DATE: Tuesday, September 23, 1997           TAG: 9709230253

SECTION: BUSINESS                PAGE: D2   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY MICHAEL CLARK, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   40 lines

NORFOLK TEAMSTERS CHOOSE CANDIDATES

One month after the Teamsters ended their national strike against shipping giant United Parcel Service, members of the union's Local 822 in Norfolk nominated candidates to lead the group for the next three years.

The formal nominations were made Friday, with candidates forming two slates for four offices and three trusteeships, said David Vinson, Local 822 incumbent president. Four other candidates are waging independent campaigns for three offices.

Vinson said he expects about half of the 2,250 Teamsters in Hampton Roads to vote in the Local 822 election, to be conducted by mail-in ballot. The ballots will be mailed Oct. 2 and counted Oct. 20, he said.

After one term, Vinson is up for re-election. On the slate he organized are James Wright, Local 822 business agent and trustee, running as vice president; Mark Lusk, incumbent recording secretary, running for secretary treasurer; and Bob Shrieves running for recording secretary. Ron Farlow, Sherbie Tucker and Jennie Wells are running for the local's three trusteeships.

At the head of the slate opposing Vinson's group is Franz Green, running for president. Green was not available for comment. James Seymore is campaigning for vice president, William Mitchell is running for secretary/treasurer and Dan Creekmore is a candidate for recording secretary. The slate's three trustee candidates are Joe Ratcliff, Tim Ballard and Archie Mutts.

Gerald Rowe is running independently for local president and Richard Scruggs is an independent candidate for vice president. Bill Haley, incumbent secretary/treasurer, is campaigning independently for the office, as is Richard Scruggs.

``Voters can elect a whole slate or they can play Tic-tac-toe,'' Vinson said. ``But most people, 98 to 99 percent, mark one box for a whole slate. That's in our elections and other local (union) elections.''

In 1994, Local 822 had 1,000 of 1,750 members cast ballots in its first totally mail-in election, in which Vinson ousted then-incumbent Ervin Williams.

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