State school board candidate hospitalized, race undecided

State school board incumbent Dave Cook waited anxiously at Washoe Medical Center where he was hospitalized Tuesday afternoon, but by late Tuesday night his race was still too close to call.

After a cardiac stress test Tuesday morning, doctors recommended that Cook be admitted to the emergency room. In a telephone interview from his hospital bed Tuesday night, he said an irregular heartbeat necessitated further testing.

While Cook won Carson City - 8,614 votes to challenger Barbara Meyers' 7,808 votes - Washoe appeared to be tipping the race the other way. With 262 of 292 precincts counted, Meyers received 7,053 votes to Cook's 5,932 votes.

With a partial count in from Douglas County, 100 percent of Storey County and only one precinct tallied in Lyon, Cook was leading 21,123 to Meyers' 20,790.

"Everybody got real nervous," he said of the Tuesday medical test. "We are scrambling to get my regular cardiologist.

"All of this was coincidental. I wouldn't have picked this date (for the test)."

Cook has a history of heart illness, highlighted by a quadruple bypass and auxiliary surgery in 1997.

Despite the doctor's recommendations, Cook said he feels fine, even with a twinge of nervousness about the close election. Preliminary results at 7 p.m. had Cook at 7,128 votes and Meyers at 7,034 votes. The results were partial counts in Carson City, Storey County and Washoe County. The race also includes voters in Lyon and Douglas counties.

Myers was unavailable for comment late Tuesday.

She has lived in Carson City for the past three years and has spent the last two as a speech therapist at Lahontan Elementary School.

Meyers said she ran because she believes the state's school system is too fragmented, with too many commissions. "That's just too many people involved," she said when she announced her candidacy. "The state board of education is the elected body that should handle all of that."

As the incumbent, Cook brought four years of board experience to the race.

He has been a proponent of statewide standards for students and teachers. He said he supports standardized testing to ensure accountability. "It's important that school districts are consistent," he said earlier this election season. "A diploma from Clark County and Elko County should mean basically the same thing."