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By MALENA OGLES
Staff Writer

Former deputy constable Gary Guthrie will face Whitehouse police officer Dustin Rust in a April 8 runoff, after no candidate in the field of 4 won a majority in the Smith County Precinct 3 Constable Republican primary race.

Guthrie led with 40.1 percent of the vote, followed by Dustin Rust with 27.8 percent.

Complete but unofficial results show Guthrie received 2,059 votes and Rust 1,428 votes.

No Democrats ran for the office.

Other votes cast include: Precinct 4 chief deputy Terry Brunk, 901 votes, or 17.6 percent; and former Arp City Marshal Rod Langlinais, 747 votes or 14.6 percent.

The Precinct 3 constable office serves the Troup, Whitehouse and Arp areas.

Guthrie ran and lost in 2002 to fill the unexpired term of Smith County Precinct 3 Constable Rick Waller. He ran again in 2004 and lost to incumbent Danny Smith.

"It's in my blood, I grew up in it," Guthrie said explaining why he continues to run for the office. "I know what I'm doing, and want to provide citizens with the best civil process that can be provided to them."

Guthrie's experience includes 25 years in law enforcement, 16 of which were as chief deputy constable in Precinct 3. Guthrie's late mother was a Precinct 3 justice of the peace and his father served as a lieutenant chief deputy in the constable's office. Guthrie retired in 1994 after 15 years in Air Force.

A month ago he returned from Iraq where he worked as an Iraqi police training officer for 14 months.

He is a certified master peace officer with the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Education to teach civil process and firearms classes. He is married to Kathleen Guthrie and has three children and three step children.

"I'm very pleased with the results, but we have a long way to do go," Guthrie said.

Rust, who has more than 13 years of law enforcement experience, eight of which is in Precinct 3, said that he expected a runoff race because there were four candidates. He added that he's happy to be one of the two in the runoff.

"I'm very confident with the way we are running things," he said.

Rust added that he is looking forward to continuing the election process.

"We're still not finished yet, and everyone needs to get out and vote in the runoff," he said.

Rust, 27, is a Whitehouse police officer and former Smith County Sheriff deputy. He is also part owner in a company that services and installs emergency equipment in law enforcement vehicles.

Rust is a graduate of the East Texas Police Academy. In 2003, he was awarded the HOPE Award for domestic violence prevention and in 2005 he received the Judicial Certificate of Merit for response to a gunman who opened fire at the Smith County Courthouse that year. He is also endorsed by the Fraternal Order of Police and the local chapter of Disabled American Veterans.

Early voting for the runoff is from March 31 to April 4.