Four cemetery district commissioners re-elected

As you might expect with folks who have lived in rural north Clark County many years, sometimes for generations, loyalty counts — as does gratitude for the unpaid work cemetery commissioners do to keep them nice.

Tuesday’s voting included eight candidates running for commission seats in two districts: District 4 and District 6.

All three commissioner positions in District 4, which serves Mountain View Cemetery, Amboy Cemetery and Chelatchie Cemetery, were up for election.

The district has been the scene of controversy before.

The Washington State Auditor’s Office issued a report in March that contained results from an independent accountability audit of the district between 2008 and 2010. It said the district lacked proper documentation for 41 plots that were sold to the public. The report said the plots had a total value of at least $8,000.

Old commissioners were replaced after the controversy and the new ones are still trying to get things in order, said Commissioner Bob McClellan of La Center. He easily won re-election Tuesday with 62.8 percent of the votes, a total of 596. His opponent was Dennis Frasier of Amboy.

Another incumbent, Heidi Zimmerman, won with 71.6 percent or 657 votes. Her opponent was Carol West of La Center.

Ruth M.J. Ham, also an incumbent, won with 62 percent or 577 votes. She has six generations of family buried in one of the cemeteries. Her opponent was Gene Winders of Amboy.

District 6 has three commissioners who represent four cemeteries: La Center Cemetery, Crawford Cemetery, Lewisville Cemetery and Highland Cemetery.

Incumbent Murray Falk won Tuesday with 53.5 percent or 2,447 votes.

Barbara “Kaye” Goheen of Battle Ground ran against Falk.