Denmark election Tuesday
By VIC WHETSTONET&D Correspondent Saturday, February 10, 2007
DENMARK – Registered voters in Denmark will go to the polls Tuesday to fill three seats on the Denmark City Council in a nonpartisan municipal election. Seeking re-election to four-year terms are incumbents Bervay Carter, Evert Comer and Gerald Wright. Challengers for the seats are Allison Kirkland and Johnnie Ruth Rosa.
A Barnwell native, newcomer Johnnie Ruth Rosa moved to Denmark in 1988 after her husband, Joe Rosa, retired from the Navy.
“We came back to Denmark because we loved the town ... We decided this is where we wanted to retire,” Rosa said.
“We now want to see Denmark have those wonderful days again, with all citizens working together,” she added.
Rosa said she’d like to work to lower the city’s water rates, implement adequate trash collection services for businesses and residences, along with improved ambulance service, and to complete the new fire station without having to raise taxes.
She said if elected, she’ll also push for the new Bamberg County Hospital to be located on U.S. 78 “so we may get a share of the revenue ... ”
“Denmark citizens have used and supported the Bamberg hospital for generations, and now I feel it is time for Denmark to receive back what we have given over some 55 years,” Rosa said.
She added, “Denmark is a sleeping giant with many assets that need to be promoted. With our hands together, we all can make a change and get Denmark back on track and rolling in the right direction. ... ”
Incumbent Bervay Lee Beard Carter is completing a term that was vacated when Denine Handberry resigned from the council in 2004. Carter is a retired business education teacher who taught at Denmark-Olar High School for 23 years. She is the widow of Willie D. Carter who was a house painting contractor. Carter has five children and seven grandchildren.
Carter said she would like to continue working with the Denmark City Council to complete some of the ongoing projects.
“I would like to see more done for city workers, policemen and especially firefighters. I want to see the Denmark Fire Department move into their new living quarters and the water situation in Denmark cleared up so that the problem won’t occur ever again,” she said.
Incumbent candidate Evert Comer has served on city council for the past four years, has been practicing law in Denmark for 25 years and is a member of the South Carolina Bar Association. He graduated from Voorhees High School, received a B.A. in English from Morehouse College in Atlanta, Ga. and a law degree from the University of South Carolina School of Law in Columbia.
Comer is an adjunct faculty member at Voorhees College and at Denmark Technical College, and he serves as Denmark Technical College’s public information officer and director of development.
A former journalist, Comer also taught at East Lake Elementary School in Atlanta, Ga. He serves on the board of the Bamberg County Mental Retardation Board and the Bamberg-Calhoun-Orangeburg Counties HUB. He is a U.S. Army veteran.
In addition, Comer served on the Denmark-Olar School District 2 Board of Trustees for 14 years.
Comer serves on the boards of the Orangeburg Area Sickle Cell Anemia Foundation and the Bamberg County Chamber of Commerce. He is Worshipful Master of Elizabeth Wright Lodge, AFAMSR and a Life member of the Denmark Alumni Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity.
Comer is deacon, Sunday School teacher and chairman of the board of trustees at Rome Baptist Church in Denmark.
He is the oldest of six children born to the late Evert Comer Sr. And Annie Rose Jeter Comer. Comer’s wife of 25 years, Ruth, is a legal secretary in his law office. They have two children.
Incumbent Dr. Gerald E. Wright, who is serving as Denmark mayor pro tem, graduated from Voorhees High School, obtained a B.S. in mathematics from Morehouse College, Atlanta, Ga., an M. Ed. degree from South Carolina State College and a doctorate in Educational Administration from South Carolina State University.
Wright, whose first professional position was as a mathematics instructor at Voorhees College, worked five years in the Denmark-Olar schools in various positions including mathematics and science teacher, federal projects coordinator, director of support programs and assistant superintendent. He served as superintendent his last nine years in the district.
Since 1995, Wright has served as adjunct instructor in the Educational Leadership Program at South Carolina State University. Since leaving the Denmark-Olar school system in 2001, Wright was on faculty briefly at Allendale-Fairfax High School and for the 2001-2002 school year at Denmark Technical College. He served as interim director of the Barnwell County Career Cancer for the 2002-2003 school year and is currently part-time instructor of mathematics at Denmark Tech.
Wright is a member of St. Phillips Episcopal Church in Denmark where he serves as a lay reader. He was elected to the Denmark City Council in 1975 and served in that capacity until 1992. He was elected again to the council in 2003.
Wright holds membership in several professional organizations and is a member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity. He is chairman of the Bamberg County Democratic Party and president of the Bamberg County Branch of the NAACP.
Wright is the son of the late Lucius S. Wright and Callie B. Wright. He is married to the former Doris Thurmon, and they have three children.
Newcomer Allison Stokes-Kirkland is a 1988 graduate of Denmark-Olar High School. She earned a degree in business administration from Voorhees College and currently enrolled in the MBA program at Claflin University.
Kirkland said she wants to get the community involved and interested in the youth and in education as well as senior citizens. She said she wants to work for more economic growth and employment in the city.
The daughter of Redell Dickerson of Denmark, Kirkland is married to Eric Kirkland, formerly of Barnwell, and they have four children. She is a member of Brown Chapel Baptist Church in Barnwell.
Other info
The East Denmark precinct is located at the Brooker Center, and the West Denmark precinct is located at the Denmark Depot.
The polls open at 7 a.m. and close at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
T&D Correspondent Vic Whetstone can be reached by e-mail at vwhets@bellsouth.net or by phone at 803-793-3402. Discuss this and other stories online at TheTandD.com.
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