By KELSIE JOHNSON, NG Sports Reporter, kelsie@nasguard.com

There is a new sheriff in town and he brought his deputies in with him to officially take over the Bahamas Olympic Association (BOA).

The historic elections, held last evening at the Nassau Yacht Club, saw Wellington Miller emerge as the new president replacing Sir Arlington Butler who served for more than three decades, and hopefully ending one of the most regrettable chapters in the history of the leading sports body in the country. On top of that, Miller's entire slate of officers was elected into office alongside him.

Although Miller won by a slim margin, one vote over Rev. Enoch Backford, the picture was clear - that the federation heads and their support team were all tired of the same old regime. True to his word, Sir Arlington

Butler did not contest the president seat. In fact, he was being applauded for showing strength in wanting to see a fair and clean electoral process. After being in disarray for a disturbing 20 months, the elections were apparently, finally completed last night. It was overseen by Mario Vázquez Raña, President of the Pan American Sports Organization (PASO), and executive member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

The new regime to govern the association will be headed by Miller, and vice presidents Roy Colebrook (cycling), Algernon Cargill (swimming), Mike Sands (track and field), Anton Sealy (soccer), David Morley (former basketball head) and Don Cornish (volleyball). The new secretary general is Romell 'Fish' Knowles (softball), and assisting him is Kathy Dillette (swimming) while Larry Wilson and S. Diane Miller will take on the roles of the treasurer and assisting treasurer respectively. Wilson represents basketball and S. Diane Miller is a former softball executive.

After the sweeping victory the new president said: "I appreciate that I was voted in as president for the highest sporting body, the Bahamas Olympic Association.

"I never dreamt about this. As a little boy growing up on the islands I never knew about the Bahamas Olympic Association until I came to Nassau. It took me 30-plus years to be involved in sports to get to this point, so I really appreciate this."

Miller's team ousted all of the 'old' members who included Backford, Roscoe Davies, Sir Durward Knowles, Oria Woods, Larry Davis, Livingston Bostwick, Vincent Wallace-Whitfield and Edith Powell. It was this slate of officers who were reportedly elected during the time period Sir Arlington Butler revealed that there was not a quorum in place to successfully hold elections.

Butler said: "I personally feel as though the new team is going to need some guidance but I believe that they are going to be effective because they are leaders of their federations. They know the needs of the federations and for that reason they will be able to look after the athletes better and be concerned about what is happening to athletes."

'Sir Arli' concluded by saying that he saw hundreds of years of experience go out the door, but that he will remain on the executive as immediate past president. The first major issue on the agenda of the new executive body is clearing up the issues that surround track and field athlete Jackie Edwards.