Most city positions have no candidates as yet

Tim Leeds Havre Daily News [email protected]

Only two candidates have filed for election in one of the positions open in the Havre elections next fall, with less than four weeks to go before the July 2 filing deadline. Margaret Hencz and David Krezelak have filed as candidates in the nonpartisan race for city judge. Incumbent Joyce Perszyk has not announced her intentions. Krezelak, a Havre Fire Department captain, with 23 years experience, said this morning that he is interested in the challenges of being a judge and would like to try to make a difference. “It's a lot of little things, not just one thing,” he said. Krezelak said that he would like to try to make some changes, primarily being more open and getting out in the public, mostly the younger people in town. “I would like to try to make a more friendly court,” he said. Hencz is the director of the domestic violence program at the District IV Human Resources Development Council in Havre and has been with that program 10 years. She said her experience and training she has had with the courts would make her an excellent choice for the position. “I have a strong belief in the criminal justice system,” she said, adding that most people who have experience with the court system do so in the lower courts. “The experience they have in that court can affect their lifelong attitude about the criminal justice system in general,” Hencz said. The election includes five other city positions, including for mayor and for one of the two council seats in each of the city's four wards. Mayor Bob Rice said last summer he does not plan to run for re-election. The council seats coming up for election are the seat held by Gerry Veis in Ward 1, Terry Schend in Ward 2, Robert Kaftan in Ward 3 and Allen “Woody” Woodwick in Ward 4. Those four incumbents have not yet announced their intentions about running for reelection.