Cole will be next sheriff

Kim Cole, left, along with Sgt. Jody Hartley, who will become undersheriff

LUDINGTON – Kim Cole of Pere Marquette Township will be Mason County’s next sheriff. Cole defeated Sheriff Jeff Fiers of Custer Township in Tuesday’s primary race, both candidates were running as Republicans and there is no Democrat candidate. Cole won 53 percent of the Republican ticket votes 3,412 to 2,965.

Fiers won several of the eastern county precincts, some by large margins. However, Cole was dominant in Ludington, Pere Marquette Township, Hamlin Township, Summit Township and Amber Township, where the majority of the county’s population lives.

“I am very appreciative to the voters of Mason County,” Cole said at a victory celebration at The Chuck Wagon Pizza. “I am also very humbled that the people have entrusted me to protect them. I will do my best, I promise that.”

Cole was celebrating along with many other off-duty personnel from the Mason County Sheriff’s Office. He was endorsed by 100 percent of the uniformed department personnel.

Technically, Cole has not officially won the sheriff seat yet. His name will still appear on the ballot in the November general election; there is no Democrat candidate. Fiers also could run a write-in campaign but his chances of victory are quite slim, according to Ivan Anthony, former county clerk. Anthony said during his decades as county clerk, no one ever successfully ran a county-wide write-in campaign.

Sheriff Jeff Fiers

Story and photo by Rob Alway, Editor-in-Chief