Leona Nelson of Shawnee has earned the Flume's People's Choice award for "Best Public Watchdog for Park County" three times - in 2004, 2010 and 2011. Her motto is "Don't mess with Mother Leona."
She was new to politics in 1984 when she ran for county commissioner. She had been writing a column for The Flume in which she wrote about the county commissioners and the state Legislature, and people felt she would make a good commissioner. Nelson ran as a Democrat that year and lost by 24 votes in the primary. Four years later, she ran again for county commissioner, but this time as a Republican; she lost again, this time by 101 or 102 votes.
