 |
||||||||
 |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Fisher unseats Olsen in Ward 2
By SHEILA MULLANE ESTRADA © St. Petersburg Times, published March 21, 2001 GULFPORT -- For the first time in a decade, Ward 2 has a new representative on City Council. Civic activist Dawn Fisher, 67, ousted five-term incumbent Jack Olsen in Tuesday's runoff election -- a result, Fisher said, that confirmed "a lot of people wanted to see somebody new on the Council." Fisher won with 52 percent of the vote. "I'm kind of dumbfounded, just taking it all in," Fisher said Tuesday night. In the March 6 election, Fisher finished first among three candidates, edging Olsen by 32 votes -- before Tuesday the only time Olsen did not finish first in a Council election. But neither Fisher nor Olsen won 50 percent or more of that vote, setting up Tuesday's citywide runoff. Olsen has had a long history of service to Gulfport. He was on the city's Board of Adjustment and has been a Boy Scout master. He owns his own business, Southern Home Care & Medical Services. He has been a resident of Gulfport since 1978. "I wish her luck. She's a good person and she ran a good race," Olsen said. "I'd be glad to help her out in any way that I can." Fisher, who ran a more laid-back campaign, depended mainly on mailed fliers and her record of community involvement. She has lived in Gulfport only three years but has been active on the Gulfport Arts Council, is a board member of Friends of Strays, and is vice president of the Gulfport Chamber of Commerce. She helped organize Fourth of July and Taste of Gulfport events. Fisher, who has advocated a cleaner Gulfport, said one thing won't change with her election victory: She will continue to pick up trash for two hours every morning.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • Tampa Bay Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111 
|
From the Times South Pinellas desks |
