Huntingdon County will not have to consider buying a flintlock rifle in the future. Following an hour-long hearing Monday afternoon, Judge Stewart Kurtz ruled that sheriff candidate Mark Cummins Frailey\u2019s name not be on the May 17 Republican primary ballot because he did not have the required 100 valid signatures on petitions he filed for the county-wide office.
\nThe controversial candidate was paroled from the Huntingdon County Prison on time served under a plea agreement. He entered a \u201cno contest\u201d plea on two courts of corrupting the morals of a minor. Both counts are misdemeanors of the first degree.
\nIn a previous story published in The Daily Herald concerning Frailey\u2019s candidacy, District Attorney Robert Stewart III said that a person convicted of corruption of minors could not carry most firearms normally carried by a law enforcement officer. However, there would be no restrictions on carrying a \u201cflintlock,\u201d said Stewart.
\nMarch 11, former Judge Newton Taylor filed a petition on behalf of Huntingdon County resident E.B. \u201cSonny\u201d Heine challenging the majority of the signatures on Frailey\u2019s petition.
\nMonday\u2019s hearing was to determine if any of those signatures would be removed for cause.
\nFrailey represented himself at the hearing.
\nTaylor called only one witness, the county registration clerk, Sandra McNeal.
\nThe former judge meticulously went through the list of over 100 names being challenged with McNeal being asked various questions including residency and party affiliation.
\nJudge Kurtz determined \u2014 and Frailey agreed \u2014 that 16 names could be stricken from the petition, giving him only 91 valid signatures on a petition that requires 100. Kurtz was not required to rule on stickier questions concerning the intent of the petition signers, such as is \u201cChris\u201d the same as \u201cChristopher.\u201d
\nThere was never a charge that Frailey did something wrong, only that he did not get enough signatures above the minimum requirement of 100, in case there are errors.
\n\u201cThe last time I ran, I got four or five times more than needed,\u201d Kurtz informed Frailey.
\nFrailey said he had made a \u201cgood-faith\u201d effort in obtaining signatures, and in a response filed with the prothonotary just prior to the hearing, said that good faith should be considered, and all signatures should be valid.
\n\u201cI am disappointed,\u201d said Frailey following the hearing.
\nHe also said he did not have the money to mount any challenge to the judge\u2019s ruling.
\nFrailey said what happened is that he ran into a \u201cpolitical machine\u201d in Huntingdon County because the challenge to his petition was filed hours after his formal announcement.
\nIn his petition to the court, Frailey also wrote, \u201cWhether true or not, there is a \u2018good ole boys\u2019 perception by the residents of Huntingdon County in how government is run. By disallowing these signatures and not allowing the name of Mark Cummins Frailey to be put on the May 17, 2005, Republican primary ballot, you are giving this perception credibility.\u201d
\nWilliam Hoover, the county\u2019s GOP chairman attended the hearing and said it is good when voters do have a choice, but candidates must follow the rules.
\nIncumbent sheriff William Walters would only say, \u201cI\u2019m just glad this is over.\u201d
\nTaylor said it is up to the candidates and those who obtain signatures to make sure they are signed properly.
\nTaylor also said he was sure Frailey \u201cmeant no malice\u201d by submitting a petition with some invalid signatures. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Huntingdon County will not have to consider buying a flintlock rifle in the future. Following an hour-long hearing Monday afternoon, Judge Stewart Kurtz ruled that sheriff candidate Mark Cummins Frailey\u2019s name not be on the May 17 Republican primary ballot because he did not have the required 100 valid signatures on petitions he filed for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news-in-the-tyrone-pennsylvania-area"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=43214"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43214\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=43214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=43214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=43214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}