Martindale braces for council elections

By LPR Staff
Editor/POST-REGISTER

In addition to facing growing pains as development springs up in the areas surrounding Martindale, the community faces internal strife as city council elections near.
Nearly 75 concerned Martindale residents gathered on Monday evening for a candidates” forum, to meet with the six candidates running for Martindale”s city

council this month.
The candidates are competing for three of the five seats at Martindale”s council table, and the makeup of the candidates has some residents concerned.
Two of the candidates, Place One incumbent Eugene Cox and Place Four hopeful Nancy Reyes-Cox, are husband and wife.
Some are troubled further by the Coxs” perceived alliance with Place Three incumbent Elida De Leon, who is also seeking re-election. DeLeon”s husband also serves on the council, but is not up for election this year.
“Don”t you think that if you are elected, this will be two families basically controlling all of Martindale,” one citizen asked of Reyes-Cox. Others cheered and mirrored her concern.
Reyes-Cox, however, responded that her seeking election was perfectly legal, and that she and her husband often disagreed, and as councilmembers, they would do what was best for the community.
Early voting in the Martindale city council elections began this week. Election Day will be Saturday, May 13. The candidates seeking election are:
Place One: Eugene Cox (incumbent) and Les Harrison;
Place Three Elida DeLeon (incumbent) and Dorothy Jo Hardwick;
Place Four: Karen Linebarger and Nancy Reyes-Cox.