A former Clinton County business owner and former Clinton County Magistrate, Gary Tallent, passed away last Friday at 76 years old.
Tallent also was employed as the County Road Foremen by the Clinton County Fiscal Court during the Charlene King Judge/Executive.
He was also a former co-owner of Somerset Oil service station for several years.
Tallent served three full terms as Clinton County Magistrate, representing the 3rd Magisterial District, which includes the Snow, Seventy-Six and Piney Woods voting precincts.
He served as the magistrate in that district under three Clinton County Judge/Executives, including King, Larry Hatfield and Donnie McWhorter.
He was most recently elected back to the magistrate’s position in the November 2022 general election, and began serving that term under current Judge/Executive Ricky Craig.
Tallent won the 2022 May Republican Primary election and was unopposed in the November 2022 general election.
Because of health issues, Tallent announced this past March that he would be resigning from office, after serving three months in his latest term as 3rd District Clinton County Magistrate.
During a March interview with the Clinton County News shortly after  his resignation was announced, Tallent noted that he believed every magistrate should vote on issues with the betterment of the entire county in mind, rather than making decisions for politically correct reasons.
“Every magistrate should vote for what they feel is right, not what someone else thinks,” he said earlier this year.
Currently, the 3rd District magistrate’s seat is still unoccupied as Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear has as of now, not appointed a replacement.
The Clinton County Republican Party, in May, nominated former 3rd District Magistate Terry Buster to fill the position, and without an appointment by the Governor, Buster will appear on the November 2023 General Election ballot as an unopposed candidate.
Clinton County Judge/Executive Ricky Craig told the Clinton County News on Monday of this week, that Buster will fill the seat on the day following the November 7, 2023 election.
“He (Buster) is the Republican nominee and he has to only get one vote on election day,” Craig said.  “He will be sworn in and will begin to serve on the day after that election”
A funeral service for Gary Tallent was held this Tuesday, September 12, 2023, through the Campbell-New Funeral Home of Albany.
A complete death notice for Gary Tallent appears elsewhere in this week’s Clinton County News.