Stevens County Commissioner

Incumbent Stevens County commissioners Fran Bessermin and Fred Lotze face challengers in Tuesday’s Republican primaries in the county’s northern and southern districts.

The district winners will meet Democrats Jeff Johnston and M. Grant McMullen in the countywide November general election. Johnston and McMullen have no primary opposition.

Tony Delgado is challenging Bessermin in District 1. The district runs from Suncrest, where Bessermin lives, to the Loon Lake area, where Delgado ranches and sells timber from his rural property.

Delgado, 66, a retired excavation contractor, served on the Loon Lake School Board for eight years and is on Stevens County’s Federal Lands Advisory Committee.

Bessermin, 53, is a Spokane businesswoman and a Suncrest resident who has been a county commissioner for six years. A former teacher, she operates a wholesale pie bakery.

In the county’s northern district, Lotze is challenged by former Commissioner John Hodde.

Both men are lifelong residents of the district. Hodde, 58, graduated from Colville High School while Lotze, 62, is a graduate of Northport High.

Hodde is a semi-retired insurance agency owner, who operated his family farm until 1972. Lotze operated a logging company with his brother before retiring in April to fill the vacancy created by the death of County Commissioner Allan Mack.

County Republican leaders passed over Hodde in nominating Lotze. Hodde served one term as a commissioner before Mack ousted him in 1988.

Lotze said he favors local control, property rights and no new taxes. He previously served 13 years each on the boards of the Onion Creek-Northport School District and Fire District 3.

In another Stevens County race, incumbent District Court Judge Pamela Payne is challenged by Colville attorneys Robert Simeone and Patty St. Clair.

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: THE JOB Stevens County commissioners serve four-year terms and are paid $38,640 annually.