Mayor, all four town councilors re-elected

By Don Richeson

Published: May 6, 2008

Town voters swept Madison Mayor Willie Lamar to a third four-year term Tuesday. The Church Street resident and Madison Drug Company pharmacist fended off a challenge by South Main Street resident Zane Byram, owner of Byram’s Automotive Works Inc. Lamar defeated Byram in the May 6 election by a seven-vote margin, 38-31.

Incumbents also fared well in the Madison Town Council race – voters re-elected all four – Alma Ayers, Lawrence Beasley, Charles Carter and Nancy Knighting – to additional four-year terms. Challenger Charles Berrey failed in his bid to unseat one of them. The council’s most senior member – five-term incumbent Thrift Road resident Lawrence Beasley – was the top vote getter. The Madison landlord and part-time barber received 54 votes.

Nearly half of the town’s 158 registered voters participated in the election (the turn-out was about 46 percent).

All seven candidates ran as Independents in the at-large races (the town only has one voting district.)