Primary date also includes local municipal and school decisions

By Mike Lange
Staff Writer

    Primary elections in Maine usually don’t generate a huge turnout since voters have to be enrolled in a party in order to cast ballots.
    According to the most recent numbers from the Secretary of State’s office, 37 percent of Maine’s 960,000 registered voters are unenrolled. Nearly 32 percent identify themselves as Democrats while 27 percent are enrolled as Republicans.
    But Tuesday, June 10 could be a busy day at the polls in the Penquis Region as some local elections, the Dover-Foxcroft municipal budget and several school budgets will also be on the ballot.

    The most high-profile political race is the Republican primary for Senate District 4 where incumbent Doug Thomas of Ripley is being challenged by State Rep. Paul Davis of Sangerville.
    District 4, formerly known as District 27 before last year’s reapportionment, consists of all of Piscataquis County; Dexter, Garland, Charleston, Bradford, LaGrange and Alton in Penobscot County; and Athens, Brighton, Harmony, Ripley, Cambridge, St. Albans, Hartland, Palmyra and Detroit in Somerset County.
    Thomas has served four years in the Maine Senate, six years in the Maine House, four years on the Ripley Board of Selectmen and three years on the SAD 46 Board of Directors.
    Davis is a retired state trooper and former chief deputy of the Somerset County Sheriff’s Department. He served in the State Senate from 2000-06, was elected Republican floor leader and returned to the Maine House six years ago.
    The Democratic candidate for Senate District 4 is David F. Ziemer of Orneville who won’t face primary opposition.
    The Greenville and Dover-Foxcroft municipal elections will also be held on June 10.
    Candidates for two seats on the Greenville Board of Selectmen are Bruce Hanson, Bonita DuBien, Joshua Brown and Eugene Murray Jr. Hanson and DuBien are both incumbents.
    Candidates for two positions on the Greenville School Committee are Elizabeth Cannell, Peter Johnson and Amanda Simko. Incumbents Mike Theriault and John Cobb are not seeking reelection.
    Both the selectmen’s and school committee’s terms are for three years.
    Charles Tarsook and Noel Wohlforth are running for three-year terms on the Moosehead Sanitary District and Steven Mason is a candidate for a one-year term. All terms are unopposed.
    In Dover-Foxcroft, five candidates are on the ballot for three seats on the Board of Selectmen; Amy L. Fagan-Cannon is the lone candidate for the Thompson Free Library Executive Committee; George T. Barton is running unopposed for a seat on the Hospital Administrative 4 Board of Directors and a write-in will have to be chosen for a three-year term on the RSU 68 Board of Directors. (See separate article).
    SAD 4 (Guilford area), SAD 46 (Dexter area) and RSU 68 (Dover-Foxcroft area) budgets are also up for approval by voters on June 10.
    The SAD budget of $7.36 million is 1.6 percent higher than last year, SAD 46’s spending plan of $13.17 million is up by 1.8 percent from the previous year and RSU voters will decide the fate of a proposed $9.97 million budget, a 1.8 percent hike from the previous year.
    Finally, Sangerville residents will vote on whether to allow licensed establishments to serve alcoholic beverages in the community.
    At the annual town meeting, residents approved a one-day exemption to the town’s ban on on-premises sales to accommodate a proposed beer concession for the bicentennial celebration on July 14. However, town officials learned that changes in liquor laws can’t be approved at a town meeting, but need to go to the voters via a referendum. So the measure will be on the Sangerville June 10 ballot.