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Wednesday, May 21, 2003

By Joseph D. Wilcox

Democratic incumbent Jack F. Dunmire and Republican incumbent James V. Scahill were top vote-getters yesterday in the race for major party nominations for Armstrong County commissioner.

	More Primary 2003 Tables with primary results for Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Greene and Washington counties will be published in Thursday print editions of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Voters were to choose two candidates from each party. The four primary winners will fight for three spots on the Board of Commissioners in the fall.

Republican Patricia Kirkpatrick, 46, of Cowanshannock, was well on the way to winning the second nomination of her party.

She is director of the Armstrong County Chamber of Commerce and director of the Armstrong Educational Trust.

The fight for the second spot on the Democratic ballot was hotly contested among the three other Democrats in the race. Anthony C. Roppolo of Leechburg, Ronald J. Covone of South Buffalo and Rich Fink of Templeton were battling for the last spot.

Only a handful of votes separated those candidates throughout the night, with the lead changing several times. Fink was the apparent winner according to unofficial results.

Dunmire and Scahill are both three-term county commissioners. Dunmire, 58, of Ford City, is a former vice president of Vanguard Federal Savings Bank in Vandergrift.

He led the race out of the gate and never trailed. Scahill, 55, of Kittanning, is a former lobbyist.

Joseph D. Wilcox is a freelance writer.