Lamar Mayor James Howell: ‘We’re a community that sticks together’
Lamar Mayor James Howell. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
From Staff Reports
James Howell, the new mayor of Lamar, describes his town like this:
“Lamar is a lovely place. Very good people. We’re a community that sticks together. We’re just a tight community.”
The town’s top passion, Howell says, is high-school football – Lamar High School’s Silver Foxes.
On football nights, he says, most everyone is at the game. “We back our (team) real well.”
But Howell, a landscaper who took office in January after winning his first elected office, says the town of about 850 has obvious needs, and he says he is working to help fulfill them.
“We need new businesses in town,” the mayor says. “I would like to see some kind of plant come in so they could hire more of our local residents, so they wouldn’t have so far to go.”
It’s common for Lamar residents to commute to work in nearby towns, such as Darlington, Hartsville or Florence.
The town is also working to regain its own water system rather than continue to buy water from Darlington County, Howell says. They are seeking grants to help accomplish that.
“We just need to get the infrastructure back, and businesses,” he says.
Howell won a very close election last fall to succeed Darnell Byrd-McPherson as mayor. She chose not to run again.
“It’s very challenging,” Howell says of being mayor. “It’s harder than I thought it would be.”