Douglas teacher takes school board race

Teacher Randy Green won his race Tuesday against Douglas County School Board member John Raker, and a sales-tax increase for open space was defeated.

Former Douglas High School teacher Keith Roman also defeated Charles Pullen to win a board seat. Roman won 8,062 to 4,916.

For the Lake Tahoe seat, board member George Echan defeated challenger William Laughlin by 93 votes. The final vote was 6,989 to 6896.

School board member David Brady defeated challenger Veronica Hulsey 7,642 to 5,882 to keep his seat on the board.

Green, who ran despite the threat of legal action by the school board, to prevent him from taking his seat, won his race 9,475 votes to Raker's 4,701.

Green said Tuesday night the next step would be to work with the board to decide how he will take his seat.

"We're going to formulate a plan to work with the existing board to figure out how we go about this in terms," he said.

Instead of seeking a court order, Green said he is suggesting the school board submit the issue to the Nevada Ethics Commission.

Green pointed to the Howard Rosenberg case as an instance that works in his favor.

Rosenberg, a University of Nevada, Reno professor, was elected to the University and Community College Board of Regents. The ethics commission ruled that Rosenberg could take his seat with the regents, despite objections from the board.

"We feel that having now looked at the Rosenberg case, there is no difference between his situation and mine," Green said. "That might be the most cost-effective way to deal with it."

Green said he felt the showing by school board candidates critical of the district is an indication of voters feelings about the present board.

"I think really what the voters are saying is that they've been dissatisfied with the leadership and the performance of the board," Green said. "I think this is a move for a change."

In the race for Tahoe Township Justice of the Peace, attorney Richard Glasson defeated Ray Finnegan for the seat being vacated by Steve McMorris. Glasson won 1,647 votes to Finnegan's 956.

In Carson Valley, commissioners Steve Weissinger and Kelly Kite defeated their reluctant opponents.

Weissinger defeated Al Wagner 9,688 to 4,849. Kite defeated Elaine Smith, 8,976 votes to 5,544. Both Wagner and Smith had withdrawn from the races.

Douglas County Question No. 1 calling for a 25-cent increase in the sales tax to finance the preservation of open space was defeated 9,789 votes to 7,744.

Ironically, a proposal to build a community center was defeated 451 votes to 343. Opposition to building the center sparked a recall movement that forced the resignation of one board member and the removal of two others.

Renee Haskell, the only of the recalled board members to be on the ballot, lost a bid to get back on.

Daniel Hall and Riley E. Evans were the top two vote-getters in a race that saw six people vying for two seats. Hall received 417 votes and Evans got 402.

Longtime board member Ron Kruse received 390 votes and appointee Dianne Humble Fournier received 262 votes. Haskell got 214 votes and Rhonda Pascoe, who recently moved out of the district, received 197 votes.