Voting: Responsibility, not just right
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In My Humble Opinion
Jodi McDade
Here we are in November! Where has this year gone? Have you finished your Christmas shopping yet – or even thought about it? There are just so many things going on it’s hard to keep up or realize this year is almost over.
Next Tuesday we will decide who the next president of the United States will be, but we may not know until the end of the week. Several states have said they will not be able to count all of their votes on election night. Some claim the number of votes received will be a problem, some say they will still accept mail-in votes for several days after the election, and some may have Supreme Court challenges regarding non-citizen votes still pending. I don’t understand the difficulty when we can get the results of viewer votes on television shows within five minutes!
I’m wondering if we will see more than 30% of voters bother to vote here in Alabama or even Coosa County. It’s been sad to see the low voter turnout we have had in the last several elections. Voting is (or at least used to be) such an important right and responsibility for American citizens, but we are now seeing our votes being watered down by non-citizens being allowed to cancel our votes. If this continues we will no longer be the United States of America, but will become a multi-national country.
I’ve been out of town again recently and missed congratulating “The Coosa County News” and Christa Jennings on their accomplishments through the years. It’s so important to have a newspaper dedicated to reporting the news of our county instead of world-wide news we can find elsewhere.
Unfortunately so many people have started to rely on the internet and news agencies to get their news instead of being interested in what is happening in their own backyard. We depend on our newspaper to provide us with the events in our area, accomplishments of our citizens and non-biased reporting on our County Commission, County Board of Education, Sheriff’s Office, and town hall meetings. Few people take the time to actually attend meetings in person so we rely on the CCN to keep us in the loop.
I’ve seen where the CCN records the Rockford Town Council meetings and it can be heard on their website. I haven’t been able to get in to it yet, but I’m going to figure it out. Several years ago I recorded the County Commission meetings and shared on Facebook. Quite a bit of discussion was had about the Commission itself taking over the recording of the meetings to improve the audio, but still nothing has been done about it. These meetings are where the decisions about our county are made, and it would be wonderful to have access to actually hear what happens with our own ears.
I see “Buzzy” is back reporting her fly-over views of events – mainly in Rockford. But I was glad to read her support for tourism based around our beautiful Flagg Mountain. I wish people would listen, but I have pretty much given up. I was part of the volunteers in 2016 who participated in a Strategic Planning group made up of citizens and elected officials from Coosa County. We received help from the University of Alabama Center of Economic Development, but our ideas and suggestions never came to pass.
We received FREE assistance in putting together a plan for promoting all of the wonderful things there are to enjoy right here in Coosa County – our rivers, lakes, creeks, birding trails, hiking trails, riding trails, and so much more! We have a Chamber of Commerce that tries to promote new businesses to come in to Coosa County. We have a Historical Society that tries to keep the history of Coosa County alive. Rockford Mayor Scott White is still working with the UACED for grants for the improvements that have been made in Rockford. If more people would work with him instead of against him even more could be done. They would also work with the other governmental groups if they showed interest.
I totally agree with Buzzy about the sad state of empty buildings in Rockford (and Goodwater, also), but that is not the responsibility of the elected officials. Those buildings are owned by either residents of Coosa County or absentee individual owners that should be required to make them presentable. Living in a rural area as we do seems to mean we do not have zoning or regulations that require owners to keep up their properties. I don’t understand why people continue to own properties and pay property taxes without wanting to either sell them or rent them out. But DO they pay property taxes? There have been numerous people looking at Coosa County properties to possibly open businesses without being able to find a building ready to move in.
More and more people from other states are moving into our area. Wouldn’t it be great to have a grocery store, hardware store, general store, etc. in Rockford instead of having to drive either to Goodwater or outside Coosa County? How much tax money would Rockford and/or Coosa County bring in if there were places for us to shop? We currently support the schools and infrastructures in the four counties that surround us. But too many people seem to be against progress in Coosa County. I just don’t understand.
I’ll close this week’s opinions with an urging to go to the polls on Tuesday and vote for the future of our country. The differences are starkly opposite – we either put foreigners first or Americans first. God bless America, the land of the free and the brave.