Terrell County ballot includes sheriff, tax commissioner, School Board seat UPDATED

Editor’s Note: The following is the fourth in a series of election coverage previews for the May 24 primary and nonpartisan elections. An earlier version of this article did not include tax commissioner candidate Alice Countryman Carter because of an incorrect contact phone number was listed for her.

DAWSON — Terrell County residents will determine who serves them in three positions during the May 24 Democratic primary election.

The Terrell seats up for grabs are sheriff, tax commissioner and Terrell County Board of Education, District 1.

Terrell County Sheriff

The current sheriff, John Bowens, is looking to gain another term and earn the distinction of being the longest-serving person in that office. At the end of his current term, he will have been sheriff for 24 years.

“I enjoy serving as sheriff of Terrell County,” he said. “Terrell is a good county, and I think I can serve it well.”

If he gets another term, he said he will continue to build on what is already in place. He served 17 years as a deputy before becoming sheriff, and he said he feels like he has earned the trust of the people.

“If re-elected, I will continue to do the best job I can. I’ve been elected for six terms, so I think that says a lot,” Bowens said.

James Driver Jr. had experience in law enforcement in Sumter and Terrell counties before opening his Thompson Gas location on U.S. Highway 82. While he has since sold the business, he still has a management role there.

“I decided to run for sheriff because it is time for a change,” Driver said. “I’ve got a long-term vision. I want to run the Sheriff’s Office like a business by managing a budget and managing expenses.”

Driver said he would like to see the agency’s jurisdiction split into zones with regular patrols assigned to those zones.

The challenger came to Terrell’s sheriff’s office in 2005 and worked for a short time as a multi-agency investigator. Before that, he spent 10 years working as a police officer in the Americus and Sumter County area. Those experiences, along with his business sense, make Driver stand out as candidate, he said.

“I feel I am the right choice,” Driver said.

Capt. Wallace Price with the Dawson Police Department is also challenging Bowens because he said he saw an opportunity to make a difference.

At this point, Price said he knows he wants to establish stronger communication with the citizens to solve issues. While he has devised a plan, Price said he wants to get into the office before establishing a solid path on what to do.

“I have the utmost respect for the sheriff,” he said. “I don’t have a problem with him, and I don’t think he has a problem with me. I just want to serve this community.”

Terrell County Tax Commissioner

Darlene Paul, Terrell County’s chief appraiser, is running to replace the departing Peggy Pritchard as tax commissioner. Paul began her career in the tax commissioner’s office 37 years ago. She was there for 15 years before filling a vacancy in the Terrell Assessors Office.

“All of those 37 years, my heart has been in the tax commissioner’s office,” she said.

If Paul is allowed to go back to her roots, she said she plans to move the office into a new age. She said she wants to be able to institute online payments, offer the option of debit and credit payments, offer two telephone lines the public can access and ensure payments are handled in a timely manner.

“I want it (the office) brought up to speed. We can’t do things like we have always done it,” Paul said. “I feel like I have the experience. I have been there and seen it from both sides.”

One of Paul’s opponents, Christie Cooper, has been a resident of Dawson for 25 years. She has spent a total of 19 years working in tax commissioner offices in Dougherty and Sumter counties, the last 15 in the Dougherty office.

She has knocked on doors for six weeks to spread the word of her platform, with more houses left to hit. Given the experience of doing many of the things the commissioner does behind the counter, she said she feels she has practically done the job already.

“I started at the counter in Americus and worked my way up,” she said.

Cooper said Pritchard has had some issues in her office she has helped out with, which has allowed her gain some understanding on how the system in Terrell works.

“When Peggy decided she was not going to run again, I thought: ‘Why not?,’” Cooper said. “I’ve already been trained to do it.”

Cooper described her relevant experience as “more current, and more specific” to the role as tax commissioner relative to her opposition, adding that the decision to run was something she and her husband prayerfully considered.

Candidate Alice Countryman Carter says she wants to take the office in a different direction.

Carter, who has a background in early education and has lived in Terrell County most of her life, said she believes in the issues important to her neighbors. Among those issues are communication, transparency and privacy concerns.

“I want to identify ways to open the lines of communication more between the county commission (and the tax commissioner’s office),” she said.

Carter said she can bring a new face and new attitude to some ongoing county issues. While she acknowledges that some of the ideas of her opponents, including credit and debit card machines and online payments, are good ones, she wants to take a different course.

“My plan is not to re-create the wheel, but to make it better,” she said.

Carter has a bachelor’s degree on Allied Health Services and a master’s degree in Public Administration from Albany State University.

“I have a well-nourished background when it comes to dealing with the public,” she said.

Mary Ellen Harnage, who has worked in the tax commissioner’s office for 17 years, said she decided to run because she wanted to help the people in Terrell. She also said she wants to see the office updated through the use of debit and credit card machines and the institution of online payments.

The long-time Terrell resident holds an accounting degree from South Georgia Technical College and has spent much of her time over the last 17 years doing a little bit of everything involved with running the tax office. She said some of the desired updates make life easier for residents, many of whom work in the Albany area, but also help those in the office who are already working with a short staff to be more efficient.

“We (currently) have to write each check down (in a record book),” she said. “(New technology) would make it easier to do our job.”

Harnage added that she can learn any task put before her and knows the office needs to get in line — and that she has had a hand in training at least three people who have come and gone at the office in recent years.

“The people are the heart of the community, and I want people getting treated equally,” she said. “I want the office to run better and more efficiently. I’ve learned a lot, and a lot of it on my own.”

Board of Education District 1

D.U. Pullum, a lifelong resident of the county, is running against John Gardner for the District 1 seat on the School Board.

Pullum worked for 41 years in the state education system, primarily in Terrell County. Over the course of 28 years, the roles he held included teacher, counselor and principal. He also spent seven years as the transportation director in the Terrell school system.

He said his primary motivation for running is the hunch that the current superintendent, Robert D. Aaron, may be nearing retirement.

“I would like to have input on the person who would succeed him,” he said.

Beyond that, Pullum said he wants to see things continue to improve in the Terrell school system. Specifically, Pullum said he wants to see more advanced courses added and bring in more personnel.

“With my experience in the system and in different areas, I think that might be an advantage for me,” he said. “I’m the chair of the Zoning and Planning Commission, and I’m in my 25th year. I’ve gathered pretty good experience. I understand the needs of the county.

“I want to be sure we keep the progress going that is being made. The present superintendent has done a marvelous job in fulfilling his agenda.”

The progress Pullum said he would like to see is collaboration with community leaders to bring in vocational opportunities so that students are ready for the employers prepared to hire them, and so they stay in the region.

Gardner is seeking his third term on the board and said he has received support from constituents to get that term so he can use the opportunity to see unfinished business through to conclusion.

Specifically, Gardner said the business he would like to see finished includes building projects in the school system and the expansion of academic programs.

“I want to follow up on academic success to see that brought to full fruition,” he said.

The current board member is a product of the system himself and has two children who have graduated from the system and gone on to attend the University of Georgia and Georgia Institute of Technology. His wife is a retiree of the system, so he is invested in the schools there.

“I pay close attention to the taxpayer. I’ve seen the progress made, but I still see there is work to be done,” he said. “I can see what is lacking in the school system.”

In terms of academic programs, Gardner said he wants more chances for high school students to get into Advanced Placement courses.

“I don’t think we give kids the best opportunity because of classes we don’t offer,” he said. “(We need to offer) everything to be successful in today’s society. I want (the voters) to know I’m trying to be the best steward of taxpayer money I can be. Whatever is needed to be discussed in public will have a voice on the board.”