Altman stuns incumbent, Darga coasts in RC

In two races for seats on the Presque Isle County Board of Commissioners, a five-time incumbent easily won re-election in District 3, while a four-time incumbent was unseated in District 4. Republican Carl “Preach” Altman, in his first bid at returning to the board in four years, defeated Democratic vice chairman Gary Wozniak, 591 to 541. “I did campaign a little more,” said Altman, Tuesday night from the business he owns in Hawks. The last time he ran for the commission, he was in Florida prior to the election. Altman was squeezed off the board when the board’s district seats were reduced from eight to five due to reapportionment following the census count of 2000. He ran against Wozniak in the next election and lost.

“I PUT A LOT more time into it this time around,” said Altman. With two children now in college, he plans to have more time for the job as well. Wozniak graciously wished Altman the best. “I knew it would be close. He has a lot of name recognition,” said Wozniak, who admits he is not much of a campaign person. “This year is a funny year,” he said. “A lot of incumbents are losing. I’m happy for the time that I had served.”

One of the first issues Altman would like to look at is the “things going on with the CDC/EDC boards.” Altman was a huge favorite in Belknap (233 to 109), and Rogers (107 to 64), as well as Rogers City Precinct-3 (107 to 50). Wozniak won Pulawski (126 to 48), Posen (111 to 34), and Metz townships (81 to 62), but Altman held on to the lead.

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N DISTRICT 3, Democratic incumbent Michael Darga still remains untouchable. He fended off two challengers for his seat in this year’s race. He edged Gary Nowak in August and easily win Tuesday over Republican opponent Milt Very, 814 to 393. The numbers were in early at the courthouse, and they could not have been more decisive. Darga received 66.94-percent of the vote count in the two precincts, while Very got 32.32 -percent. “Congratulations to Mike,” said Very, Tuesday night from his home. “I guess he has more relatives than I do.” Very admitted he thought it would be a closer race.

IN DISTRICT 1, Democrat Bob Schell had been running unopposed until former commissioner, and the man Schell defeated in the August primary, Wayne Vermilya, ran as a write-in candidate. Schell’s 856 votes, proved to be too high of a mountain for Vermilya, who mustered 38 write-in votes. The most Vermilya received was 18 in Allis Township. Republicans Allan Bruder (District 2) and Stephen Lang (District 5) ran unopposed. With Altman’s win at the polls, the Republics have the majority 3 to 2.