A Dozen File for Seats on Norco’s City Council

This fall’s race for three City Council seats is shaping up as a traditional campaign, Norco style, with a large pack of candidates who are in basic agreement on the city’s top priorities.

A dozen hopefuls--including two incumbents--filed their nomination papers by Wednesday’s deadline. All the candidates reached for comment this week said their primary goals are to preserve Norco’s rural character and defend its half-acre minimum lot size for new homes.

“That’s what everybody runs on in Norco,” one candidate, a longtime resident, commented.

Besides challenging the fervor of each other’s commitment to the city’s equestrian life style, candidates may differ on the best means to “keep Norco rural.”

While all the candidates say the city needs to boost its tax base by attracting commercial and industrial development, some differences will likely emerge when their campaigns get down to specifics.

Some residents, for example, are worried that the city--eager for more tax dollars--might allow new industries that would be incompatible with Norco’s rural life style.

Other perennial concerns that likely will be discussed by candidates are levels of fire and police protection, upgrading the city’s streets and improving its sewer system.

The candidates include Stanley Chemes, a technical writer; John M. Cobbe, contractor and Norco planning commissioner; Ted Woodford Crawford, horse ranch owner; Steven R. (Skip) Davidovich, electronics businessman; Jo Ann Dickson, trucking company co-owner, and Henry E. Froehlich, project engineer.

Others who filed by Wednesday’s deadline were Lorrie Ivie, secretary; George A. King, psychology student; incumbent Richard L. MacGregor, program manager; incumbent Steve M. Nathan, alarm company president; Marvin C. Thornhill, paper company executive, and James T. Williams III, horse trainer.