McClure picks Dillon as head of village's first government

McCLURE, Ill. -- Voters in McClure elected their first mayor Tuesday, choosing Cheryle Brenda Dillon, who last year led the fight to incorporate the more-than-century-old town as a village.

"I am very pleased," said Dillon, who shouted for joy at the Alexander County Courthouse in Cairo after the election results were posted.

Dillon defeated Gilbert Boren Jr. by a vote of 113 to 70.

"Not only did I win, but all the other people that I was working with won," said Dillon, referring to the election of six people to the town's new village board of trustees.

Elected to the board were David Taylor, Rodney Brown, Brenda Webb, Debra Seals, Jerry Wayne Wilson and Ronald Burford.

Burford led the way with 138 votes. Taylor had 125 votes; Brown, 121 votes; Webb, 107; Wilson, 106; Seals, 92; Stanley Mouser, 80; Lynn Cavness, 77; Claude Taylor, 63; and Frank Enloe, 47.

Dillon said she and the new board will now have to begin the process of developing a budget and setting up the new village government in the town of about 350 people.

"We have to have a town meeting," she said.

McClure residents last November voted to incorporate the town as a village so they could get clear of flood-plain regulations in Alexander County that effectively barred new construction.