Friday's Internet Edition, July 04, 2008.
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| Workers put the finishing touches on the new scoreboard at Bulldawg Stadium Wednesday. The scoreboard will eventually feature a video board in the middle, similar to the scoreboard at Waco ISD Stadium. – Photo by LARRY HAUK |
News editor - With Place 5 up for grabs, voters will head to polls on Saturday to elect a new councilman.
Polls will be open from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. at City Hall.
Running for the place 5 seat will be Ronnie Ray Gatewood and Charlie Youngs.
The two candidates received most of the votes during the May 15 general election.
Youngs received 281 votes cast while Gatewood got 290 votes.
Since no candidate got more than 50 percent of the votes cast, a runoff election was needed.
Fred Harris held the Place 5 seat on the council, and was also unable to run again due to multiple terms.
This year, candidates vying for Harris’ seat had four names on the ballot.
With approximately 19,000 voters registered in Copperas Cove, only 943 ballots were placed for the May 15 election.
“It is very discouraging that so low a percentage of the registered voters who are interested in their local government,” Mayor Bradi Diaz said.
Diaz said that this year had a very low turnout compared to years before when there was usually a turnout of about 2,000 votes tallied.
Gatewood said that he believes the city needs to increase tax revenue in other ways instead of from Cove residents.
Gatewood has said his focus is on taking the necessary steps to draw business and industry into Copperas Cove.
Youngs, 62, has said that the current council was not listening to residents.
Youngs also has focused his campaign on the city budget.
If elected, this will be Youngs second time to sit at council while it would be the first for Gatewood.
Gatewood is a senior pastor at Bethesda Ministries and has lived in Copperas Cove for eight years.
Youngs is a military analyst and has been in Copperas Cove for 12 years.
Early voting was underway on June 10 and ended on Wednesday with a total of 236 ballots cast.