April 07, 2009 11:41 am
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Former Joplin city councilman Doug Hunt seemed to be gathering votes in his bid to join the R-8 Board of Education based on exit polling at Royal Heights United Methodist Church.
Audrey Douglas, 76, a retired Joplin resident, said she liked Hunt’s reasons for running and thought it was time to get some fresh faces on the board.
“I voted for the new guy because he just sounded like a dad,” Douglas said.
Douglas said she also voted for Jim Kimbrough because he has only been on the board for one term.
But the incumbents did get some support from Judy Dixon, 66, a retired Joplin teacher. She said she voted for Kimbrough because she knows him personally and Sharp because she is a woman.
“I didn’t see any real difference between them,” Dixon said. “I thought they would all be good school board members.”
Rodney Blaukat, 44, Joplin, currently works for GateHouse Media’s Internet division, but knows what it takes to serve on the school board. He was a member of Joplin’s school board for six years. Blaukat said he voted for Hunt and Kimbrough. He said they were both good, qualified candidates and that two terms on the board, like incumbent candidate Anne Sharp, is long enough.
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