Monroe County Council member Warren Henegar passed away yesterday at the age of 85. Henegar had previously served on both the county council and county commissioners, but he lost his bid for re-election to the council in the May 8 primary when he finished outside of the top three.

Voters in both the primary and general election vote for up to three candidates. The top three candidates in each party's primary advance to the general election, and the top three candidates in the general election take their seats on January 1, 2013.

With this in mind, it is worth revisiting a very strange and morbid statement made by the husband of county council candidate Sophia Travis, who was running against and defeated Henegar in the primary. The husband of county council candidate Sophia Travis posted on HeraldTimesOnline.com as "GRT" in the spring and currently posts as "Nitpick" on HTO. He became very angry when I questioned whether she was campaigning in bad faith, and wrote the following:

Scott Tibbs is aware, because I told him in a private email, that Sophia Travis has a condition that, statistically, makes it possible, if not likely, that she would die in office and be unable to fulfill her term. She shares this status with my friend Warren Henegar who due to his age also has a high statistical likelihood of expiring while in office and being unable to complete his term.

If it is legitimate to question either candiate's suitability for office because they might come to live with me somewhere, sometime, maybe, maybe not then surely it is legitimate to openly question their suitability due to the likelyhood of death. I do not understand why Mr. Tibbs refuses to discharge his duty and inform his fellow democratic party primary voters that a vote for either Travis or Heneger could well be wasted due to rigor mortis (note that this condition is not disqualifying for Republican candidates)

Posted: Friday, April 27, 2012: 1:28 pm

This was in incredibly bad taste when it was posted, and with Henegar's tragic passing it is even worse in hindsight - especially since Henegar had battled cancer in his last year. For the husband of Sophia Travis to exploit a candidate's health problems in an attempt to win a primary election is shameful and despicable.

Sophia Travis should apologize to Warren Henegar's family for this incredibly dirty political attack. There was no excuse for it and there is no justification for it.

ConservaTibbs

A shameful and despicable attack

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