Politics in Lumpkin County

As they say, "You win a few. You lose a few." That's what happened yesterday in the primary elections in Lumpkin County.

Big Loss
D&B actively supported two candidates - Guy LaBoa and Carlton Smith. Unfortunately, Guy wasn't able to pull out a victory in his race for Lumpkin County Commission Chairman. He definitely fought the good fight, but as a Lumpkin newcomer (he's only lived here 9 years), he was an underdog the minute he decided to run. Guy, a retired Lt. General, would have made a great leader for Lumpkin.

Big Maybe
As of 6 p.m. Wednesday, Carlton is still in the race - just 12 votes away from making the run off for the District 2 Commissioner seat. With military ballots and some absentee ballots still to be counted, Carlton gain enough votes to come in second and face incumbent Tim Bowden in a run off. Hang in there, Carlton. You still have a chance!

Big Win
In another big vote, Lumpkinites voted over 72% (one of the highest ratios in the state election) against the 1% transportation sales tax. In this economy, the people in this mountain area just weren't ready to pay more taxes, especially when such a small amount of the money raised in the Mountain District were for Lumpkin highway projects.