Parker Live News from the Parker Strip since 2009.
Tony Rogers has been re-elected as the La Paz County Attorney after provisional and ‘late early’ ballots were added to the final election count Monday.
Rogers and challenger Kathy Field, who currently serves as the Public Defender, ran a heated campaign that went right up to the wire with less than 300 votes between them in last Tuesday’s count, or about 6 percent of the vote. By Monday’s total, the split was 53% – 47%, cementing Rogers’ win.
Another race too close to call last week was District 1 Supervisor, with less than 9 percent separating incumbent D.L. Wilson from challenger Missi Gilbert. By today, Wilson’s re-election had been confirmed with a total 54 percent of the vote. Holly Irwin was also re-elected as District 3 Supervisor with 66 percent of the vote against challenger Gary Zak.
The new La Paz County Sheriff will be Bill Risen, who won with a safe 64 percent margin over Frank Vidrine. The new District 2 Supervisor will be Duce Minor, who took 68 percent of the vote in that race against Luke Marler. County Schools Superintendent Jacque Price was elected to the office she was recently appointed to, with 57 percent of the vote against challenger Armando Heredia. County Assessor will be Anna Camacho, who won in the primary election in August.
The future of County Administrator Dan Field is now an open question. Supervisor D.L. Wilson attempted to fire him in September 2015 in a motion which failed when neither of the other two supervisors voted with him. Supervisor-Elect Duce Minor openly said that he has not been happy with Field’s job performance during the campaign. Wilson’s rationale for the motion at the time was “fundamental differences of opinion”.
Another open question is who Sheriff-Elect Bill Risen will choose as his second-in-command at the Sheriff’s Department. Currently the position is held by Commander Larry Irwin, whose wife has been re-elected supervisor by the voters of District 3.
Don Rountree, Jeff Daniel and Wayne Posey appear to have edged out John Mehelich and Pat Jones on the Buckskin Fire Board, with Mehelich behind Posey by just 5 votes.
Look over the raw results at the County’s website HERE.
So NOW Larry Irwin is a Lieutenant…. what happened to his Commander status? Sounds like a FIELDS of Schemes going on before the new sheriff takes office..
Thank God Tony got re-elected. Frank got robbed by some nobody. He deserved to be sheriff. What a shame but it’s a red county in a red state.
Oops – article fixed and updated.
So glad to see Rogers reelected after fighting off so many unsubstantiated allegations by the Field clan who ran a real down and dirty campaign..The Fields have been neutralized and now maybe we can neutralize the Irwin’s. This is too small of a populated community to have so much nepotism.
Sharon, Frank ran and lost. Don’t say risen is a nobody. He’s been in the community a number of years. Irwin will not lose his job. I’m sure he might not be commander but lieutenant is a job he’s capable of
Congratulations to all the winners.
Vidrine deserved a shot, like Trump – he asks tough questions and doesn’t fold to popular opinion. How many times will this county be duped by smooth talking city slickers like John Drum and Bill Risen? Granted, I’all give Risen a chance. He hasn’t done anything to blow it yet.
Do these guys actually have the experience they claim? Have you read all of the special units Drum supposably was a part of? Was he a cop, a fireman, a judge, a business owner?? People spend their entire careers trying to get into special units like VICE and Detectives.. Drum apparently did it all, and at a big dept like LAPD.. I’m sure..
At least Vidrine knew his county and all of us in it. Vidrine spent his career running toward danger in our own backyards, but y’all would rather vote for an outsider. These flatlanders forget La Paz County encompasses more than Parker proper.
As for Irwin and the rest of the commanding officers (staff? Supervisors?) I hear they were all appointed directly by Drum. Which means they can be removed from their positions directly by the Sheriff and placed back to their respective ranks at time of appointment while keeping pay.
Which leads me to my next question.. In what world is it okay to not hold competitive promotion opportunities? Why haven’t we spoken up as taxpayers about this? Our money isn’t necessarily going to the most qualified, just the best friend to whoever the Sheriff is. Spooky. So even if Irwin is removed from Commander, we still have to pay him the same?
Who is the new Pres-elect John? What happened to the 300+ electoral votes for Clinton???
Like the vast majority of forecasters, I was wrong on that. Course, she got 2 million more votes than Trump, but the votes weren’t in the right places.
To and Needed Vidrine and Sharon Butters, you both seem to be bad mouthing Bill Risen without all the facts. I personally know both men and am proud to call them friends. Bill has extensive experience and has a lot of administrative experience, including working with budgets, personal issues and street knowledge. He never ran a negative campaign and only spoke of his background and plans for the department. Unfortunately for Frank, he does not bring any administrative experience to the table and only has worked for S.O. . We as citizens need an impartial person to put the S.O. back on track and rid it of the GOOD OLD BOYS way of doing business. I can only wish Frank all the best in what ever he decides to do next. As for Bill Risen, keep your minds open, ask him what ever questions you have about him, the department or the direction he plans to go with it. I think you will be pleased with his answers. I would not want to be in his position with the task he has before him and he needs the communities support to make it work. I also think if you were to ask Frank, being the kind man he is, he would agree with me. The only people that will loose in this are the ones that were GIVEN THIER RANKS without testing or have the necessary qualifications and the criminals of La Paz County.
I agree about Sheriff Frank. He has worked hard selflessly serving the citizens of this county only to be usurped by a new comer…this is beyond wrong
That’s scary
The outgoing Sheriff is John Drum.