Cheney mayor, other incumbents do well at polls
Amy Jo Sooy, seeking her third term as Cheney mayor, received a vote of confidence at the polls Tuesday night, winning the city’s primary. She will be challenged by Allan Gainer, a Cheney bookstore owner, who finished second in the four-person race. Sooy received 410 votes to Gainer’s 365 votes. The two will face off in the Nov. 8 general election.
In other races Tuesday:
“ Spokane County Fire District 8 incumbent Gregory Hesse advances to the general election, as does incumbent Mike Jackson in Spokane County Fire District 3.
“ In Deer Park, Councilwoman Lucy Harmon of Position 3 found herself Tuesday night waiting for absentee ballot results. Ella Harper was the decided winner in that race, with 202 votes. Harmon, who was elected to the council in 2001, was ahead of Mary Gray by two votes.
“ Former Airway Heights deputy mayor and Councilman Larry Haskell finished first among the three candidates for council Position 6 with 146 votes. He likely will run against David Wooten, who finished the night seven votes ahead of Max Minchew.
“ In the East Spokane Water District No. 1 race for commissioner, incumbent Josie Zeller and Ed Peck were separated by three votes, 126-123. Dick Neff had 113 votes, with absentee ballots to be counted during the upcoming days.
In the District 8 fire commission race, Hesse was the top vote-getter, with 1,438 votes. He will run against James Oberst, who finished ahead of Chuck Vyverberg, 640-169. Hesse, 58, has been a fire commissioner since 2000, serving as the board’s chairman since 2003. He has 35 years of experience in the fire service, retiring from the Spokane Fire Department as fire marshal.
Oberst, 60, has been a volunteer firefighter for 29 years and battalion chief for 24 years.
Jackson is seeking his third term as commissioner in Fire District 3 and will be challenged by Raymond Pendell. Jackson was 100 votes ahead of Pendell, and nearly 200 votes ahead of third-place finisher Ralph Walter. Jackson, a professional exterminator, has been a commissioner for 12 years. Pendell, 51, is a contract firefighter and instructor for the American Heart Association and Automated External Defibrillators. He is running for the first time.
Sooy, 71 and a widow with four children and four grandchildren, ran unopposed in her second election, four years ago. Because of that experience, she said she didn’t know what to expect Tuesday. Candidates Dennis Higbee and Hipolito Sarmiento received 119 and 54 votes, respectively, and will not advance to the general election.
“You just don’t know what the vote is going to be like,” said Sooy, a retired farmer and Realtor.
Sooy said she’d like to participate in a public forum between now and the election.
“I’d love to have a debate with her,” said Gainer, who made an unsuccessful bid for a council seat eight years ago.
Gainer, 43, is married with two children and owns the Tree of Knowledge bookstore in Cheney. Both candidates are Cheney High School graduates.
“(Tuesday’s outcome) is pretty much what I thought it would be,” Gainer said. “We’ve been working hard; I have a bunch of people helping me.”
Gainer said he’s been delivering a message of change.
“Change is needed for Cheney to grow,” he said. “We can’t do the same thing. The first thing is to look at the organization structure, look at ways we can save money… more on the managerial level and not the worker level.”
Sooy said she believes Cheney is at a crossroad and the city needs to work on economic development and get some “good, clean industry in town.”