The Indian River Neighborhood Association, which has had an unbroken string of successes in electing its candidates in Vero Beach and county elections, finally proved vulnerable Aug. 26th when two of its endorsed challengers lost in a Republican primary.

While IRNA favorite Gary C. Wheeler won his battle for re-election to the County Commission District 3 seat, two other candidates endorsed by the IRNA, Honey Minuse in District 5 and Susan R. Boyd in District 1, were both soundly defeated.

The powerful IRNA, which has led the battle to convert Indian River County to charter government, had pushed a three-candidate slate in hopes of gaining a decisive additional vote for the issue on the five-member County Commission.

But with support for charter government among the commissioners currently stalled at two votes, the IRNA spectacularly failed to gain the third seat the group sought.

The winner in District 5 was former Vero Beach City Council member Bob Solari, who trounced Minuse, the immediate past president of the IRNA, and incumbent Sandra L. Bowden.

With all precincts reported, Solari (shown at left with wife Jackie at victory party), had 10,349 votes to 7,794 for Minuse and 6,686 for Bowden.

The winner in District 1 was incumbent Wesley Davis, who defeated Boyd by a 13,745 to 10,938 vote margin.

Wheeler, endorsed for re-election by IRNA, edged former Vero Beach sports star Gary T. Parris by 15,495 to 14,175 votes. Bea Gardiner finished a distant third with 5,909 votes.

In the hotly contested Sheriff's race, where the four Republican candidates spent by far the most money ever raised for a local election in Indian River County, Florida Highway Patrol Capt. Deryl Loar easily defeated Capt. Bill McMullen, who is in charge of administration in the Sheriff's office.

Loar (shown at right at victory party) had 9,740 votes to 6,310 votes for McMullen. Two other members of the Sheriff's office trailed Loar and McMullen, with Ed Glaser finishing third with 4,800 votes and Kent Campbell fourth with 4,026 votes.

Another closely watched election involved Supervisor of Elections Kay Clem, who narrowly turned back a challenge from her disgruntled former deputy Cathy Hart 12,056 to 11,491. Gary Griffin rounded out the three-candidate field with 1,379 votes.

Other Republican primary winners included: State Sen. Bill Posey seeking the GOP nomination to succeed Congressman David Weldon; Jeffrey K. Barton seeking re-election as Clerk of Court; State Rep. Stan Mayfield seeking the nomination for Indian River County Tax Collector; and Matthew McCain seeking the District 2 nomination for School Board member.

In the race for the District 1 School Board seat, Claudia Jimenez led a four-person field.