On this edition of Today in History, we revisit April 5, 1972, when C.P. O’Neill was elected as Grand Forks mayor.
C.P. O’Neill elected Grand Forks mayor
C. P. “Cy” O’Neill, a 21-year veteran of the city council, defeated Robert McDaniel, 4,928 to 3,808 in unofficial mayoralty race totals in the Grand Forks city election Tuesday. O’Neill carried 11 of the 14 precincts in the city’s seven wards.
The total vote of 9,649 broke all city election ballot totals here, surpassing by more than 1,500 votes the previous high of 8,055 registered in the 1963 election that ousted city manager government in this city.
O’Neill’s closest rival was Robert McDaniel, who had the support of outgoing Mayor Hugo Magnuson. McDaniel tallied 3,808 votes, followed by Archie Norden with 506 and Robert Byars with 354.
The electors voted out one incumbent city alderman, retained two others, and elected a new alderman in the fourth ward to fill the seat of O’Neill on the council. Two new Park Board members were named.
City bus service was retained by an overwhelming margin.
Winning the sixth ward aldermanic seat was Mrs. Leone Bishaw who defeated incumbent Kenneth Vig, 693 to 419. Alderman C. J. Thomforde was re-elected over two challengers in the fifth ward. The vote was Thomforde 967, Dale Deyo 346, and Lawrence Kotta, 286. Donald Gilbert won re-election over Donna Waletzko in the third ward, 1,017 to 271.
Robert Wedin, former School Board member here, was the top vote-getter over candidates in the fourth ward. He polled 541 votes. He was followed by Mrs. Leone Bishaw with 509, Kenneth Vig
196, Rodney Hoel 29, and Robert P. Buckley 193.
Mrs. Nancy Koch swept all wards except the sixth in winning one of the two Park Board openings with 3,966 votes. Dr. James Leigh captured the other seat with 2,804 votes. The seven others in the field of nine candidates were Donald Anderson 1,454; Roger Graham 917; Gordon Iseminger 1,029; David Moen 2,088; Jerome Barssness 1,015; Walter Mellem 1,933, incumbent Dr. Wallace Nelson 1,714.
Elected unopposed to council seats were Martin Schuster, first ward, Dennis Hogan, second ward, and Frank Miller, seventh ward.
The proposed one-mill levy to finance city bus transportation was favored by the whopping total of 6,253 to 2,106.
The City Council will meet at 7:30 p.m. Thursday to canvass the votes.
Mayor-elect O’Neill had the following statement after hearing the word of his election victory:
“I would like to thank all the voters of Grand Forks for the vote of confidence that you have placed in me. I promise to work with all branches of local government and all local agencies.
“I promise to devote the necessary time towards the possible solution of all current and future problems of the city. I will be ready to listen to all.”
“I would believe that with the cooperation and help of all our citizens which is most necessary our city will be made a wonderful place to live and city of which we shall all be proud.”
Our newsroom occasionally reports stories under a byline of “staff.” Often, the “staff” byline is used when rewriting basic news briefs that originate from official sources, such as a city press release about a road closure, and which require little or no reporting. At times, this byline is used when a news story includes numerous authors or when the story is formed by aggregating previously reported news from various sources. If outside sources are used, it is noted within the story.