Hollingsworth wins second term as mayor of Ruston
Posted 10-07-02
By Tre Bischof
News Editor, The Ruston Daily Leader
Ruston Mayor Dan Hollingsworth will run the city for at least four more years after defeating former Mayor Hilda Taylor Perritt Saturday with a dominating 63 percent of the vote.
“I’m elated,” Hollingsworth said. “I am humbled by the support and the trust people have in us.”
Hollingsworth said he will continue with the progress the city has made over the last four years.
“I think the next four years will be great,” Hollingsworth said. “We’ll move forward with our infrastructure improvements.”
The mayor said he is going to try to attract business to the city.
“Economic development is a major goal of ours,” he said, adding he would seek to add industrial and retail businesses to the area.
“I think with the golf course in Choudrant and the service road project and the improvements at the airport we have a shining future.”
He mentioned Louisiana Tech University as a major influence on the city and said the city needs to improve upon that.
“We want to do all that we can to feed off of them,” he said.
Perritt, mayor from 1991-98, said she is grateful for the aid she received from her supporters.
“You’d like to come out the winner but when you look back at the support you had, you feel good,” Perritt said.
She said she knew the election would be tough this time around.
“We knew when we filed it would be a hard uphill battle, but with so many employees and people concerned over issues, we knew someone had to run because some things weren’t right.”
Though Perritt was disappointed she lost, she was excited over the support she received.
“I’m appreciative and proud,” she said. “We had some great support from a lot of the employees, the firemen’s wives and people going door-to-door.”
In the other city races, Jedd Lewis became the newest member of the Board of Aldermen after he defeated Tim Babcock and Joe Richardson with 53 percent of the vote.
“I think it was less glamorous than the other (races),” Lewis said, adding he appreciated the way Babcock and Richardson ran their campaigns in a positive manner.
“Being the first time I just didn’t know what to expect. I did spend a lot of time (campaigning) and I know they did to.”
Lewis, who will officially take over for Alderman Jim Tuten in January, said he is going to acquaint himself with the issues before taking office.
“I’m going to get as much information into what they are doing and see why they are looking into certain types of plans,” Lewis said.
In Ward 5, a run-off will be held between incumbent Alderman David Hedgepeth and Marie Riggs. Riggs received 50 percent of the vote while Hedgepeth got 37 percent. Pat Cardwell lost the election with 13 percent of vote.
The run-off will be held Nov. 5
