Candidate List Swells To Seven For Alderman

By David Howell

Editor

WATER VALLEY  – A flurry of last-minute announcements have pushed the candidate list to seven people running in the Feb. 27 special election for alderman-at-large. The deadline to qualify is today, Feb. 7, at 5 p.m.

At presstime Tuesday, candidates who have submitted a petition to run for alderman-at-large with the required 50 signatures from qualified electors include Terry Rockette, Herbie Rogers, Taylor Trusty, Lorraine Turner and Dr. G.R. Orndorff Jr.  Two other candidates, Hubert House and Robert Walker Jr., also reported they are also running for the position and were still getting signatures for their petitions. 

The alderman-at-large seat was vacated on January 18 after Donald Gray was seated as mayor after he won a special election for the city’s top position. Gray started his third term as alderman-at-large last July and was among four candidates who competed in the special election after long-time Mayor Larry Hart stepped down four months into his sixth term.

Aldermen set the election date in a special meeting last month and also set March 20 as the date for a runoff election if no candidate receives a majority of the votes in the Feb. 27 election.