The Greenville Advocate: News

Qualifying is over and the ballots for the June 3 Democratic and Republican primaries can now be printed.

As of 5 p.m. Friday, there are 24 Democrats seeking local office and four Republicans.

According to John Hall, who is the secretary/treasurer for the Butler County Democrats, all candidates who qualified in that party should attend a meeting tonight at the Butler County Courthouse.

"The people from the state Democratic Party will be here from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. to help candidates get things in order," he said. "Former Secretary of State Nancy Worley will also be here. If they have any questions they should plan to attend."

The meeting will be held tonight, Wednesday, April 9.

The local races will be as follows:

Butler County Revenue Commissioner: Deborah Crews, who is currently on leave from the revenue commission office; Debbie Martin, who is a local Realtor and Tommy Ryan, who works for Jimmy Gardner's All-State office, qualified to seek the new office.

This is Crews and Martin's first run for political office, while Ryan is a sitting member of the Greenville City Council.

Since there is no Republican seeking the nomination, the winner of this race will be the successor to Belle Peavy, who will retire at the end of her term in Oct. 2009.

Butler County District Judge: Everyone like J. MacDonald Russell who qualified for reelection. He is unopposed in the June 3 Primary. Russell is seeking his second term as district judge.

Butler County Commission District One: Larry Coker and Lawrence Philpot qualified to seek the Democratic nomination. The victor from that race will face either incumbent Commissioner Jerry Hartin or former Commissioner Gary Hanks, who are seeking the nomination through the Republican Party.

Butler County Commission District Two: Incumbent Commissioner Jesse McWilliams will be opposed by Tommy Bowman, who is making his first run at political office. McWilliams is completing his second term in office.

Butler County Commission District Three: Incumbent Commissioner Frank Hickman will face Gene Gibson for the Democratic nomination. Hickman is completing his first full term, after completing the term vacated by the death of Commissioner Joe Hendrix. Gibson opposed Hickman in 2004 and was defeated.

Butler County Commission District Four: Incumbent Commissioner Daniel Robinson is seeking this third term and as in previous runs for the office, he is unopposed.

Butler County Commission District Five: Incumbent Commissioner Glenn King will see no opposition in the June 3 Republican Primary. This is his first run under the Republican banner. He switched from the Democratic Party after being elected in 2004. However, he will face a Democratic contender in November after it is decided whether Georgiana Mayor Lynn Watson, former Commissioner William Phillips or Julius Pugh will have the Democratic backing.

Butler County Board of Education District One: Incumbent Billy Jones will have plenty of opposition in the June 3 Democratic Primary. Stacy Harrell, Greg Luckie and Karen Watkins are all opposing Jones.

Butler County Board of Education District Two: Incumbent Terry Williams will face off with Laura Hartman Fuller in the primary.

Butler County Board of Education District Three: Incumbent Joe Lisenby, who is seeking his first elected term following his appointment to replace fomer BOE member Frank Thigpen, is unopposed. However, Tanya Spier is seeking the Republican nomination, so their race will be decided in November.

Butler County Board of Education District Four: Incumbent Linda Hamilton will face Sally B. Carlyon in the primary.

Butler County Board of Education Distrct Five: Incumbent Johnny Lee, who is completing the term held by Joanne Peak, is unopposed in the Democratic Primary.