3 running to replace Nash on county council
Three Republican candidates are seeking the Laurens County Council District 1 seat currently occupied by veteran Councilman Ted Nash.
Nash opted to retire at the end of his term in November, citing health concerns.
Susan K. Thackston, Ryan D. Thorne and Kemp Younts filed to run for the District 1 seat. The winner among them in the June 12 GOP Primary election will be the presumptive winner unless a write-in campaign from another party or Independent is formed. No Democrats filed for any of the three county council seats up for grabs in this year’s general election.
Thorne, 31, is the director and CEO of Thorne Ambulance Service. He said he decided to run for the District 1 seat after attending several county council meetings and budget sessions over the past couple of years.
“After doing that, I became very passionate,” he said. “I want to see some very positive changes take place in our county. I’d like to see more economic development; I’d like to see us bring more ZFs into the area so that we could bring additional revenues to the county through FILOTs and corporate taxes instead of having to increase taxes on individuals.”
Younts, 64, formerly owned rental properties in the Fountain Inn area and currently owns and operates a home remodeling business. He said he doesn’t want Laurens County to become “a quagmire.”
“I don’t want to see Laurens County turn into a county that has more chiefs than anything else like some other places,” he said. “I know things can’t stay the same, but there are parts of it we don’t need to lose.”
