The election in Ferris on Saturday is more about the soul of this community than the individuals running.
We’d be lying, though, if we neglected our beloved Sheila Hatfield – a staunch defender of the truth and the managing editor of this paper during a time when Ferris was being split in half over this paper’s – and her coverage – of the corruption involving former Ferris Police Chief Jeff Cottongame, former Lt. Sherman Swafford and the network of connections that allowed Cottongame to spend taxpayer funds on a trip to Corpus Christi with a young girl, as a result of Hatfield’s investigations. Paid for by police reserve bank funds, according to receipts from public records.
The issue of Cottongame’s former underlings utilizing a bank account Swafford – who is now at the Ennis Police Department – had no authority to create (according to public record) is the tip of the iceberg.
That account – which FPD officers were paid out of in dispersements after they did security work for the Ferris school district – was the door that created a gaping hole into this very town’s underpinnings.
Since then, a power struggle in the town catapulted former mayor Rick Barrett and councilmen Gary Ross, Bill Pardue and Billy Don Dunn into office – with hopes and an agenda of keeping the things the way they were.
Hatfield – as well as former mayor Scott Born and Lori Perkins – two of the officials who helped bring the police department to its senses and are aiming for their seats again – helped expose the fact Barrett allegedly knew about the Corpus Christi trip.
They’re running to put Ferris back on the track of open and honest government and an end to the good ‘ol boy network.
Our paper is based in this community so we have an incentive to make sure things are done legally, morally and correctly.
The life of our town depends on those who want to re-establish the truth and Ferris’ inner direction, its soul.
Election Day is May 10.
Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Voting Location
Ferris Junior High School
301 E Fifth Street
Ferris, Texas 75125
