Changes

{{Infobox officeholder

{{Infobox officeholder

|name=Harold Dennis Freeman​

|name=Harold Dennis Freeman​

|office=[[Mayor]] of Logansport, DeSoto Parish, [[Louisiana]], [[United States|USA]]​

|office=[[Mayor]] of Logansport, DeSoto Parish, [[Louisiana]], [[United States|USA]]​

|term_start=1984​

|term_start=1984​

|children=Pamela Kaye Freeman<br>

|children=Pamela Kaye Freeman<br>

Susan F. Simmons<br>

Susan F. Simmons<br>

Kathy F. Alger​

Kathy F. Alger​<br>

|party=[[Democratic Party|Democrat]]-turned-[[Republican Party|Republican]]​

|party=[[Democratic Party|Democrat]]-turned-[[Republican Party|Republican]]​ (c. 1995)

|occupation=[[Insurance]] agent ​

|occupation=[[Insurance]] agent ​

|religion=[[United Methodist]]}}

|religion=[[United Methodist]]}}

'''Harold Dennis Freeman''' (April 23, 1940 &ndash; November 23, 2007), known as '''Dennis Freeman''', was from 1984 until his death the [[mayor]] of Logansport, a town adjacent to the Sabine River in DeSoto Parish in northwestern [[Louisiana]]. His contributions were particularly significant considering the otherwise limited role of a small-town mayor. For some sixteen years, he worked patiently with highway officials in Louisiana and [[Texas]] to construct a new border bridge over the Sabine.. Freeman also fought to keep the pending  Interstate 69 route in western Louisiana closer to Logansport. He also helped to establish the first fire and ambulance districts in DeSoto Parish.<ref name=obit>{{cite web|url=https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/shreveporttimes/obituary.aspx?page=lifestory&pid=98534216|title=Dennis Freeman obituary|publisher=''The Shreveport Times''|date=November 26, 2007|accessdate=April 13, 2019}}</ref>​

'''Harold Dennis Freeman''' (April 23, 1940 &ndash; November 23, 2007), known as '''Dennis Freeman''', was from 1984 until his death the [[mayor]] of Logansport, a town adjacent to the Sabine River in DeSoto Parish in northwestern [[Louisiana]]. His contributions were particularly significant considering the otherwise limited role of a small-town mayor. For some sixteen years, he worked patiently with highway officials in Louisiana and [[Texas]] to construct a new border bridge over the Sabine. Freeman also fought to keep the pending  Interstate 69 route in western Louisiana closer to Logansport. He also helped to establish the first fire and ambulance districts in DeSoto Parish.<ref name=obit>{{cite web|url=https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/shreveporttimes/obituary.aspx?page=lifestory&pid=98534216|title=Dennis Freeman obituary|publisher=''The Shreveport Times''|date=November 26, 2007|accessdate=April 13, 2019}}</ref>​

Steve Stephens of Logansport said that his friend Freeman did a "magnificent job and will be sorely missed.  ... Dennis understood problems and knew how to get things done in government. His death is a loss for this community and this area." Near the end of his life as he fought [[cancer]], Freeman was also attempting to mitigate the closure of a Georgia Pacific plywood plant, the largest employer in Logansport. He worked with state and local agencies to help displaced workers and to procure solutions to the economic gap created from the loss of the plant.<ref name="The Shreveport Times">{{cite web|url=http://www.shreveporttimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071127/NEWS01/711270322/1002/NEWS|publisher=''The Shreveport Times''|title=News article on death of Mayor Freeman|date=November 27, 2007; no longer on-line.}}</ref>​

Steve Stephens of Logansport said that his friend Freeman did a "magnificent job and will be sorely missed.  ... Dennis understood problems and knew how to get things done in government. His death is a loss for this community and this area." Near the end of his life as he fought [[cancer]], Freeman was also attempting to mitigate the closure of a Georgia Pacific plywood plant, the largest employer in Logansport. He worked with state and local agencies to help displaced workers and to procure solutions to the economic gap created from the loss of the plant.<ref name="The Shreveport Times">{{cite web|url=http://www.shreveporttimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071127/NEWS01/711270322/1002/NEWS|publisher=''The Shreveport Times''|title=News article on death of Mayor Freeman|date=November 27, 2007; no longer on-line.}}</ref>​

==Political campaigns==

==Political campaigns==

Freeman was the youngest of six sons born to L. L. Freeman and Britt Annie Freeman in Joaquin in Shelby County in east Texas, located across the Louisiana line from Logansport. He graduated from [[Northwestern State University]] in [[Natchitoches, Louisiana|Natchitoches]] and earned his livelihood for nearly forty years as an independent [[insurance]] agent. As Logansport mayor, he worked to procure grants for water, streets, sanitary sewers, parks and local government operations. He was a director for the Bank of Logansport and the president of his local Lions International. He was also a member of the town and parish [[Chamber of Commerce]], the Logansport Development Corporation, and Logansport Athletics Booster Club.<ref name=obit/>

Freeman was the youngest of six sons born to Larnell Lee Freeman and the former Britt Annie Nunley in Joaquin in Shelby County in east Texas, located across the Louisiana line from Logansport. He graduated from [[Northwestern State University]] in [[Natchitoches, Louisiana|Natchitoches]] and earned his livelihood for nearly forty years as an independent insurance agent. As Logansport mayor, he worked to procure grants for water, streets, sanitary sewers, parks and local government operations. He was a director for the Bank of Logansport and the president of his local Lions International. He was also a member of the town and parish [[Chamber of Commerce]], the Logansport Development Corporation, and Logansport Athletics Booster Club.<ref name=obit/>

Freeman was an officer of the Louisiana Municipal Association and a board member of the Sabine River Authority. Elected as a [[Democratic Party|Democrat]] in 1984, 1988, and 1992, Freeman switched parties and won thereafter as a [[Republican Party|Republican]] in 1996, 2000, and 2004. He was also an unsuccessful candidate for the Louisiana House of Representatives in District 7 in the nonpartisan blanket primary held on October 20, 2007, even though he had been undergoing treatment for the cancer that took his life a month later. He received 1,427 votes (11 percent), having finished last in a five-candidate field. The seat, which covers all of DeSoto and ten precincts of adjoining Caddo Parish, went to another Republican, [[Richard Burford]] of Stonewall, the easy winner of the November 17 [[general election]]. Burford is a former three-term member of the DeSoto Parish Police Jury, the parish governing body. Had Freeman been elected, he would not have lived to have taken the seat on January 14, 2008.​ Burford gave up the seat in 2016 in an unsuccessful bid in 2015 for the Louisiana State Senate.

Freeman was an officer of the Louisiana Municipal Association and a board member of the Sabine River Authority. Elected as a [[Democratic Party|Democrat]] in 1984, 1988, and 1992, Freeman switched parties and won thereafter as a [[Republican Party|Republican]] in 1996, 2000, and 2004. He was also an unsuccessful candidate for the Louisiana House of Representatives in District 7 in the nonpartisan blanket primary held on October 20, 2007, even though he had been undergoing treatment for the cancer that took his life a month later. He received 1,427 votes (11 percent), having finished last in a five-candidate field. The seat, which covers all of DeSoto and ten precincts of adjoining Caddo Parish, went to another Republican, [[Richard Burford]] of Stonewall, the easy winner of the November 17 [[general election]]. Burford is a former three-term member of the DeSoto Parish Police Jury, the parish governing body. Had Freeman been elected, he would not have lived to have taken the seat on January 14, 2008.​ Burford gave up the seat in 2016 in an unsuccessful bid in 2015 for the Louisiana State Senate.