Friday, November 7, 2003

Melear out in surprising election results

By LINDSAY BIANCHI
Special to The Citizen

and JOHN THOMPSON
jthompson@TheCitizenNews.com

Tuesday’s election brought a few surprises to the residents of South Fulton County.

One of the biggest shockers saw long-time City Councilman Harvey Melear booted from the council. With 100 percent of the precincts reporting, Melear finished fifth with 285 votes. Returning to their council posts are Marian Johnson, who led the race with 387 votes, and Frankie Arnold, who finished second with 366 voters.

“I’ve enjoyed my time very much on the council. I hope I’ve done some good things for the city of Fairburn. I’ve tried my best over the years,” Melear said Thursday.

Political newcomer Ron Alderman finished third with 358 votes and will be sworn into office in January. Mario Avery finished fourth with 313 votes, while Sue Lyons placed sixth with 100 votes.

Just up the road in Union City, newcomer Alisa King led all the candidates with 365 votes. King will be joined on the City Council by incumbent Helen Turner, who finished with 253 votes.

Incumbent Joan Steward finished third with 249 votes, while Vertisha Hardrick got 172 votes and Odell Mashburn received 161 votes.

In the race for Fulton County Commission chairman, former chief of staff for Governor Sonny Purdue, Karen Handel won the race handily. Handel received 34,517 votes to former Commissioner Karen Webster’s 11,697. Mitzi Bickers finished a distant third with 9,844 votes, while Milton Farris finished last with 3,375 votes.

In a radio interview, Handel pledged to be at work Monday and start working on the county’s budget.