Tamaqua school board incumbents easily won the Republican nomination for another four-year term on Tuesday while four challengers won the Democratic nominations and will face off in the fall.

Trina Schellhammer, Thomas Bartasavage, Daniel E. Schoener and Larry A. Wittig ran as a team. They singled out Cheryl Tennant Humes, Karen Tharp, Liz Pinkey and Justin D. Startzel in some mailings using national political figures to lambaste them.

The vote totals on the Republican side have Schellhammer leading the way with 1,508 votes followed by Bartasavage, 1,504; Schoener, 1,469; Wittig, 1,460; and Melanie I.S. Dillman, 1,279, to complete the GOP ticket in the fall. Wittig is board president. Finishing out of the running were Pinkey, 752; Startzel, 740; Stacey Betz, 710; Humes, 619; and Tharp, 597.

On the Democratic side the top five finishers were Pinkey, 519; Tharp, 500; Startzel, 496; Humes, 442; and Betz, 335. Finishing out of the running were Bartasavage, 263; Schellhammer, 248; Schoener, 218; Wittig, 201; Dillman, 197; and Jessica Ivy, 153.

The district currently has two lawsuits pending against it, one from the teachers union and another from a group of parents, over the implementation of a policy allowing employees to carry firearms in school.

School board members agreed in January to temporarily suspend the implementation of the controversial policy, No. 705, following the filing of the two legal challenges.

The board, however, revived the plan in April, saying appeals of the court cases could last for years, and the district is ready to move forward.

Blue Mountain

Blue Mountain has five four-year term seats up for election.

The GOP winners were Scott Reichert, 1,299; Timothy G. Grube, 1,170; Krista Strause, 1,123; Michelle Vesay, 1,012; and David Lafko, 981. Finishing out of the running were Jodi Baldwin, 810; Kendall Reber, 760; Nancy McNulty Daubert, 734; Leslie A. Herring, 671; and Michaelene Shappel, 600.

On the Democratic side the top five finishers were Strause, 511; Vesay, 487; Reichert, 467; Baldwin, 418; and Grube, 373. Finishing out of the running were Lafko, 276; McNulty Daubert, 271; Herring, 265; Reber, 251; and Shappell, 204.

Mahanoy Area

Five four-year term seats were up for nomination.

Four people won both nominations and assured themselves a seat on the board in the fall. Top GOP vote-getters were Nancy M. Boyle, 469; Gary Gnall, 465; Susan C. Scheeler, 444; Michael Mistishen, 431; and Daniel Lynch, 411. Out of the running was Santino Napoli with 335.

On the Democratic side, the top five finishers in order were Scheeler, 392; Gnall, 384; Boyle, 372; Mistishen, 329; and Lynch, 324. Napoli got 264.