Meantime, Person County Register of Deeds Amanda Garrett and state Rep. W. A. (Winkie) Wilkins, both Democrats, and District Court Judge Mike Gentry of Caswell County are unopposed in their bids for new terms in the 2008 elections.

The candidate filing period for county, district and state elective offices ended Friday at noon.

As the deadline passed, conspicuous by his absence from the list of county commissioner candidates was incumbent Commissioner Larry Bowes, a Democrat, who had hinted earlier that he probably would not seek a second term. Bowes’s decision to step aside after his term expires in December, opens the door to at least one new face on the five-member county board.

Bowes’s departure, the majority of board seats being up for grabs and ongoing controversy over the landfill expansion all may have figured into the keen candidate interest in the commissioners race, which picked up an eighth hopeful, and potentially a ninth, on Thursday.

Person County Elections Director Brenda Whitlow said that the latter could factor into the process by the time the general election rolls around in November.

Republican Sam Kennington, principal of Roxboro Community School, filed Thursday for county commissioner, while unaffiliated candidate Frances Blalock, co-chairman of Person County People Rising In Defense of Ecology (PC PRIDE), filed a petition toward having her named placed on the general election ballot in November. >>

Kennington, who was born and raised in Roxboro and graduated from Roxboro High School, said that he was running because he felt Person County citizens deserved a county commissioner who would listen to, stand up for and be a voice of the people.

The 61-year-old Gordonton Road resident added that he was “running on a quality of life issue. I want to be an advocate for the people and their voice.”

Kennington added, “I believe the citizens of Person County deserve a commissioner who will work to create a better quality of life for all. The people of this county deserve a commissioner who will fight for more and better jobs locally and is committed to reducing property taxes.

“I believe in quality education for all our children, and I will be a commissioner who fights to ensure that all children have the best possible chances for success in life,” Kennington continued. “I will be a commissioner who works for Person County to receive its fair share of federal and state money to improve and maintain its infrastructure.”

According to Whitlow, Blalock, who resides on the Surl-Mt. Tirzah Road in Timberlake must obtain “approximately 900 signatures of registered voters before noon on the last Friday in June” to gain a place on the November ballot for county commissioiner. That figure, Whitlow said, would represent the required four percent of the county’s registered voters as of Jan. 5 of this year. The board of elections must verify signatures on the petition as registered voters.

Blalock and PC PRIDE have opposed the much-debated expansion by Republic Services of the Upper Piedmont Environmental Landfill.

Others who had already filed for seats on the board of county commissioners included incumbents Jimmy Clayton, a Democrat, and Larry Yarborough, a Republican.

Others challenging the incumbents are Democrats Sam Winstead, a former commissioner, Mike Barrett, the former head of the Person Democratic Party, David Brooks and Ray Jeffers, a former county employee, and Republican Gerry O’Neil.

A Democratic primary on May 6 will find Barrett, Brooks, Clayton, Jeffers and Winstead competing for their party’s nominations to the three available commissioner seats and the opportunity to face Republicans Kennington, O’Neil and Yarborough, and possibly unaffiliated hopeful Blalock in the general election.

Earlier this week, Person County Republican Jon G. (Greg) Bass filed for the North Carolina Senate seat currently occupied by Sen. Ellie Kinniard, D-Orange. The 23rd Senate District is made up of Person and Orange counties.

Kinniard filed in Orange County, seeking a seventh consecutive two-year term. She will face opposition in the Democratic primary in May from Chapel Hill resident Moses Carey, who is chairman of the Orange Board of County Commissioners.

Person County Register of Deeds Amanda Garrett is virtually assured of a fifth consecutive term inasmuch as she will be unchallenged in November.

District Court Judge Mike Gentry similarly is unopposed for re-election to one of the two politically non-partisan District Court judgeships in District 9A, which encompasses Person and Caswell counties. The other judgeship is held by Mark Galloway of Roxboro, whose seat is not up for election this year.

State Rep. W.A. (Winkie) Wilkins, D-Person, who serves District 55, which includes all of Person County and the northern portion of Durham County, also finds himself unopposed for a third term in the Legislature.