Unofficial results are in from Tuesday's primaries in eight Sullivan County towns: Bethel, Fremont, Liberty, Lumberland, Mamakating, Neversink, Thompson and Tusten. Absentee ballots have not yet been counted, and a few races are too close to call before all ballots have been counted.
In Bethel's Democratic primary, incumbent supervisor Daniel Sturm fended off a challenge from Judith Maidenbaum, 247 to 82. The race for highway superintendent was also decisive: William Crumley beat Ira "Moose" Liff 214 to 108 for the Democratic nomination. A race for the two Democratic slots on the ballot for town council was closer: Sitting council member Lillian Hendrickson took a clear victory with 229 votes, but Dawn Ryder and Timothy Colaianni were close with 139 and 130 votes respectively. There were 76 absentee ballots issued for the race.
Bethel also had a Republican primary for the highway superintendent's race, in which James Crowley Jr. beat Ronald Weiss 64 to 51. There were 21 absentee ballots issued.
In Fremont, three candidates sought two Republican ballot slots for town council. Paul Brustman and Louis Milucky won, with 69 and 63 votes respectively; Doris Sharp got 17 votes.
Liberty held two primaries, Conservative and Independence, in which town justice candidates John Lennon Jr. and Harold Bauman sought nominations from both parties. Both were too close to call. Lennon got more votes in the Conservative primary, taking six votes to Bauman's five, but Bauman emerged as the likely victor in the Independence primary, with 20 votes to Lennon's 17. Five absentee ballots were issued in the Conservative primary, and three in the Independence primary.
Lumberland's Republican primary was held among three candidates competing for two ballot slots for the town council race. Jenny Mellan and James Akt, with 101 and 97 votes, won decisively against David Leamon with 55 votes.
Mamakating's Republican primary was an upset, with town council member John Moul beating supervisor Harold Baird for the Republican nomination for town supervisor, 271 to 175. The two will face each other again on the November ballot.
A four-way race in Mamakating for two slots on the county Republican Committee was indecisive: Moul took the most votes, with 19; John Lavelle got 17 votes; Morris Smith got 15 votes; and Richard Johnson Jr. got 14 votes. There were 45 absentee ballots issued for the race.
Mamakating also had a Democratic primary for the town justice race. Cynthia Dolan beat Marcelle Matthews, 207 to 178.
In Neversink, town justice candidates Mary Grace Conneely and Brian Edwards faced off in both Conservative and Independence primaries. Edwards got more votes in both: 5 to 3 in the Conservative primary, and 5 to 2 in the Independence. No absentee ballots were issued in the Conservative primary; five were issued in the Independence primary.
Thompson Republicans picked Ramon Cedeira as their candidate for town supervisor, opting for Cedeira over Gerald Fielding by 179 to 129. In the town's Democratic primary, three town council candidates faced off for two slots; John Pavese and Richard Sush won decisively, with 282 and 244 votes respectively, against Victor Marinello with 164 votes.
Thompson also had Conservative and Independence primaries, in which town justice candidates Sharon Jankiewicz and Martin Miller faced off for nominations. Jankiewicz won the Conservative primary 17 to 8, but the Independence primary was too close to call, with Miller edging ahead 14 to 13. Ten absentee ballots were issued in the Independence primary.
Tusten Democrats elected two new members of the county Democratic Committee: Eileen Falk, with 57 votes, and Norman Meyer with 52. Trailing were Francis Cape with 44 votes and Thomas Prendergast with 43. In the race for two Democratic slots in the town council race, Jane Luchsinger emerged as a clear winner with 76 votes; Andrea Reynosa got 54 votes and Eileen Falk got 50. Eleven absentee ballots were issued in the race.
Republicans in Tusten overwhelmingly voted for Glenn Swendsen as their candidate for highway superintendent. Swendsen got 105 votes to Lewis Meckle III's 13.
Both Democrats and Republicans in Tusten voted to pick two candidates for town justice from a wider slate, as did Independence voters. Town justice candidate Thomas Nuttycombe earned nominations from three parties in three Tusten primaries: Democratic, Republican and Independence. Candidate David Casey earned Republican and Independence nominations. Carmine Rufrano picked up a Democratic nomination. Charles Hoffman, who ran on both Republican and Independence lines, lost both -- although the Independence primary was close, with Nuttycombe earning 11 votes, Casey 6, Hoffman 5 and Rufrano 4. No absentee ballots were issued in the race.
