Bondurant seeking fifth term as mayor

In 2004 Dewey Bondurant, Jr., decided to run for mayor due to his experience working on Hurricane Park and his love of Flomaton.

The 72-year old Flomaton mayor announced this week that he will seek re-election for a fifth term in the Aug. 25 municipal elections.

"I've really enjoyed trying to make the town better," Bondurant said. "Over the years we have made the town better. I just enjoy helping people."

Born in Jackson, Ala., Bondurant moved to Flomaton where his father set up his sawmill behind Vanhoosen's Station.

"He wholesaled and retailed lumber and one of the reasons we moved here was for me to begin school in Flomaton," Bondurant said.

He graduated from Flomaton High School in 1965 and attended Pensacola State Jr. College and walked on with the baseball team and became a two-year starter at catcher. He went on to receive his bachelor's degree in math at Auburn University.

In 1970 Bondurant taught geometry and math, and coached junior high football and varsity baseball in Flomaton.

That same year he married Irene Broomes and they now have two children, Jim and Claire and five grandchildren.

"That was the greatest time of my life," Bondurant recalled.

A year later he went to work with his father at D.J. Bondurant Lumber Co., as general manager. Bondurant managed the company until it closed in 1996 and began managing the family's four hardware stores, Bondurant Lumber and Hardware, Inc.

"I am very blessed to work with so many good people," Bondurant said. "Whether it is with the stores or as mayor of Flomaton for almost 16 years."

"I enjoy my work and I love Flomaton," he added. "My wife and I are both Christians and attend Olive Baptist Church with Jim and his family."

He said one of his great joys was the building of Hurricane Park in Flomaton.

"Larry White and I went to Mayor Leon Holt with a dream," Bondurant said. "He formed a committee of Larry, Jerry Jackson and me. We went to work with Gene Van Hoosen, Buddy Brown and Harold McGhee and Coach Davidson."

"With the help of many people in town we did it with a cost to the town of $350,000," he said. "We went to work one Saturday morning with five electricians and about 50 other volunteers from our community. What a great team we had."

Bondurant said he wants to serve another four years to continue the progress in Flomaton.

"Running a town is like running a business," he said. "I've got the experience in both. We've made a lot of progress beginning with the four-laning of Highway 113. We have a new library and a new town hall."

"Those are the things you can see," Bondurant said. "A lot of the progress is buried in the ground."

When the town was given the old pipe plant on Highway 31, it came with the left over pipe. Bondurant struck a deal with the Alabama Department of Transportation to do the storm water drainage downtown with the town providing the pipe.

"The town couldn't afford to do the work by itself," he said. "But it worked out great."

Bondurant said he continuously looks for revenue sources to improve Flomaton.

"I've called everybody from Montgomery to Washington, D.C.," he said.

He said he would like to see his dream come full circle with major renovations to Hurricane Park that include more ball fields and a new concession stand and restrooms.

"We are moving in the right direction and I want to see the town stay on that path," Bondurant said.