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Beard, Pallanez, Killingsworth victorious Incumbents rule in Brewster County |
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By ROBERT HALPERN
BREWSTER COUNTY - Brewster County Judge Val Beard led a trio of incumbents to re-election Tuesday in the Democratic Party primary election.
The longtime county judge received 1,078 votes to 723 votes polled by challenger Avinash Rangra, a 60 percent victory ratio for Beard.
Incumbent precinct 4 county Commissioner Wacky Pallanez out-polled challenger Van Neie 290 votes to 152 votes, a winning edge of 66 percent.
Pallanez is a retired businessman, and Neie owns and operates BAM Automotive with his family.
Incumbent precinct 2 county Commissioner Kathy Killingsworth avoided a runoff in the three person race, taking 57 percent of the vote. A 50.1 percent vote count avoids a runoff. The Terlingua Common School District superintendent received 317 votes, while challenger Andy Bymes earned 162 votes, and longtime south county resident, guide, and naturalist Bill Bourbon received 73 votes.
The county judge’s race was marked with contention, as Rangra painted Beard as a member of the entrenched establishment that has ruled by authority rather than consensus. The Rangra campaign was grassroots in nature, the candidate an example of the American dream, as he emigrated from India, earned a doctorate in chemistry and has taught at Sul Ross for many years, as well as being a businessman and civic leader.
Rangra, a former Alpine City Council member, is pursuing a civil rights lawsuit against the state of Texas challenging the Texas Open Meetings Act as encroaching on First Amendment free-speech rights.
Beard, likewise, has a proven record of public service in her four terms in office, and most recently her administration embarked on several public building projects throughout the county, in Alpine, in Marathon, and in south county.
Beard’s campaign may have been helped by Republican Party members who were urged by a past chairman to vote for Beard in the Democratic primary.
All three incumbents begin their new terms in January 2011 as there isn’t any Republican or other challengers in the November general election.
Longtime Brewster County Democratic Party Chairman Dale Christopherson, a Sul Ross State University professor, retained his chairmanship but was challenged by Clarence Russeau, a social worker and activist. Christopherson received 1,010 votes and Russeau received 394 votes.
Brewster County voter turnout was about 36 percent. |
