By Stephen Tool, MCIN Staff

The petition to recall Mineral County Commissioner Paul MacBeth fizzled out on April 7. Glen Inlow, the petition organizer, failed to gather the required 205 signatures to initiate the recall.

The unsuccessful petition gathered 116 signatures, or about 4 percent of the Mineral County’s 2,803 registered voters.

MacBeth, the subject of the recall, said, “I really felt the initial recall was a real blow to the people who entrusted me to do my job as commissioner. I’m glad it’s over and the truth prevailed.”

Commissioner Cliff Cichowlaz said in a written statement, “Not sure what the real purpose of the recall was for, but my observation is that Paul strives to give value to the taxpayers of Mineral County. Paul works really hard to be actively engaged in the community and stays involved in current events. Bottom line, it’s a pleasure serving with MacBeth on the board.”

Sheriff Stewart Handte said: “I think it’s a great thing. I’m glad to see the recall effort failed. The people spoke, so it’s time to move on to bigger and better things.”

Glen Inlow was philosophical about the petitions failure: “To me, it made no difference one way or the other whether it made it or not. I pushed to try and get the signatures until I seen it wasn’t going to happen. I really used this recall effort to inform all the people about what the Nuisance Abatement Ordinance is all about.

“I never had anything personally against MacBeth; as a matter of fact, as far as I’m concerned, all three of those commissioners should have been recalled. Cliff (Cichowlaz) didn’t vote for the ordinance because he wasn’t there that day. It would have been ridiculous to do a recall for her (Jerrie Tipton) because she was up for election this November. Why do a recall for her when no one would run against her anyway? MacBeth was the only politically feasible one to do.”

Tipton had not returned calls from the Independent-News for comment at press time.