Kingsport Times-News from Kingsport, Tennessee • 3

Last-minute candidates oin Kingsport races No challengers for Kingsport Mayor Norman Spencer i By DWAINE BECK Times-News Staff Writer Kingsport Mayor Norman Spencer will run unopposed for re-election to a secondtwo-year term in the city's May 17 municipal election noon deadline for candidates to file qualifying petitions with the Sullivan County Election Commission passed without anyone coming forward to challenge Spencer It is the first time since Kingsport voters began electing the city's mayor that a mayoral candidate has not faced opposition The coming election will be the third time residents have elected a mayor Previously the mayor was selected by aldermen from their ranks reaction to his almost assured win he mentioned the remote possibility of a write-in campaign defeat was mixed The 63-year-old retired Mead Paper Co vice president and Kingsport plant manager said he was "a little there were no ehal-lengers But in a good humor early yesterday af- ternoon he also said he could do without a re- peat of the 1981 election that put him into office bv a three-vote margin "I was really sort of expecting someone to file at the last minute" he said Spencer's unopposed status will deny voters the opportunity to express their approval or disapproval of his two-year performance at the helm of Kingsport's Board of Mayor and Aider-men And the absence of an opponent to act as a measuring stick against community evaluation of his performance also will deny Spencer the opportunity to gauge his support But he said he thought the lack of opposition shows Kingsport residents are satisfied with the Board of Mayor and Aldermen's accomplishments in the last two years "Obviously I am pleased to be able to serve another two years why I was running" he said The mayor also noted he will be able to remain in office without having to incur campaign expenses Spencer spent over $3000 last year on his mayoral campaign Before becoming mayor he served a four-year term as alderman Five candidates filed qualifying petitions on the last day some of them in the last hour before the noon deadline to run for the three alderman and city school board seats up for election Three candidates filed in time to have their names added to the list of candidates wanting to be aldermen increasing the field to six Of the six candidates George Ainslie who had filed previously is the only incumbent alderman seeking re-election Aldermen Mary Cunningham and Bill Garwood had announced they would not seek additional terms Two candidates beat the deadline to have their names put on the ballot as potential Board of Education members They swelled the list of candidates shooting for the three school board seats to a full slate plus one Incumbents Jim Bradford and Kermit VVhet-sel will be candidates for a return to the city school board School board member Bill Ring had decided not to seek another term Kingsporters can register to vote in (he May 17 election today at City Hall or until noon April 16 at the Sullivan County Registrar of office in Blountville Voters who will be out of town election day-can cast absentee ballots from April 27 to May 12 at the registrar's office Board of Education allow me to help this school board get the most out of oun tax dollars which will go to help improve the education of our children" he said Coates noting he is a product of the city's education system said "I believe my background education and special interests will provide an opportunity for the board to be well-rounded "I want to talk to parents I think the school board should realize We are coming to the point in this country where we are disenfranchising the family" Coates said adding he would encourage families to become more active1 in school ac-tiv itiey Smith and his wife Marilyn aie the parents of children 12 and 15 vears old Coates and his wife Debbie have children 4 vears and 15 months old Coates 4622 Mitchell Road is pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Kingsport and was president of Dobyns-Bennett High School's student body in 1972 Coates a pastor for 10 years graduated from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1978 after receiving an undergraduate degree from Baylor University Smith graduated from the University of Tennessee business school "With two children in the Kingsport school system I am most anxious to see that our children are offered the very-best education possible" Smith said adding he would like to see a strengthening of academic-standards "I feel that my experience in business and construction will By DWAINE BECK Times-Sews Staff Writer Two Kingsport men filed petitions yesterday with the Sullivan County Election Commission to become the third and fourth candidates vying for three seats on Kingsport's Board of Education Larry Smith 38 a businessman and Bob Coates 29 a pastor will be on the ballot for the May 17 election along with incumbent school board members Jim Bradford and Kermit VVhetsel Incumbent Bill Ring decided not to seek another term Smith 2156 Westwind Drive is president of Rio Grande Fence Cp and has served on the board of directors of the Greater Kingsport Area Chamber of Commerce and Kingsport Boys Club I Board of Mayor and Aldermen By DWAINE BECK Tnes-ews Staff Writer Eleventh-hour petitions filed in Blountville yesterday doubled the number of candidates wanting to sit as aldermen on Kingsport's Board of Mayor and Aldermen Two men one an attorney and another a real estate developer and a woman who didn't become a city resident until her Cook's Valley-neighborhood was annexed in July brought the field of candidates in the alderman race to six Kingsport voters will select three aldermen May 17 to serve four-year terms Those who filed yesterday to have their names put on the municipal-election' ballot were- John Everett 46 728 Fleetwood who operates a private law practice and was an unsuccessful candidate for a Sullivan County General Sessions