By David Howell

Sardis could be the only municipality in the county to seat a new  mayor following Tuesday’s primary election results after two-term  mayor Rusty Dye polled third in a three-man race.

The town’s top elected position will be determined in the May 28  runoff between Lula Palmer and Billy Russell. The unofficial vote  count showed Palmer led the three-way ticket  with 315 votes, with Billy Russell polling 269 votes. Dye received 63 votes with election officials counting a small amount of affidavit  ballots Wednesday.

In Batesville, two-term Mayor Jerry Autrey fended off a challenge  from fellow Democratic candidates Brad Baker and Rufus Manley. Unofficial results showed Autrey winning with 869 votes (56 percent), followed by Baker with 465 (30 percent) and Manley with 205 (13 percent).

If Autrey fends off a challenge from Republican candidate Sidney Burns and independent Wally Pang in the June general election, Dye would be the only incumbent mayor  unseated.
In Como, incumbent Mayor Everett Hill beat back a challenge  from Mike Sumner. Hill received 57 percent of the votes cast, according to unofficial results.     
The race was much closer in Crenshaw as incumbent Mayor Oscar Barlow was nursing a 10 vote lead with a handful of affidavit ballots  remaining to be counted.

Alderman Races
The only Batesville ward with a Democratic primary was Ward 3, which saw incumbent Stan Harrison defeating challenger Wayne Reed, 224 to 138.
In Sardis, incumbent aldermen Roy Scallorn (at-large), JoJo Still  (Ward 1), and Clarence Jones (Ward 2) were all re-elected Tuesday.  

Scallorn defeated political newcomer Vic Henson with 57 percent of the vote tally according to unofficial results. Scallorn had 352 votes and Henson polled 263 votes.
Still defeated another political newcomer, Rogers Smith, with a 74  percent of the vote. Still had 133 votes and Smith had 46 votes. Jones easily defeated Rufus Smith, garnering 102 votes to Smith’s 58  votes.

In Ward Three, former North Panola superintendent Bonnie Smith  defeated Michael Price. Unofficial vote results showed Smith had 80  votes and Price had 53 votes.
There will be a runoff in Ward Four after incumbent Rivers Smith  trailed Tommy Rayburn in the three-way race. Rayburn received 66  votes and McArthur polled 58 votes. The third candidate, Jim Hardin,  received 45 votes.

Like the runoff for mayor, Rayburn and McArthur will be on the May  28 ballot.

In the only contested alderman seated in Como in Tuesday’s primary,  Ward 1 incumbent Clark Gregory was defeated by Tonia Heard. The vote count was not available at presstime.
In Ward 3 and Ward 4, both incumbents Ruby Higgenbottom and Teresa  Dishmon were unopposed.

The bid for alderman-at-large will be settled in the June general  election as Democratic candidate John Walton will face independent  candidate Mark Lipscomb. The Ward 2 seat will also be settled in  June, with independent candidate Dr. Forster Ruhl facing Democratic  candidate Rachel Powell

In Crenshaw, former mayor Sylvester Reed was easily defeated by  Catherine Phipps in Ward 5. In the other contested alderman race on  Tuesday’s ballot, incumbent Alberta Bradley received almost 70  percent of the vote in the three-way race for Ward 3. Bradley  defeated Marco Going and Corey Patterson.
The remaining three aldermen seats were unopposed. The unofficial  vote tally in Crenshaw was not available at press time.