fifth (50) years or less follow the same path through the Indiana court of appeals to the Indiana supreme court as civil appeals? Yes 21,359 No 17,142 PROPOSITION 3 Shall Section 2 of Article 6 of the Constitution of the State of Indiana be amended to allow elected county officials to be re-elected to their offices without limitation on the number of consecutive terms? Yes 12,426 No 28,612 By DOUGLAS WALKER Evening Press reporter Veteran Democrat Scott A. Hole Tuesday returned to county office after a one-year layoff, winning the county treasurer's race over Republican Kent Rea Riggin. In what became the closest two-candidate county race, Hole captured 24,123 votes, compared to Riggin's As the early Hole precincts came in, Hole who completed his second term as county clerk in 1987 appeared to be joining other local Democratic candidates on his way to an easy victory. However, with votes from large Republican precincts coming in late, Riggin staged a comeback, and appeared to be in a position to overtake Hole with votes from only a handful of precincts remaining to be counted. In most of those final precincts, however, Hole won by sizeable margins, and the longtime Democrat came away with 1,032 more votes than his opponent Hole captured 51 percent of the vote.

As late as midnight, Republicans gathered in the Carolina Room held on to the hope that Riggin, making Delaware County vote totals By BOB O'BANNON Evening Press reporter Democrat Richard Dailey was elected to his second term as Superior Court 2 judge Tuesday, defeating Republican challenger A.J. Hall and garnering the largest number of votes in local contested races. Final tabulations show Dailey with 28,799 votes and Hall with 18,183 votes. "Im very happy and very grateful," Dailey said this morning. He attributed his victory to "a lot of prayer and a lot of help from a lot of wonderful people." Democrat Steven Caldemeyer, uncontested in the race for Circuit Court judge, received 33,925 votes.

Dailey was elected to his first six-year term as Superior Court 2 judge in 1982. Before that he was judge of Delaware County Court 2 (now Superior Court 4). Hall campaigned for the judge's position on 33 years of experience practicing law. Dailey would not say that he was confident of a victory throughout the race. "You really don't know until the votes actually come in," he said.

Dailey said Hall congratulated him on the victory this morning. The judge added that he and his wife inadvertently ran into Hall Tim Randolph Democrats enjoy rare victories PRESIDENT Michael S. Dukakis (D) 20,548 George Bush (R) 27,348 LenoraFulani(NA) 216 VS. SENATE JackWickes(D) 14,814 Richard G. Lugar (R) 33,015 GOVERNOR Evan Bayh (D) 27,072 JohnM.

Mutz(R) 21,154 ATTORNEY GENERAL John Rumple (D) 20,718 Linley E. Pearson (R) 25,794 SUPT. PUBLIC INSTRUCTION Mary J. Pettersen (D) 24,216 Dean Evans (R) 21,814 2nd DISTRICT CONGRESS Philip R. Sharp (D) 26,843 Mike Pence (R) 12,217 6th DISTRICT CONGRESS George T.

Holland (D) 2,642 Dan Burton (R) 6,463 INDIANA HOUSE DIST. 32 Georgia Day Irey(D) 1,312 Jeffrey K.Espich(R) 1,974 INDIANA HOUSE DIST 34 Hurley C. Goodall (D) 12,807 Herbert A. Vollmar (R) 5,397 INDIANA HOUSE DIST. 35 R.

Marc Carmichael (D) 11,926 Brad Razor (R) 9,233 INDIANA HOUSE DIST 36 Paul Sanders (D) 2,054 Patrick J. Kiely(R) 2,654 CIRCUIT COURT JUDGE Steven R. Caldemeyer (D) 33,925 SUPERIOR COURT 2 JUDGE Richard A. Dailey (D) 28,799 A.J.Hall(R) 18,183 TREASURER Scott A. Hole (D) 24,123 Kent R.

Riggin (R) 23,091 SURVEYOR JamesA.Petry(D) 25,532 Ronald B. Quakenbush (R) 21,357 1st DISTRICT COMMISSIONER Jack Peckinpaugh (D) 33,606 on the County Council. They defeated Republican incumbents Ralph Farlow and Anthony Johnson. Both Welch and Republican County Chairman Bernard Shepherd said they were surprised by the victories. "There's just no rhyme or reason to it," Shepherd said.

Republican incumbent Richard L. Carpenter, 69, won re-election to council He has already served four years. Republican Steven M. Cox, 38, rural Winchester, won the office of county clerk over his opponent, Democrat Keith Peters. Cox will take office in January 1990.

The race for the office of county coroner was won by Republican Greg Thayer, 37, 327 Franklin, who defeated independent candidate Tim Troxell. Thayer won with 55 percent of the vote. by Votes and Brlckmon WINCHESTER, Ind. For the first time in 12 years, a Democrat will be a member of Randolph County Board of Commissioners in a surprising move for a predominantly Republican county. Joseph Wolfe, 49, was one of three Democrats who won election Tuesday in the county.

He narrowly defeated his opponent, William Allen, for a commissioner's seat with 51.82 percent of the vote. "I'm happy now," Wolfe said after the race, which kept votes 1 to 2 percent apart all evening. Wolfe will join incumbent Republicans Gail Green and Rex Cates on the board. Green, 64, Winchester, defeated Democrat Charles Taylor Setters with 60 percent of the vote while Cates, serving his fourth term, was not up for electioa The other Democrats who emerged victorious Tuesday were Carl Gettinger and Mark Welch, both of whom ran for at-large seats the small society xy i Coodnight(?) While most local Democratic candidates came out on top in Tuesday's election, it was an evening of mixed blessings for Democratic County Chairman Ira F. Nelson.

With the victory of Nelson foe Cordell Campbell in the District 2 County Commissioner's race, many assume that Nelson will be ousted from his post as County Highway Superintendent. Story on Page 1. Evening Press photo..