Republicans vote for committee members in Murray, Ridgeway

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 23 June 2020 at 11:22 pm

Republicans in Murray and Ridgeway voted in primaries for their committee members. Absentee ballots will be counted on July 1. The Board of Elections didn’t have a breakdown on how many were received so far for each district.

• In Ridgeway, there are three candidates for two positions with District 2 on the Ridgeway Republican Committee. The candidates include Virginia Nicholson, David Stalker and Ayesha Kreutz.

Nicholson leads with 24 votes, followed by 22 for Stalker, and 16 for Kreutz.

• In Murray, there are primaries for three of the districts, with three candidates seeking two positions in District 3, District 5 and District 6.

In District 3, the candidates include Kathleen Case, Anthony Peone and Kerri Neale. Neale leads with 28 votes, followed by 18 for Peone and 17 for Case.

In District 5, the candidates include Lynn Wood, Cynthia Oliver and Ronald Vendetti. Oliver has 42, followed by 41 for Wood and 12 for Vendetti.

In District 6, the candidates include Kellie Gregoire, Robert Miller and Adam R. Moore. Moore leads with 47, followed by 35 for Gregoire and 25 for Miller.

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Father’s Day chicken barbecue sells out fast in Ridgeway

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 21 June 2020 at 1:56 pm

Photos by Tom Rivers

RIDGEWAY – The firemen’s sauce is added to chicken during today’s barbecue at the Ridgeway Volunteer Fire Company.

The 800 chicken dinners sold out fast in the drive-through event. They were all gone by 11:44 a.m.

Ricky Tuohey, a Ridgeway firefighter, helps serve the chicken barbecues today.

The event was scheduled to start at 11 a.m., but the fire company started to serve the meals around 10 a.m. due to a lineup of vehicles.

Deputy Fire Chief Jason Bessel, left, and Fire Chief Pat Kelly work in the fire pits with the last batch of chicken. Firefighters arrived at 6 a.m. to start cooking the chicken.

Bessel and Kelly said the fire company has lost about $10,000 with cancelled fundraisers during the Covid-19 pandemic, including a gun and money raffle in May.

The fire company expects to make about $2,000 from today’s chicken barbecue. Kelly and the fire company also wanted to keep the event going, which has been a Father’s Day tradition the past 49 years.

Today’s chicken barbecue was drive-through only. Usually many people prefer to eat the meals inside the fire hall. But the fire hall remains closed to big crowds. The state currently has limited social gatherings to no more than 25 people.

Joleen Bessel, left, and Valerie Busch add bottles of water to the meals.

This group works on the dinners in the kitchen. Henry Charache scoops the beans into the meal container. Tracey Hendrick, center, is president of the auxiliary and April Fearby, right, is vice president. They had three lines going during the busiest time.

Justin McAdoo wheels some of the meals to a truck bay, where they were picked up in a drive-through lane. Some of the children of the firefighters hitched a ride in the bottom of the cart.