By GINA KINSLOW
Glasgow Daily Times
HORSE CAVE —
Only one of two potential candidates for Horse Cave’s mayoral seat has actually filed for office.
Mayor Odell Martin announced his candidacy for re-election on a Hart County radio station on July 19, but has yet to file paperwork with the Hart County Court Clerk’s office. Martin said he hopes to file the paperwork next week.
Horse Cave councilman Randall Curry filed to run for the office Wednesday.
Martin is seeking his second term as mayor and is running for re-election because he said he wants to take care of some unfinished business.
“There’s been several good projects in the city of Horse Cave that have been completed, which in my opinion greatly improved the community during my first term as mayor and there’s some other projects that have not been completed,” he said, adding that completion of those projects will be for the betterment of Horse Cave and the people who live in the town.
He was first elected to the seat in 2006. The Horse Cave City Council attempted to remove Martin from office on March 19, 2009, because he had refused to sign a management representation letter pertaining to the city’s 2006-07 financial audit. Martin was reinstated by the Hart County Circuit Court on March 26, 2009.
Prior to being elected mayor, Martin served as a Horse Cave City Council member for four years and for three years in the late 1970s.
Martin is owner of Martin Auctions and Real Estate, and has been a member of several civic groups in the past.
“I just want to make a difference in Horse Cave,” Curry said as to why he chose to seek election to the mayoral seat. He has worked all of his life to make his community a better place to live, he said. “I feel like I can go even further in the position as mayor to improve our community.”
Curry has served as a Horse Caver City Council member for 16 years. He has also been a member of the Caverna Jaycees for 15 years, a Caverna Board of Education member for 20 years, a Hart County Industrial Authority member for 12 years and worked for the Dana Corporation for 30 years — serving as supervisor for 11 years.
He has been a partner in Caveland Trophies in Horse Cave for the past 22 years.
“Being a partner of a small business in Horse Cave for the last 22 years has given be a better understanding of the plights of small businesses, and how important small businesses are to the local community,” Curry stated in an e-mail to the DailyTimes announcing his candidacy. “Local businesses are the backbone of small towns like Horse Cave and surrounding communities. Horse Cave has been blessed [in] these tough economical times to maintain jobs at our local manufacturing facilities. I will continue to work to bring viable business to Horse Cave.”
The last day to file for office in the November election is 4 p.m. Aug. 10.
