Published: May 07, 2008 11:05 am         

New face added to Fairfield board

Newcomer Trent Hostetler, one of two Benton Township candidates elected to the Fairfield School Board, collected 1,332 of the 3,275 votes cast in the contest.

“I’m really happy,” Hostetler said. “I appreciate the support I got from the community. A lot of people let me know they were supporting me. I hope to do my best for the community and the school and to continue the excellence the school has been a part of.”

As for future plans, Hostetler said he is “looking forward to getting to work on it.”

Incumbent David Thwaits was also re-elected from Benton Township and incumbent Michael Morehouse was re-elected from Jackson Township.

Morehouse defeated three others running for the Jackson Township seat on the Fairfield School Board Tuesday by a 10 percent margin.

“I was on eight years and decided to run one more term,” Morehouse said Tuesday night. “I am happy to be a part and serve the community in that capacity. I think we’ll have some challenges down the road with state legislative changes.” Those changes include property taxes and schools receiving financial help from the state, he said.

“I just want to thank the community for the support,” Morehouse said. “I hope we can strive to do things better as we go on in the community. There has to be a lot of joint effort to support the school board. We do have a lot of backing from the community. It’s a real positive thing.”

Incumbent Jonathan Graber, who is current school board president, was not re-elected.

The final tally for the Jackson Township race was: Morehouse, 706 votes or 34.88 percent of the vote; Graber, 488 or 24.11 percent; Steven S. Edwards, 425 or 21 percent; and Herschell Suitors, 405 or 20.02 percent.