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June 28, 2008

Murray County commissioner candidate: Rick Pritchett

By Mark Millican

CHATSWORTH — In his work as a surveyor and as a former planner, Rick Pritchett says he talks to a lot of people and hears their concerns about where Murray County is headed. He believes he can address those concerns as sole commissioner.

Pritchett is making his second run for the sole commissioner post. In 2004 he finished “runner-up,” in his words, to Democratic incumbent Jim Welch. Pritchett faces David Ridley in the July 15 Republican primary, while Welch faces Greg Hogan on the Democratic side. The commissioner position has an annual salary of $94,248.

Pritchett has been employed by Allied Surveying of Dalton for 15 years.

“I was on the (Murray County-Chatsworth-Eton) joint planning commission for 17 years and served as chairman for 15 years,” he said, “but we had some good ideas that didn’t get followed through on. We went as far as the administration would let us.” He said those ideas centered around land use, a tourism plan and a potential hazardous waste landfill. He went off the joint planning commission around six years ago.

“I feel like I’ve got a lot of energy and I want to boost economic development,” he said. “I have a lot of friends who have left the county, even with schooling and degrees, because they couldn’t find jobs here.”

Pritchett doesn’t believe that Murray should just provide labor for other communities.

“Bedroom communities are not successful communities,” he said. “A lot of our people can’t afford to drive to Dalton to shop. Moms and pops are hurting. We need to be able to stand on our own.”

Pritchett has a two-fold plan to spur economic development.

“It starts with infrastructure,” he said. “Whitfield County has proven that. We used to have to go to Chattanooga to shop and eat, but now we can do that in Dalton. We have to get infrastructure in place to draw businesses and industry.

“That would also help open up tourism, since we are the gateway to the Blue Ridge mountains. We need to open up those doors and enjoy the fruits.”

Pritchett wants to utilize the county work force more.

“We also need to continue to pave roads,” he said. “We could bid those out to see if we can save some money, but I say let’s put the people to work who are employed by the county.”

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