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Going the distance
El Camino is Spanish for the "King's Highway" and the group is a coalition of citizens from five states promoting the fourlaning of 84 from Georgia to Texas. I named those who attended a couple of weeks ago in a news story about the meeting but after Grove Hill Mayor Lamar Hudson's remarks about trips last week, I think a followup is in order. Mayor Hudson in a news story on a variety of Grove Hill issues was critical of those who travel promoting and lobbying for the county. His crictisim was apparently aimed at other area mayors who travel a lot but his remarks cast a wide and stinging net against a lot of folks' efforts. "You have to decide where you get the most bang for the buck. I hate to spend a couple of thousand dollars going somewhere on a trip when [Congressman] Jo Bonner will be here in August. I can talk to him oneon one," the mayor said. Ironically, Mayor Hudson is just back from a week-long trip to New York City with fellow mayors Sheldon Day of Thomasville and Richard Long of Jackson on Clarke-Mobile Gas District business. I wonder if he spent "a couple of thousand dollars" in the Big Apple? I used to have the same sentiments about travel but after going with this group to Washington, and having been on trips with the National Newspaper Association to promote issues of the newspaper industry, I realize the value in going to Washington. True, Congressman Bonner will be in Grove Hill Aug. 14 and Congressman Artur Davis regularly visits the county as do U. S. Senators Richard Shelby and Jeff Sessions. They come and listen to our needs and concerns and I appreciate them coming to us. But I think our elected officials are impressed when a group cares enough about a project or an issue to take the time and effort to go to Washington to promote it. It is one thing to talk about projects when they visit us. It gets their attention more, I think, when a local delegation of dozens crowd into their D.C. offices to voice their support for a project such as Highway 84. Airfare isn't cheap nor are hotel rooms in Washington. The mayor may not be far off the mark in his assessment of the cost. But the cost of an individual going to Washington is minor when you consider the size of the Highway 84 project. One hundred twenty-three miles of the 235 mile-length of 84 across the state remain to be fourlaned, all on the west side of the state. Eighty-one miles are not even on the drawing board for four-laning and they are in parts of Monroe, and all of Clarke and Choctaw counties. The estimate of completing fourlaning is a staggering $700 million to $800 million. Is it too much for someone, or a governmental entity to spend a "couple of thousand dollars" once a year to send someone to promote 84 in comparsion to this total amount? Grove Hill has a bigger stake in a four-laned 84 than any other community in the county and it would have been good to have had an "official" town representative along on the recent trip. The debate of attending programs and events isn't just about far off efforts. I can name instances right here in the county and in adjoining counties that some local officials were noticeably absent from that they should have attended. It is embrassassing when our community isn't represented. I get as aggravated as anybody (perhaps more so because I want things done NOW) at the numerous meetings and events that seem to eat up time and accomplish nothing. But they are a necessary evil, usually contributing some little something toward helping our area more forward. I'm sure taxpayer dollars contributed so a few of the individuals listed below could go to Washington July 11-12 but I know some officials who paid their own way as did most of the private citizens who went out of a sense of civic duty to our area. The Clarke County delegation included Joe Bedwell, Jackson, Merchants Bank; Mayor Richard Long, Jackson; Mayor Sheldon Day, Thomasville; Mayor Faye Cotten, Coffeeville; Clarke County Commissioner Patricia DuBose, Jackson; Judy Graham, Alabama Power, Grove Hill and Jackson; Steve Green, Thomasville, Alabama River Pulp; Virginia Harrigan, Fulton, Harrigan Lumber Company; Sharon Jones, Coffeeville, El Camino Commission board member; LaShonda Holly, Jackson Area Chamber of Commerce; Roy Waite, Clarke County EMA; Tina Pugh, Jackson businesswoman; Marty Parker, Jackson, Boise; and myself. Did these citizens waste their time and money going to D.C. to promote 84? I don't think I did. Some of the group did add a little vacation time to their trips. My family and I did. Washington is an impressive city and inspiring- at least in small doses. Lord knows, some of us Clarke Countians need all the inspiration we can get! Those of us who don't get inspired in D.C. can apparently find inspiration in N.Y.C.
Jim Cox is editor and publisher of The Clarke County Democrat.
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