Wade Dudley Wooten
Retired businessman and former State of Texas worker Wade Wooten is running for the position of Lampasas County Judge.
Never did I consider running for public office till now. I witnessed the destruction of a county Pocket Park ,as well as the sawing down of a couple of 100 year old pecan trees.This was done to make way for a metal storage building that could have been built anywhere in the county. It was built exactly in the pathway from Courtyard Square to a redevelopment of Sulphur Creek area. As local businessmen were cleaning out Sulfur Creek to create a walking trail and safe attractive small business environment, the county was not on board.
To increase customer support for our local businesses, I propose to work with the city, Chamber of Commerce, and our local nonprofit organizations to encourage music festivals, art festivals, outdoor markets, etc. We need to create welcoming events to attract customers to our small business community.
Our community was founded here because of our natural springs. I wish to celebrate that fact by having a fountain in the downtown area or in one of our parks. To answer the question “who will pay for it”, our coordination of volunteer groups, city, county, private donations, state and federal grants will get it done. We have all the local talent we need in our community to accomplish this as long as we have the infrastructure we can build on. Look at the reconstruction of the historic 4th Street Church as an example.
The county issues I find most crucial are; securing water supply, maintaining the flood control damns, and supporting our firefighting ability.
I am on the board of the Lampasas Area Foundation for the Arts, member of Forward Lampasas, have served on the Museum board, the St Mary’s Episcopal Vestry, have worked with Vision Lampasas, the Lampasas Chamber Music Festival, and Christmas on the Creek.
I have deep roots in Lampasas. My father had a photography studio here for 30 plus years and operated the retail merchants association and credit bureau. My grandfather worked for the city and for many years was fire chief. My mothers father had a small farm and was a Baptist preacher in Topsey and School creek Baptist Church.
My great great grandfather, D W Taylor was the first county judge in Lampasas, raised cattle
and led cattle drives to Kansas and Colorado.
After graduating from Southwest Texas U., I went to work at the Texas Employment Commission as a Tax Auditor in Austin and later in Killeen, Copperas Cove and Lampasas. Moving back to Austin I continued my career at TEC as a management analyst doing cost studies and formulating budgets all the while pursuing my week end hobby of restoring antique furniture. In the early 1980’s I began my restoration business full time with an early customer being the Texas State Senate where I restored many historic pieces. I sold antiques and manufactured our own line of furniture through our showroom at the Dallas World Trade Center.
I seek this job to payback to our community for the freedoms and opportunities that I enjoyed in my life.
Wade Dudley Wooten – Candidate Statement