Fourth supervisor candidate qualifies in District 4

By By Lynette Wilson / staff writer
Sept. 6, 2002
John Nelson Jr., 56, of 2901 St. Luke Street in Meridian is the fourth candidate to enter the race for District 4 supervisor.
Nelson is the fourth candidate to announce he will run in the Nov. 5 special election to fill the unexpired term of Q.V. Sykes, who died in July. The other candidates are Melvin Wright, Rickey Harris and Joe Norwood.
This is Nelson's second run for political office. Two years ago, he lost the race for Ward 4 city councilman to Jessie Palmer by 27 votes. He is a Democrat.
Nelson runs a private detective agency and is a retired lieutenant of the Meridian Police Department and the Lauderdale County Sheriff's Department. He served in the U.S. Army for two years and is a veteran of the Vietnam War.
He has lived most of his live in District 4 and believes the district has been neglected.
He said he is also concerned with the area's job market.
The winner of the Nov. 5 election will have to run again in next year's county elections if he wishes to serve a full four-year term.