By THOMAS P. WEAVER

HORIZON Editor

CELINA-Election administrator Wanda Daniels said a half-dozen more candidates had qualified for the August 5 county general election and seven new potentials had picked up qualifying papers, but have yet to return them as of Monday afternoon–adding to the list previously reported in last week’s HORIZON (visit dalehollowhorizon.com to see details).

Incumbent county mayor Dale Reagan heads the list of those candidates who recently filed their qualifying papers, with one of his potential challengers, Gene Collins, also officially entering the race.

Former Clay County sheriff Jerry Rhoton has turned in his papers and joins Brandon Boone in the race for the county’s top law enforcement officer, with incumbent James Story yet to throw his hat back in the ring.

The only candidate for school board who qualified over the past week is Doug Strong, a challenger in the fifth district.

Rounding out the list of qualifiers since Monday, March 8 are three candidates for the 10 available county commission seats–incumbent Timmie Scott in district one, Wayne Rich in district three, and incumbent Cecil Langford in district five.

The list of 13 new potential candidates who have picked up qualifying papers includes five for county commission seats, three for school board openings, one for road superintendent, and four for constable positions.

Those possibly vying for the commission seats are Parrish Wright in district two; Pamela Breeding, Al Shaver, and incumbent Beverly Young in district four; and Shawn Watson in district five.

Incumbent school board member Russell Cherry and potential challenger Veda Hix are the two possibly entering the race for the district two seats, and another current school board member, Jerry Eads, has picked up his papers.

Jason Browning picked up papers for road superintendent and the other four new potential candidates are all looking to fill constable seats.  They include Blake Strong in district one, James Billingsley and Robert Jacoby in district two, and Matthew Sidwell in district four.

Daniels said the qualifying deadline was April 1, leaving a little over two weeks remaining before the 2010 ballot will be set.

See next week’s HORIZON for our weekly election update and visit our website at dalehollowhorizon.com to find previously printed stories pertaining to this year’s election.