Lesbian sheriff wins recount

A recount of votes has confirmed that lesbian former Brattleboro, Vt., police sergeant Sheila Prue defeated incumbent Windham County sheriff Henry Farnum in last month's election. The recount, completed Wednesday, gave Prue an additional 92 votes, increasing her margin of victory to 382 votes. "It wasn't in the cards, was it?" Farnum said after the recount was completed. Prue, a Democrat, received 7,562 votes to Farnum's 7,180 votes, according to county court clerk Lawrence Robinson. Farnum said he has invited Prue to the department's staff meeting scheduled for Monday, December 9, to answer people's questions, adding that that is the only meeting she will be invited to, unless she initiates some contact or dialogue with him. "I'm sheriff until February 1, 2003," he said. His loss has apparently left him feeling bitter and angry. "I don't think she has any questions," Farnum added. "It appears to me she knows it all, and you can quote me." Farnum said he believes he lost the election because Windham County is a Democratic stronghold and that Prue's gender and sexual orientation helped her. "I should have run for sheriff in the Republican county," he said.