The latest qualifiers for Lowndes County elections include a former judge and a community recruit.
Phillip Atkins has qualified as a Republican to face Harry Sanders for his District 1 Supervisor seat, and former Justice Court Judge Ron Cooke will challenge fellow Republican Wyatt Mills for the District 2 judge position.
Atkins, 54, still lives a quarter mile from where he was born and raised in northern Lowndes and runs Atkins Concrete Contractors, a business started by his father, D.M. Atkins. He says citizens have called for his candidacy for years and he finally acquiesced.
“So many people in the district have been asking me for so many years to seek office. I”m just trying to portray the part the people in the district want,” he said Thursday.
Atkins believes his business background has prepared him to manage the district.
“There”s a little more to it, more people involved,” he said of making the switch.
Former District 1 Justice Court Judge Ron Cooke, 62, now has his sights set on the District 2 judge seat.
Cooke has 29 years experience in law enforcement in addition to the nine years he spent on the bench. Despite living in District 2, he ran for the District 1 seat in 1994 after Jimmy Fannon left to run for mayor. Cooke stepped down in 2003 to make a bid for sheriff.
He says that experience and 80-plus hours of training through the Mississippi Judicial College make him the best prepared candidate to make an instant impact.
“I feel like I could start doing the job right away. I”m still young enough that I”ve got something to offer the citizens of Lowndes County,” said Cooke.
Cooke came to Lowndes County in 1969 with the Air Force after serving in Vietnam. For the past six years he”s managed his own defensive driving course.
Current District 2 Justice Court Judge Mike Arledge is expected to run for sheriff.
Jason Browne was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
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