Three incumbents earn back seats in Mount Olive
By Kenneth Fine
Published in News on November 7, 2007 1:46 PM
MOUNT OLIVE -- Plenty of familiar faces will be sworn in Thursday at Town Hall.
Mount Olive residents hit the polls Tuesday to elect a new Town Board, but the results were not much different than those posted in previous elections.
Incumbents Kenneth Talton, Hosea Manley and Ray Thompson kept their seats and will join new District 4 Commissioner Norwood Gene Lee and uncontested District 3 Commissioner Lloyd Warren Thursday at Town Hall to take the oath of office.
Thompson, who will mark the beginning of his fifth term Thursday, said serving a town you love never gets old.
"I feel real good. It's been the hardest election I've been through yet," he said. "I'm certainly going to try to do my best. I look mighty forward to two more years."
And for a man who has "always" volunteered his time for the betterment of the town, there is no better feeling than helping to lead it into a bright future.
"That's all I've ever done is try to do the best I can," he said. "I just love Mount Olive."
Norwood Gene Lee said he, too, is feeling good.
And with a narrow victory over incumbent Jimmy Kornegay, 117-109, he has plenty of reason to.
For him, serving on the board is simply a constructive use of a retiree's time.
"It gives me something to do with my time, something that I want to do," he said. "I was real glad to win."
Lloyd Warren never had any doubt.
After all, he was the only District 3 candidate on the ballot -- even if the 2.4 percent of votes he did not claim went to a write-in.
But the victory was still sweet, he said.
"Having been off the board now for two years, I look forward to getting back in it," Warren said.
So Thursday, don't expect to see a board full of new faces.
Town residents seem to like the ones they have seen this past year just fine.