Sprague Mayor’s Campaign Battles Rumors, Mudslinging Her Election Opponent Says Critics’ Remarks Unjustified

Sprague, the little town that looks so tranquil from Interstate 90, has the most contentious election campaign in Lincoln County - between a pair of grandmothers.

Beyond the steepled white church everyone sees from the freeway, the town of 453 is torn by a nasty whisper campaign against incumbent Mayor Evalyne Tabor.

“I’ve been accused of everything from being an ex-prostitute from Spokane to being the local town drunk,” said Tabor, 60. “I have been called every name in the book.”

There’s no justification for the mudslinging, according to Tabor’s write-in opponent, Barbara Danner, 73.

“I don’t approve of it at all,” Danner said. “I think it’s terrible. I think people should have better things to do than making up stories. I’ve met her, and she is a fine lady.”

Tabor was appointed mayor in August when Mayor Dick Whipple resigned, a month after being appointed to the City Council.

“What they thought they were getting was a nice, neat little grandma who would sign the paychecks and then go on home, but what they got is something a whole lot else, and they didn’t like it,” Tabor said. “So that’s where the write-in came in.”

Danner said friends urged her to run, but she “will show no favoritism to anyone” if elected. She agrees with Tabor that Sprague residents have long had little or no involvement in their government.

“They sit back and want things and complain and don’t get involved,” Danner said.

Promising more open government, Tabor claims Sprague’s “old guard” has run the town from its hip pocket for years.

Both candidates are calling for economic and recreational development to keep their agriculture-based community alive.

One issue that separates them is a proposal for Sprague to start providing its own police service instead of contracting with the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Department. Tabor thinks a local officer is needed to keep out-of-town drug traffickers away. Danner thinks the plan is too costly and fixing the city’s inadequate water supply is a higher priority.

Tabor moved to Sprague four years ago from Ritzville. Before then, she lived 22 years in Fairbanks, Alaska. She has been a homemaker much of her life but earned a two-year nursing degree from Rogue Valley Community College in Grants Pass, Ore., and worked five years as a nurse.

Tabor also was Western Montana food services manager for Town Pump Corp. for four years and now manages the Gritman Senior Center in Ritzville.

Danner has a bachelor’s degree in management and accounting from Rochester (N.Y.) Business Institute. She was general manager of the nonprofit National Housing Partnership low-income housing program in Anchorage, Alaska, for 14 years before moving to Sprague five years ago to care for her ailing mother.

Sprague City Council members have been resigning with regularity this year, and Arthur Boutain quit shortly after his recent appointment - too late to get his name off Tuesday’s ballot.

His opponent, Rick Hess, still wants the job. Hess, 47, is a nine-year resident and a buyer for the state Transportation Department.

, DataTimes