Post election

Palestine Mayor Dr. Carolyn Salter called it last night during her goodbye speech at the Palestine City Council - voters wanted change. In case you missed it, Salter became the odd man out of the three-person mayoral race. Dan Bochsler and Bob Herrington remain in the running. The council will officially canvass the vote next week at its 5:30 p.m. Monday meeting. After the vote is canvassed and made official, the date for the runoff election between Bochsler and Herrington will be set. According to state law, that has to be no less than 20 days and no more than 45 days from the canvassing date, so sometime around mid-June we'll vote again for mayor.

While the mayor's race certainly has resulted in change, the more far-reaching changes occurred in the school bond elections. Three times prior, Elkhart ISD had unsuccessfully attempted to convince voters in the district to pass a bond that will allow the school to build new facilities to house the ever-growing number of students educated there. Palestine ISD also had tried unsuccessfully in the past to pass a bond to improve its facilities. This time, both passed easily. That's very good for the children in those schools. I think Anderson County Prec. 2 Commissioner Rashad Q. Mims said it best last week when he commented that voters in Anderson County had seen fit to build a new jail to house criminals, but were hesitating to do something for their children:

“You invested in a new jail facility, almost 300 beds,” Mims said. “As a taxpayer, you’re paying for those inmates” to eat, sleep and have access to medical care.

“Why not invest in a child’s future that we can turn them (today’s students) into a productive taxpayer?” Mims asked.

Seems that the voters listened.

The mayoral forum and newspaper deadlines

I attended the first half or so of last night's mayoral forum, held at Old Magnolia Sandwich Shop and sponsored by the Palestine Young Professionals Network. All three candidates - incumbent Mayor Carolyn Salter and challengers Dan Bochsler and Bob Herrington - participated in the event, which was attended by approximately two dozen people. The way it worked was like this: Candidates were asked 12 questions, which were written by the PYPN, with order of answer rotated for fairness. Each person was given plenty of time to respond. Also, before the forum began, Palestine High School principal Shon Joseph spoke for several minutes to urge those present to vote for the PISD school bond in the upcoming election on May 9.

It was interesting to listen to what the three candidates had to say, and to observe reactions to each others' responses. You can learn a lot through body language and tone of voice. I won't tout one over another - it's not my job to do so - but I will say that each comes across as smart, successful and well qualified, with different personalities. They obviously care enough about the town in which they live to give up their personal time and money to serve. Regardless of who wins, they're all to be applauded for that.

But I'm chasing rabbits now and need to get back to the point, which is this: I had to leave well before the forum ended, due to our change in deadlines and print times. Just a few weeks ago, I could have stayed for the entire thing, written my story at 1 a.m. if I wanted to, and still made deadline. Our last pages were due to the production people by 8 a.m., with printing mid-morning. Now, our last pages are due by 11:30 p.m. with some built-in "wiggle room" and they're printed a little after midnight. That's why some of you are getting your paper at 6 a.m. now. That's great for getting fresh news on the street when people get up in the morning. However, it means we've got to have a cutoff point in the evening to have time to get stories written and edited and the pages built and checked. It also means, instead of writing an overview of the entire forum, I had to choose something out of what I heard and go with that. Because of the economy and job concerns, I chose to focus on the candidates' responses to the question about the Palestine Economic Development Corporation and its future. Some people like the PEDC, some people don't, but with director Brian Malone officially resigned to take a similar job in Athens, the corporation's future is very much a timely topic and something to continue to watch.

One more note on our candidate coverage: We try not to appear to favor one person over another. That's why the photo from the forum shows all three people, although only one is answering a question. As much as reasonably possible, we try to keep the number and length of quotes about the same, for the same reason. Obviously, incumbents have an advantage in, say, a meeting story because they're already on the council or commissioners court or school board. We also try to run candidate announcement stories and Q&A's at the same place on the front page, with as close to the same size headline as possible. With early voting beginning April 27, we'll begin the Q&A's soon. Keep watching.

Mayoral candidate forum set for Tuesday

If you're interested in what the three candidates for Mayor of Palestine have to say about their candidacies and their ideas for the city, head over to Old Magnolia Sandwich Shop in downtown Palestine at 120 W. Oak St. The event starts at 7 p.m. Those running for mayor include incumbent Dr. Carolyn Salter, who is seeking a third consecutive two-year term, and challengers Dan Bochsler, who is president of the Palestine Area Chamber of Commerce, and Bob Herrington, who heads the Planning and Zoning Commission.

Incumbents all sign up to run again

According to city secretary Janelle Williams, councilman Vernon Denmon Jr. has officially entered his name in the hat for the District 2 council race, meaning that the current office holders - Denmon, Jim Yelverton in District 4 and Steve Presley in District 6, as well as Mayor Carolyn Salter - all have filed for re-election in the May 9 city election.

So far, the mayor's race and the District 2 race have drawn multiple candidates.

Joining Salter on the ballot are Bob Herrington and Dan Bochsler. Herrington is the president of the Planning and Zoning Commission and son of former Mayor Johnnie Herrington, as well as the stadium announcer for Palestine Wildcat football. Bochsler is the president of the Palestine Area Chamber of Commerce, teaches as an adjunct instructor in engineering and business at UT-Tyler, has been involved in a number of community committees and also substitute teaches at Palestine Middle and High Schools.

In District 2, local resident Julie Abston is seeking the council seat held by Denmon. Abston and her husband Pat have become active in the community since moving here and purchasing a historic home.

The final day to file an application to be on the May 9 ballot is Monday, by 5 p.m. The applications are available for free in the city secretary's office in city hall, 504 N. Queen St. City hall is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays.