Dead mayor elected, replacement sought

WINFIELD, Mo., April 9 (UPI) -- City officials in Winfield, Mo., said the four-member board of aldermen must choose a new mayor after the incumbent was posthumously re-elected.

Harry Stonebraker, who was elected to a fourth term Tuesday, died at the age of 69 on March 11, the day after the state deadline for removing deceased candidates from ballots, the Hannibal (Mo.) Courier-Post reported Thursday.

"It's a situation we've never had before," City Clerk Cindy Hemmer said.

She said Stonebraker won by a landslide in the election, with 205 votes out 231 ballots cast.

"That speaks for what they thought of him as mayor," Hemmer said.

Alderman Bernie Panther, the only challenge on the ballot, declined to comment on whether he would seek the job when the board meets Monday to choose a new mayor.

"I don't know what's going to happen," Panther said. "It could be a long board meeting and it could be a short one. We'll see how it plays out."