News Briefs
By By William F. West / community editor
April 1, 2003
HICKORY Voters will fill this town's vacant mayor position today, choosing between John Brand, the acting mayor and a Republican, and Michael Evans, a Democrat.
Polls are open until 7 p.m. at the town hall on Jefferson Street. Town Clerk Robin Thomas said that 248 people are registered to vote in Hickory.
Thomas said she didn't know how many people will vote, but said "I hope we have a good turnout."
The winner will serve the remaining 18 months of former Mayor Wayne Griffith's four-year term.
Brand is an alderman and also the mayor pro tem. He became acting mayor March 4, when Griffith quit to run for a Newton County Justice Court judgeship.
If Brand wins, a special election will be needed to fill the vacancy on the board of aldermen. If he loses, he will continue to serve as an alderman.
Brand, 35, is a plumber. Evans, 25, is an upholsterer at the La-Z-Boy plant in Newton.
A new business could move into a vacant space in the Broadmoor Mart shopping center, but the real estate developer involved in the project isn't disclosing the name of the potential tenant.
Ward said the space to be filled is next to the Rite Aid Pharmacy.
The shopping center at 4900 Poplar Springs Drive has some mainstay businesses. But the location also has been dominated by vacancies in recent years.
Ward declined to answer any further questions about the possible occupant, saying he believes it would be premature because "we still don't have the final figure back from the contractor."
A Meridian beauty salon that opened last summer is on the block, but no explanation is being given why.
A local real estate agent's "for sale" sign is now part of the front yard of J Dell's at 2571 Ninth St.
One of J Dell's partners, Dell Pinter, reached on his cell phone Monday, declined to comment or answer questions. The other partner, Jay Vining, also was unavailable for comment.
Pinter and Vining opened for business in August after converting the brick house on the corner of Ninth Street and 26th Avenue.
Vining said at the time that he and his partner were sold on the house's solid foundation and its exterior and interior architectural detail, which they said was something you can't find in malls or new houses.
Pinter at the time was asked about the location. His response: "If you're going to run a prestigious salon, you've got to be off the beaten path."
