Bullard seeking
commission post

Ricky Bullard of Cerro Gordo, a member of the Columbus County Schools’ Board of Education since 1995, is seeking the District 6 seat on the county’s board of commissioners.

The businessman said he would not seek re-election to the school board if he wins the Democrat primary against challenger David Lee McPherson of the Beaverdam community. The primary winner will face independent Howell Strickland in November.

Bullard said he felt all issues facing the county’s commissioners are important and promised to “not jump to a decision. I want to get input from the community and others in the county on a controversial issue.”

As owner of The Cement Barn just west of West Columbus High School in Cerro Gordo, Bullard has carved a niche in the cement statue market, plus he is also handling some small shrubs and trees at the growing location just off U.S. Highway 76.

“I’ve had over 10 years experience dealing with county issues and I would feel a responsibility as a commissioner to be responsive to all the people, not just those in my district,” Bullard pointed out.

A 1977 graduate of West Columbus High School, Bullard is a county native. His late mother, Carrie Bullard, was pastor of the Boardman Pentecostal Holiness Church, and he now attends the Chadbourn Pentecostal Holiness Church.

Bullard worked a number of jobs after graduating from high school and eventually became a building contractor. He built homes for 21 years before beginning the concrete lawn ornament business as a hobby.

The hobby became a full-blown business and he and wife, Judy Ford Bullard, traveled to many areas of the southeastern United States and Mexico to find unusual forms to be made into lawn ornaments.

“The Lord blessed our family when we started the Cement Barn business. There’s a lot of difference between working for someone and having to meet your own payroll. You have to learn to balance a budget, sometimes by making tough decisions,” Bullard noted.

His daughter Ashley, 20, attends Southeastern Community College and also works in the family business. Son Matthew, 24, is a 2004 SCC graduate and has joined his parents in the ornament work.

Bullard decried the lack of employment opportunities for young people in Columbus County. “We’re losing too many of our children to neighboring counties because they can’t find a decent paying job here. Many of them live here, but they had to leave to find work.

“Taxes here are getting harder and harder for the working family. Farmland isn’t an asset anymore because the traditional tobacco system is gone. I’d say that most of the taxes in Columbus County are paid by just 30 to 40 percent of the people, and that’s not fair.”

Bullard said he was excited about the upcoming Ever Fresh plant to open in the county’s industrial park where soybeans will be packaged for shipment to many Asian countries.

Bullard’s district includes Cerro Gordo, part of Chadbourn, the China Grove, Williamson’s Crossroads, Macedonia, Braswell, Beaverdam and Roseland communities, plus parts of Clarendon, Fair Bluff and Williams Township.

Bullard asked that anyone wishing to comment to him to contact him on his cell phone at 640-7910.

“I want to hear what people are thinking. It can’t do anything but help me form my decisions,” he said.

“I’m an employee of the people now as a school board member, and this won’t change when I’m a commissioner.”