City of Florence & the Jimmy Neese Divorce

Most of us in the Shoals are familiar with Jimmy Neese. For any who may not be, here's a blurb taken directly from his website:

Jimmy was honored for his community involvement and revitalization of the downtown Florence area by being voted Shoals Area Citizen of the Year for 1999-2000. He received The Capital Award, in recognition of outstanding efforts in historic preservation by Heritage Preservation, Inc. He has a strong commitment to the restoration of older buildings and the revitalization of the downtown area.

Certainly few would have argued with this description in the year 2000, but what about in 2009? During the interim, James Martin Neese has defaulted on loans from the City of Florence in the amount of several million dollars. Why? Because he has no money?

We doubt it's ever been highly debated that Jimmy Neese has personal funds; however, since the loans were contracted in the name of one of Neese's businesses, namely Bliss Block Ltd, such loans have been virtually noncollectable.

In the not too distant past, Neese married widow Delana Darby Blake, a Florence businesswoman noted for her own profitable investments. Now it seems this relatively short-lived marriage is on the rocks and Jimmy Neese has filed for divorce. Will this divorce help the City of Florence regain some of its lost money?

In all probability, no. What it will do, assuming no case records are sealed, is make public just how vast, or perhaps paultry, a fortune Jimmy Neese has. We hope our friend Wayne Nix at the ShoalsInsider will be on the spot.


What's up with this: Recently, a friend/fan requested we write less about all the "evil people" in the area and write more about the good ones. We love writing about those who enrich this area, so if you know of one who fits this description, please contact us.

Shoalanda