Elections board hires a hero

LISBON — A veteran law enforcement official and a certified hero has been named the new deputy director of the Columbiana County Board of Elections.

The board, composed of two Democrats and two Republicans, voted unanimously Monday to hire Thomas L. Edgell, a Democrat.

Dennis Johnson, the county’s Democratic Party chairman, nominated Edgell, 60, of East Liverpool, who has served as Wellsville’s village administrator since 2004.

Johnson said that as a condition of becoming the full-time deputy director, Edgell will have to resign from his village post.

Edgell will replace Democratic deputy director John Payne, who is leaving to join the staff of U.S. Rep. Charlie Wilson of St. Clairsville, D-6th.

Edgell worked for East Liverpool police from 1970 to 1981. He was awarded the prestigious Carnegie Medal by the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission of Pittsburgh for saving a boy’s life in 1978.

According to the commission’s Web site, Edgell saved Richard D. Gooding, 4, from possible suffocation in a house fire. Fire spread from a house next door to the dwelling where the boy was sleeping in an upstairs bedroom. The boy’s parents were leaving with another child and met Edgell on the steps.

After learning that Richard was still upstairs, Edgell, followed by the boy’s mother, crawled through dense smoke to the bedroom, where flames had burned through one wall. Edgell found the boy and carried him while following the mother to safety outside.

He received other awards for the rescue, including a citation for heroism from the Ohio House of Representatives.

He served as a bailiff in the county’s municipal court system from 1993 to 2001. He has also run a private investigative and security company since 1990.

Democrat Larry Bowersock, elections board chairman, said Edgell was one of nine people interviewed for the post.

Edgell will be paid about $35,214 a year, or 25 percent less than Payne, who has been with the board for 14 years.

Elections board members of both parties praised Payne for his work. Jerry Ward, a Republican, told Payne, “I’ve enjoyed working with you.”

There will be an open house for Payne at the elections office from 2 to 4 p.m. Wednesday.