on 10-31-2008 02:12

By DONNA KENNY KIRWAN 

PAWTUCKET - A heated mayoral race, three City Council contests and a late-in-the-game write-in campaign for School Committee are keeping things interesting on the local election front.

With an expected turn-out of 70-75 percent and 37,875 eligible voters, Pawtucket Registrar Ken McGill has warned of the possibility of lines at the polls and is asking that voters "be patient with our poll workers." The city will open 31 polling locations on Tuesday.
 In addition, those not currently registered have the option of registering at City Hall on Nov. 4 to vote on a limited ballot for president and vice president only.
In the mayoral race, five-term incumbent James E. Doyle, a Democrat, is facing veteran city councilor Donald R. Grebien, a Democrat running as an independent candidate. The two have engaged in a series of spirted and sometimes testy debates, as Grebien, a former City Council president and onetime ally of Doyle, looks to unseat the incumbent mayor in his bid for a sixth term in office.
In the four-way race for city council at-large, there are three Democratic candidates and one Republican.
See RACES, Page A-1
The Democrats include incumbent Thomas E. Hodge, an insurance agent and former state representative, Lorenzo "Larry" C. Tetreault,  a retired Pawtucket teacher and chairman of the Democratic City Committee, and Albert J. Vitali Jr., a business manager and former Ward 3 city councilor.
The Republican candidate is Joel Tirrell, a political newcomer who is an assistant manager for a landscape supply wholesaler and a ward representative on the Republican City Committee.
In the District 5 city council race, 16-year incumbent Mary E. Bray, a Democrat who works for the Public Utilities Commission, is facing a challenge from Jean Philippe Barros. Barros, employed as director of contract services at New England Tractor Trailer Training Schools of Massachusetts, is a Democrat running as an independent candidate.
The District 6 city council contest is between incumbent James F. Chadwick Jr., a National Grid employee who is seeking his second term, and George P. Hovarth, an attorney making his first bid for local politics.
The rest of the incumbent city council candidates, all Democrats, are unopposed, including David P. Moran in District 1, Paul J. Wildenhain in District 2, Henry S. Kinch Jr. in District 3, and John J. Barry III in District 4.
On the School Committee, all of the candidates for the seven available seats are Democrats and unopposed. They include incumbents Joanne M. Bonollo, James T. Chellel Jr., David A. Coughlin Jr., and Nicole Ann Nordquist, along with newcomers Matthew F. Gunnip, Joseph C. Knight, and Raymond W. Noonan.
Incumbent School Committeewoman Amy Breault Zolt, who finished eighth among the 10 candidates in the Democratic primary, has since waged a write-in campaign in her bid for re-election.