WHEELING — Ohio County residents will elect a new District 3 magistrate when they go to the polls June 9.

Candidates seeking the job are Janine Varner, John Powell and Johnny Bitzer Jr. The person elected will be sworn in to a four-year term, and hold the office previously occupied by former Magistrate Harry Radcliffe.

Radcliffe was sentenced last summer to four months in prison for federal tax conspiracy.

Varner presently holds the position of magistrate in District 3. She was first appointed to the job by Circuit Judge Ronald Wilson last August, but resigned a month later amid questions that her vocational certificate didn’t constitute a high school degree.

Varner studied through September and obtained her GED, and was re-appointed magistrate by Wilson in October.

Originally from Point Pleasant, N.J., Varner has lived in Wheeling since 1992. She has worked for the Ohio County Prosecutor’s Office, the Ohio County Circuit Clerk’s Office and most recently for Toriseva Law, resulting in more than 15 years of experience in the local court system.

“As the current Magistrate in District 3, I would respectfully ask the voters to cast their vote and trust me continuing in this position because I am the only candidate with 15 years experience in the judicial system,” Varner said.

“It has been an honor serving the voters for the past eight months, and I would love to continue to do so. I hold this position with such a high regard, yet I am a very down to earth type of person. I enjoy working with and for people, it is truly where I am at my best.”

Powell has dedicated his life to protecting public safety and has an extensive background in law enforcement and management including criminal investigations, arson investigations, drug interdiction operations in the United States and Europe, anti-terrorism operations (pre- and post 9/11), SWAT team, dignitary protection and police operations management and police academy training.

Powell was born and raised in Wheeling and graduated from Wheeling Park High School with the class of 1978. After high school, Powell joined the U.S. Navy, where he spent the next 20 years and retired at the rank of chief petty officer.

He serves as commander of American Legion Post 1 in Wheeling, and takes over as state commander in July.

“I would be the only veteran on the magistrate’s court,” Powell said. “To highlight on that, the West Virginia Legislature established a veterans court drug court last year. We need a veteran who is familiar with veterans issues to sit on that court. If elected, I hope a judge would appoint me to sit on that panel.”

Powell wanted to remind voters the magistrate’s job is “a judge’s position.”

“You have to have some law background,” he said. ” (I have) 30 years of law enforcement experience. I have been a police academy instructor in search and seizure and criminal law. These are all items that are very important. None of my opponents have that experience.

“I have been in public service my entire life. I could have done other things and been successful in the private sector, but I’ve chosen a public service life. I feel it is important to serve the public and be a magistrate for Ohio County.”

Bitzer is a native of Valley Grove who runs his family’s business, Wanda’s Bargain Barn.

He is a 1990 graduate of Wheeling Park High, and is a graduate of the Comair Aviation Academy and its professional pilot program. He worked as a flight instructor in the Canton, Ohio area before returning to the Ohio Valley in 2004.

Bitzer has been involved with the Shriners, and presently serves as leader at El Tor Grotto in Wheeling. Both organizations focus heavily on helping children with medical and physical needs, he said.

He credits his parents — Johnny Bitzer Sr. and the late Wanda Bitzer — and his family for being his “largest asset.”

“They have shaped me into the person I am today,” Bitzer said. “My family has raised me with a heart. I have been able to reach out to the local community in so many ways. Being compassionate has always been a part of the Bitzer family name.”

He agrees magistrate and court-related races should be nonpartisan contests, and that candidates should have no political affiliation.

“Political opinions have no place in the courtrooms,” he said.

Other magistrate races on the ballot in Ohio County on June 9 are unopposed.