Mayor’s Race Settled by a Flip of the Coin
A professional blackjack dealer had Lady Luck on his side when he won a coin toss to decide who would be the next mayor of Prairie City, a small ranching community.
Jim Hamsher, 39, and former Mayor Paul Woodworth, 80, each received 125 votes Nov. 2 as write-in candidates for mayor of Prairie City, about 290 miles east of Portland.
Both candidates agreed to a coin toss to determine the winner. With 150 townsfolk looking on at the city’s main intersection Saturday, Hamsher called “heads” as City Recorder Diane Clingman flipped a commemorative rodeo medal with a bucking horse on one side and the year on the other.
The horse landed up, giving Hamsher the victory.
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