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James only discussing issues

• A political newcomer is challenging for a seat on the Dougherty County Commission.

Carlton Fletcher

ALBANY — If politics mattered to contractor Harry James, the challenger for the District 5 Dougherty County Commission seat currently held by newspaper publisher Art Searles, James would probably weigh in on the controversy surrounding recent comments made by Searles and try to use them to his advantage.

But James made clear in a recent conversation that he doesn’t plan to employ such tactics.

“I really don’t have any comments about what Mr. Searles said,” James said. “I believe the citizens of Dougherty County have the intelligence to decide which candidates are best based on the issues.

“Besides, what this race boils down to is not me running against Mr. Searles. I’m running for the seat he now occupies. I want to represent the people of District 5.”

Searles recently made headlines when he criticized Albany police officer Benita Childs for her decision to run for the Dougherty County sheriff against fellow Albany policeman James Williams, current Dougherty County Deputy Sheriff Kevin Sproul and businessman Kirk Smith. Searles said in a column in his weekly newspaper that Childs was being used by the “white power structure” to take votes away from Williams.

Williams, Childs and Smith are all black, while Sproul is white. All are running in the July 15 Democratic primary.

James, however, made it clear that the issue is not his concern as he challenges Searles for the commission seat.

“I don’t know a lot about Ms. Childs,” he said. “I haven’t seen her (performance) evaluations. I’m just focusing on my campaign.”

And the contractor/family man says that campaign will center on change.

“In any community, once you stop change, you become stagnant,” James said. “You can’t have (officials) who keep doing the same thing over and over expecting different results.”

Born in the tiny Appling County community Surrency (“Three feet from our backyard was the end of the world,” he quips.), James attended Georgia Southern College (now University) in Statesboro before studying construction techniques at South Georgia Technical College in Americus. While at South Georgia Tech, James worked for the city of Americus and opened his own construction company, James Unlimited.

He had considered a run for the District 5 seat when former Commissioner Robert Cross died in office in 2001 and again when Searles, who claimed the seat in a special election, ran for re-election in 2004.

“Mr. Searles had said he did not intend to run for re-election (this year), so we started making plans to seek the office,” James said. “When he decided to run, we made the decision not to back out. I think I bring to this race a good vision of where we’ve been, where we are and where we need to go.

“To be effective in this position, I think you have to know what’s going on in your district. I want to work with the people of this district to build a strong community where parents will want to raise their children, provide the best possible education opportunities, support and work with youth programs to help deal with our increasing gang and drug problems and help local businesses employ qualified workers.”

James said the recent issue at the Albany Motor Speedway, which cast business owners against a neighborhood group that complained of the noise at the track, was an example of an issue that could have been better handled by the commission.

“You have to get both sides to the table and work things out,” he said. “With communication, I believe you can find a happy medium.”

The first-time candidate said he, wife Jocylin and their children, Xavier, Lessie, Ashley and Austin, know the issues that face the residents of District 5 because that is their home.

“I’ve known for a long time that this district is my home; it’s where my family and I chose to live,” James said. “My concern is to make District 5 better and find the ways that District 5 can help make this community better.”

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