Let’s look forward, not back
PROTECTED CONTENT
If you’re a current subscriber, log in below. If you would like to subscribe, please click the subscribe tab above.
Username and Password Help
Please enter your email and we will send you a password reset link.
In My Humble Opinion
Jodi McDade
This past week I have been strolling down memory lane about my early involvement in Coosa County and in Rockford specifically.
My husband and I moved to Equality in 1998. We both worked in Montgomery and spent most of our travel back and forth on Highway 9. Because of the convenience, we did most of our shopping in Wetumpka since we went through there all week. We spent weekends in the quietness of Coosa County woods.
After about 10 years I got involved in politics and began getting to know more people in Coosa County and Rockford. One of those people was Lewis Scarbrough, who is still shown as the publisher of “The Coosa County News.” He started sharing his vision for Rockford and Coosa County with me, and he had some wonderful ideas on how to regenerate the businesses that had been lost or had never existed.
Unfortunately, I found out that there was a strong group, including Rockford Town Hall, who would not agree on ANYTHING that Lewis suggested. I’ve always said that even if he had walked into Town Hall and offered a donation of $1 million for improvements, they would have turned him down!
When Paul Perrett was elected to the Coosa County Commission he had found out that there was NO plan for the future of our county – not a plan for the next year, five years in the future, OR even for the next MONTH! But a group of citizens and elected officials of the county created a group sometime in 2016 to put together a Strategic Plan for Coosa County.
The University of Alabama Center for Economic Development came forward to help us with this effort. For several years, this group met, put together committees on economic development, infrastructure, education and work force, outdoor recreation and tourism, small business and retail, and explored resources to help improve these areas in Coosa County.
The University of Alabama brought in experts on all these areas – at NO COST! They came every month for at least a year, but we finally realized we were running into road blocks from the “good old boys” who did not want ANY improvements made. They wanted to keep Coosa County under their thumbs.
All this time, behind the scenes Lewis Scarbrough had been trying to find backing for an assisted living facility using the old elementary school. He did not like the idea of our elderly citizens having to move out of Coosa County when they needed help. In the last several years many of the old schools in Alabama have been used for this very same purpose.
He wanted to renovate the Hungry Farmer into a “business incubator” that would provide space for new businesses to have access to people who could help them with grants and other support. Shortly after that, Alexander City opened the very same thing – and the Hungry Farmer still sits empty. He had many more ideas to improve life in Coosa County.
During much of this time I had 2-plus hour phone calls with Lewis almost every Saturday morning. We would talk about his ideas and how to revitalize Rockford. Yes, Lewis was eccentric; he wanted things done HIS way and wanted to be in control. But he would have found the ways to finance (outside of government) to make these things happen if only people would have listened to him. But instead, many of the buildings in Rockford (and Goodwater) still sit empty or have been torn down. Both towns could have been brought back to life years ago.
Fast forward. Thank you to all of the Rockford residents who re-elected Mayor Scott White. In the last few years we have seen the beginnings of what Lewis Scarbrough had wanted Rockford to become.
The old elementary school now houses a new Senior Center and county emergency services. More plans are in the making.
The town park is now used for many events with great equipment for both children and adults. The appearance of Rockford has been cleaned up by requiring people to keep up their properties, new signs coming into town, plants along the sidewalks, and efforts to make the four-way stop safer.
Events continue that bring people into town, and restaurants are drawing people from outside Rockford and Coosa County! And the biggest thing is these establishments are privately owned and operated by our own residents!
Even with all the improvements that have come to pass, I still think about Lewis and wonder what he would think. I feel like he would be pleased for the most part, but would still like to see the people who remain so negative accept the good things going on. I guess most of these people are those who had always been against anything he saw for the future of Rockford and Coosa County.
It’s sad that old grudges are still held against anyone who wants progress. Unfortunately, Scott White has become the new Lewis Scarbrough for these people. They are against ANYTHING Mayor White tries to do. But now, the majority of citizens in Rockford have voiced their support for the future of our town. The war should stop, the minority should be quiet, and peace and prosperity should begin for the rest of us.
I think Lewis and Jo Scarbrough would be pleased with the progress in Rockford.
Related Posts
