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Position One candidates clash over police outsourcing, traffic and vendor influence
Summary
At a Community Impact forum, Ernest M. Sumrall and Gary Henson debated traffic, the stalled David Memorial Drive project, and competing accusations about a city official's online statement about policing. Both emphasized public safety and better communication with residents.
Gary Henson, a candidate for Shenandoah City Council Position One, used his opening and closing remarks at a March forum to frame his campaign around restoring resident voice and rooting out what he called "vendor influence" in local elections. "Why are city vendors involved in our elections at all?" Henson asked, saying residents deserve independence and greater transparency.
Ernest M. Sumrall, his opponent, pushed back directly. Sumrall said a "video on [a city official's] website" advocates dismantling local policing and described that online posting as a factual basis for concern about public-safety direction. "It is…
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