Perry, Holley, Knowles win in Bertie

Published 11:25 pm Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Bertie County Democrats have selected incumbent Commissioner J. Wallace Perry to serve a third term on the board.

Perry received 52.3 percent of the vote in Tuesday’s Primary in defeating the challenges of Curtis E. Bryan (43.4 percent) and Lenton Brown (4.3 percent). He advances to the November General Election against Republican Harvey D. Ginn.

A three-term incumbent Democrat, Perry said he was pleased to be chosen by the citizens of Bertie County.

“It feels great that the people have shown their confidence in me to allow me to win another primary,” Perry said.

He said he believed the vote came down to a positive feeling about Bertie County’s government.

“I think they like the way the government is operated now,” he said.

Perry was named by 1,777 voters while Bryan was chosen on 1,473 ballots. Brown was a distant third with 147 votes.

Overall, Perry captured seven of the 12 precincts in Bertie County as well as winning in both One-Stop Voting and the absentee ballots.

White’s Precinct supported Perry with 147 votes to 37 for Bryan and just nine for Brown. Roxobel was also a big supporter of Perry, choosing him on 152 ballots compared to 66 for Bryan and 10 for Brown.

Perry also won in Merry Hill (108-33-3), Colerain I (104-53-9), Mitchells I (75-37-5), Mitchells II (85-77-5) and Windsor II (97-46-12). Brown finished with the lowest total in each of those precincts.

Bryan’s biggest victories came in the Indian Woods precinct where he was tabbed on 68 ballots compared to only 10 for Perry and three for Brown and Windsor I where he garnered the support of 286 voters to 220 for Perry and a dozen for Brown. He also won Colerain II (180-134-8), SnakeBite (98-46-7) and Woodville (99-75-10).

Brown’s largest vote total came in Windsor I and Windsor II, each of which he gained 12 votes.

Bertie County’s race for Sheriff was narrowed Tuesday night as well.

Incumbent Sheriff John Holley won the Democratic nomination by an overwhelming majority. He received 78.92 percent of the vote over Eddie Graham Jr. Holley received 2,718 votes to 726 for Graham.

Holley won all 12 precincts. His biggest support came from Windsor I where he had 414 votes compared to 97 for Graham and Colerain II where he received 279 votes compared to 44 for Graham. Holley also easily won the Merry Hill precinct (131-21), SnakeBite (120-37), Roxobel (174-55) and Mitchell’s I (92-27).

Sheriff Holley also was named on 852 ballots in the One-Stop voting compared to 141 for Graham.

The current Sheriff will meet a challenge from Republican Brian Knowles, who defeated Derrick W. Knox in Tuesday’s Primary.

Knowles was chosen on 186 ballots compared to 68 for Knox. The largest support for Knowles came in One-Stop voting where he received 39 votes compared to 22 for Knox.

Knowles also won all 10 precincts in which Republicans cast ballots. Those votes totals included: Colerain I (14-7), Colerain II (20-4), Mitchell’s I (12-6), Mitchell’s II (19-1), Merry Hill (6-1), Roxobel (27-12), Windsor I (22-6), Windsor II (5-0), Woodville (3-2) and White’s (19-6).

No Republican votes were cast in Indian Woods or SnakeBite.

Holley and Knowles will now meet in the November General Election where Bertie voters will decide who will be the county’s top law enforcement officer for the next four years.