Mayoral candidates answer questions at political forum
BY JOHN BRICE
THE LAFAYETTE SUN
LANETT — Five of the eight candidates running for the position of mayor of Lanett in the upcoming municipal election participated in a question and answer forum at the El Rio Grande Mexican Restaurant. Candidates were seated in a private dining room along with the members of the local media. Local resident Steve Wheeler served as moderator along with April Ross of BeeTV. Gator Kincaid broadcasted the event on social media for the community to watch and listen to the candidates’ answers.
Ben Jordan of Jordan Communications, Wayne Clark of the Valley Times-News and John Brice of the LaFayette Sun sat across from the candidates and took turns each of the questions.
Rod Ross
Candidate for mayor, Rod Ross, was asked about the impact that the closing of the Piggly Wiggly supermarket formerly located on Cherry Drive this past year had on the community.
“This is one of the main reasons why I jumped into the race,” Ross said. “I saw the tax funding leave, all the traffic that we had flowing through that area affected all the other businesses next door to Piggly Wiggly and the neighboring areas. I was actually up last night talking to one of the current business owners in that area. He was talking about how the traffic flow is the worst that he has seen in the 22 years that he has been there. The motivation for me, for Lanett, was to say that we cannot go in the same direction and expect to improve. What I propose is that we seek out to retain our small businesses as well as try to figure out some way to bring in big businesses too, so we can have real jobs and take care of families and households.”
Ross answered a follow up question regarding concerns over the closure having potentially created what is known as a food desert in the immediate area.
“People that were in walking distance to the store are not able to get to the store,” he said. “Now, people have to travel a lot further to go buy groceries and they have to spend more money just for the cost. The siloing of just having one huge grocery store, made the prices go up. They were able to corner the market on their prices.”
Tifton Dobbs
Candidate for mayor Tifton Dobbs responded to a question about the issues created by the city’s potential loss of its police jurisdiction.
“According to my knowledge of the police jurisdiction, first of all, I think the numbers are wrong when it comes down to a million or more,” Dobbs said. “The main number I have been hearing is under 500,000 that we lost from the police jurisdiction. I think that it was an issue that could have been avoided. I personally think that by the fact that we have lost that money we will have to compensate to some degree when it comes down to the budget. Having the police jurisdiction back would be a plus for the citizens out there and us being able to patrol. One thing that we have got to look at, police response time is going to be a whole lot longer now due to the fact that the county has to come all the way across from the other side of Chambers County to get to the high priority calls like domestic violence, fights and what not.”
Randall Aikens
Randall Aikens is running for mayor as well and addressed a question regarding concerns over the dangers posed to the public by dogs who are not on a leash.
“This is something that my wife and I talk about a lot,” he said. “We walk every day and we see stray dogs. Not all of them are mean, but there are dogs that are mean. The city has ordinances right now on the books for malicious animals that we don’t enforce. We have leash laws that we don’t enforce. One of the things that we are going to do is work closely with the Chattahoochee Valley Humane Society to find a compassionate resolution to get rid of the stray dogs.”
Tony Malone
Candidate for mayor Tony Malone answered a question in regards to how he would proactively work to prevent the loss of industry in the city going forward when considering the recent closure of the Berry Global facility and its impact on the local economy.
“Any time that we lose industry when it comes to jobs it is bad on the people because of income,” Malone said. “I served on the IDA board for a number of years. When I was on the IDA board we went out and brought in a lot of industry. What was important, I brought up the idea of [taking] care of the existing industries. If we stay in contact with our existing industries, we would know exactly when things are not going too good. I would work closely with the IDA board to make sure those types of things are not happening again.”
Incumbent Jamie Heard
Incumbent Mayor Jamie Heard is running for reelection and responded to a question regarding the public perception that there has been a disproportionate influx of undocumented individuals into the city, compared to neighboring areas and what the root causes of that dilemma, which has put a strain on city resources, might be.
“I was in the school system a long, long time and I would say probably 10 or 15 years ago, that is when they started coming to the school,” Heard said. “We started out with maybe, I think the first year we may have had five students in the school system. Every year that number increased and increased and increased. I don’t know why they chose to come to Lanett. I think maybe it is housing because we have so many slumlords. We are working on trying to stop that.”
