FERRIDAY, La. — Whether or not police chief Eddie Newman will be looking for a new job in a few months is the latest mystery in town.

&uot;Everybody’s been asking me ‘Are you gonna run? Are you gonna run?’&uot; Newman said. &uot;This is bigger than ‘Who shot J.R.?’ on ‘Dallas.’&uot;

And apparently the citizens of Ferriday will have to wait a little longer to find out his intentions.

&uot;It wouldn’t be fair for me to say what I’d do or not do,&uot; he said.

This month’s election of a new mayor, Glen McGlothin, spurred all the drama.

McGlothin &uot;makes no bones&uot; about his search for a new police chief but said Newman still has a shot at keeping his job.

&uot;Eddie can put (an application) in,&uot; McGlothin said. &uot;I don’t own the town, I’m just going to run it for four years.&uot;

Newman said Wednesday evening that he hasn’t filled out an application for the job yet.

&uot;I don’t know if I will,&uot; he said.&160;&uot;Officially I’m not writing anything in or anything out. I’ll make a decision in the next few weeks on whether to put in my application. (But) wherever I’m at, I’m going to always support Ferriday.&uot;

Newman was appointed police chief four years ago by Mayor Odeal Montgomery. He said his decision about whether to seek the office again &uot;will have a lot to do with how much backing I&160;have from the board and mayor.&uot;

Mayor-elect McGlothin said his search for a new town police chief isn’t a slight against the current chief.

&uot;There’s nothing wrong with the one now,&uot; McGlothin said. &uot;It’s nothing personal. He and I have been friends since we were children.&uot;

The mayor-elect said his decision to take applications and go through a new search process is an effort to let the citizens decide what kind of a person they want as their police chief.

&uot;I’ll try not to make the same mistakes I made last time,&uot; McGlothin said, referring to his decision to appoint Butch Wilson as police chief.

&uot;(Some citizens) didn’t like him,&uot; McGlothin said. &uot;He was a good person. (But) if I got the pope to be police chief, somebody wouldn’t like him.&uot;

McGlothin said some people criticized his choice of Wilson because McGlothin didn’t let everyone know ahead of time who he was going to pick.

&uot;I want everybody to know what I’m doing beforehand,&uot; McGlothin said.

Although he hasn’t set a definite date by which he hopes to have a new chief hired, McGlothin said the sooner the better so the town can move onto bigger issues.

&uot;I’d like to get them in as early as possible,&uot; he said. &uot;Ferriday’s been known here lately only by the clerk alleged stealing money and bad water. It’s a sad advertisement for our town.&uot;