Election May Settle Feuds On Springdale Council

This town of 260 people may have the hottest Nov. 7 general election contests in Stevens, Pend Oreille, Lincoln or Ferry counties.

Springdale voters must decide two Town Council races that could end several years of feuding between the town’s executive and legislative branches.

The wrangling has cost the city several thousand dollars in personnel and legal expenses, and more may be on the way. Recently, lack of a quorum among the strife-depleted council almost caused the town to miss a construction payment on its new sewer system.

If challengers defeat councilmen Ray Turner and Bud Brown, the balance of power on the five-member council could tip in favor of embattled Mayor Ernie Gehrke.

However, it is unclear whether the challengers - store owner Floyd Pope and Mary Walker High School library assistant Michael Pammler - would be able to muster a majority.

That’s because of uncertainty about how two vacancies on the council will be filled.

The council must appoint a replacement for Gehrke critic Lonnie Anderson, who resigned earlier this month. The question is whether the current council or the one formed by next month’s election will make the decision.

Brown holds the issue in his hand. So far, he has said the new council should make the selection.

Brown is an ally of Turner and Councilman Dan Hite in a bitter feud about whether Marshal Jerry Taylor should keep his job. The battle has raged since August 1993, when Taylor publicly accused then-Mayor Turner, owner of the Pow Wow Tavern, of trying to curb enforcement of drunken-driving laws.

Gehrke defeated Turner 71-60 in November 1993 in a hotly contested election that turned on the law-enforcement issue. But Gehrke has been under siege ever since by a pro-Turner council.

On any issue that concerned Taylor, Gehrke’s only support came from Councilman Corky Peterson, who resigned in August in frustration over the continued strife.

Peterson had already filed for re-election and is the only candidate on the ballot for his council seat. He is throwing his support to write-in candidate Dan Lantis, who is a co-worker at Mary Walker High School.

Lantis, 49, teaches vocational agriculture and has lived in Springdale since August 1994. Like Peterson, Lantis hews an independent line but likely would lean toward Gehrke.

“I just think it’s time for Springdale to move beyond the problems that they have encountered to this point,” Lantis said.

There are no other declared candidates, but Peterson’s position is vulnerable to a last-minute pro-Turner write-in campaign. Gehrke supporters might split their votes between Peterson and Lantis.

Pope, owner of Springdale Grocery and Hardware, is going after Turner’s council seat. The contest among the two well-known Town Hall veterans may provide the clearest indication of how voters feel about the ongoing feud.

The race between incumbent Councilman Bud Brown and Pammler is less clear.

Brown, a retired Mary Walker High School maintenance man, is considered the most moderate member of the Turner camp. Even Brown’s critics praise his record of pitching in whenever the city needed a hand with a water leak or some other problem.

Brown was first elected in 1987 after he was appointed to a vacancy on the council.

Pammler has lived in the community for 14 years and has been an educational assistant at the high school for six years. He is a member of the town Planning Commission.

Pammler is a Gehrke supporter who wants “an impartial council that has a primary focus on the community, not personal agendas.”

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: Sample ballots Sample ballots listing numerous municipal, school and service district races in the Nov. 7 general election should be available by the middle of next week in rural northeastern Washington, election officials say. In Lincoln and Pend Oreille counties, sample ballots will be available at the auditor’s offices in the county courthouses and at all post offices and city halls. In Stevens County, sample ballots may be obtained at the auditor’s office or by calling 684-7514. In Ferry County, sample ballots will be placed at the Orient Store in Orient, Wash., as well as at all post offices in the county.