SEQUIM — Under his doctor’s orders, Henry A. “Pete” Church-Smith withdrew Wednesday from the Nov. 8 general election race for a position on the Sequim Aquatic Recreation Center board.
Church-Smith, 69, has advanced prostate cancer and must immediately begin treatment in Seattle, he said Wednesday.
“My doctor said no outside stress,” said Church-Smith, a retired certified financial planner who was challenging longtime incumbent Melinda Griffith.
“If you’re a man over 60, get a PSA test because I never had one,” he said.
A PSA test measures the level of prostate-specific antigens in the blood, according to www.cancer.gov.
The test, along with a digital rectal exam, is approved by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration for helping to detect signs of prostate cancer in men 50 and older.
Church-Smith said he will stay active in Concerned Citizens of Clallam County, also known as FourC.
But he will no longer moderate monthly meetings of the group.
FourC hosts political forums the first Monday of every month that commonly draw more than 100 participants to the Boys & Girls Club gym.
Church-Smith and his wife, Missy, moved to Sequim in 2006.
Church-Smith’s name will not appear on the Nov. 8 ballot, county Auditor Patty Rosand said.
Griffith has been a SARC board member since the mid-1970s.
She is now the only candidate for the four-year term in the Position No. 3 seat on the board.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-417-3536 or at paul.gottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
