Smiths Station mayor committed suicide after outing of lifestyle. This leader stepped up
Richard Cooley became a politician for the same reason he became an educator.
“I’ve always liked helping people,” he told the Ledger-Enquirer. “… Life happens. I just feel like there’s been a higher power moving me in that direction.”
That direction has resulted in Cooley, 77, becoming interim mayor of Smiths Station after Mayor Bubba Copeland’s suicide.
Copeland killed himself in November, two days after a website reported a story exposing his secret online activity. The revelations included Copeland posting provocative photos of himself dressed as a woman, along with erotic fiction he allegedly wrote under a pseudonym as an alter ego.
Smiths Station’s next municipal election is in 2025. Normally, a special election would be called to fill the mayor’s unexpired term. Alabama law, however, allows the council of small cities such as Smiths Station (approximately 5,300 residents) to appoint an interim mayor if the remaining part of the unexpired term is within two years, avoiding the cost of a special election.
As Mayor Pro Tem, Morris Jackson had the right to succeed Copeland, but he declined the position, Cooley said. Two weeks after Copeland died, Jackson and the three other councilors (George Stringer, Steve Lansdon and Victoria Green) unanimously appointed Cooley, a councilor for 20 years.
Then on Dec. 12, the council unanimously appointed, among five applicants, retired U.S. Army veteran Dwayne Peterson to fill Cooley’s council seat until the next election.
Asked how the transition is going, Cooley laughed.
“Crazy, but I’ve got a good council. I’ve got a good support team here at city hall. There are things, with any mayor, that were in his head that he hadn’t shared with the council,” he said. “He may have been having talks with individuals about economic development and various other things. Maybe a citizen had a water drainage problem. Well, all of that evaporated, and we’re back to square one. We’re just playing catch-up.”
Cooley also is trying to move the city forward. For example, he is discussing with Fort Moore leaders the possibility of adding more intergovernmental support agreements (IGSAs). These agreements call for Smiths Station to hire contractors to provide services on the Army post. In return, the city receives 3% of the revenue.
The five IGSAs between Smiths Station and Fort Moore are for street sweeping, guardrail maintenance, stormwater infrastructure, portable restrooms at training ranges and grass cutting.
“Little ol’ Smiths Station has more contractual agreements with the Department of Defense than any city in the country,” Cooley said.
Richard Cooley home grown
Born in Opelika, Cooley has lived in Smiths Station since third grade. He graduated from Smiths Station High School in 1965.
Cooley served in the U.S. Air Force for four years, including a stint in the Vietnam War (1968), as an aircraft maintenance technician and crew chief. He is president of the Tan Son Nhut Association, a group of veterans who served at the air base in Saigon.
He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Auburn University and a specialist’s degree from Troy University, all in education.
His 40-year career in education started in 1976 as an accounting and business teacher at SSHS. Twelve years later, he was promoted to assistant principal. He also was principal of Wacoochee Junior High School, then Lee County Schools assistant superintendent for accounting and finance.
After returning to SSHS as assistant principal, Cooley retired from Lee County Schools in 2003, but he continued his education career for 13 more years. Those positions were Glenwood School business manager, Chattahoochee County High School technology teacher, ChattCo assistant superintendent and ChattCo interim superintendent.
Cooley retired again in 2016. Now, he focuses on city government.
‘Time to give back’
Cooley was among the community leaders who helped Smiths Station become an incorporated city in 2001. Three years later, Cooley ran for an open seat on the city council after Larry Boswell left the council to run for a seat on the Lee County Board of Education.
Boswell, who was Cooley’s 10th-grade basketball coach at SSHS and now is his next-door neighbor, convinced him to run for city council.
“I’ve always had a sense of community here,” Cooley said. “Smiths Station has been really good to me over the years, and it was just time for me to give back and do what I could. … Smiths Station is home, and sometimes when you’re home, you sometimes do things you never thought you would do.”
The following Q&A comprises more excerpts from the Ledger-Enquirer’s interview with Cooley, edited for brevity and clarity:
Will you run for mayor in 2025?
“The jury is still out. I’m not getting any younger. If there’s a good candidate, I’d be more than happy to step aside. We’ll just have to wait and see. … We’ve got a good working council here. We’ve pretty much known each other for years and years. Even though some of us are closer than others, our friendships kind of tie us all together, and I think all of our goals are pretty much the same. We might take different roads to get there, but we want what’s best for Smiths Station.”