Candidates address the future of Lanett in public event
BY JOHN BRICE
THE LAFAYETTE SUN
LANETT — Candidates for city council and the school board joined local residents for a political event at Spring Road Christian Church in Lanett last Thursday. The “Dinner and Districts” event was sponsored by mayoral candidate Randall Aikens and was held in the banquet room of the church with dinner catered by local restaurants.
Randall Aikens
Aikens said the focus of the evening would be a conversation about the future of Lanett.
“If I haven’t had the pleasure to meet you in person, my name is Randall Aikens and I am running for mayor of Lanett,” Aikens said. “I have lived in Lanett for 68 years. I grew up in District 5. I grew up in the same house that my mom grew up in, on South Eighth Street.
“Tonight, there is going to be some combination of the district candidates that you are going to hear from that are going to be your new city council. I would like to be the mayor that works alongside them, but I may not be. You are going to hear from the candidates from District 1 through 5. We are going to hear from them to hear what they want to say about moving Lanett forward.”
Aikens shared his perspective with the audience.
“Lanett is in a pivotal moment right now,” he said. “Your vote matters. This election right here is going to make a lot of change in Lanett. “Lanett is a special place. I have seen it when it was booming and thriving when West Point-Pepperell was at its peak and you know it can be that way again,” Aikens continued. “But what you see now is unacceptable. I showed slides while we were eating. All of Lanett doesn't look like what my slides look like, but a lot of it does. There is a lot of things that we can change about Lanett. When I go down Highway 29 and I see grass growing over the curbs and out into the street, that is not acceptable.”
Aikens gave a summary of his approach to the future of Lanett.
“Lanett is the gateway to Alabama,” he said. “When you come in from downtown West Point and go up Highway 29 or you come from Interstate 85 and you come towards Kroger and down 29 from there it needs to look like we care. People come down, they say ‘You know, this place, they take pride in this place.’ That is the way I want it to be. And if I am your mayor that is the way it is going to be.”
Denise Zachery
Denise Zachery is running for city council in District 1 and shared how she came to the decision to run for office.
“After attending Lanett City Council meetings for over a year and a half, as I sat and watched [I saw] there was a need for changes,” Zachery said. “I didn’t know I was going to be in this position at that particular time. Once Councilman Malone said that he was going to run for mayor, I thought ‘What do I do?’ I started praying about that, because that door was opening for me. So, by the grace of God, I am in there. I am committed, I am willing to do what needs to be done.”
Kim Roberts
Kim Roberts is running for city council in District 5 and highlighted her time leading the nonprofit Fuller Center in pursuit of solving housing issues for impoverished residents.
“I began working with the Fuller Center in 2009 and have worked with them for over 15 years,” Roberts said. “We have built 28 new homes in Lanett. With a total of 81 new homes altogether. That is in West Point, Lanett and Lee County. We have repaired many homes in Lanett with kitchen, bathroom and roofing issues. But there is so much more work to be done.”
Teresa Woody
Teresa Woody is running for city council in District 2 and described her intent to promote small business in the area.
“My passion is working with the Small Business Development Center of Alabama to bring support, their experts, into West Shawmut,” Woody said. “I want this to be something free to small businesses across Chambers County.”
Brad Lynn
Brad Lynn is running for city council in District 3 and shared his perspective on the need to boost economic activity in the area.
“We do need to bring more business into Lanett,” he said. “You know those two exits, 77 and 79? They go both ways. They go both sides of the interstate. We are on this side of the interstate and for some reason the growth has been on the other side of the interstate. Lanett is poised right now for growth. We are at a crossroads. We have a chance to really bring in some businesses which would help our people prosper. It would mean more jobs and a bigger tax base.”
Ronnie Tucker
Ronnie Tucker is the incumbent District 3 Council Member and reflected on the path that led him to that position.
“Before serving on the city council, I spent 25 years working with the Lanett Recreation Department and the Lanett Housing Authority,” Tucker said. “Serving as the recreation director I worked closely with families and youth in the community. During that time, I made it my mission to make young kids believe in themselves and guide them on the right path. Some of those same kids are now grown and voting for me today — a blessing I will never take for granted.”
Charles Brandon Bagley
Charles Brandon Bagley is running for city council in District 4 and recounted some of the steps on the path to his candidacy.
“I started campaigning for this position back in April because I see the need and the desire to make some things happen in our city,” he said. “I have already been instrumental in some things that have been taking place in the city. I have been a member of the Planning Commission for about the past four years, I have been coming to city council meetings for the last five years.”
