By Benjamin Bullard
The Cullman Times
CULLMAN —
While no one knows who will sit alongside commission chairman James Graves in November, one thing was made clear Tuesday: neither of the county’s two new associate commissioners will be an incumbent.
Both incumbent associate commissioners were defeated in Tuesday’s Republican primary vote, with Doug Williams losing to challenger Darrell Hicks for the Place 1 Republican nomination, and current Place 2 commissioner Wayne Willingham missing a second-place finish—and almost certain runoff—to Jerry Parker, who garnered the most votes, followed by former commissioner Stanley Yarbrough.
Parker, with 30.6 percent of the vote, and Yarbrough, with 29.26 percent, will meet in a party runoff July 13th. The pair edged out Willingham, who took 28.06 percent of the vote. In a race pitting more than two candidates, the victor must gain at least one vote more than 50 percent in order to avoid a runoff.
On the Democratic side, only the Place 2 nomination was decided, with Willy Hendrix defeating Hilton Angle. Hendrix took 53.4 percent of the vote, compared with Angle’s 46.6 percent.
Place 1 Democratic nominee Philip Widner did not face any party opposition in Tuesday’s primary, and will face Republican Hicks in the November General election.
The winner of next month’s Place 2 Republican runoff—either Parker or Yarbrough—will face Hendrix in November.
Williams was gracious in defeat and pledged to make the transition as smooth as possible for his successor.
“I appreciate my opponent, who ran a clean race,” said Williams. “He’s a good man; he’s got another race in the Fall to deal with; he’s a Republican, and I stand with all Republicans. I want to thank everybody for letting me serve the last six years as commissioner, and I appreciate what the people of Cullman have let me do.
Williams noted the past had set a precedent of turnover in the commission office that had readied his mind for a possible defeat.
“Historically, if you look at Cullman County, we change commissioners every four years, and I was prepared for that,” he said. “Now, I get to go back home to my funeral businesses and take care of that. I’m going to go home and go to bed tonight, and then get out in the morning and pull signs up, and get them out of people’s way and get my stuff up off the roadsides and thank folks as I see them for helping support me.
“I’ve still got a few more months in office, and I want to finish some things—we’ve got road projects going on, and things like that that I want to finish—and the pressure’s off,” Williams added.
Chairman Graves was exhilarated at the promise of a change in the two associate commissioners’ chairs, following a rocky relationship with Williams and Willingham that had steadily deteriorated as the pair clashed with Graves over control of the county’s water system and the future of the area’s water supply.
“I am tickled pink—not for me, but for the citizens of Cullman County,” said Graves. “I think this water issue is so terribly important; that the Duck River dam is so important. I know I have at least one commission candidate who is ready for us to work together on our water issues. From the day he [Hicks] is sworn in, there will be paperwork lying on my desk ready to sign on to Duck River, and that thing will move forward immediately thereafter.”
The water saga, which had escalated drastically since late April—when Williams and Willingham turned the county water department over to a newly-created water cooperative—proved to be one of the deciding factors in the victors’ interpretations of the heavy Republican turnout. Both incumbents are Republicans and together fielded a larger number of challengers—especially in the Place 2 race—than did the Democratic candidates for associate commissioner.
“Absolutely,” affirmed Democrat Willy Hendrix of the water controversy’s significance to voters. “I think that the water issue had a lot to do with the turnout, and with the way people voted. I think that’s why everybody voted in the Republican side.”
Darrell Hicks agreed, saying that—while his race with Williams had been cordial—the water factor was too great an issue for voters to ignore.
“Mr. Williams did come by and congratulate me and said he would do all that he could to help me in the Fall,” said Hicks. “I appreciate that, and I think we had a good race. We basically went on the issues, and I was for the Duck River project and he was for something else, and I felt like that was the main issue—and the people spoke.”
By the numbers, 78 percent of registered voters countywide opted to vote in the Republican primary, compared with 22 percent voting in the Democratic primary. That figure was predictably mirrored in the commission races, with 12,425 Republican votes cast for the Place 1 race and 12,531 Republican votes for Place 2.
The Democratic Primary, by contrast, saw only 3,514 ballots cast in the Place 2 race. Place 1 did not have a vote count for the Democrats, since Philip Widner is running unopposed for the Place 1 seat.
* Benjamin Bullard can be reached by e-mail at bbullard@cullmantimes.com or by telephone at 734-2131 ext. 270.
THE DETAILS
By Party, here’s how the commission primary races finished:
Republican
Place 1 NOMINEE Darrell Hicks: 71.19 percent with 8,845 votes
Doug Williams: 28.81 percent with 3,580 votes
12,425 total Republican Place 1 votes were cast.
Place 2 RUNOFF CANDIDATE Jerry Parker: 30.6 percent with 3,834 votes
RUNOFF CANDIDATE Stanley Yarbrough: 29.26 percent with 3,666 votes
Wayne Willingham: 28.06 percent with 3,516 votes
Howard Rodgers: 12.09 percent with 1,515 votes
12,531 total Republican Place 2 votes were cast.
Democrat
Place 1 NOMINEE Philip Widner: Did not run in the primary, since he was the only Democrat to qualify.
Place 2 NOMINEE Willy Hendrix: 53.41 percent with 1,877 votes
Hilton Angle: 46.59 percent with 1,637 votes
3,514 total Democratic Place 2 votes were cast.
