North Augusta Today

Aiken County and Edgefield County residents weren't quite ready to hand over a North Augusta City Council seat to newcomer Bill Harville. Incumbents Pat Carpenter, Arthur Shealy and Jason Whinghter swept the floor in the Feb. 10 primary.

Out of nearly 600 voters at the North Augusta Republican Party primary election, Carpenter led the poll by 111 votes, with Shealy in second place. Carpenter has served with city council for 16 years.

There was support for Harville, with more than 200 votes, including his mother, Alice, who turned out to support her son. She said a new face in city council would be a good thing because incumbents had served for many years.

Regardless of the outcome, she said she hoped future council members would use more "discretion with their building permits."

North Augusta resident Ed Elser said he voted for Carpenter and Shealy.

"They've demonstrated a selfless dedication to North Augusta," Elser said.

Even though Elser is a Democrat, he still turned out to vote for a Republican. No Democrats filed to run for the three council positions.

"I am looking for people that will continue North Augusta's well-regulated growth," Elser said. "It's important that we limit sprawl and I want someone that's going to keep a finger on contractors."

Ed Zeigler, of North Augusta, agreed with Elser.

"I want someone interested in the city of North Augusta's growth and they still have some of the old town principles," the voter said.

Shealy said he would like North Augusta to attract more medium-size businesses in the future.

Whinghter said he also is content with the pace of growth and that the city has kept traffic from becoming a problem.

"I think we have been on a good pace with our growth over the past several years," said councilman Whinghter. "We have been able to provide adequate city services and to me traffic is still not a large problem as it has been in many other communities who have experienced growth similar to ours."

The election at Riverview Park was the first time all precincts voted at one location. Potential voters stumbled into the election by accident while they were enjoying the park's facilities.

"A lot of people were working out and were happy they didn't have to go somewhere else," said poll worker Christi McClintock.

David Toole, the chairman of the North Augusta Republican Party, said they might use only one or two polling locations in the future.

Carpenter, Shealy and Whinghter officially won the municipal election as of Thursday when no one filed to run independently.

Mayor Lark Jones will also be re-elected because he faced no opposition. The general election will be April 28.

Reach Crystal Garcia at crystal.garcia@northaugustatoday.com.

ELECTION BREAKDOWN
VOTERS: More than 600
VOTERS EXPECTED: 500
PAT CARPENTER: 592 votes
ARTHUR SHEALY: 481 votes
JASON WHINGHTER: 405 votes
BILL HARVILLE: 257 votes
Source: David Toole, chairman, North Augusta Republican Party