When two-term councilwoman Joanne Parrott announced that she would run for council president, six Republicans and two Democrats got in line to fill her District B seat.
The district, which includes all of Fallston, also stretches northwest to Upper Crossroads and southeast to Joppa-Magnolia and part of Abingdon.
The primary election narrowed the candidates to Republican Veronica Chenowith and Democrat Joyce Eaton, who ran against Mrs. Parrott for the District B seat in 1986 and lost by fewer than 900 votes.
Mrs. Eaton, 47, is a longtime Fallston activist who was instrumental in getting before- and after-school care into the public schools in Harford. She was named Harford County child care coordinator by County Executive Eileen M. Rehrmann last year.
Mrs. Eaton has been a volunteer in Fallston schools for 17 years and in community and county organizations focusing on children, public safety and women's issues.
Mrs. Chenowith, 56, and her husband run a custom homebuilding business. She has been a volunteer with the Parks and Recreation Department and with the board of elections for 20 years. She also spent eight years on the Judicial Nominating Commission.
While their campaign has been rather subdued over the long haul, in recent days each has publicly suggested that the other has a potential conflict of interest.
At a community forum in Fallston last Monday, Mrs. Eaton was asked if she thought being on the council while her husband, Ronald, was serving as school board president would present an ethical conflict in that the county reviews and approves the school board budget each spring.
Mrs. Eaton said she did not perceive the situation as a conflict because she would not be voting to put money in her husband's pocket.
"He doesn't stand to gain anything from how I would vote. Education is very important to the entire community," she said, adding that her husband would only be in office through July.
She used the opportunity, however, to note that she feared her opponent, as a homebuilder in a county where growth-management is one of the most important issues facing lawmakers, might face a more serious conflict of interest in having to vote on land-use, zoning and water and sewer issues.
"I am a proud and responsible member of the shelter industry," Mrs. Chenowith said in countering the claim. "My husband and I build three to eight houses a year. We've never developed land and we have no intention of it."
Furthermore, she said, dealing with the county agencies in the process of building homes in Harford has given her valuable experience.
Actually, the two are not far apart on issues of most concern to them. Both, perhaps from their years as volunteers with children, cite improving education and opportunities for children among their priorities.
And, both say they would try to bring harmony to the council and improve its relationship with the county executive.
Mrs. Chenowith said she thinks teachers need to be paid enough to make them want to keep teaching in the classroom.
Mrs. Eaton, who calls herself a conservative Democrat, says there's too much duplication of effort in government, including in the education department.
"We have to look at how we're spending each dollar," she said.