Thurmont voters re-elect incumbents

By Chris Patterson
Contributing Writer

Thurmont’s election Monday, Oct. 24 maintained the current status of the town’s board of commissioners.

Mayor Martin Burns, Commissioner Wayne Hooper and Commissioner Ron Terpko emerged victorious in their re-election bids, though there was little chance Hooper and Terpko would not be re-elected.

There were two seats open for town commissioners and only the two candidates running. Hooper received 582 votes and Terpko received 518 votes.

The mayoral race was contested, but did not turn into much of a contest in the end. Burns received 510 votes (68 percent) and challenger Robert Wagerman received 209 votes (29 percent) of the 719 votes cast for mayor.

A total of 735 voters of the town’s 3,915 currently registered voters came to the polls. The nearly 19 percent turnout was substantially less than the last mayoral election, where roughly 34 percent of the nearly 3,000 registered voters cast their ballots.

That election in 2001 pitted a sitting mayor, Eileen Waesche, against a relative newcomer - Burns - and long-time resident Wagerman. The race for town commissioner was also contested with five candidates running for two seats. Terpko received the most votes in that election, with Hooper coming in second

Why vote?

Though the commissioner race was uncontested this year, voters informally polled by The Dispatch on election night overwhelmingly said they were voting because it was their civic duty.

Joanne Woodward, 38, said she felt it was her responsibility to come out to vote and did not think anyone should give up that responsibility just because it was “easy” to avoid it.

A couple of residents said they almost forgot to vote but were reminded by an announcement on National Public Radio. Several voters said they were reminded to vote when they got home from work and picked up The Dispatch and saw the voters’ guide.

Wanda Clabaugh, 34, said she was there to vote for a particular mayoral candidate.

Christine Ortiz, 49, almost stayed home because she was sick, but came out to vote anyway, she said.

And Kim Baumgardner, 34, took the opportunity to bring her daughter Alexi, 6, into the voting booth to teach her about the importance of voting.

The winners respond

A day after the election, Burns told The Dispatch that he was very pleased and proud to have received so much support. He was particularly grateful, he said, that so many people came out to vote on a cold and rainy night.

He noted that during the 2001 election he received only 79 votes more than this election. That election had a 34 percent turnout of the nearly 3,000 voters registered at the time.
Burns said he did not want to take the voters’ support for granted, and said he had campaigned several nights a week going door-to-door to speak with residents.

Terpko said he also did not want to take anything for granted and spent much of Election Day greeting voters as they drove to the poll at the Guardian Hose Activities Grounds.

Terpko and Hooper were the only candidates at the poll to hear the numbers as they were announced and shook hands after the announcement.

Hooper said he truly appreciated so many people coming out to vote for the commissioners. “I’m glad the board will continue together. We have accomplished a lot and there is a lot more we want to get done,” he said.

Terpko felt similarly. “I’m really happy with how we did today,” he said. “Considering the weather and (uncontested race) I’m very proud that the people came out to support us when they really didn’t have to.”