Benkelman favors sales tax, others vote down fluoride

At the polls Tuesday, Benkelman voters said "yes" to a sales tax earmarked for infrastructure improvements and Hayes and Furnas/Gosper county residents said "no" to taxes for their historical societies.

Also in Furnas and in Chase counties, Cambridge and Imperial residents voted against fluoridating their drinking water. In Maywood, in Frontier County, there were 210 votes split among three declared candidates for three village board positions and 126 votes cast for two write-in candidates.

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Voter turnouts throughout Southwest Nebraska and Northwest Kansas were high.

DUNDY COUNTY

The sales tax issue in Benkelman passed 285 votes to 161. Proceeds of the 1 1/2 percent sales and use tax will pay for street and sidewalk projects, water projects, water source development, water wells and storage and lighting projects.

Voters selected from four candidates for the Dundy County/Stratton School Board: Shad Stamm, 626; Michael Lutz, 611; Carla Bundy, 514; Linda Melchert, 488; Kent Lorens, 430; Mike Petersen, 294; and James Cleveland, 166.

Other local contests:

Wauneta/Palisade school board: (vote for three) Stuart Bartels, 43; Jon Anderjaska, 28; John Jutten, 28; Tim Davis, 3.

Chase County school board: (vote for up to six) Gregg Smith, 8; Todd Burpo, 7; Karl Meeske, 7; Thomas Gaschler, 5; Sheila Stromberger, 4; Francisca Morales, 4; Charles Colton, 3.

Dundy County reported a voter turnout of 74 percent.

FURNAS COUNTY

Furnas and Gosper county voters rejected a 3/10 of one cent property tax for the two counties' shared historical society. The tax would have generated $2 on a $60,000 property.

In Furnas County, the vote was 1,423 against and 757 in favor; in Gosper County, the vote was 102 against and 41 for the tax.

The society had planned to use the money to commemorate Kool-Aid inventor Edwin Perkins' life in Hendley; to create cemetery markers for rural cemeteries; and preserve old rural school houses in Daviesville and Homersville. The tax would also have helped keep the museum open in Arapahoe, document items and update records, and eventually, build a new museum.

Cambridge residents declined to put fluoride in their water -- 259 against the process and 199 in favor of it. The ballot was confusing -- voters who wanted fluoride had to vote against the ordinance; those who did not want fluoride had to vote for the ordinance.

The Cambridge school board race, for three seats, was split between two declared candidates, Dean Cope, 508 votes, and Jan tenBensel, 413; and a slate of write-ins, Billie Taylor, Amy Sines, Delaine Soucey and Sean Riley.

In other local contests:

County commissioner District 3: Jerry Schroeder, 700; Robert Marshall, 85.

Arapahoe school board: Todd Watson, 635; Rodney Whipple, 613; Dennis Roskop, 571.

Arapahoe city council North Ward: (vote for 1) Victor Breinig, 60; Troy ten Bensel, 180.

Arapahoe city council South Ward: (vote for 2) Doug Collins, 139; Martin Shafer, 112; Laurie Otto, 38; Dennis Monter, 110.

Beaver City council: (vote for 3) T. Broeker, 207; R. Stalder, 179; J. Wenburg, 117; T. Biros, 191.

Cambridge city council Ward 1: Jorena Fuller, 127.

Cambridge city council Ward 2: Diana Bantam, 108.

Hendley village board: (vote for two) B. Sapp, 12; W. Sapp, 13.

Edison village board: (vote for three) L. Robeson, 47; D. Paulson, 45; Tom Tejcka, 43.

Holbrook village board: (vote for two) T. Maline, 63; D. Long, 50.

Wilsonville village board: J. Mowry, 44; R. Burke, 27; M. Tracy, 31.

Oxford village board: (vote for two) V. Eman, 111; D. Birt, 97; N. McInturf, 137; B. Yant, 78; T. Thulin, 42.

Southwest school board, two-year term: Tom Sughroue, 65.

Southwest school board, four-year term: Crinda McConville, 55; Duane Teter, 59; Steve Daffer, 62.

FRONTIER COUNTY

In the Maywood village board race for three seats, a write-in candidate defeated a declared candidate. The vote counts for declared candidates were: Colleen Stone, 96; Daniel J. Lemmert, 82; and Roger Broeker, 32. Write-in candidates were John Covey, 45 votes, and Elaine simon, 74.

