"Do We...Fund Something for Colbert County?"

Florence Mayor Mickey Haddock has asked, "...do we take monies from the city of Florence and Lauderdale County and fund something for Colbert County?” Mayor Haddock is referring to the Alabama Music Hall of Fame and says it's open for discussion among members of the city council. We doubt the discussion will get far, at least we would be hard pressed to think of any rationale for supporting a Colbert County entity with Florence/Lauderdale money. We much prefer the City of Florence donate any extra money to the RegionalCare legal team to combat the Helen Keller Hospital lawsuits.

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No Hope? State representative Ken Johnson from Moulton has said there's "no hope" for keeping International Paper in Courtland. He and others are touting new industry. If each new industry employs 200, as the Jack Daniels cooperage is planning, it will take five to six new industries to make up for the loss--that's assuming former IP employees from other counties want to continue to work in Lawrence County.

Many new industries start out with only 50 to 100 employees. Realistically, Lawrence County may never recover its tax base. A sad epitaph: Lawrence County--home of the tired, penniless, and downtrodden.

Welcome to the other Alabama.



Shoalanda