Wichman Takes Chauncey's Seat on County Commission

East Ridge will be represented by two new faces in Hamilton County government for the next four years; Katie Perkins and Joshua Wichman, both Democrats.

Wichman, a newcomer to East Ridge and to politics, took down incumbent Mike Chauncey for the District 8 seat on the Hamilton County Commission. Wichman tallied 2,526 votes (55 percent) to Chauncey’s 2,047 votes (44 percent).

Perkins, who ran unsuccessfully for the school board seat four years ago, received 2,621 votes (58 percent) against retired educator Sabrina Daniel who tallied 1,868 votes (42 percent).

The school board seat was open, as two-term incumbent Larry Grohn chose not to run.

East Ridge’s favorite son, Vince Dean, was returned to office as the county’s Criminal Court Clerk in what many some may have believed a closer race than expected. Dean, a former East Ridge City Councilman and Mayor, garnered 54 percent of the vote to his Democrat opponent Aaliyah K. Hakeem’s 46 percent.

Marc Gravitt, former East Ridge City Councilman was unopposed in his re-election bid for Register of Deeds.

About Dick Cook

Dick Cook has lived in East Ridge since the Kennedy Administration when his parents bought a house on Marietta Street. Dick graduated from ERHS in 1976 before going on to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga where he studied Political Science. Dick worked for the Chattanooga Free-Press and the Chattanooga Times Free Press for 22 years. Free-Press Sports Editor Roy Exum plucked him out of production in 1989 and gave him a job as a sports reporter. Dick covered everything from prep sports to the whitewater events on the Ocoee River for the 1996 Olympics. When Chattanooga's two paper's merged, he became the Crime Reporter covering both the Chattanooga Police and Fire Departments. He was among reporters who were honored by the Associated Press for the TFP's coverage of the 2002 fog-shrouded crash on I-75 in Catoosa County, Dick and his wife, Cathy, live on Marlboro Avenue where they are seen frequently chasing around their three grandsons.