Wolfrum, Owens earn GOP commish nods

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

Van Wert County Sheriff Stan Owens has taken a step toward a new county job come January, while local attorney Todd Wolfrum will join him as a Republican nominee for county commissioner.

Owens easily outpointed his opponent 3,831 (77.3 percent) to 1,124 (22.7 percent), while Wolfrum was the largest vote-getter in a tough four-person race that included two veterans of public service: County 9-1-1 Coordinator Kim Brandt and York Township Trustee Bill Evans.

Wolfrum garnered 1,940 votes (38.4 percent), while Brandt was the second highest vote getter with 1,471 (29.1 percent). Evans was third with 1,116 (22.1 percent), while local businessman and artisan Phil Baxter was fourth with 526 votes (10.4 percent).

Wolfrum was grateful to the voters for the election victory.

“Of course, I’d like to thank everyone that voted and made this election so closely contested,” he said. “I think any time that you have this type of race it’s good for the county.”

Wolfrum also thanked all those who helped him with his campaign, especially his wife,

Angie, and campaign treasurer Lindsay Hotmire.

With no Democrat challenger on the horizon at this point, Wolfrum added that he’s prepared to move forward when January comes.

“I’m looking forward very much to working with Thad and Stan,” he said. “I think this county has a lot of potential and I hope I can be a catalyst for that.”

He also reiterated his campaign promise to seek a partnership with a university that is willing to bring a branch campus to the county.

“As promised in my campaign, my first order of business will be looking for a university to invest in our community with a branch school, and I plan on laying the groundwork for that before the term starts in January,” Wolfrum said.

Countywide, Rick Santorum was the big Republican Presidential winner, with 2,685 votes, versus 1,286 for Mitt Romney, 714 for Newt Gingrich and 406 for Ron Paul. John Huntsman (39) and Rick Perry (66) also got some votes from county residents.

Although Bob Wallis is local, he didn’t fare all that well against veteran politician Bob Latta, who outpolled the Convoy area resident in the county 3,890-1,121 (77.6 percent-22.4 percent).

Van Wert County native Angela Snyder also didn’t do well in backyard, losing 2,258-1.865 to veteran

Voting was very light for a presidential primary, with only 6,003 votes cast out of a total of 20,765 registered voters (28.9 percent).

Among local issues, Delphos City Schools got county voters’ approval for its levy, which passed here 622-287. No word yet on how it fared in Allen County.

An electric aggregation issued in the Village of Wren also passed, 22-14, while Van Wert Precinct 3C narrowly approved Sunday liquor sales for Fricker’s restaurant, 112-109, with no provisional votes to count, County Elections Director Linda Stutz said.