By Clint Confehr

Senior Staff Writer

Marshall County's election commission chairman and the elections administrator have concluded that Michael Farrar is a Lewisburg resident and qualified to run for mayor.

While the decision rests with the election commission, Elections Administrator Tristan Arnold has documents from Farrar to support his residency claim. Commissioners meet at 9 a.m. Friday in the Hardison Office Annex to set the city's May 7 ballot.

Arnold said she's gathered evidence that Farrar lives above his bail bonding business on the northeast corner of First Avenue and Church Street because she received a phone call from a woman who said she didn't think he lives there.

Farrar has been outspoken about City Hall and his business ventures, including his front yard sales of children's toys and other products; a game room and pool hall on Commerce Street; and a restaurant in his building. His concerns had been displayed on a sign facing the public square intersection.

Farrar should be allowed to run for mayor, Election Commission Chairman Don Wright said, "but he hasn't made any friends" with his signs.

In February 2011, the white board displayed his advice to residents. "Don't trust city leaders' lies. Stand up now."

Revenge is behind Farrar's candidacy, Wright said.

"I think he's got a vendetta against the city council; that the city denied some variance," the election commission chairman said. "I think he's running to prove a point. The point is he's qualified to run in this election.

"I think he meets the requirements as laid out in our rule book," Wright said.

Farrar said, "I'm not running as a vendetta against the city...

"I've never been denied anything from the city, except that thing with the game room but that was Eddie Fuller's situation, not the city," Farrar said of the city manager who's been retired for more than two years. "He (Fuller) misspoke, from what I understand (about Fuller's inquiry on game rooms), so as far as the city, I've never been denied anything from the city."

Lewisburg's Board of Zoning Appeals permitted Fun World in February 2010 when Farrar said juveniles wouldn't be allowed in the upstairs poolroom. Subsequently, questions raised about parental permission were countered with an argument that he should be treated equally to Walmart, which had arcade-type electronic games.

"I'm running for the purpose of bettering the city for small business," Farrar said Monday. "They've been focused on industry."

Farrar showed Arnold his driver's license and a cable TV bill to prove his residency when he filed his petition to be named on the ballot, he said. A few days later Arnold told him he needed more qualified voters' signatures on the petition and more proof of residency. He returned with a dozen documents including a 2007 Bedford County utility disconnect statement.

Last week, Arnold and Farrar said she asked for photos of the inside of his residence and he said he planned to show her a video recording on Tuesday.

Noon Thursday is the deadline for candidates to file petitions.