Ossipee — March 14, 2007 — Anne Cunningham and Ralph Kazanjian came out on top in the lone contested race in Freedom Tuesday, winning three-year seats on the planning board. This year’s election attracted a 24 percent (280 voters) turnout. Cunningham garnered 229 votes while Kazanjian got 129 to top Geraldine Lippincott, 109.
Other elected officers on the town ballot included: James Brown, selectman for three years; Scott Brooks Sr., road agent for three years; Libby Priebe, town clerk, three years; Don Johnson, a one-year term as moderator; Kazanjian, treasurer, three years; Karin Schiller, library trustee, three years; and Paul Wheeler, cemetery trustee and trustee of the trust funds, both three-year terms.
On the school ballot, where there were no contested races, James Farinella won a three-year seat on the school board; Johnson, moderator, one year; Kazanjian, treasurer, three years; Carol Stansell, clerk, one year; and Thomas Kondrat, auditor, one year.
In Ossipee, former U.S. Navy nurse Kathleen Maloney defeated four other candidates in the race for the longtime selectman’s seat held by Harry Merrow on Tuesday.
Merrow announced last year he would not seek re-election and created a buzz for the post. Maloney, who has sat on the town budget committee, won easily in the run for the three-year selectmen’s term, garnering 246 votes to top Sandra “Sam” Martin, a former selectman, with 159 votes.
Jean Marie Simpson, a member of the zoning board of adjustment, 96; Robert Rivera, a planning board member, who also lost that seat in Tuesday’s election, 95; and Kevin Houle, who has been a regular at weekly selectmen’s meetings, who finished fifth with 23 votes.
Rivera was unsuccessful in his bid to retain one of two three-year planning board seats, placing third in a three-way race with 201 votes. He fell well behind Robert Gillette, with 394 votes, and Karen Foster, 327 votes. Rivera was elected cemetery trustee for one year in an uncontested race.
There were no other contested races on the town ballot. Winning election were; Kellie Skeehan, town clerk/tax collector; Carol McConkey, trustee of trust funds; Susan Day, library trustee; Dave Hodsdon, two-year cemetery trustee; Stephen Capone, three-year term as cemetery trustee; Robert Freeman and Mark Simpson, two three-year terms on the budget committee; Belinda Cullen, a two-year seat on the budget committee; June Loud, water/sewer commissioner for three years; and Bruce Parsons, a three-year term on the zoning board of adjustment.
The lone contested race on the school ballot was for a three-year school board member at large post with Don Meader topping William Piekut, 396-165. Other winners Tuesday included: Diane Drelick, school board member from Effingham; James Rines, school board member from Ossipee; Stacy Trites, school board member from Wolfeboro; and Randy Walker, moderator. All seven of the school ballot articles were approved.