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Johnson elected mayor
 Winnsboro Mayor-elect Jackie Johnson says that the door to his office will always be open.
Johnson was elected to the post Saturday in a run-off.
Complete but unofficial election results reveal Johnson, a Democrat, bested Republican Ken Hill. He is set to take office on July 1.
He won with 57 percent, 997 votes, of the 1, 764 ballots cast. Hill received 767 votes in the election.
In the March 27 primary election, Hill received 34 percent or 587 votes of the 1,631 total ballots cast, with Johnson, scoring 29 percent or 491 votes, in a four-way match up for mayor of Winnsboro. Deacue Fields garnered 22 percent, 354 votes and Leroy Scott garnered 13 percent, 219 votes, in the mayoral primary election.
Now that the election is behind him, Johnson said he would like to work on unifying the city.
"I want the people to know that this is not about Jackie Johnson, it's about them," he said. "It's about unifying and not dividing. It's about making Winnsboro a better place to live and my door will always be open to whomever wants to see me."
Johnson, 70, is a native of Terry who moved to Winnsboro in 1964.
He retired from the U.S. Army as a Sergeant First Class in 1983 and joined the Winnsboro Police Department where served as an officer for 14 years.
Johnson was elected in 1988 to the Franklin Parish Police Jury to represent District 7 and has remained at the post ever since.
As a juror, he has served in several capacities, including chairman of the parish Economic Development Committee and as a member of the Finance Committee, Personnel Committee and Recreation Committee.
Johnson has represented Franklin Parish as a board member for the Northeast Louisiana Economic Alliance, the LaSalle Community Action Association and the Macon Ridge Economic Development Region.
Johnson said he is organizing a team to help ease the transition of power from Interim Mayor John "Sonny" Dumas Jr., who has sat at the helm of Winnsboro city government since the March death of Mayor Jack Hammons. Hammons passed away after a brief battle with cancer after 12 years as mayor.
"I would like to talk to anyone who would like to contribute — from business people, to people in all categories, including ministers. I would like to make the transition with as broad a range of people as possible," Johnson said.
Johnson said he appreciated the way the race with Hill was fought and is glad he can still call his opponent a friend.
"He called me and let me know he would make himself available to help," Johnson said.
"He was a very gracious candidate and a very worthy opponent who ran a clean race. He is a good man and he is my friend."
Hill shared Johnson magnanimity over the election.
"Anybody hates to lose, but I just have to say that looking back at the last three months and all the support I got —I didn't lose anything," he said. "Jackie has a lot of support and I think he will do a fine job." |
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