Incumbents lose school board, village president races

By Scott Bellile

Two newcomers ousted a pair of incumbents on the New London School Board.

Hortonville’s village president also lost his seat to a village board trustee.

Ruckdashel

Tina Ruckdashel came out on top of the New London School Board election held Tuesday, April 2, garnering 1,739 votes.

“I appreciate all the support from the voters,” Ruckdashel said. “It was very humbling. I am excited to start this new position and look forward to representing our community and school district.”

Pete Bosquez finished behind Ruckdashel with 1,415 votes to capture the second school board seat up for grabs.

Incumbent Chris Martinson lost his seat by 17 votes, finishing with a total of 1,398.

Virginia Schlais, a board member for over 20 years and the current vice president, finished fourth, collecting 965 votes.

Hortonville President Al Habeck and Trustee Jeanne Bellile

In Hortonville’s village president race, Trustee Jeanne Bellile defeated Village President Al Habeck 374-196.

“I would like to thank all the residents of the Village of Hortonville for voting and for your support,” Bellile said in an email.

On the New London City Council, First District incumbent Robert Besaw retained his seat, beating write-in Mark Herter 186-30.

In a three-way write-in race to replace retiring Alderman Rob Way in the Fourth District, Mike Pinch prevailed with 146 votes. His competition, Dave Dorsey and Tim Roberts, finished with 32 and 31 votes, respectively.

Other contested races in the area included the offices of town supervisor in Dale, Greenville and Maple Creek; Ellington town clerk; and Maple Creek town chairperson.

Below are the complete unofficial results for the New London and Hortonville area races including the surrounding towns.

New London

• First District alderperson: Robert Besaw 186, Mark Herter (write-in) 30.
• Second District alderperson: Tom O’Connell 198.
• Third District alderperson: Lori Dean 189.
• Fourth District alderperson: Mike Pinch 146, Dave Dorsey 32, Tim Roberts 31.
• Fifth District alderperson: David Morack 127.
• School board (2): Tina Ruckdashel 1,739, Pete Bosquez 1,415, Chris Martinson 1,398, Virginia Schlais 965.

Hortonville

• Village trustee (3): Peter Olk 424, James Moeller 412, Dan Nejedlo 408.
• Municipal judge: Norbert Dallman 466.
• School board (2): Complete results not available yet. Craig Dreier (Hortonville representative) and Robert Van Den Elzen (Hortonia and Dale representative) were uncontested in their races.

Caledonia

• Town chairperson: Paula Pagel 328.
• Supervisor 1: Bill Abba 320.
• Supervisor 2: Vance Knuth 312.

Dale

• Town chairperson: Douglas Wunderlich 550.
• Supervisor 1: Darnel Laabs 404, Charles Zehner 209.
• Supervisor 2: Chad Degal 529.
• Constable: Sandy Gadamus 527.
• Sanitary District 1 Commissioner: Daryl Kistenmacher 96.

Ellington

• Town chairperson: Joe Schumacher 542.
• Supervisor 1: Robert Prunty 543.
• Supervisor 2: Allen Kaddatz 561.
• Clerk: Bonnie Fischer 456, Rachael A. Yogerst 245.
• Treasurer: Sherri Fassbender 592.
• Constable: Write-in 49. (The Press Star has reached out to Ellington’s clerk and awaits confirmation on whether there was a registered write-in for this position.)

Greenville

• Town chairperson: Jack Anderson 1,800.
• Supervisors (2): Joe Ryan 1,517, Dean Culbertson 1,420, Michael Woods 668.

Hortonia

• Town chairperson: Bob Luedtke 213.
• Supervisor 1: Nancy Willenkamp 208.
• Supervisor 2: Dennis Clegg 208.
• Clerk: Lyn Neuenfeldt 214.
• Treasurer: Marilyn Martin 213.
• Constable: Ron Willenkamp 211.

Lebanon

• Town chairperson: Alan Tank 323.
• Supervisor 1: Jeffrey Handschke 322.
• Supervisor 2: Donald Laughlin 324.
• Clerk: Mary Schoenrock 323.
• Treasurer: Lynn Tank 328.

Liberty

• Town chairperson: Scott Retzlaff 183.
• Supervisor 1: Tom Lambie 182.
• Supervisor 2: Scott Wright 181.
• Clerk: Julia DeGroot 181.
• Treasurer: Beth Ubl 184.
• Constable: Levi Lambie 182.

Maple Creek

• Town chairperson: Dalton Korth 90, Gary Coroneos 81.
• Supervisors (2): Mike Bruette 145, Jim Young (write-in) 55, Kevin Korth (write-in) 50.
• Clerk: Lori O’Connell (write-in) 90.
• Treasurer: Tory Much 171.
• Constable: Steven Janke 167.

Mukwa

• Town chairperson: Jim Curns 581.
• Supervisor 1: Lee Shaw 574.
• Supervisor 2: Matt Manske 586.
• Clerk: Jeannette Zielinski 617.
• Treasurer: Brenda Grove 605.

Royalton

• Town chairperson: Gerald Roen 261.
• Supervisor 1: Marlyn Ebert 260.
• Supervisor 2: Sheri Wieters 266.
• Clerk: Lori Rodencal 266.
• Treasurer: Patricia Craig 263.