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Local News

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Starn still leads in judge race
Hancock Federal Credit Union
By J. STEVEN DILLON

STAFF WRITER

A recount has been scheduled May 28 in the race for Findlay Municipal Court judge with 16 votes still separating the top two Republican candidates.

Hancock County Board of Elections Director Jody O'Brien said Jonathan Starn's margin of victory over Donald Rasmussen didn't change after provisional ballots were tallied Monday. "The difference remains at 16," she said.

O'Brien said the May 5 primary election vote was certified Monday morning after the provisional count and official vote canvass were conducted.

But an automatic recount is now required in the judge race because the final margin is less than one-half of 1 percent of the total votes cast in the contest.

With no Democratic or independent candidate for judge, the eventual winner of the Republican primary will face no opponent in November. He will succeed Judge Kevin Smith, who did not seek re-election.

O'Brien said about 60 provisional ballots were verified by elections officials since the election. An additional 10 provisionals were thrown out because the person casting the ballot on election day failed to bring identification to the elections board within 10 days of the election.

A provisional ballot is no different than a regular ballot, except it cannot be counted until election officials have verified the voter's eligibility.

O'Brien said there were also several absentee ballots counted Monday. Those ballots had a postmark of May 2, the deadline for absentee ballots, but didn't arrive at the Board of Elections until after that date and thus could not be counted until Monday.

O'Brien did not have an exact breakdown of provisional or absentee vote totals for Starn and Rasmussen, but said each candidate received the same number of "new" votes.

Some provisional ballots, she said, were "issue only" ballots, where the voter could not cast a vote for judge.



Recount ahead

The upcoming recount will involve a sampling of the ballots from election night. Election officials will take a 275-vote sample of ballots from randomly selected precincts.

Those 275 ballots will then be recounted. If the recount figure is within three votes of the election night total for those precincts, the recount will end.

However, if there is more than a three-vote difference between the election night count and the recount figure, then the process will be repeated with another sampling of 275 votes from other precincts.

If there is also more than a three-vote difference in the second sampling, then all the remaining precincts would be recounted, O'Brien said.

Dillon: 419-427-8423,

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Benton Ridge Shooting

This video, released by the Hancock County Prosecutor's Office, shows the shooting of a Lima man who led authorities on a three-county chase ending Aug.24 in Benton Ridge. Be cautioned, the video contains graphic content.
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News Briefs Firefighters discover 20 marijuana plants in house
After fighting a house fire early Monday at 815 Howard St., firefighters found 20 marijuana plants in the residence.

"They ran across it and called us," said police Sgt. Justin Hendren with the Hancock County METRICH Drug Enforcement Unit.

Police seized all 20 plants, and Hendren said charges are pending.

High-powered growing lights, fans, and a box filled with dried marijuana were also found in the house, according to a police report.

Investigators said an electrical short started the fire before 3 a.m. Monday.

The blaze caused an estimated $12,000 in damage to the residence, owned by Amanda Crawford. No one was injured, according to the Findlay Fire Department.

Carey announces holiday closing
CAREY -- Carey offices, including administrative, income tax and utilities, electric, wastewater treatment plant, and public works, will be closed Monday in observance of Labor Day.

The curbside recycling program will be held Tuesday through Thursday, Sept. 7-9.

Findlay trooper named sergeant
Trooper Jacob L. Fletcher, assigned to the Findlay post of the State Highway Patrol, was promoted to sergeant Wednesday by Patrol Superintendent Col. David Dicken.

With the promotion, Fletcher will stay at the Findlay post and serve as an assistant post commander, according to the patrol.

Fletcher began his patrol career in 2002 after graduating from the 139th Academy class and has been assigned to the Findlay post since.

Owens announces holiday schedule
The Toledo and Findlay campuses of Owens Community College will be closed Saturday through Monday for the Labor Day holiday.

There will be no classes and the college offices will be closed.

Classes will resume and offices will open again on Tuesday.

Holiday changes ad deadlines
The Courier won't be published on Monday, in observance of the Labor Day holiday.

Because of the holiday, some advertising deadlines have been moved up this week:

Black and white display advertising for Tuesday's newspaper must be placed by noon Friday. Display advertising for Wednesday's newspaper must be placed by 2:30 p.m. Friday.

Color display advertising for the Thursday, Sept. 9 newspaper must be placed by Friday.

Classified advertising and City and Country advertising for Saturday's newspaper must be placed by 2 p.m. Friday. Classified ads for Tuesday's newspaper must be placed by 2:30 p.m. Friday.

Courier business and advertising offices will close at 3 p.m. Friday for the holiday.