Howard County Clerk Kathyrne Harper, third from left, reviews election night returns in the courthouse Tuesday. She was assisted by volunteers Ed Dodson and Jeri Hubbard, in addition to Kevin Ulshafer of Adkens Printing Co. which supplies ballots to the county.

In primary balloting Tuesday, voters here decided three Democratic party nominees in each case by unbelievably narrow margins.

Woody McCutcheon

Howard County voters narrowly selected John “Woody” McCutcheon as assessor on the Democratic ticket over longtime assessor’s office employee Susan Oser.

McCutcheon becomes the de facto assessor-elect here since no one had filed for the post on the Republican ticket. A 1974 Central Methodist graduate, McCutcheon has been a longtime Fayette businessman. He received 938 votes (50.8 percent), with 908 votes cast for Oser.

The election of McCutcheon signals in one sense the end of an era in that Oser’s “significant other” is longtime assessor George Frink who has held office here since 1971. Earlier he had announced his intent not to seek another term. Oser has worked in the office with Frink for about 14 years.

Howard Black

Also on the Democratic ticket, longtime western district commissioner Howard Black, first elected in 1996, narrowly edged-out former Glasgow Mayor Howard McMillan.

County residents on hand on the courthouse lawn for the traditional “crying” of election results from the east steps left shortly after 9 o’clock Tuesday evening without knowing who won the party’s western district race since the vote-margin was within 10 votes, with about 20 “provisional ballots” still uncounted. Initially, Howard County Clerk Kathyrne Harper refused to declare a winner since the number of conditional ballots could push the decision either way. After a careful recount, she declared Black the winner with 431 votes against McMillan’s 410.

In the general election next November, Black will face-off against Republican nominee Bob Meyer who was unopposed in the GOP primary for his party’s nomination.

Lisa Asbury

Another relatively closely-contested race in Democratic balloting was to select a party nominee for Howard County clerk. Lisa Asbury, assistant city clerk for the city of Fayette, defeated Sheryl Fehling with just over 52 percent of the vote, 943 to 857. Fehling is office deputy for the Howard County Sheriff’s Department.

As her party’s nominee, Asbury will have a formidable general election contender in Kathyrne Harper who currently holds the office. She was uncontested on the Republican ballot and has held the office since being appointed last February following the resignation of former clerk Mark Hill.

Several Howard County Democrats were de facto returned to office, with no opposition in their own party and with no GOP candidates filing. These include: Sheriff Charles Polson, Eastern District Commissioner Richard Conrow, Public Administrator Marsha Davis, Coroner Frank Flaspohler, and Surveyor Gene Bowen, in addition to Ninth District State Rep. Paul Quinn.

In balloting for statewide offices, Howard County Democratic Party voters decisively favored Jay Nixon for governor (83 percent), Sam Page for lieutenant governor (45 percent), Jeff Harris for attorney general (43 percent), Mark Powell for state treasurer (34 percent), and Kay Barnes for sixth district U.S. representative (90 percent).

In Howard County GOP primary balloting, voters here favored Kenny Hulshof over Sarah Steelman, 83 percent to 16 percent. They also chose Peter Kinder for lieutenant governor by a margin of 84 percent.

The voter turnout here was nearly 29 percent, with 2,265 votes cast out of 7,868 registered voters.

—James H. Steele

© Copyright 2002-2005 by Wood Creek Media, Inc. All rights reserved.

Top of Page