By Tara DeRock Mahoney
Senior Staff Writer

Madison resident Ed Latham last week became the third and final candidate for Morgan County

Commissioner during an abbreviated qualification period following the recent death of Commissioner Walter Curtis Butler.

Latham (R) joins Donald Harris (D) and Zeke Lambert (D) in a three-way race for District One Commissioner, a contest that will be decided in a Special Election held in conjunction with the General Election on November 4.

Latham first moved to Morgan County in 1981 as an employee with Woodkraft. Work took him away again in 1991, but the family soon moved back.

“It didn’t take us long to realize that Morgan County is where we want to be,” said Latham in a telephone interview on Tuesday.

All in all, the Air Force veteran spent 25 years in the forest products business, 10 of those in Madison. He has since been in real estate for 13 years; he and his wife, Pam, have five grown children, three of whom graduated from the Morgan County school system. He has been a member of the Madison-Morgan Parks and Recreation Committee and the Madison-Morgan Cultural Center board, and he serves as a mentor for the school system. He and his family are active in the Madison Presbyterian Church.

He hopes to work for all of the citizens of Morgan County “who believe they are underserved and overtaxed,” said Latham in an e-mail.

“My basic goal is to foster the economic development of our county, and I want to do that without compromising the rural character of our county,” said Latham on Tuesday.”I think that’s what attracts people to Morgan—that’s why I’m here.”