Russellville council gets shaken up

By Staff
Jonathan Willis
The Russellville city council race is far from over.
A run-off election will be held on Oct. 7 to decide the winner of four council seats, but there will be no current councilmen involved.
The incumbents seeking re-election Tuesday all failed to advance.
In District 1, Jeff Masterson and David Palmer will square off. Masterson received 309 votes Tuesday to lead Palmer who received 260. Councilman Craig Grissom collected 161 votes.
"I am humbled to come out on top of these two great guys," Masterson said. "But I think it's a sign that people are ready for a change when two newcomers are the top two. I want to thank David and Craig for the race they ran and I look forward to the next six weeks."
Palmer also said that he was excited about the next six weeks leading up to the run-off.
"I want to thank all of my supporters for coming out and voting," he said. "We are going to continue talking to people and letting them know what I have to offer to the citizens of Russellville.
"I want to thank Craig and Jeff for running a clean race and I want to ask everyone to come back out and support us in six more weeks."
The District 2 run-off will feature two people familiar with city government. Littleville Police Chief William Nale and current Mayor Johnny Brown advanced to October's run-off.
Nale received 159 votes to Brown's 113. Russellville Electric Board employee Willard Mitchell barely missed the run-off with 92 votes. Councilman David Kennedy finished with 59.
"I feel good," Nale said of Tuesday's results. "We've still got another six weeks ahead of us."
Nale said the city has done little in the past 16 years and he wants to see that change.
"We have sat still for the last 16 years," he said. "We have ordinances and codes in place that aren't being enforced. We can't discriminate against our businesses and we need to clean the alleys around the buildings Russellville needs to be cleaned up."
Brown, who spent the last eight years as mayor, said he was pleased to be in the run-off.
"We have a lot of things started that I want to see completed," he said.
"I appreciate the citizens of Russellville for electing me as mayor twice and I want to see us finish what we have started.
"I had three good opponents and they ran a clean race. I hope people will come out on Oct. 7 and allow me to continue working for the city."
The District 3 run-off will feature retired Russellville police officer David Hester and businessman Gary Cummings.
Hester lead Cummings 189 to 176 Tuesday. Roy Cornelison finished with 30 votes.
"I am happy to be the top vote getter in District 3," Hester said.
"I wish I had about 20 more votes and avoided a run-off.
"We are making leaps and bounds and I want to encourage the people of my district to come back out in six weeks."
Cummings said he appreciated the fact that everyone in his race kept it clean throughout and that's what he anticipates in the run-off election.
"We both did it the way it's supposed to be done and that's what we will keep doing."
The District 4 run-off will feature Charles Dale and Lanny Hubbard. Dale received 86 votes while Hubbard captured 64.
Tommy Hamilton barely missed the run-off with 60 votes. Matt Cummings received 42.
David Grissom ran unopposed in District 5.