By David Peck

A few Park County voters made the difference in the race for the School District No. 1 Board of Trustees Tuesday as Nick Wilson of Cowley narrowly defeated Bill Loveland of Burlington for an at large seat on the school board.
When Big Horn County’s results were tallied Tuesday, Wilson and Loveland were tied with 449 votes apiece, unofficially. Gwen Nelson of Otto was third with 238 votes.
Then Park County reported its totals, and the patrons of the school district who live, and vote, in Park County put Wilson over the top with 11 votes. Nelson received eight votes and Loveland six, making the final, unofficial totals Wilson 460, Loveland 455 and Nelson 246.
Wilson won his home precinct of Cowley over Loveland 275-46, Byron 93-60, Deaver 39-14 and Frannie 35-23, but Loveland won big in the south portion of the district, carrying Burlington 244-7 and Otto 62-0. Frannie’s Park County voters won the election for Wilson.
In the race for the designated Deaver-Frannie seat on the school board, George Estes topped Billie Bymers 596-469, garnering 55.8 percent of the vote to 44 percent.
Estes, who is recovering from a stroke in Billings, carried Cowley 220-131, Byron 147-109, Burlington 103-90 and Otto 50-24. Bymers carried Deaver 57-44 and Frannie 58-32.
Ed Riding was unopposed in his bid to retain the designated Byron seat on the school board and received 977 votes.
Lovell School Board
In Lovell, all four incumbent school board members were re-elected. Matt Bassett topped the ticket with 1,078 votes, followed by Tracy Beal with 1,009 votes, Dan Anderson with 977 votes and Rebecca Moncur with 901. Finishing out of the running was Peter Birkholz with 481 votes.