Court judgeship after the death of Judge Carl Miller James Bisceglia 52 2809 Center St a self-employed real estate developer who has participated in some downtown Kingsport renovation projects and now builds condominiums and Carole Bray Williams 36 4513 Glenbrook-Drive a housewife and former preschool teacher has criticized proposals to close neighborhood schools in Kingsport and favors continued annexation efforts Mrs Williams is the second woman to become a candidate for alderman in this election She Everett and Bisceglia join Vivian Crymble John Douglas and incumbent Alderman George! Ainslie in the campaign Mrs Williams served on the Plan of Services MLS BIS EtII He denied he wanted the office to help bun smooth over dilleimes with the planning commission that lias sometimes delayed Ins projects Everett said the few candidates who had filed before vesterdav prompted his decision to run at about 10 a yesteidav two hours before the filing deadline "Kmgspoit's been verv good to me and I'd like to offer anv sei ices I an to repiv a debt Ev erelt said He s) id lie wants to see the iitv continue its plans for ordei expansion and nuke a commit merit to high education standards ROLE BRAY WILLIAMS dty not outside As a businessman he said he would like to see hanges made in city government espei tails in the area of the Kingsport Regional Planning Commission to promote growth the utv Bisieglia who said businessmen urged him to enter the campaign said he would represent the working people I ve fought with the commission on a lot of things and a lot of people know that I guess thev wanted somebody to represent them" he said referring to his backers -JOHN EVERETT Committee that worked with the city in the mostly rejected effort to annex Cook's Valley-last year Her neighborhood was one of the few annexed 1 She said she would like to see Kingsport continue it annexation efforts in Cook's Valley believe over the last two years Kingsport has made changes for the best" she said but she added "I would like to see the Board of Mayor and Aldermen work better with other government bodies such as the school board Bisceglia on the other hand said he would like to see Kingsport promote growth within the Kendrick Creek foam traced to JC landfill tured offTht Slaughter farm "The calves were horn prema-turelv fulls developed" she said walk out every day ami here would he one or two dead calves" A veterinarian I rmn Johnson Mountain Empne Veterinary Clinic diagnosed the problem as "leptoscir-rosis" she said hut she still believes "-it wasn't a thing in the world but this water metltatioii pond Consequently anv lunoff leaves the landfill latrving solids on down to the streams Snvdcr said he intends to ask state solid-waste officials for help in persuading Johnson City to construct containment to keep landfill effluents out of the necks Last Mondav morning the foam was back Jane McMalkin an employee on the Cecil nearby streams both tributaries of Kendrick Creek "Sometimes we have what appears to he a natural foam although it's actually caused by-all the rainwater hitting bare soil picking it up and keeping it in suspension" Snyder said "It's hilly over there and there's a lot of agitation "I think the problem we're going to have to address is that the landfill have a sedi- Slaughter farm noticed it on her wav to woik "There were great big globs of it along'the bank some half as big as nn ear" she said Mrs McMackin said she fre-quentlv noticed small foamy pate lies on the creek last winter particularly on weekends She said she believed the unknown pollutant killed about 12 calves last spring in a herd pas from Lebanon Driye to the Washington County line The trail ended at Johnson City's Bowser Ridge Landfill The investigator Ron Snyder chief of the Tennessee Division of Water Johnson City office said large expanses of bare earth and unburied garbage at the landfill were drenched by hard rain early this week Heavily laden with silt the runoff poured into two By MARY KISS Sulliian County Bureau For years owners of houses and farms near Colonial Heights' Kendrick Creek have been alarmed by the periodic appearance of large clumps of bubbjps on the surface of the stream This week a state water-quality specialist tracked the mysterious brown foam upstream Public television station seeks independent status nal television for the state "The philosophical idea behind community based stations is to be more responsive to the needs of the community But that's not to say they weren't responsive already "It also separates us from possible political control said Davis approval today Representing Upper East Tennessee on the Board of Directors are Bob Bailey Kingsport attorney and Mrs Norma Jean Tetrick Elizabethton Viewers will notice no difference in the quality of programming following the change said Ross Mol director of educatio The station one of four currently operated by the board is scheduled to gain independence at the stroke of midnight July 1 according to Charles Davis chairman of the board of East Tennessee Public Communications Corp the organization that will operate the station The group's list of proposed directors very nearly failed to make it out of the Educational Television Committee of the state board today because of the 18 members proposed all but four were from Knox County The committee ruled the board must be composed of an 10 to 8 split with eight members from areas outside Knox County With time growing short since the FCC requires 60 to 90 days to approve a change in ownership and the fiscal year changing July 1 the committee voted to allow state board members from East Tennessee to select four more WSJK directors last night The full list will be presented to the state board for By BECKY JONES Tmes-News Education Writer NASHVILLE If the State Board of Education approves its board of directoiaday public television station WSJK Knoxville will petition the Federal Communications Commission to become an independent station.