25 years ago: Sheriff’s race, others bring primary voters to the polls

From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for Aug. 2, 1988:

  • Primary election day was getting off to a good start. About 10.36 percent of the city’s registered voters had cast ballots by noon today, according to a Journal-World poll check. Douglas County Clerk Patty Jaimes was sticking to her original prediction of 35 percent voter turnout in the county. However, some poll workers were finding the morning less than busy. “It’s slow, in fact I almost nodded off just now,” said a poll clerk at the Lawrence Public Library, where 50 people had come to vote in the morning. The major races on the county Republican ballot today were for sheriff, for a county commission seat, and for a congressional seat. The sheriff’s primary contest featured Loren Anderson, the county’s undersheriff, and Dallas Murphy, the county’s jail administrator. There was one major race on the Democratic ballot, a three-way primary race for the Douglas County Commission’s 2nd District seat. Contenders were Lawrence barber and city commissioner Mike Amyx; Eudora saw mill operator Fred Stewart, and former county treasurer Ruth Vervynck. The winner was to face Republican Tom Pyle of Eudora in the Nov. 8 general election.
  • Nashville entertainer and Kansas University alumnus Clyde Foley Cummins was to help kick of the Douglas County Fair this evening with a concert at the rodeo arena. Clyde, who had attended KU from 1976 to 1980 and had served as a drum major for the Marching Jayhawks, headed up a five-member band which had been featured at 400 fairs across the country since 1984. Other entertainment lined up for the five-day Fair included a demolition derby, square dancing, a “bracelet night” at the carnival, and live entertainment from Borderline Country, Junkyard Jazz, and the Loggins Band.