The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1909-03-23
MUST TAKE IMMEDIATE ACTION
IN NOMINATING SCHOOL
LAST DAY OF GRACE
Unless Candidates for the Office Are
Placed in the Field by Tonight the
County Superintendent Fills Va
cancies.

Unless a public meeting, consist
ing of at least twenty legal voters,
shall before this evening place in NOM
ination candidates for the vacancies
on the school board, there will be no
school election on April and the va
cancies will have to be filled by ap-
pointment by the county superinten-
dent of schools. This is the last day
of grace, action must be taken this
evening, or the election will not take
place The law requires that in dis.
tricts of the first class, such as the
Billings district, candidates for a
trusteeship ON the school board must
be nominated in a public meeting,
consisting of at least twenty voters
and held ten days prior to the cleo
tion. AS yet no call for such a meet
ing has been issued and unless prompt
action is taken the voters of the dis
trict must of necessity leave the
choice of trustees to the county su-
perintendent.
1t has been suggested by number
that meeting be held this evening
in the city hail. and in lieu of more
formal call, it will probably be we'll
for those interested in the schools to
meet at the city hall at o'clock in
order that candidates may be placed
in the field.
The failure to call meeting can be
traced to several causes. There seems
to be no particular individuals who
are desirous of serving on the school
board, at least none have announced
their intentions of running for the
office, and hence no one has exerted
any effort to have a meeting called.
The offices on the board are not the
of the candidate is the one thing that
is voted on, and there has been no
party central committee to see to it
that nominations are made. Then
the coming city election has over
shadowed the school election to a
great extent. But the matter can be
remedied by a good attendance at the
meeting in the city hall tonight, and
everyone VINO is interested in the
schools, pays taxes for the mainte-
nance of the schools and the erec-
tion of new buildings, or who has
children attending the schools, owes
it to himself, or herself, for women
are allowed to vote at the school elec.
tion, to attend the meeting this even
ing.
Two vacancies must be filled, each
trusteeship being for term Of three
years. There are seven members on
the board and the terms of Fred Inab-
nit and Frank L. Summers are the
ones which will expire. Both gentle
ment declare that they will not be
candidates to succeed themselves,
Mr.. Summers giving as mis- reason
that he will be absent from the city
a great deal during the coming year
and that he could not under the cir
cumstances do justice to the posi-
tion.
The registration for the election
begins today and will continue for
three days. William Hood is regis
tration agent in the first district and
his office will be at the Billings drug
store w. A. Combs, agent for the
second district, will maintain mis- Of
flee at the Red Cross drug store, and
C. w. Brooks will register the names
of voters on the Billings bench, his
office being at the Pioneer school
house.
Every citizen of the United States
who has resided in Montana for a
year, and in the school district for
80 days prior to the date of the elec-
ton, is entitled to vote. Women
over 81 years may vote under the
same conditions.