In the race for county commissioner District 1, J.R. Houser garnered 377 votes compared to Jeff Bromander's 115 votes. There were 22 write-in votes.

In other county races:

Eustis-Farnam school board: (vote for three) John Keller, 334; Jerry Johnson, 168; Alan Smith, 321; Aaron Long, 222; write-ins, 4.

Maywood school board: (vote for three) Wayne Hildebrandt, 172; Russ Gerlach, 75; David Dodson, 149; Billie Littell, 103; Donna Werkmeister, 159; Steve Chittick, 55.

Medicine Valley school board: (vote for three) Susan Nutt, 411; Grant Jorgensen, 430; Lowell Schmidt, 421; write-ins, 11.

Arapahoe school board: (vote for three) Todd Watson, 4; Rodney Whipple, 4; Dennis Roskop, 3.

Cambridge school board: (vote for three) Dean Cope, 49; Jan tenBensel, 35; write-ins, 53.

Southwest school board, four-year term: (vote for three) Steve Daffer, 26; Crinda McConville, 28; Duane Teter, 26.

Southwest school board, two-year term: Tom Sughroue, 40.

McCook school board: (vote for three) Tom Bredvick, 21; Mike Gonzales, 17; Diane Lyons, 18; Traci Loker, 17; Maury Green, 12.

Hayes Center school board: (vote for three) Victoria Gohl, 6; Kris Kressin, 2; Kevin Large, 7; Eric Hill, 6 Susie Long, 1.

Stockville village board: (vote for two) Bradley Wood, 12; Leon Buker, 13; write-ins, 3.

Eustis village board: (vote for three) James Rupe, 156; Brad Keller, 182; Joe Bihlmaier, 142; Andrew Cochrane, 95; write-ins, 3.

Moorefield village board: (vote for three) Lorn Dizmang, 12; Turena Ehlers, 12; Gary Kotschwar, 7; write-ins, 6.

HAYES COUNTY

Hayes County residents voted 318-199 against a 3/10 cent property tax to support the county's historical society.

In other county races:

Hayes Center school board: Vickie Gohl, 170; Kris Kressin, 188; Kevin Large, 267; Eric Hill, 200; Susie Long, 135.

McCook school board: four votes each for Diane Lyons, Traci Loker and Maury Green.

Hayes Center village board: Terry Wortman, 95; and write-ins 1 each for Jerry Repass, Dean Hansen, Sandi Cole, Ashli Cox and Kevin Fornoff.

Palisade village board: Jason Hicks, 2; James Christner, 2; Rodney Hunt, 2.

Hamlet village board: Steven Christner, 8; Cheryl Nolte, 14; Monte Cooper 10; Gloria Fanning, 2; Mick Helberg, 1; Clark McMinn, 1.

Hayes County reported a 69 percent voter turnout.

CHASE COUNTY

Imperial voters said "No" to fluoridating their drinking water. The vote was 685 against fluoridation and 169 for it.

In other county races:

Upper Republican NRD, Subdistrict 5: (vote for one) Thomas Gaschler, 258; Gregg Smith, 159.

Upper Republican NRD, Subdistrict 7: (vote for one) Tom Terryberry, 96; Steven Smith, 141.

Chase County school board; (vote for six) Thomas Gaschler, 1,063; Charles Colton, 1,106; Sheila Stromberger, 1,094; Gregg Smith, 867; Francisca Morales, 660; Karl Meeske, 1,123; Todd Burpo, 768.

Wauneta-Palisade school board: (vote for three) Stuart Bartels, 314; Jon Anderjaska, 271; John Jutten, 257; Tim Davis, 17.

Imperial city council: (vote for two) Sue Moore, 541; Douglas Gaswick, 604; Junior Reeder, 385.

Chase County reports a 69 percent voter turnout.

HITCHCOCK COUNTY

Hitchcock County reported a 70 percent voter turnout for these races:

Culbertson village board: Robert Sitzman, 204; Rick Johnson, 170. Marvin Harms, 2.

Palisade village board: Jason Hicks, 107; James Christner, 110; Rodney Hunt, 73.

Stratton village board: Kevin League, 91; Florence Priddy, 126; Peggy McDonald, 167; Peri Wissink, 5.

Trenton village board: John Rundel, 125; Richard Frakes, 140. Derek Judd, 1; other write-ins, 3.

Wauneta-Palisade school board: Stuart Bartels, 123; Jon Anderjaska, 141; John Jutten, 152.