The Register-Herald, Beckley, West Virginia

Local News

November 5, 2008

Eskew wins second term as Fayette County commisioner

Michelle James

Fayette County residents elected Ken Eskew to a second term as county commissioner Tuesday.

Eskew, a Fayetteville resident and current commission president, received 7,678 votes, defeating Republican challenger Jim Murdock, also of Fayette-ville, who received 6,587 votes.

“It was a tough election,” Eskew said. “I was real pleased. I thought it was a good campaign and it was a clean campaign.”

Eskew, a retired Ar-my officer and Korean War veteran, said he looks forward to the opportunity to continue working to help the citizens of Fayette County in areas such as housing and jobs through new housing developments and ventures such as Wolf Creek Park.

“We brought the first phase of Wolf Creek and the goal now for the second phase is to really have an aggressive marketing program to attract some companies to bring some jobs in here,” he said. “It will take some time, but we’ll continue to work on that effort, aggressively pursuing whatever comes along.”



After losing by a mere four votes in 2006, Tom Louisos, of Oak Hill, led all vote-getters, recapturing a 29th District seat in the House of Delegates.

Less than 100 votes separated the three winners, with Louisos pulling in 9,172 votes, followed by incumbents David Perry with 9,131 votes and Margaret Anne Staggers with 9,101 votes.

The Democrats were followed by Republican challengers Marshall Clay, Daniel Wright and Steven Oliver Smith.



Fayette County Sheriff Bill Laird was elected to the state Senate in the 11th District Tuesday.

Laird, who has served four terms as sheriff, garnered 22,780 votes, defeating Republican candidate Aubry Wilson of Buckhannon, with 12,380 votes, and Mountain Party candidate Andy Waddell, of Maysal in Clay County, who received 2,788 votes.

“I’m very appreciative of the votes I received and I look forward to the opportunity of representing the citizens,” Laird said Tuesday night.



Fayette County sheriff’s Chief Deputy Steve Kessler will take a step up after he was elected to succeed Laird as sheriff.

Kessler, a 27-year veteran of the sheriff’s department, received 9,492 votes to Republican Randy Prince’s 4,839 votes.

— E-mail:

mjames@register-herald.com







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