What do you want to accomplish during your two years as interim mayor?
“No. 1 is I want to keep the ship afloat and continue the programs we already have in place, the commercial developments as well as residential developments, the relationship with Fort Moore, and just keep that moving forward. We’re always looking for new economic development opportunities.”
In addition to contracts with Fort Moore, what other economic development efforts are in the works for Smiths Station?
“We’re trying to get a computer chip manufacturer to come into this area. It would be huge for the entire area, no matter which entity winds up getting it. … Of course, you’ve seen the Jack’s (fast-food restaurant) going in there (on Highway 280). There’s two more commercial lots there that can be used. We don’t have any real takers for them right now. We’ve got one we’re negotiating with, and they want to come.”
How do you balance the desire for economic growth with the desire to keep the rural nature of Smiths Station, which attracts folks for a quality of life they don’t get in larger cities?
“ I guess it’s a good problem to have. There’s so much residential development going on in the area, and all these people want services. Well, you’ve got to have some industry of some type, commercial enterprises, to bring all that in and to fund that. Nobody wants to use property taxes to finance that. We’re doing the minimum (millage rate) the state allows us to do with that, and we have no plans to change that. So we want to improve our financial base with economic development.
“… Back to the residential scenarios here, we want to control that to where the construction that takes place is quality and it’s not a fly-by-night outfit coming in here. That has happened in the past, and that was one of the reasons that the original group wanted to incorporate the city. This was free-game territory. You could just throw up a shanty shack and charge whatever you wanted to charge for it because people needed a place to live. ”
How were you notified about Mayor Copeland’s suicide, and what was your reaction?
“I was at home and received a phone call. There were several of them that came in back-to-back. I immediately went into shock, so I just don’t remember who called first.”
How would you describe Mayor Copeland and his impact on Smiths Station?
“He was a friend before either one of us got into political office. I was still teaching at the high school when he was a student there. … He was on the school board for about six years. He had a lot of fire in his belly as far as going out and getting (economic development). We wouldn’t have Love’s (travel stop) or Jack’s if it had not been for him. One of the first things he did as mayor is he wrote all of the Fortune 500 companies a letter and asked them to investigate Smiths Station as a possible place for expansion. The only one that answered was Love’s. … He was very much an on-the-scene presence with most anything we had going on.”
How is Smiths Station healing from his suicide?
“The community has been in shock — all of us — but everything has been very positive from the community. We may not know each other face-to-face or know the names, but we’re all the community of Smiths Station, and we’re pulling together. As the old saying goes, we’ve circled the wagons. I’d say 90%-plus of all the comments that I’ve had from local residents have been very supportive: ‘We’re behind you,’ ‘We’ve got your back,’ that sort of thing.”
Mayor Copeland helped Smiths Station teens organize an anti-suicide campaign when there was a rash of local teen suicides a few years ago. How did he go from that to this?
“I don’t understand it. I really don’t. … I still haven’t come to grips with it myself.”
Two days before he killed himself, he preached at his church that this incident wasn’t going to change his life. Did you see any warning signs that he was at risk of suicide? Did you have any conversations with him that week?
“I did have a conversation with him about it the day that it broke. I felt like he was in a good space at that point in time. I also told him that we’ll weather this. Give it a few days. The news cycle will change, and we’ll move on from this. … I tried to contact him several times on that Friday (the day he killed himself), but he wasn’t taking anybody’s calls, and that’s when everybody got really concerned.”
So what changed between that Wednesday night and Friday?
“I have no idea. … Obviously, he was upset. We all were. But he broke no laws. He had a private life that was drawn out and made a spectacle of. It’s just ridiculous.”
So what will be Mayor Copeland’s legacy?
“A kind, caring individual. A very dedicated mayor who had a great love for this city. … I think the positives far outweigh the negatives. His personal life was irrelevant as far as the city goes.”
What else should folks understand about this situation and the transition period for Smiths Station?
“We’re still here. We’re going to keep pushing to do the best we can for this community. Just remember our high school motto, Panther Pride, and that’s what we’re going to do: keep our pride.”
