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LAUREL  — There will be some new faces helping to guide the Laurel City Council and school board.

Four people were vying to fill three slots on the Laurel-Concord School Board. Steve Schutte was the top vote-getter in the election, garnering 401 votes. John Wolfgram picked up another four-year term on the school board by earning 367 votes.

Two write-in candidates were competing for the third and final slot on the board. They combined to earn 339 votes. Patsy Gubbels emerged as the winner in that race tallying 190 votes to best Jay Hall, who earned 139 votes.

COLERIDGE —Greg Meyer crew 45 percent of the vote and George R. Hefner had 39 percent of the vote to earn four-year terms on the Coleridge Village Board.

Hefner  has been serving as the Village Board Chairman for the past several years. Meyer will be a newcomer to the Board.

The duo defeated  Terry Julesgard, who only garnered 14 percent of the vote.

HARTINGTON — Cedar County Clerk Dave Dowling defeated challenger Brian Steffen to earn a seventh term in office.

Dowling garnered 64 percent of the vote, while Steffen pulled in just 36 percent of the vote.

Dowling received 2,025 votes in the election, while Steffen earned 1,138 votes.

HARTINGTON — Cedar County registered one of the lowest voter turnouts in County history Tuesday.

Only 52 percent of the county’s voters turned out at the polls Tuesday.

Cedar County Clerk Dave Dowling said he was surprised at the low turn-out.

“I can’t explain it. We had national races, we had county races and local races and we had great weather,” Dowling said.

The Precinct with the highest turn-out in the county was Precinct 9-2 in Hartington with 59 percent of those registered in that precinct voting.

HARTINGTON — District 40 will soon have  the youngest Senator in the State Legislature.Political newcomer Tyson Larson defeated the Dean of the Legislature Cap Dierks to earn a term in office.

Cedar County voters favored  Tyson Larson over Dierks by a 1,741-1,349 margin — 56-43 percent.

Dierks’ faced a similar fate in the other three counties which comprise District 40.

With 100 percent of the ballots counted in Holt County, Dierks had garnered 929 votes, while Larson only had 354 votes in Holt County — a 72-27 percent advantage.

HARTINGTON — The national trend to oust the incumbents carried down to local politics Tuesday.

Hartington voters decided in the Nov. 2 General Election to bring in a new Mayor and North Ward City Councilman. Randolph voters decided on a new Mayor, as well.

Dwayne Schutte defeated incumbent Randolph Mayor Neil Kluver for a four-year term as the city’s chief executive.

Hartington Mayor Bills Yates, who was seeking a second term in office, was ousted by Brad Peitz. Peitz had never sought or served on an elective board prior to this election.

HARTINGTON — A hotly contest and highly anticipated rematch between Cedar County Commissioner Dave McGregor and former Commissioner Dick Donner turned out to be run-away during Tuesday’s Primary Election.
Cedar County Clerk Dave Dowling said just 26 percent of Cedar County’s registered voters cast ballots in the election, which was competed in record time. All races were final by nine p.m. Tuesday.
McGregor pulled in 287 votes in Cedar County’s central commission district, while there were 196 votes for Donner.

COLERIDGE — The Coleridge Blade website, coleridge.us, will carry complete coverage of this year’s Cedar County elections.
The web site will be updated just as soon as the elections are finalized.
Since the polling places will still be open when the Blade is printed, next week’s issue will not contain any election news. However, results from the elections will be available on May 19.

HARTINGTON — The May 11 Primary Election is an important race for several Cedar County candidates.
Votes cast in the Primary will decide the winner in the race for Clerk of District Court and will determine who will serve as a Cedar County Commissioner in the central and north districts.
Republican Sally Kneifl is challenging incumbent Janet Wiechelman for the position of Clerk of District Court. Wiechelman is also a Republican.
Kneifl is coming into the race with experience in the court system. She is currently working for the state of Nebraska as a Children and Family Services Specialist.

LAUREL — The wait is over — Coleridge will have a Middle School next fall.
After months of speculation, meetings, planning, research and differences of opinions, the Laurel-Concord School Board members voted 4-1 to approve moving students in grades 5-8 to a Middle School in Coleridge for the 2010-11 school year. John Wolfgram was the only Board member to vote against the plan.
Coleridge High School students will attend classes at Laurel-Concord and the two schools will be involved in a football co-op.
Coleridge is currently bussing pre-school through fourth grade students to Laurel.
Before the vote was taken, Supt. Rich Patton was asked to give his recommendation on the middle school.