Dennis Lawton, the first black commissioner in Screven County, is celebrating his 25th anniversary on the board.
Lawton was elected on Feb. 5, 1985, and was sworn in on Feb. 15, 1985, after a federal court order mandated redistricting to increase black representation in local government.
Since then, Lawton has been re-elected to six four-year terms in District 2. He’s had opposition in some of those races, but no one has ever come close to beating him, said Commissioner J.C. Warren, who also is black and is in his 18th year on the commission.
Lawton “is the longest-serving commissioner I know of in this county,” Warren said.
Lawton said his time as commissioner “has been very rewarding. I’ve learned a lot of things – how government works. You think when you are in office you can move the world, but you can’t.” He said commissioners must follow a lot of regulations and work with other board members as a team to get things done.
He said the commission has learned over the years how to manage taxpayers’ money more efficiently. Among the major changes he has seen is the county going from a clerk to a county manager system in the early 1980s, with a paid, full-time manager handling much of the day-to-day operations.
In his quarter-century in office, “Zoning was the biggest headache,” he said. “There was a big commotion about zoning.”
Lawton said he had reservations about it. “It hurts some people, but most of the time it’s a good thing. … Zoning helped a lot of people. It can keep someone from opening a junk yard or a race track next to your house. It’s still a work in progress, needs fine-tuning.”
Lawton said he’s honored to have been the first black member of the commission and he is glad to be able to offer different views to the commission. He also was pleased to bring up the idea of the county observing Martin Luther King Day and to see that enacted.
But he’s grateful to have been able to serve residents of all races. “I hope I did something positive for the community, just as a representative of the community,” he said. “If something I did will help somebody, I’m glad.”
Lawton has worked closely with the recreation department for the last five or six years. He said using special-purpose, local-option sales taxes to build the rec center was one of the better things the commission has done during his tenure. “It’s a marvelous thing for the whole community,” he said. “It’s something we can be proud of.”
Lawton said he dreams of new jobs for the county. “I’d like to see a major industry come to Screven County to put people back to work. We dearly need it. … We have a prime location,” halfway between Augusta and Savannah, between the Savannah and Ogeechee rivers.
He said he sees the industrial park in Effingham County getting new tenants and EFACEC, the new electrical transformer company with 600 jobs, and wishes Screven County could attract some of that growth. “I see all the plants going in there,” he said. “That makes me hurt. Forty-five minutes up the road, Screven County is losing jobs.”
Lawton said he thinks the first priority should be filling the county’s industrial park and that the Industrial Development Authority should take the lead in developing industry at the airport.

Lifelong Screven Resident
Lawton, 57, was born and raised in Screven County and has lived here all his life. He was born across the road from where he now lives and has lived within the same 500 yards his whole life, on a road that bears his family’s name.
He graduated from Central High School in 1970, where he was student body president, and shortly after graduation married his high-school sweetheart, Dilsie Ellison. The couple will celebrate their 40th anniversary this year. She’s a program director at the Central Savannah River Area Economic Opportunity Authority, at the senior citizens’ building.
Lawton started work at King Finishing right after high school, as a machine operator, and worked his way up to supervisor before leaving after 17 years to go to the paper plant in Rincon. He has worked at the paper plant, known over the years as Fort Howard and James River and now Georgia Pacific, for 24 years, as a machine operator and supervisor.
The couple has three children: Troy, who works at Koyo, formerly Timken, and is a member of the school board; Deyonte, who works at Georgia Pacific in Rincon; and Keisha, who is a medical coder in Augusta.
They have nine grandchildren, with a 10th on the way. All of them come to the house on Sundays and Dilsie cooks dinner.
Lawton attends Lawton Grove Baptist Church, where his son Troy is the pastor. He’s a deacon in the 137-year-old church that he has attended all his life – the same church his father and grandfather attended.
Lawton said there’s a reason for his calm demeanor. He said he had a heart attack and quadruple bypass surgery in 1990 and is happy to be alive. “I’m glad to be here,” he said. “God blessed me to be here.”
After the illness, “You look at life more positively, expecting to live life to the fullest,” he said. “If things fall away, I don’t let it worry me. I try not to let things worry me too bad. … Try to do the best you can to solve the problem. I don’t let things worry me.”
Lawton said his wife will get agitated sometimes over small things such as losing her car keys and he just sits back calmly and waits until she finds them.
Although Lawton has lived in the same small area all his life, he likes to travel, including trips to Germany and vacations in Florida. He said he likes clothes and buys a new suit every time he goes on vacation. Before the heart attack, he had four or five suits. Now, he has about 30 suits and 30 pairs of shoes.
“I don’t hunt or fish,” he said. “I love clothes and I like to have fun with my grandkids.  I take a vacation when I have time and money.”
He said he enjoys spoiling his grandchildren, who range in age from a baby on-the-way through college. “I like what I’m doing,” he said. “My wife says I have too many irons in the fire.”
Troy Lawton said his father is a strong role model and is part of the reason he serves on the school board. “He’s soft-spoken, but when he says something, he has a lot of wisdom,” Troy Lawton said. “He likes to kid around and make you laugh.”
He’s an “old-fashioned guy” who gets up early in the morning and goes to bed early, Troy Lawton said. “He’s not the person that lies in bed all day.”
Troy Lawton said he’s not sure if the grandchildren yet appreciate their grandfather’s position in history. “Kids are kids,” he said. “They live for the moment.”
J.C. Warren said Lawton is “quiet and easy-going,” but, “He has good opinions. That’s why I talk to him a lot.”  Warren said Lawton is popular in his district. “They like him and they like the job he’s doing.”
Lawton said he’d like to continue to serve on the commission. “If folks would like to keep me,” he said, “I’d like to stay around a while.”