Jr. Shelton Candidate for Mayor in April 5 Election

Pledges to Fight Crime, Improve Roads
With Open, Honest City Administration

by Woody Jenkins

CENTRAL — Central businessman Jr. Shelton has announced his candidacy for Mayor of the City of Central in municipal election scheduled for Saturday, April 5, 2014.  Shelton narrowly lost the mayor’s job to Mac Watts, the current mayor, in 2010.
Shelton received 48.1 percent of the votes in that election.  A change of 154 votes would have reversed the outcome.
Shelton is the first candidate to formally announce for any office in the April 5 election.  Mayor Watts has not announced whether he will be a candidate for reelection.
Shelton has resided in Central for 34 years.  A native of Baton Rouge, he graduated from Broadmoor High School, where he was a basketball star.  He earned a B.S. in business administration from LSU in 1973. He and his wife Rita have been married for 38 years. They have four children and five grandchildren.
He was self-employed for 40 with  his family’s company, Shel-Boze, Inc.  He has been a licensed realtor since 2010.
Shelton has been a deacon at Broadmoor Baptist Church for 41 years and a Sunday School teacher for 35 years.  He is a Board member emeritus of Central Private.
Shelton is a member of the East Baton Rouge Republican Parish Executive Committee.  He was elected to that position by the Republican voters of Metro Council District 4, which includes most of the City of Central.  Shelton was named Associate of the Year by the Baton Rouge Homebuilders Association and served as chairman of the Habitat Home and Garden Show for Baton Rogue.
He is currently a member of the Executive Committee of the Chamber of Commerce of East Baton Rouge Parish.
In a prepared statement, Shelton outlined his plans as Mayor of the City of Central:
“As your mayor, I will stand for
• Honesty and integrity in the administration of the City of Central with no sweetheart deals, payoffs, favoritism, or conflicts of interest.
•    Maintaining Central’s low crime rate by working closely with the Sheriff’s office and the new Central Police Department.
• Working with the City Council to balance the city budget with no new or increased taxes.
• Creating a positive, pro-business atmosphere that will help our existing businesses prosper and attract those new businesses that would enhance our community.
• Improvements to our roads and highways in order to keep our families and especially our children safe, including working with the state and parish to widen Greenwell Springs Road and Sullivan Road and extend Hooper Road across the Amite River to Watson.
• Maintaining our rural atmosphere and our strong sense of community.
• Opposing public housing projects and high density projects.
• Working closely with the Central Community School Board to make sure that the City of Central does everything in its power to make our schools the best in the state.
• Honoring God and promoting traditional family values, such as marriage, the right to life, and the right to keep and bear arms.
• Overall, making sure that Central is a safe community and a great place to live, raise a family, work, and do business.”
In Central’s last municipal elections held on March 27, 2010, the results were:

City of Central – Mayor
March 27, 2010

Mac Watts    4,183    51.9%
Jr. Shelton    3,877    48.1%

The City of Central’s municipal elections for 2014 will be for seven offices:
• Mayor
• Police chief
• City Council (Five seats)
All officials are elected citywide.  The schedule for the election is as follows:
• Qualifying: Feb. 12-14, 2014
• Last day to register: March 5
• Early voting: March 22-29
• Last day to request mail ballot:
April 1
• Election: April 5, 2014
• Runoff if necessary: May 3

Highlights of Platform

Jr. Shelton (R) for Mayor
April 5, 2014 Election

•    Honest, open administration
•    Work with Sheriff and Police
Chief to fight crime
•    Balanced city budget with no
new or increased taxes
• Positive pro-business atmo-
sphere for existing Central
businesses and new busi-
nesses to enhance Central
•    Work with state and parish to
widen Greenwell Springs and
Sullivan roads and extend
four-lanes of Hooper Road
across Amite River to Watson
•    Maintain rural atmosphere and
strong sense of community
•    Fight public housing and high
density developments
•    Work with School Board to
make schools No. 1 in state
•    Build a great place to live,
work, and raise a family