"I would really like to be able to serve my community for another two years. Very much so."

Though she finds herself in a run-off election, the three-term Ward 3 city council incumbent was not surprised to find herself in her current predicament.

"Both Mike (Carrafa) and myself have our different people that like us, and follow us, and there again too, a diversity of ideas," Korbeck-Reeder said. "I knew it was going to be pretty close."

And close it was.

Mike Carrafa, owner of Six Gun City gained 47 percent of the 121 votes cast, while the 45-year-old Korbeck-Reeder gained about 41 percent, according to the Cochise County Elections Department.

Because neither candidate had 50 percent of the vote plus one, the candidates have until Nov. 2 to state their cases for the council seat.

Though Carrafa's political signs hang around town, Korbeck-Reeder's campaign has consisted of letters to newspapers around town, and door-to-door meetings with residents. Like any political campaign, however, Korbeck-Reeder has felt the heat of her opponent's campaign, but chose not describe in detail what that consisted of.

"From my perception, it appears that there's been some mud slung, but I'm not going to play that game. I'm just being me, and telling people who I am. I'm not gonna downgrade my opponent, I'll just play up who I am."

The New York City native moved from Phoenix to Tombstone in 1992 in order to be "part of a community." When she lived in Wisconsin, her parents were part of community organizations, spurning her to "make a difference," in a smaller community.

While the feedback she's received has been positive from Ward 3 residents, she is not boasting about a sure victory.

If re-elected, however, Korbeck-Reeder listed projects she would like to tackle to improve the city's infrastructure.

"Working on getting our water rights regulated, get new wells dug.... I can look out my front window and see roads that need work... we need to get hooked up to the sewage system instead of septic. But other than that, there's just not a whole bunch of money to go around for these projects."

One of Korbeck-Reeder's continuing projects has been to improve the city swimming pool and the area surrounding it.

"I've had a heck of a time trying to get some sort of grant to redo our city swimming pool, which is the oldest and still in use in Arizona. Originally, it was planned to have two little parks on each side. It would be nice to find the money to do that."

Along with attempting to fix these problems with the lack of money in the city's coffers, her possible re-election will mean working with a retooled council, including a new mayor and two new council members.

"You have to give and take," said Korbeck-Reeder, who is part of volunteer groups such as the Tombstone Vigilantes, Inc., the Lions Club International, and Helldorado, Inc. "You have to work together for what's best for Tombstone. It's a good diversity of ideas. We have different viewpoints, and with all that, we are usually able to come to something everybody can agree on, that everybody's had input on."

One area that could become a point of contention between the incumbent and newer members of the council could be the solicitation ordinance. While
Korbeck-Reeder approves of its enforcement, mayor-elect Jack Henderson has voiced his displeasure with the ordinance.

"Although that's a touchy point for a few people (here)... we have venues that we can advertise all these places without people having handbills stuffed in their face. It's actually the same ordinance that was voted in back in 1988. It's been a little reworded, and we actually have a marshal that's enforcing it at this point."

Though she agrees that the ordinance has been a, "bone of contention for quite awhile," Korbeck-Reeder is keeping an open mind to the idea of repealing it.

"I'd like to see all these other venue's views on what's available to get their advertising out. We have a great visitor's center, and there (are) other things that we can work on, other places we need the handbills to be offered, so the tourists that come in, get to see all these wonderful places that we have. There isn't one place here that's a bad place to visit, we've got such a variety, including our restaurants and, golly, everything."

Just this past year, the councilwoman has worked with current city council to establish the new Tombstone Senior Center, and improve the Tombstone Food Bank.

"We have a great food bank, available to quite a few in Tombstone, and Cochise County. It's what they like to call the 'hub of food banks,' in this area."

Though she is not nervous about the upcoming election, she places the community at the forefront, and said that even without being re-elected, she will continue to work for the betterment of Tombstone.

"No matter what happens, I'm still going to do my stuff for the community. I'm still going to be a Vigilante, I'm still going to do Helldorado Days, still going to be on the Lions Club. I have the community at heart. I want to be part of this town, and help this town as much as I can."