Republican presidential candidate John McCain received 115 votes Saturday in The Monroe Evening News’ presidential straw poll at the Monroe County Fair.

That gave him 983 votes and the win for the week of polling at the fair.

Democratic candidate Barack Obama received 103 votes Saturday giving him a total of 731 votes for the week.

Ralph Nader received another 7 on Saturday for a total of 45, Bob Barr, 3 for a total of 28, and Charles Baldwin, 1 for a total of 6. For the week, about 150 people checked undecided or scrawled write-in names.

Also, Pam Smith of Petersburg won Saturday’s $50 prize for correctly getting all of the presidential quiz questions correct in The Evening News’ fair booth.

– Harry Orscheln

Did you recognize the young woman who was singing the national anthem at the Monroe County Fair’s major events this week?

It was Ashley Greer, 18, of Luna Pier. She was invited to sing at the 2007 Monroe County Fair, and invited back this year, after fair officials heard her sing at the 2007 Monroe County American Cancer Society Relay for Life.

She also has sung at sports events in the region.

– Paula Wethington

The winners in the Combine Demolition Derby Saturday night at the Monroe County Fair were Brad Gyde of Maybee with first place; Joe Straub of Maybee with second place; and Steve Lewis of Monroe with third place.

The Neuhart family combine, driven by Kevin Robson, won best appearance with its “Redneck Santa Combine” design. Here’s a picture of what that combine looked like when decked out for the parade (the Christmas decor was taken off before the smash-up contest began).

– Paula Wethington

There were some expensive lamb, pork and beef prices paid for the grand champions at the 4-H Junior Livestock Auction Friday night.

In the first sale of the long evening, Hachman Farm Supply of Temperance bought the grand champion lamb owned by Justin Rozanski of Temperance for a whopping $30 a pound. That earned Justin a hefty premium of $4,020. The price was under last year’s price of $35 a pound paid for the grand champion by Danny’s Fine Foods and Monroe Bank & Trust, which banded together for that particular sale.

The reserve champion lamb raised by Hannah Biniecki of Maybee went for $17.50 a pound to Danny’s Fine Foods.

In the swine portion of the sale, the two Kroger store managers got together and bought the grand champion hog raised by Ashley LaRoy of Ottawa Lake for $15 a pound, or $4,050. Brooke Ryan of Ida then sold her reserve champion hog for $5 a pound to Kim’s Kountry Smoke House and Joe Bryant & Sons Paving of LaSalle. Brooke earned $1,325.

The steers sold last in the auction. Gerdan MacSteel of Monroe snatched up the grand champion champion steer owned by Liz Ruehs of Petersburg for a whopping $8 a pound, or $10,120. That easily topped last year’s price of $5 a pound paid for the grand champion. Katie Geiman of Carleton was next and sold her reserve champion steer for $4 a pound to Monroe Bank & Trust. That earned her $5,340.

The auction ran an hour longer than last year, ending around midnight.

Read more about the auction in Saturday’s Evening News…

– Dean Cousino

Jason Gerweck of LaSalle carries his daughter Hannah, 3, on his shoulders through the midway of the Monroe County Fair Friday with wife Dannett by his side.

- Bryan Bosch

Elisha Kinkade, 3, and his father Dennis Kinkade, watch the Monster Truck Show at the Grandstand with brother Cornelius Kinkade, 4, right, and his mother Sarah Kinkade of Milan as Justin Kirkpatrick, 15, of Ida, left, watches on at the Monroe County Fairgrounds Friday evening. “We were here last year. Last friday my boys went to pick up the tickets and were so excited for this day to come. They’ve been asking about the monster trucks every day,” Dennis Kinkade said.

-Alex Stawinski

The two major candidates for president tied in Friday’s straw poll at The Monroe Evening News booth at The Monroe County Fair. John McCain and Barack Obama each received 111 votes from visitors who participated in the newspaper’s straw poll.

I counted each stack THREE TIMES!!!

Ralph Nader got 10 votes and Bob Barr got 4 votes. There were also 20 votes cast by people who were undecided or wrote someone else’s name.

You’ve got one more day to get involved. Stop by The Evening News booth at the Monroe Bank & Trust Expo Center. The voting desk looks just like one you’ll see when you enter the polling location on Election Day. (However, we’re not asking for your voter registration card.)

– Paula Wethington

So, are you having fun with the presidential quiz at The Monroe Evening News’ booth in the Monroe Bank & Trust Expo building?

28 correct entries were submitted today (Friday). One of them wins $50.

I’m surprised there weren’t more correct entries submitted from the big bag that got delivered to my desk a few minutes ago. Why?

Well, you see, this is an “open book” quiz. Take a look at those headlines on the wall at our booth …

– Paula Wethington

Here are The Monroe Evening News employees you can meet and greet Saturday at the Monroe County Fair. Our booth is in the Monroe Bank & Trust building:

• 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.: Paula Lambert, accounting; Alice Roop, classifieds and advertising; Steve Evans, advertising.
• 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.: Cindy Adrahtas, classifieds; D.J. Freese, advertising.
• 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.: Emily Yates, marketing; Vicki Price, advertising.

– Paula Wethington

Just as I suspected, the BlogsMonroe bloggers are chatting away about their meet-and-greet Thursday at The Monroe Evening News booth : )

Here are follow-up reports so far:

• Mason at Fishing Michigan.
• Dave at Luna Pier Cook.
• Em at Mom Moments.

– Paula Wethington