The Ellis County Press: Election 2008

Election 2008
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Editor on 04/03/2008 12:01:00


ENNIS
Former mayor, candidate dies
Jim Bob Wilson, a longtime mayor of Ennis, died last week. An advocate of
historic preservation, Wilson spent 23 years in the mayoral seat. As of press
time, no funeral arrangements were announced.
Ennis ISD
What exactly are voters being asked to approve on May 10 in the school
district's near-$49 million bond package? An examination of the ballot language
is vague: "The issuance of $48,985,000 of bonds and levying the tax in payment
thereof, including the costs of any credit agreements executed in connection
with the bonds."
Avalon ISD
School board elections in November? According to school officials and legal
researchers, a newly enacted state law allows for school districts to request a
waiver to allow for November elections, like the contests little Avalon ISD - in
southern Ellis County - is doing.
Wilmer
Though a complaint was filed with the Dallas County elections department to
disqualify incumbent Mayor Don Hudson and challenger Teresa Bain over their
candidate applications, Wilmer City Secretary Crystol Birdwell said state law
requires challenges to candidates to be filtered through her. The issue about
candidate applications came up when the Wilmer Public Citizen blog
(http://wilmercitiz en.blogspot.com) reported challenges had been made.
District 10
Jim Pitts officially has one Libertarian opponent in November: Phil Smart.
Smart, who has made national headlines (mostly on the Internet) as being the
only candidate from Ellis County to have been arrested twice before two previous
campaigns, has jokingly said that he will turn himself into authorities shortly
before the Nov. 4 vote.
His reasoning? "I don't want them to go through all the trouble," Smart said.
Charges against him in the two previous arrests were dismissed.
Smart will be Pitts' only third-party opponent since the Waxahachie Republican
was elected in 1992.
Local election briefs compiled by Joey
Dauben/972-891-2135/joeydauben@hotmail.com