KYLE MURPHYStaff Writer

More names have picked up and filed as the deadline for the August ballot is this Thursday, as well as current alderman Daniel Berry’s announcement of not running for office.

The deadline for potential candidates to pick up and submit their qualifying papers for the August election to the Coffee County Election Commission, located at 1329 McArthur St. in Manchester, is this Thursday, April 4, at noon. The withdrawal deadline is the following Thursday, April 11 at noon.

As of Thursday, March 28, Lynn Sebourn was still the only candidate to file his papers for the seat of Tullahoma Mayor. In addition, Tullahoma Alderman Kurt Glick picked up his papers for the race, and joins other potential candidates, who have picked up but have yet to file as of writing, Jeff Damron, Petros Pisinos, C. Scott Shasteen and George Wilson. Current Mayor Ray Knowis announced in March he would not be seeking re-election.

Alderman Daniel Berry, who picked up his papers for both Tullahoma mayor and alderman races, announced over the weekend on his Alderman Facebook page his decision to not seek re-election for his aldermanic seat or run for mayor. Berry has served has aldermen for two terms since his election in 2019.

“This is not because of me or anyone else sitting on these boards but because of the men and women who put on the City of Tullahoma name tag daily and because of you, the community and your shared vision,” Berry said in his statement. “I cannot describe the pride I feel in having been fortunate enough to have your trust, to have been elected to two terms, and to have been a small part of moving Tullahoma forward.”

For the race for Tullahoma Aldermen, Matthew Bird and Busch Thoma join Franklin Cammack as candidates who have filed their qualifying papers. Meanwhile, John Louis Santana picked up his papers and joins current alderman Derick Mann, Jeff Damron, who also picked papers for the mayoral race, Richard Marshall and Sernobia McGee as potential candidates as Monday afternoon. For the aldermanic race, the seats of Jenna Amacher, Berry and Mann will be up for grabs.

For the Manchester races, Bill Nickels joins Robert “Bob” Bellamy and Joey Hobbs for the Manchester mayoral race while potential candidate Brandon Imhoff has yet to submit is qualifying papers as of writing. Current Manchester Mayor Marilyn Howard announced in February her decision to not seek reelection for the seat.

As for Manchester aldermen, several names have picked up their qualifying papers while James Threet has filed his papers. The candidates who have picked up but yet to file as of writing include current aldermen Julie Anderson and Ryan French, Jason Bramblett, Harold Jones, John Revice Fletcher, Shannon Fletcher, Joe E. Cope and Wilma Jo Thomas. Similarly to Tullahoma, three seats will be on the August ballot as the terms of current aldermen Julie Anderson, Bellamy and Ryan French will expire in August.

The other candidates who have picked up their papers are Rupa Blackwell for the State Executive Committeewoman for District 16 and Khamai Marion’Day Rozier for the 4th District U.S. House of Representatives seat. Current State Senator Janice Bowling has filed her papers for her 16th District State Senate seat, and current State House of Representative Rush Bricken has filed his petition for his 47th District State House of Representative. Veronica Owens also filed her petition for the U.S. House of Representatives – 4th Congressional District.

The other races on the August ballot will be winners of the March 5 primary, which decided the winners of those respective offices. Those offices include Coffee County Property Assessor, with Elissa Fletcher winning the primary, Tullahoma City Schools Board of Education with Broc Compton, Rosie Graham, Pat Welsh and Kim Uselton winning their respective seats. Also on the county were Dowe Jones and Roger Chamers winning the seats of the Coffee County Commission Districts 1 and 2 respectively; Arlis Markum for Road Commissioner Seat 2, District 4; Holly Matthews for Coffee County School Board Seat 1 – Districts 1,3 & 4, Gary Cordell and Scott Hansert for Coffee County School Board Seat 2 – Districts 2, 6 & 7; Robert Gilley and Beth Yentsch for Coffee County School Board Seat 3 – District 5, 8 & 9; Randal Braker for Constable Seat 3 – Districts 5,8 & 9; and Susan Parsley and Lee Sullivan Manchester City school board.