The following is from the August 8, West County Times:

Richmond

MORE PROSPECTIVE COUNCIL CANDIDATES PULL PAPERS: The pool of Richmond residents taking out nomination papers for the Nov. 4 City Council race continues to grow.

Thirteen people had pulled papers as of Monday, but no one had filed them, according to the city clerk's office. They are: William Acevedo, Jovanka Beckles, Gary Bell, Rock Brown, Jeff Ritterman, the Rev. Andre Shumake, Chris Tallerico, Jean Womack, David Young and incumbents Nat Bates, Tom Butt, John Marquez and Harpreet Sandhu.

The City Council is shrinking from nine members to seven at the end of this year. That means the terms of five incumbents — Bates, Butt, Marquez, Sandhu and Tony Thurmond — are expiring, but just three seats are available.

The filing period for candidates closes at 5 p.m. Friday. Nomination papers must be picked up in person at Richmond City Hall, 1401 Marina Way South. If an incumbent does not file for re-election by Friday, the filing period will be extended to Aug. 13.

In response to several questions, I wish to clarify the text of the July 25 West County Times article included in the E-FORUM Potential City Council Race Includes Ten, July 26, 2008, begins with “…Ten people had taken out nomination papers…”

The sentence that reads “My goal is to make sure Nat Bates, John Marquez and Harpreet Sandhu (part of the Viramontes Five) are not returned to the Richmond City Council. If all ten potential candidates proceed to file, you will have at least seven others to choose from,” is my commentary, not that of the West County Times.