The Carthage Commissioners voted Tuesday to appoint the son of a well-known town figure to fill the seat vacated by the sudden death of Sherwood Lapping.

The board chose Arthur "Artie" Barber. His late father had been fire chief, maintenance supervisor and unofficial court jester of the county seat. His son ran for the board once before, unsuccessfully challenging incumbent Jean Riley.

"People ask me who I'm running against," Barber said at the time. "I am not running against anybody. I'm just running for the Town Board in my home town."

Riley joined the other commissioners in unanimously choosing Barber to join them on the board.

"It was an embarrassment of riches," said Commissioner Thomas "T" Dowdy. "We had six well-qualified people who were willing to serve. If we had had six seats to fill, we could have filled every one with a good choice."

Other candidates who applied were former longtime fire chief J.D. Monroe, who served as fire chief of Carthage for many years; Chris Lassiter, former chairman of the town's public works committee who had run unsuccessfully for a seat on the board twice before; Michael Campbell, a longtime Carthage resident and son of a former commissioner; Bert Patrick, a registered nurse and teacher at Sandhills Community College who has been serving the town for years on its historic committee; and Lisa Caddell, wife of former mayor Larry Caddell and active member of the Buggy Festival board.

All appeared before the board for individual interviews and submitted applications that included experience, expectations and vision statements about the future direction Carthage should take.

None were disappointing, according to Tommy Stewart. He had returned to the board by request to fill the seat left when Caddell resigned as mayor to take up his duties on the Moore County Commission.

"Artie told us he'd grown up in Carthage and wanted to continue to live in Carthage," Stewart said. "He and his wife are expecting a child, he's bought a house here. He wants to be sure Carthage of the future stayed true to what makes it the town people love."