Frantz edges Harbaugh in Chambersburg Borough Council primary

May 16, 2001

Frantz edges Harbaugh in Chambersburg Borough Council primary

By STACEY DANZUSO / Staff Writer, Chambersburg

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. - In the only Chambersburg Borough Council race on the ballot, Allen S. Frantz narrowly won the Republican nomination for the Second Ward Tuesday, according to unofficial returns.

Frantz had 167 votes with both Second Ward precincts reporting, beating Ruth Harbaugh, who had 150 votes.

Frantz will face Democrat Koonie Kiser, owner of Kiser Construction, who ran unopposed in his party's primary, in the Nov. 6 general election.

Frantz, 40, is a sales representative at Jennings Chevrolet-Oldsmobile-Cadillac in Chambersburg.

Second Ward incumbent Councilman Harold Kennedy, 82, chose not to seek another term.

Harbaugh is a retired South Mountain Recreation Department employee.

Harbaugh, whose husband died Saturday, backed off campaigning several weeks ago when he became ill.

In the Fourth Ward, Republican incumbent John A. Redding, Jr., was the only candidate on the ballot. Write-in challenger Jason Bitner, 24, was not listed on the ballot because he failed to file forms on time.

The write-in votes will not be tabulated until the official count, which begins Friday.

Bitner, 24, works in the Franklin County Sheriff's Department.

If Bitner's write-in campaign fails, Redding, 70, will be the only candidate for the Fourth Ward in the Nov. 6 general election.

Redding, who is retired from the Depot Systems Command at Letterkenny, is seeking his third term.

Third Ward incumbent Carl Helman, who also ran a write-in campaign, must also wait for the official count of write-ins to see whether he will be the Republican candidate Nov. 6.

Helman's candidacy for his second full term was challenged after he, too, failed to meet a filing deadline.

Helman, the director of Facilities Design for Country Meadows Retirement Community, needs only 10 write-in votes to be listed on the November ballot. According to unofficial totals, he had 117 write-in votes Tuesday night, enough to get him on the ballot.

The only Democratic candidate for the Third Ward is Theresa Johnson, 58, a staff associate at Shippensburg University.

In the First Ward, incumbent Allen Coffman, 54, was the only Republican to run, and he will not face a Democratic challenger in November.

In the Fifth Ward, Democratic incumbent Bernard Washabaugh, 60, and Republican Kenneth Gill, 57, both ran unopposed and will face off Nov. 6.

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