MICHELLE WILLARD, Post Content Editor
Posted: Thursday, March 4, 2010 10:05 pm

State Sen. Bill Ketron prays with Lt. Gov. and Tennessee gubernatorial candidate Ron Ramsey at the beginning of the RuCo GOP's county caucus. TMP/M. Willard

Rutherford County Republicans packed the Historic County Courthouse to caucus for county elected offices.

“This is overwhelming to see this many people here. … We’re friends with a common vision,” Burgess said.

The Republican Party approved 227 delegates and 61 alternates to nominate its candidates for County Mayor, Trustee, Clerk, Sheriff, Register of Deeds and Circuit Court Clerk.

County Mayor
Incumbent Rutherford County Mayor Ernest Burgess was unopposed in his nomination as the Republican candidate.

“I’ve been honored to serve as this county’s first Republican mayor for the past three and a half years,” Burgess said after accepting the nomination.

Rutherford County Trustee
Incumbent Trustee Teb Batey is also the first Republican to hold that county office.

He was unopposed and nominated unanimously by acclamation.

The Trustee serves as the treasurer of the county. The office serves as the county bank since it handles all receipts and disbursements for the operating departments of general government, public education, and highways. The Trustee is responsible for billing and collecting property taxes, maintaining accurate records of property tax payments, managing the total cash of the county, and investing the idle cash funds.

Rutherford County Clerk
County Clerk was the only office with multiple candidates vying to replace retiring Clerk Georgia Lynch.

Lisa Duke-Crowell and Todd Malone were both nominated for the office.

Duke-Crowell currently works in the County Clerks office as a supervisor of the Title and Renewal Clerks in the Motor Vehicle Division.

Malone is an insurance agent, MTSU graduate and veteran of the U.S. Air Force.

After ballots were passed out to all the delegates and counted, Duke-Crowell was declared the winner with 160 votes to Malone’s 36 votes.

Rutherford County Sheriff
Sheriff’s Deputy Robert Arnold was nominated to run against incumbent Sheriff Truman Jones.

Arnold has served as a Rutherford County Sheriff’s Deputy for 11 years, working as a detention officer, patrol officer, student resource officer and with the gang unit.

Arnold was demoted from student resource officer and transferred from La Vergne High School last year for alleged “failure to properly investigate an offense” involving a handgun.

Rutherford County Register of Deeds
Small business owner Heather Dawbarn was nominated to challenge Jennifer Gerhart as Register of Deeds.

The Register of Deeds is charged with recording and preserving certain documents that provide public notice of property ownership, liens and contracts, and other transactions and information that affects the public interest.

Rutherford County Circuit Court Clerk
Laura Bohling was nominated unanimously by acclamation as the Republican candidate for Circuit Court Clerk.

Eloise Gather is the current clerk, which is responsible for all filings, processing and final disposition of cases, which include several phases of the Civil and Criminal law procedures in the Juvenile, General Sessions (Civil & Criminal), Circuit Civil and Circuit Criminal Courts.