LAST-DAY FILING RESULTS IN SECOND RACE AT CHAFFEE

CHAFFEE -- The final day of filing for the April Chaffee City Council election ended with a one-race election turning into two races.

First-time council candidate Marlene Creech of 412 West Yoakum filed for the Ward 2 seat now held by Irmgard Chronister. City Clerk Diane Eftink said Creech filed for the seat Tuesday, the final day of filing.

The Ward 2 race will take place along with a three-way race in Ward 1. There the seat of Jerry Wolsey is being challenged by both John E. Nordin and Edward N. "Cotton" Sadler.

Also up for election are the seats of Councilmen Ron Eskew of Ward 3 and Brad Bader of Ward 4. Both are unopposed.

All seats carry two-year terms. The election will be held April 7.

Creech, 44, said this marks the first time she has run for the council. She said she filed for two reasons: because she doesn't feel equal representation exists in Ward 2 and if democracy exists, there should be a choice.

"I'm for the little person," she said. "I'm tired of the bigger people having all the says.

"I have no specific ideas for any great things in Chaffee. I think Chaffee is a fine small town. It always has been and it's continuing to be."

The challenger would not say whether she was taking issue with Chronister's representation in Ward 2. In September 1990 Creech and her husband, Omer Creech Jr., were among several people who expressed offense over Chronister having city crews trim some Chaffee residents' trees and bushes. Some trees and bushes owned by the couple were some of those trimmed.

In taking the action, Chronister, who said she had the trimming done for safety reasons, acted without the council's formal approval. Omer Creech later questioned what could be done to remove Chronister from the council.

Marlene Creech said the main message she wants to get across is that she wouldn't put her ideas and concerns ahead of her constituents "because it's not want I want; it's what they want.

A native of Danville, Ill., about 120 miles south of Chicago, Creech said she was former band director and a music teacher at both Chaffee and Woodland R-4 high schools. Her husband retired in the spring of 1990 as the principal of Chaffee Elementary.

Nordin, 32, works at Chaffee public schools as a bus driver and in maintenance. Like Creech, he is a first-time candidate for the council.

Basically, Nordin said, he just wants to contribute to the community a little by serving on the council. Nordin said he wanted to offer a little difference in opinion and "try to be a neighbor and a friend."

"I just feel that I've been a working man all my life. (I have) just a different type of viewpoint. I know what it means to really watch your money and what average people feel."

Nordin said he doesn't have any particular project that he would like to see pushed through. "Everybody's promised they'd pretty well do everything and we haven't seen a great deal."

He said he only wanted to promise that he would perform the job to the best of his ability and be as fair as he could.

Born in Dexter, Nordin said he's lived most of his life in Chaffee.