Newsom, Debnam, MacRae take elections

A newcomer and two incumbents won a five-way for three Littleton Board of Commissioner seats in Tuesday’s election.

As first reported on the Littleton Observer Website Tuesday evening, Terry Newsom, a 10-year veteran of the commission, garnered the most votes, with 77 of 92 voters casting ballots for him.

Clara Debnam, who has served slightly more than a single term, was second with 68 votes. Patrick MacRae, a retired Navy veteran running for elected office for the first time, was the final victor Tuesday, with 46 votes.

First-time candidate Mark Murphy was fourth with 34 votes, and incumbent Alfred L. Cooke Sr. was ousted from office, garnering 32 votes.

The Halifax County registrar’s office reported a total of 28 write-in votes, but they were not able to supply a list of names written in on Tuesday night. An official there said they believe the write-ins were for various names, but they would not tally those individually until Wednesday.

“I’m excited about it, about going back on the board again,” Debnam said Tuesday evening. “I want to thank everybody who came out and voted for me. I’m here for them, for any problems or concerns they have, all they have to do is give me a call.”

“I’m happy that I won. I’m thrilled, obviously,” MacRae said. “I’m a little bit on the surprised side, I’m somewhat new in town.”

“I walked up and down the streets of Littleton, and talked to everyone who would come to the door,” he said. “I was more encouraging them to go out to vote, rather than just vote for me, although I did tell them I would appreciate their vote.

“The most concern I got from anybody, was really that I work for the town, and not have a personal issue. The questions I got was what’s my agenda, and I told them I don’t have any particular agenda, I haven’t been on the board, but I’m willing to get in there and just work.”

MacRae said with the opening of Window Fashions, and potential other commercial development in town, Littleton could be facing a lot of change.

“We need to manage that smartly. I’m not looking toward making big changes … I’m not looking to change the world. Littleton is a nice town and I’m looking forward to keeping it that way. Fortunately, the council has some good members on it, people I can learn from.”

Newsom was out of town and not available for comment.

Voter turnout was relatively low at 21 percent in the town, which was about what some people expected. Debnam said prior to the election she guessed the turnout would be between 20 percent and 22 percent.

“That’s usually about what we have when it’s just a municipal election,” she said.

Littleton’s turn-out was about the same as the rest of the county, where most voting precincts reported voter participation of between 18 percent and 22 percent. The town of Hobgood had the largest portion of voters, with 43 percent turnout. The city of Roanoke Rapids was the lowest, with most precincts in single digits – one as low as 2 percent.

Macon, Rob Evan won the mayor race with 36 votes, compared to two for Lawrence Skinner and three write-in votes for Carroll Harris.

In the town commissioner’s race, there were only four candidates for five seats. J.W. Beddingfield with 35 votes, David Harris at 37 votes, Glenn Riggan with 35, and Wanda Thompson with 33 all secured seats, while the real race was among the write-in candidates.

Allen Hobgood apparently won that contest for the fifth seat with 16 votes. Robert Carroll and Carroll Harris each had eight, Lynn Hatecock received seven votes, and Lawrence Skinner received two.

In Warrenton, where six candidates were vying for four seats, Palmer “Woody” King was the top vote getting with 128. John Mooring was next with 118 votes, John Blalock received 105 votes, and Audrey Tippett garnered 99 votes.

The two who did not win a seat were Charles Haywood, with 52 votes and Travis Ornsby Sr., who received 47 votes.