Retired patrol cop adds name to District 4 race
Published 12:00 am Sunday, February 15, 2015
A retired Vicksburg police officer was the only person this past week to file paperwork to run for a county-level office in this year’s elections.
Gary L. Cooper filed Monday in District 4 as a Democrat, adding his name to a primary ballot there that also includes local pastor and retired mail carrier Casey Fisher.
Cooper, 53, said concerns he’d heard from residents about roads and bridges during his years on the VPD’s patrol division prompted him to run for public office this year.
“I got to see about a lot of needs over here,” Cooper said. “They tell the police anything.”
On the Republican side in the race is Marty Crevitt, a member of the Warren County Port Commission.
Qualifying ends Feb. 27 for county, district and statewide races. Party primaries are Aug. 4 and the general election is Nov. 3.
Other contested races are shaping up in Districts 1 and 3. Two Republicans are challenging incumbent John Arnold for the District 1 seat, Steven Houston and Johnny Beauchamp. One independent, Edward Herring, has filed to run for the seat.
In District 3, school board member James Stirgus Jr challenges five-term incumbent Charles Selmon for the third time in as many elections. Both are Democrats on this year’s primary ballot.
The district covers areas between the Mississippi River, south of the river bridges, and Halls Ferry and Fisher Ferry roads. It shrinks in territory this year, as District 3 grows to the south along U.S. 61 South to Warrenton Road and to the southeast to Grange Hall Road to satisfy population shifts after the 2010 census.
In the Legislature, incumbent state representatives Alex Monsour and Oscar Denton have qualified in the Republican and Democratic primaries, respectively, as has Republican state Sen. Briggs Hopson III.
On Tuesday, Denton picked up a primary challenger in Arrick R. Rice, a self-employed life insurance agent. Denton won the District 55 seat in a 2013 special election to succeed current Vicksburg Mayor George Flaggs Jr.
Other incumbents who’ve qualified include Chancery Clerk Donna Hardy, Tax Assessor Angela Brown, Coroner Doug Huskey, County Prosecutor Ricky Johnson, District 2 Supervisor William Banks, District 5 Supervisor Richard George, District Attorney Ricky Smith, justice court judges Eddie Woods, Jeff Crevitt and James Jefferson and constables Glenn McKay and John Heggins. As of the close of business at the courthouse Friday, The lone other challenger in a race besides county supervisor is Henry Phillips, who has filed to run against Jefferson.