Early Voting Ends Friday

The Dade County Board of Elections announced Tuesday that early voting is finally underway for the run-off election.

According to Lawanna Vaughan early voting was delayed because the ballots were not received until late Tuesday  morning from the State.

Early voting will be from 8:30 a.m. until 5 p.m. through Friday. No voting will be conducted on Monday.

The run-off election is Tuesday with polls opening at 7 a.m. Voters will have until 7 that night to mark their ballots.

Lockhart Is Ousted

American Legion Post 106 Commander Bill Lockhart told the Sentinel on Tuesday he had been ousted by district authority. “On Sunday, Aug. 12, the 7th District of the American Legion Commander Ken Temples announced to the attending members of Post 106 that he had relieved me as Commander of Post 106,” Lockhart wrote in an email. “As of this date I have not received any communication from the 7th District as to the reason I was relieved. I have not submitted any communication that stated that I wished to be relieved as Commander of Post 106. I, like a lot of others, am wondering the reason for the dismissal.”

Lockhart did not answer phone calls; nor, on Tuesday morning, did Post 106, so the Sentinel was unable to confirm reports that the Post Café, the Legion chapter's breakfast restaurant, was closed while the situation is resolved.

Lockhart, a Vietnam vet, was named by the Dade County Chamber of Commerce Dade's Citizen of the Year in 2011 for the relief work he and the Legion did in the grim aftermath of last year's tornados. The Post Café threw open its doors and aided by a surge of volunteers served around-the-clock free meals to storm victims and rescue workers. Lockhart also coordinated a chainsaw gang to cut out residents trapped in their damaged homes.