Nineteen

positions in Fayette County government were

decided in last week's General Primary, with six

yet to be decided.

Fifteen

elected officials were returned to their posts

without opposition. Superior Court Judge Johnnie

Caldwell, County Commissioner Harold Bost,

Magistrate Judge Joe Tinsley and Magistrate

Judge-elect Bob Ruppenthal won their seats in

last week's balloting without runoffs and will

face no opposition in the General Election Nov.

7.

Three

of the remaining posts will be decided in party

runoffs Aug. 8: two Board of Education posts and

the 28th District state Senate seat. The

Republican nomination for County Commission Post

1 also will be decided in the Aug. 8 runoff, but

the winner of that race will face Democrat

Elizabeth Barnes in the Nov. 7 General Election.

Party

nominations for the 3rd District U. S. Congress

seat were finalized last week, and those winners

- incumbent Mac Collins (Republican)

and Gail Notti (Democrat) also will square off in

November.

Also,

34th District state Senator Greg Hecht was given

the Democratic Party nomination without

opposition and will face Republican Bryan Hilton,

also nominated without opposition, in November.

The

sixth race yet to be decided is for Clerk of

Superior Court. Incumbent Bud Ballard received

the Democratic nomination without opposition, and

will face Republican Sheila Studdard, also

nominated without opposition, in November.

Judge

Johnnie Caldwell mustered enough votes in

Tuesday's election to defeat challenger John

Mrosek by over 2,600 votes among those casting

ballots in the Griffin Judicial Circuit.

Only

22 percent of Fayette voters turned out, but they

favored Mrosek by just over 1,000 votes. In

Fayette, Mrosek got 5,433 votes from his home

county while Caldwell received 4,386 votes.

Bob

Ruppenthal edged out incumbent Magistrate Judge

Grady L. Huddleston by a margin of 221 votes. In

the other magistrate race, incumbent Joseph A.

Tinsley Sr. kept his seat, fending off challenger

Leo Kelly with 65.5 percent of the vote.

For

County Commission Post 3, voters chose incumbent

Harold Bost over challenger Christopher J. Ramig,

with Bost getting 55 percent of the vote. Bost's

margin of victory was 802 votes.

The

other County Commission race, for Post 1, will

end up in a runoff along with the two posts that

were up for grabs on the Fayette County Board of

Education. The four-way race for the District 28

state senator's seat is also headed to a runoff.

In

other contested district and statewide races

affecting Fayette County:

� Gail Notti defeated J.P.

Agrawal for the Democratic nomination for the

U.S. House of Representatives 3rd District spot.

Notti received almost three-fourths of the vote

in Fayette County also.

� Mac Collins defeated

challenger Herbie Galloway by taking 7,504 votes

for the Republican nomination for the U.S. House

3rd District seat. Collins also won Fayette

County by almost a 9-1 margin.

� David Burgess defeated Mac

Barber district-wide for the Democratic

nomination for a seat on the Public Service

Commission. Barber was favored in Fayette County

by 55 percent of voters.

� Jim Boyd defeated Michael

A. Dipietro district-wide for the other

Democratic nomination for a seat on the Public

Service Commission. Boyd received 72 percent of

the votes cast in the race for Fayette County.

total of 10,371 people voted in Fayette County.

The overwhelming majority of those voters cast

Republican ballots. The Republican voters

outnumbered the Democrat voters 8,788 to 1,526,

according to information from the Fayette County

Board of Elections.

An

additional 57 persons chose to vote nonpartisan

ballots only.

Incumbents

who will be returned to office without challenge

in either party include Sheriff Randall Johnson,

Commissioner Herb Frady in Post 2, Superior Court

judges Paschal English Jr. and Ben Miller,

district attorney Bill McBroom, State Court Judge

Fletcher Sams, State Court Solicitor Steven L.

Harris, Probate Judge Martha Stephenson, coroner

C. J. Mowell Jr., Tax Commissioner George Wingo,

Post 2 Magistrate Judge Kenneth Melear, Post 4

Magistrate Judge James A. White, 104th District

state Rep. Lynn Westmoreland, and 105th District

state Rep. Kathy Cox.

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