McAlester News-Capital, McAlester, OK

Local News

February 7, 2009

KTC race tops list for Tuesday school elections

By James Beaty

By JAMES BEATY

SENIOR EDITOR

All the precincts in Pittsburg County will be open on Tuesday for the school board elections — even if no local candidates will be on the ballot in all of the districts.

That’s because two candidates will be on the ballot in an election for a seat on the Kiamichi Technology Center school board for Zone 2.

Candidates for the seven-year term on the KTC Board are Larry Culwell, of Bokoshe, and Brad Garrett, of Keota. The board is responsible for the KTC schools in the zone, including the KTC campus in McAlester.

KTC’s Zone 2 covers 13 counties in Southeastern Oklahoma, including Pittsburg, Latimer, Hughes, McIntosh and Haskell counties.

Other counties in Zone 2 are Atoka, Coal, LeFlore, Pushmataha, Bryan, Choctaw, McCurtain and Johnston counties.

“All the polling places in Pittsburg County will be open because any registered voter will be eligible to cast a ballot in the Kiamichi Technology District election,” said Pittsburg County Election Board Secretary Cathy Thornton.

Meanwhile, in addition to the KTC election, local school board races are set for Tuesday in the Crowder, Haileyville, Indianola and Pittsburg School districts.

Polling places will be open from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. on Tuesday.

In the KTC race, Culwell, 56, of Bokoshe, is a retired superintendent, principal and teacher.

He spent part of the day on Friday in the McAlester area, meeting people and campaigning.

“I feel like I can be instrumental as a board member over the technology centers,” Culwell said.

Culwell said he taught math at Keota from 1974 to 1984, and then served as a junior high and high school principal at Red Oak from 1991 until 1984.

He said he also served as a principal and superintendent at Wister Public Schools from 1991 until 1994, and then from 1994 until 1998, he served as superintendent at Howe Public Schools.

“I went back to Red Oak from 1999 until 2004 and I retired as superintendent in 2004,” Culwell said. He said his wife, Lou Culwell, retired as an elementary school principal at Red Oak.

Since he’s retired, he’s kept busy, Garrett said.

“I run cattle and I have a cow-calf operation,” he said.

Due to his years as a school administrator, Culwell said he’s very familiar with boards, agendas and operating schools.

Culwell said he would like to serve the district.

“I think we need some change and I have something to offer,” he said.

Garrett, of Keota, is the current KTC board president.

He had been indicted by the state multicounty grand jury in 2007 on complaints of conspiracy and harassment.

Garrett pleaded innocent to the charges and Latimer County District Judge John Sullivan dismissed the counts against Garrett, 68, and two others in July 2008.

Garrett and the others had faced the conspiracy charges in connection with the KTC board’s decision to fire former Superintendent Gregory Winters.

Prosecutors alleged Winters had been fired in retaliation for cooperating with a grand jury investigation — an allegation the defendants denied.

Calls to Garrett were not immediately returned as this article was being prepared for publication.

Other public school districts in Pittsburg County which have candidates on the ballot for the Tuesday school board election:

• Crowder — Doyle G. Morris and Josh Thompson are vying for a five-year term in Office No. 4.

• Haileyville — Jimmy J. Stewart Sr., Paul N. Tucker and Becky Grant are running for a five-year term in Office No. 4.

• Indianola — Rod Griffith and James Shropshire are seeking a five-year term in Office No. 4.

• Pittsburg —Don Caudill and Wayne Tate are candidates for a five-year term in Office No. 4.

Early in-person absentee ballot voting will be available in advance of the Tuesday election from 8 a.m. until 6 p.m. on Monday in the county election board office inside the Professional Building at 10 E. Washington Ave., adjacent to City Hall.

Contact James Beaty at jbeaty@mcalesternews.com.

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