By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette

The candidate signs have been sprouting across Nelson County the last few weeks like dandelions after an April shower. With the May Primary less than a month away, candidates are gearing up their final push to get voters' attention on their way to the voting booth.

Some have already begun going door-to-door to meet voters and ask for support, while others are turning to print, radio and TV to get their message out.

David Shields, a Democrat in the four-candidate race for Fourth District Magistrate, was in Cox's Creek earlier this week taking advantage of the good weather to go door-to-door and shake hands with voters and discuss the district's needs.

In addition to the usual campaign trinkets he's handing out (emery boards, ink pens, etc.), he's also providing voters with a statement on the issues he's identified as important in the district.

Among these issues are insuring the county has an adequate water supply, and working with the city to extend more sewers into the county.

With the city finances strapped with the debt load from a $22 million sewer plant running way under capacity, I suspect the city would be open to adding more customers -- provided there's an affordable way to do it.

Other candidates who've been running primary campaign ads in the print media include judge-executive candidates Kenny Fogle and Dean Watts; District 2 magistrate candidates Sam Hutchins and John Downs; coroner candidate Field Houghlin, and while not a political ad, District 4 magistrate candidate Tim Hutchins shows up in an ad for Handy Food mart (along with the rest of his employees).

Also in today's edition of The Kentucky Standard were ads from two incumbents who face strong challengers: Jailer Dorcas Figg and Sheriff Mike Newton.

Figg's ad is simple and to the point: She has 35 years experience in jail operations. Figg's challenger, former deputy sheriff Jon Ryan, had no ad in today's paper, though his yard signs were some of the earliest up and fairly widespread.

I haven't done a scientific study of the political yard signs in the sheriff's race, but incumbent Mike Newton appears to be running dead last -- at least in the areas I frequently travel.

John Rice, a former city police officer and presently a deputy sheriff under Newton, seems to have more signs out that any other sheriff candidate. Kenny Downs has a large number of supporters centered out toward Botland, and his signs appear to be well distributed elsewhere.

Speaking of political yard signs ...

In my district (District 4), the signs have been going up at a rapid pace. With four strong candidates running in the primary for the seat, David Shields has led the pack with the number of signs. I'm not sure who comes in second, because none of the three remaining candidates seem to have a great many signs placed along US31E into Coxs Creek. Some of the signs placed for former jailer Austin Weller have lettering peeling off. Bill Osborne's signs have popped up in places, and so have a few for Tim Hutchins (again, these impressions are based on what I see in the areas I travel).

In District 5, the three-way battle between incumbent Roy Drake and challengers Ronnie Hatfield and Jerry Hahn seem to have spurred equal numbers of signs between the three all over Northeast Nelson County.

Look for my own slightly more scientific analysis of political yard signs in the next couple of weeks here on The Nelson County Gazette.