Wife Left Him, Brother Urged a Vacation : Mayor Vanishes During Reelection Campaign
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HAGERSTOWN, Md. — The mayor of this western Maryland city has vanished in the midst of a reelection campaign, and his brother says he “may be back next week and he may be back next year.”
Mayor Donald Frush, who in one of his last public appearances said he was fatigued and walked out of a union’s meeting held to interview candidates for the March 26 election, left Hagerstown over the weekend without saying where he was going.
“We don’t know where he’s at,” Judy Chambers, community relations director for the city of just over 34,000, said Tuesday.
Acquaintances offered varying explanations for the 54-year-old mayor’s departure.
Winnie Nolte, a family friend, said Frush’s wife, Nadine, had left him over the weekend. She also said Frush was recovering from a gum infection after undergoing oral surgery last week.
Frush’s brother Calvin said he told the mayor to take a vacation to “get a little privacy.” Calvin Frush said the mayor “may be back next week and he may be back next year.”
Chambers said Frush was last in City Hall on Feb. 25. He missed a Feb. 26 City Council meeting.
The Republican mayor, seeking a second term, is being challenged by Democrat Steve Sager.
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