SALYERSVILLE – In a petition filed on July 14, Salyersville Mayor Stanley Howard filed a petition to challenge the candidate status of former Mayor James “Pete” Shepherd, who is running against Howard for the top city seat this fall.
The petition, filed by attorney John C. Collins for Howard, claims Shepherd is not a resident of the City of Salyersville, and has not been one for a year prior to the 2026 General Election, as required by law, stating he resides approximately 5 miles outside the city limits and citing an address on Royalton Road, with the deed conveying the property to Shepherd from his late mother dated March 2017, according to the petition.
Howard asks for injunctive relief, temporary and permanent injunctions against the Magoffin County Board of Elections to have Shepherd removed from the General Election ballot, or at least directing them to not count any votes Shepherd receives on Election Day. If neither of those actions can be done prior to the election, he asks the Board of Elections to be ordered to not certify the election results for the mayor’s race until the matter can be be fully litigated.
Shepherd told Mortimer Media Group he does own a property on Royalton Road, deeded to him after his mother’s death last year, but he considers his home to be his house on West Maple St.
“I’ve lived in Salyersville since ’81 and I’ve been at this address since 2010,” Shepherd said. “I do have another property in town, another home, and plus I have a home I inherited from my mother last August when she passed away.”
As for why his residency is being challenged now, Shepherd said he has spent time at both locations.
“I spent some time up there after my mother passed away,” Shepherd said. “I had do go up there and get a lot of things in order, and I had to do some work on my house down here [on West Maple], so I was kind of back and forth. I did some work on her house, converted some of the rooms to better suit if I ever wanted to move in there and spend the rest of my life, but for my primary residence, I’m always here in Salyersville. I’m here most of the time and I have stayed up there. I don’t know what the lawyers are going to find, but I do know the law says I needed to have voted in the city limits and I’ve been a voter here since 1981. I need to pay bills in the city and I pay bills in the city. I do own a residence in the city and I really think the PVA has the primary residence of my holdings as this residence here at 86 West Maple Street.”
If this all sounds very familiar, four years ago a similar petition was filed by Shepherd challenging Howard’s candidate status by alleging his home sat outside of the city maps, but was eventually dismissed due to Howard paying city property taxes for his address, deeming him to be an eligible candidate.
“I just hate that this has come down to this before the election,” Shepherd said. “The last time I ran, I did the same thing with Stanley and said he lived outside the city and the courts ruled in his favor, and that’s fine. I think the courts will rule in my favor on this one, too.”
The two, along with Adam King, are candidates for Salyersville Mayor for this fall’s General Election, slated for November 3.
