. ,. Hunter of Athens. I ~ (Continued from page 1)

EI On Monday, the Athens:4 Kelley is the same attorney

t . ' County Board of Elections' . .., ec IOn received a written protest from :~presentmg PhIlhrs 10 a com- .

Jonathon Metcalf assert ing that ·ulamt she filed wltb the Ohio some signatures on the E lections Commission relating

, Collinsworth petition are fraudu- :-; . _, lent and incomplete. :!f> her 2008 campaign for state

In the protest, Metcalf claims :¢presentative. . that some of the petition signa- : . The Messenger e-mailed tures and voter registrations are 'Dh' . ., written by the .r Ilbps some questIOns, mclud-

e de d "same hand" Protest filed :wg who ether the protest was filed

an I acy or altered on against ~n her behalf or if the four parts of Green P rt ' , . the overall hay :~~mocratlc Party found some-

tete £ . petition, and cOIT·efulTy ;~l)e to file the protest. She

pe I Ion Oftthhat all of ° Insworth iftpliedto the e-mail,butdidnot

ose parts '.- ., . should be :ilnswer those questIOns. Phillips

Stat h invalidated because of potential :~id it is up to the board of elec-

e ouse fraud. Also, he claIms a date on ~0n S to determine if one of the registratIOns was 'iO" II ' , . . altered. ";(0 msworth s petitIOns are

challe d Because of the alleged prq,p: ;·v<ilid, and that she is looking nge lems WIth the registrations, heci'l ;F<lrward to discussing issueS

asking that all regIstrations col!'d . . lected by Collinsworth be disal; : unng the campaIgn.

By SARA BRUMFIELD lowed, and that all parts of ilie :~ Hunter said that if Messenger stafT writer . candidacy petitions containin8 ~ <;> Ilinsworth has done nothing

sIgnatures of those regIstrants be ~ I . An Athens resident is protest- disallowed. : ~'? egal, then he should be able to 109 the declaration of candidac) . Metcalf also asserts that some :p.n hke anyone else.

Petition ftled by G P sIgnatures do not Include a fill' ,~ "Jf he's fine with the Board . . reen arty can· address or proper date, and t 'Iii . ' ' . , .

dlda~e Ty Collinsworth, who i~ those signatures should be disal. ;9~,E lectlons, ~hen I m fine WIth runrung for the 92nd District sea lowed. -. ~, Hunter said. in the Ohio H . Penny Brooks, deputy direG; t • Collinsworth said he was

. ouse o. tor of the Athens County BoaFe , Representatives. of Elections, said it's not com. ~ontacted about the protest on

Collinsworth is hoping Ie mon. practice by the board te :Wednesday afternoon by the unseat State Rep Debb' Ph'II' IIlvahdate an entIre petition fOj il thens County Board of . Ie I IpS questionable sIgnatures. :- . . of Athens, who is also being Metcalf and Phillips could no ~1~ctlOn s. He said he was sur­________ "".:,. :.:....;c;,;,;,;. .. ~ be reached by telephone for com : r)sed by the news.

ment W~dnesday by Th( ~! . "I don ' t know what they 're Messenger s news deadltne Th( ' . ,,' . protest fi led by Metcalf' say: ~rotes~1l1g, Collmsworth Said. commUlllcatlons regarding th( :a~ saId that all the sIgnatures protest should be directed to hi: ~n his petition are valid. attorney, Megan Kelley 0 ' • • B k . Columbus, who also cou ld not.l5< t: ' roo s saId that a protest reached for comment. - :[;earing wi II be held on

:W;ednesday at I :30 p.m. in .. " :

Athens County Common Pleas Court, room A.

Collinsworth, 22, of Nelsonville, said he is running for the seat held by Phillips because be wants to focus more on environmental issues.

"I'm running so that voters bave a true progressive cboice," be said. "For far too long tbe Democrats have campaigned on environmental issues and caved to lobbyists in Columbus. It is appalling and unforgivable that Debbie Phillips gave a speech on the Statehouse floor in sup­port of coal mining underneath Burr Oak State Park in Athens County."

Collinsworth was referring to the Legislature's approval of a plan that would allow Buckingham Coal Co. to mine a conveyance corridor under the park to connect its coal holdings on the east side of the park to those it has on the west side.

Pbillips has said she under­stands why people would be alarmed by the idea, but she said it 's a common-sense solu­tion that will create a larger buffer around the lake (Buckingham will give the state its coal rights closer to the lake), protect the park from ~ore than 200,000 truck loads of coal and prevent the con­struction of another mine entrance.

sbrumlield @athensmessenger.com