Published: March 05, 2008 04:30 pm            

Davis unseats Owens

Clint Davis endured a rough couple of weeks in his bid to unseat incumbent James Owen as county attorney, but in the end, the voters spoke.

And how.

Sixty-two percent of them said they wanted a change, and that the 37-year-old Davis was the man they wanted to replace Owen as their county attorney, beginning the first day of next year.

“Most of all I want to thank my family and my friends for their support, particularly over the last couple of years,” the soft-spoken Davis said from an election watch party on the third floor of the First State Bank building in Athens late Tuesday.

Without mentioning names, Davis appeared to be referring to the public call

by local attorney Fred Head to have Davis removed from his position as

chairman-elect of the Athens Chamber of Commerce for allegedly not revealing

his bankruptcy in 2003. Owen also ran advertising mentioning his opponent¹s

bankruptcy.

The Chamber called an emergency meeting the day after Head addressed 15

empty chairs at the Chamber, giving Davis an immediate vote of confidence

and, in effect, appearing to repudiate Head¹s demands.

Whether the voters did the same thing Tuesday is another matter for

conjecture, but the final tally showed Davis with 3,381 votes to Owen¹s

2,224, or 62 percent to 38 percent.

Owen went down much the same way he has conducted his office the last eight

years ‹ in controversy.

Late in the evening, when it was obvious he was going to take an

old-fashioned political thrashing from his opponent, the county attorney

avoided political correctness, as he often has in the past.

³I¹m concerned for the people of Henderson County,² Owen said. ³I don¹t

believe he¹s (Davis) capable enough to do the job because of his lack of

experience.²

Whether Owen was speaking out of anger, or simply from his heart, county

residents will have to argue among themselves.

³I¹m concerned for the people of Henderson County,² Owen said. ³I don¹t

believe he¹s (Davis) capable enough to do the job because of his lack of

experience.²

Davis avoided answering Owen¹s criticism directly.

³I¹ll let him vent and we¹ll leave it at that,² he said. ³In my heart I

believe it was a change that will be good for the county.²

Davis said he has no ill will toward his opponent or anyone else.

Asked if the events of the last couple of weeks may have worked in his

favor, Davis said, ³I don¹t think it was a determining factor. I do believe

it worked to James¹ detriment, but I don¹t think it affected the final

outcome.

³I don¹t hold a grudge or have ill-will toward James Owen or anyone else. I

hope we can put aside our differences and work for the good of Henderson

County.²

Owen agreed with Davis that the events of the last couple of weeks had

little affect on the race. ³The early balloting was before all this

happened, and he had a big lead then,² Owen said.

Asked what he thought happened, Owen flashed a wry grin and said,

³Obviously, I made some people mad.²

As for his immediate plans, Owen said, ³I¹m going to be the county attorney

until the end of the year, just like I promised I would.²

Davis will have eight long months to think about what he¹ll do when he takes

office. ³I¹m looking forward to taking office and working for the citizens

of Henderson County,² he said. Until then, he plans to continue with his law

practice.

And yes, he said, he will definitely give up his law practice and be a

full-time county attorney when he takes office ‹ a promise Davis made to

voters during the campaign while criticizing his opponent for keeping his

law practice alive during his tenure.

        

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