Five file for town council

by nathan oster and david peckA flurry of activity in the final two days of the filing period has produced a full slate of candidates for two vacant seats on the Greybull Town Council.Rod Collingwood, Myles Foley, Clayton Collingwood, Hal Hale and Les Lowe filed with the town clerk in the final days of the filing period, which closed at 5 p.m. Friday.All five will be on the ballot for the Aug. 21 primary election.The top four vote getters in the primary will go on to the general election in November.The top two candidates who emerge from the general election will win four-year terms in office and replace Kay Fleek and Jan Johnson.They will additionally be tasked, along with holdover councilmen Bob Graham and Bob McGuire, with appointing a new mayor. Frank Houk, the current mayor, has announced his intent to leave office at the end of December. County, state filingsOn the county level, incumbent commissioner Jerry Ewen of Shell has filed for the Republican nomination and is being joined on the ballot by GOP challenger Linda Harp of Basin.Randy Royal has filed his letter of intent to seek retention as the Circuit Court magistrate.All other county office holders are in the middle of their four-year terms.Rep. Elaine Harvey has filed for the Republican nomination to retain her District 26 seat in the Wyoming House of Representatives and is being challenged for the GOP nomination by Rob DiLorenzo of Emblem.On the state level, there is one U.S. Senate position and one U.S. House seat open.Sen. John Barrasso has filed for re-election and is being challenged for the Republican nomination by management consultant Emmett Mavy of Alpine and former mercenary Thomas Bleming of Lusk. There are three Democratic candidates: Al Hamburg of Torrington, Albany County Commissioner Tim Chestnut of Laramie and attorney William Bryk of Brooklyn, NY, who, according to statewide media reports, also filed to run as a “protest candidate” in Indiana, Idaho and New Hampshire. Bryk is reportedly taking advantage of the constitutional requirement that candidates for Congress need only live in the state they run in on Election Day. University of Wyoming historian Phil Roberts of Laramie, who ran for governor on the Democratic ticket in 1998, also announced last week that he will run for the U.S. Senate as an Independent.Rep. Cynthia Lummis has filed for the GOP nomination to retain her seat in Congress and has no challengers for the primary. Chris Henrichsen of Casper has filed for the Democratic nomination.