East Texas Mayor Resigns after 32 Years in Office

CARTHAGE (AP) � Either Carson Joines has been a very popular man in Carthage, or nobody else wanted to be mayor of the small East Texas over the past 32 years. City Secretary Debbie Pierce tells the Longview News-Journal that Joines has announced that he’s resigning as mayor of Carthage before his term expires in May. The Carthage City Commission will meet Friday morning to fill Joines’ unexpired term. Joines has spent 42 years in office, the first 10 as Carthage mayor pro tem and the other 32 as mayor. In his resignation letter to the commission, Joines says he wanted to give more time to his family. His wife died in 2002 and he has four children, nine grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.