By Staff
Lawton Shipp, a lifelong resident of East Brewton, has announced his Republican candidacy for the District 1 seat on the Escambia County School Board.
Shipp qualified in March and will be placed on the ballot in the Nov. 3 general election.
He is a 1977 graduate of W.S. Neal High School in East Brewton and received an associate of arts degree in 1979 from Jefferson Davis Community College. He also attended Troy University, majoring in broadcast journalism.
Shipp is married to Renee` Shipp, a school teacher with the Escambia County School District of Florida. They are members of the First Assembly of God Church in East Brewton, where Shipp has served on the deacon board for 20 years.
They have two sons, Jay and Greg. Jay is a 2002 graduate of W.S. Neal High School who has recently completed five years active duty in the U.S. Navy and presently resides in Honolulu, Hawaii. Greg will be a senior at W.S. Neal High School during the 2008-2009 school year.
Shipp recently retired from the East Brewton Fire Department as assistant chief with nearly 30 years service to the community.
While working for the fire department, he also served as training officer and fire department secretary.
Shipp continues to work part-time as East Brewton building inspector and compliance officer. He is a certified residential building inspector through the International Code Council and has received training from the University of North Alabama relating to planning commissions and board of adjustments.
Shipp has also had extensive FEMA training on managing floodplain development within the City of East Brewton.
In the past eight years, Shipp has written numerous grants for the fire and police departments and for R.T. Johnson Recreational Park in East Brewton.
For more than 20 years Shipp has contributed during each football season either as videographer or statistician for the W.S. Neal High School football team.
Shipp has also served as coach for little league baseball and youth basketball in the past.