We got about two and a half inches of rain yesterday and last night. Last night, a number of thunderstorms passed through, but yesterday afternoon about 3:00, we had an extremely strong thunderstorm that dropped torrential rain. It blew very hard from the northeast, a direction from which it rarely rains. Needless to say, it did some driveway damage. At least in our immediate vicinity, there don’t seem to be any trees down, which there often are if the wind blows from a different direction than usual. After the very cold temperatures around Christmas, it is now feels almost spring-like, with the first real thunderstorms of the season and temperatures steady around 60.
The election for David Ralston’s seat was yesterday. As expected with five candidates, there will be a runoff, which is set for January 31, the last Tuesday in January. It will be between Johnny Chastain, the President of the United Community Bank in Blue Ridge and Sheree Ralston, David Ralston’s widow.
The overall vote totals were Ralston, 3,582; Chastain, 3,125; Heitman, 590; Pritchard, 490; Stone, 169. Total votes cast, 7,956.
In the Fannin County vote, Chastain got 2,160 votes while Ralston got 1,576.