More than three months after the State Bureau of Investigation started looking into $50,000 worth of embezzlement from the Macon County Board of Elections, a return to normalcy is in sight for the elections office. Kim Bishop, the county elections director who was placed on paid investigative leave when the investigation launched, has submitted her resignation, and the county board has sent the state board its recommendation for her replacement.

For nearly a year, REACH of Macon County has been helping domestic abuse victims in Jackson County. The group has handled more than 400 cases in Jackson since last July. 

“To be honest with you, we feel like that number should be higher,” Andrea Anderson, the group’s executive director, told the Jackson County commissioners recently.  “We definitely have been talking and trying to figure out how to reach out to more victims.”

Not everyone was happy about the free shoes. Betty Cloer Wallace was more concerned about the “holy war.”

It’s been three months since Macon County officials unearthed $50,000 worth of embezzlement, but a return to normalcy is just beginning to crack the horizon at the Macon County Board of Elections. Hours after sending a petition requesting that the state board remove the elections director suspected of stealing the money, the board got the OK from county commissioners for the funds it now needs to get through the rest of the fiscal year. 

There’s only one primary in the Macon County commissioners’ races, but it’s a good one to watch. It might well be a political bellwether. 

“You have varying opinions on what’s best for the county,” said Macon County Commissioner Jim Tate, a Republican running for re-election. 

As the primary approaches, local candidates are making their case. Around the region, county commissioner seats are opening up and incumbents and challengers alike are looking for votes. 

• Navigating the political stripes of the Haywood commissioners’ race
• Are Haywood commissioners big spenders, or doing the best they can?
• Macon commissioner race spending pits conservative and moderate Republicans
• Swain commissioner candidates weigh in on the issues

Fundraising for a $1.3-million shelter for victims of domestic violence and sexual abuse is underway in Macon County, with REACH of Macon County hoping to move to a new building by September 2015. 

“This has been a dream from the beginning,” said Jennifer Turner-Lynn, prevention coordinator and incoming assistant director for REACH. “We’ve always wanted to build the shelter here, and we feel the time is right.”

The federal sequester came back to haunt Macon County last month when commissioners voted to spend $13,000 to keep the county’s housing assistance program up and running. Commissioners had given Macon Program for Progress $12,000 at the beginning of the fiscal year to make up for the 30 percent reduction in administrative funds that the federal sequester caused. 

The Macon County Sheriff race will be short and sweet. Incumbent Sheriff Robbie Holland, a Republican, only faces one challenger, Bryan Carpenter, also a Republican. Because the two candidates are in the same party, the primary election will decide the race.

Swain County

Swain Commissioners

What’s up for election? All five seats on the county board are up for election, including four commissioner seats and commissioner chairman. Both Republican commissioner candidates here automatically advance.

About the race: As usual, there’s a deep bench of candidates running for Swain commissioner. And in this Democratic leaning county, where it’s rare for a Republican to win local elections, the Democratic primary is always the most packed. The winners in the Democratic primary nearly always prevail come the general election. All five sitting commissioners are Democrats and are running for reelection.

This is the last year that all the commissioner seats will come up for election at the same time. Going forward, the terms will be staggered — instead of all the seats being on the ballot every four years, half the seats will be up for election at a time, with alternating seats up on the ballot every two years. This year’s commissioner election will set the stage for staggered terms. The top two vote getters will serve a full four years. But the third and fourth highest vote getters will only serve two years before their seats are up for election again. They will resume a four-year election schedule after that, with alternating election cycles established.

Swain voters approved the switch to staggered terms in a ballot question in 2012. It passed with 2,912 voters in favor of staggered terms compared to 1,930 against.

Swain Commissioner

Democrat

•David Monteith is the longest serving county commissioner with 16 years on the board. Retired Ingle’s market manager and a school bus driver.

•Donnie Dixon, a machinist at Conmet manufacturing plant, has been on the board for four years, plus a previous term in the 1990s.

•Steve Moon, owner of a tire shop, has served for 8 years.

•Robert White, retired school superintendant, has served for eight years.

•Correna Elders Barker 

•Ben Bushyhead, a retired department director in Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians government. He narrowly lost in the 2006 election for the county board.

•Thomas Ray Simonds, foreman at Owle Construction

•Vida Cody, former county finance director who sued the county for wrongful firing

•Danny Burns, a Pepsi Cola technician 

Republican 

•Carolyn Bair, retired grocery store cashier and fast-food worker.

•Lance Grant II

Swain Comm. Chairman

Democrats

•Phil Carson, on the board for eight years and chairman for the past four, works with his family-owned plumbing business.

•Boyd Gunter, 63, recently retired medical technologist at the VA Hospital in Asheville.

Gunter ran for commissioner four years ago but lost. He lives in the Alarka area. He believes the county’s outlying communities are not currently represented on the board.

Swain Sheriff

About the race: Sheriff Curtis Cochran has served two terms as sheriff. And like his reelection campaign in 2010, he will once again face a suit of challengers, although not nearly as many this go around. When Cochran first won in 2006, the victory was narrow but impressive, as one of the few Republicans to ever serve as sheriff in this predominantly Democratic county — and given his odds as a novice lawman against the sitting sheriff at the time, who was a career law enforcement. Cochran’s first term was a bit rocky, with controversies including inmate escapes, a money-losing jail, and political feud with county commissioners. But his second term has been calm. Can Cochran hang on to the seat again?

Republican

• Sheriff Curtis Cochran

Democrat

•Chuck McMahan retired in 2010 from the North Carolina Highway Patrol after 27 years of service. The candidate said he would like the opportunity to work to keep Swain residents safe. “I think there’s a need and I think I can make a difference.”

•George Powell has taught martial arts for the past three decades, currently overseeing the Shotokan School of Martial Arts and two regional non-profit Christian martial arts organizations. The retired police officer and detention officer previously ran for sheriff eight years ago. If elected, Powell said he would “hold officers accountable for their actions” and “get back to the basics of community policing.”   

•Larry Roland currently works at the Microtel Inn in Bryson City and previously worked for the state prison system. The candidate believes the current powers-that-be are “abusing their powers.” “It’s just time for a change. That’s what everybody says, it’s time for a change.”

•Rocky Sampson 

Unaffiliated

• Odell Chastain is a retired law enforcement officer who has worked at both the city and county level. Chastain said he is seeking office “because I’m a patriotic American and I see that our rights and our liberties are being taken away from us.”