April 13, 2016
By Paul Joseph, Paragon Communications News Director –
The statewide candidate filing period began at 8 am this Wednesday morning for state and county offices.
It continues from 8 am to 5 pm the next two days ending at 5 pm on Friday night.
A number of positions are open in each county and they are all the same.
For the counties of Beckham, Custer, Roger Mills and Washita, the county offices of county clerk, court clerk, sheriff and district two commissioner are all up for reelection.
In Custer County, Sheriff Bruce Peoples and County Clerk Karen Fry have announced they’ll not be seeking re-election.
Peoples will be finishing his second four-year term at the end of 2016 and Fry her third.
In Bechkham County, Sheriff Scott Jay announced last year he would not seek reelection but has recently changed his mind. A check with Beckham County Election Board Secretary Deidre O’Briant who confirmed that Jay picked up filing papers today. He announced last week he’ll be filing as a candidate this week.
Former Oklahoma Highway Patrolman and former Elk City newspaper owner and publisher Derek Manning was in O’Briant’s office at 8 and filed for Beckham County Sheriff and against Scott Jay.
Manning says he’s feeling pretty good about running for sheriff.
Manning says he filed today as soon as he could.
Manning served with the OHP for almost two decades with assignments in Logan County and Beckham County before eventually retiring to join his wife at the Daily Elk Citian newspaper.
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