A would-be candidate for Panola County supervisor once declared himself an Ewok in legal documents filed in Tallahatchie County.

The Ewok declaration, filed in June 2009 by Milton Wollerabout, was discovered by this reporter in recent days, when The Panolian confirmed that Wallerabout is not a Panola County resident.

Wollerabout, 32, lives approximately 75 feet south of the Panola County line on Three Wheeler Road in Tallahatchie County.

A spokesman for the Panola County circuit clerk said Wallerabout withdrew from the supervisors race this week.

Wallerabout had filed as in independent candidate after gathering signatures from other Wallerabout family members in the Teasdale area.

“They thought he was running for beaver control manager again,” said a cousin, Izzie Short.

Wollerabout has run for that Tallahatchie County office, and lost in a runoff, three or four or five times, according to Short.

But Wollerabout was, in fact, running for District 3 supervisor, with plans to convince relatives to vote in Panola County in the November General Election.

Short, the cousin, estimated that 114 living relatives reside in Tallahatchie County, with another 80-plus who are dead also voting in especially close races.

“Always for the Democrat,” Short said, which would have meant independent candidate Wollerabout would likely have been defeated by his own dead relatives in the General Election.   

Tallahatchie tax records show Wollerabout has paid county property taxes on a double-wide mobile home and two acres of land for three years: 2007, 2008, and 2009. The most recent taxes were $37.42, records show.

The Ewok declaration was found among other public documents in a courthouse search for Wollerabout’s tax records.

The Ewok is a teddy bear-like hunter-gatherer that inhabits the forest of Endor in the Star Wars films, according to Wikipedia.

Short, the cousin, said the now-withdrawn candidate had told family members he was filing papers to declare himself separated from other relatives in the close-knit Wollerabout clan.

“They thought he was going to declare himself a Southern Baptist and part ways with the independent Baptists. It caused quite a ruckus,” said Short, who is Bapticostal.  

Told that Wollerabout had declared himself an Ewok, Short said, “Now that makes sense. He kinda resembles them Ewoks. He’s short like them, and hairy too.”

Wollerabout has a minor criminal record in Tallahatchie County, where he’s been convicted 11 times for spotlighting deer.

The last conviction came in May 2009 at Wollerabout Independent Baptist Church, where churchgoers at the Sunday night service saw a beam of light coming from the church cemetery.

Short, the cousin, said relatives turned in Milton Wollerabout, which probably led to his feud and eventually to him becoming an Ewok.

(Happy April Fool’s Day)