Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Oakesdale mayor Dennis Palmer seeks re-election for a second term in this fall’s election. Palmer was elected four years ago after serving two years on the Oakesdale City Council.
He is being challenged by Al Evans who was defeated in the mayoral race four years ago.
A member of the Republican party, Palmer first got involved in politics when he went to an Oakesdale City Council meeting to discuss an issue regarding Canadian Thistle (noxious weeds).
Soon there was an opening and he applied for the appointment.
In addition to acting as mayor, he works full-time in the receiving department of House of Hose in Spokane. The company, where he has worked for 22 years, sells all kinds of industrial and garden hoses.
Noting the highlights of his first term, Palmer said that the town has been fortunate to get grants for sidewalks, street widening and the current project of replacing the Steptoe Street Bridge.
He said that he has a few things on his mind for what he would like to do in a second term, which are not all city-related. One of which, he said is to fix up the tennis court at the school.
Aside from his time on the city council and being mayor, Palmer has served as Oakesdale Fire Chief and president of the Oakesdale Jaycees, both in the 1970s.
A longtime resident, Palmer was born in Palouse in 1941 and moved to Oakesdale as a freshman in high school, as his father worked for Oakesdale Grain Growers.
After high school, Palmer served in the Marine Corps for three years, part of which he was stationed on a Navy ship patrolling in the Caribbean during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
After the Marines, he returned to Oakesdale and began driving a truck for Dan Hay in Tekoa, which he did long and short-haul routes for cargo including power poles made in a poleyard in Plumber, Idaho.
He later worked as parts manager at Oakesdale Implement in the early ‘70s, followed by working at Cash Hardware in Tekoa. Later, he bought his own truck, before moving on to House of Hose.
Palmer said he has done no campaigning for re-election.
“Honestly, if I haven’t done a good job, people don’t need to vote for me,” he said. “If they think I’ve done a good job, then they should vote for me. It’s really as simple as that.”
Al Evans
A city councilman for five years, Al Evans is running for Oakesdale mayor for the second time.
“I just think I could bring a new kind of vision to things, and affect the town in a positve way,” he said. “What I’ve seen is a lot of these small towns are pretty stagnant. I don’t want to make them like a big city but just focus on the restoration of the town.”
Before moving to Oakesdale in 2006, Evans served in the Army and then as a police officer in Stayton, Ore., followed by 23 years patrolling the San Fernando Valley with the Los Angeles Police Department. He has a son in the Air Force in Spokane.
“Seeing the problems of L.A., hopefully we can avoid all that stuff,” he said.
He noted in particular an issue of too many regulations, taxes and fees.
“Too many regulations can kill a town,” he said.
Evans said that Oakesdale can improve by way of its history.
“You attempt to keep the town through its history,” he said. “Not push projects that are city-centric but stay by the feeling that the town has…. Palouse has done it, Rosalia has picked up quite a bit.”
A political independent, Evans would like to bring in new business to Oakesdale and said he had no special idea or target he would pursue.
He indicated that he will have no visible campaign.
“I haven’t done much,” he said. “Most of the people in town know me and know I’m running so we’ll leave it up to that.”
“I believe there’s always something positive in some kind of competition,” Evans said.
In the meantime, ballots began to arrive in mailboxes last weekend.
“We’re just kind of holding our breath,” said Evans.
He was defeated by Palmer in his first mayoral campaign four years ago.
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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