Ruston Appoints New Mayor

At last night’s Ruston town council meeting the council appointed Mayor Bruce Hopkins to finish out Michael Transue’s term.

It’s no secret that Ruston’s been full of political turmoil lately. Michael Transue and Bob Everding both resigned from the mayor position earlier this year and Councilman Bradley Huson has been acting as mayor pro-tem for “the last two months and thirty days, exactly” – but whose counting?

The position had five applicants initially, including Councilman Huson and Councilman Wayne Stebner, but all withdrew their applications except for Bruce Hobkins and Kim Wheeler. Although Kim Wheeler has plenty of experience as mayor of Ruston (2001-2005), there seemed to be too much baggage in appointing him since he made the controversial decision to sell property to The Commencement project.

After a public Q&A session with the two applicants, the council voted unanimously for Bruce Hopkins. With support from the council and public, hopefully Hopkins can settle the disagreements and keep Ruston from bankruptcy. Maybe the fourth mayor’s the charm?