On June 30th the TimesDaily published an article in which it claimed Debbie Wilson, Director of Lauderdale Tourism, had received calls concerning a new name for the Florence-Lauderdale Tourism Office. We admire Debbie for what she does, and obviously when it comes to tourism, the more sites included the better, but she is, after all, paid to promote tourism in Lauderdale County. We're going to guess at least some of these calls came from the TD itself.
The next day there was a poll on the issue, and more folks voted for a new name than didn't. No surprise there, is it? We're sure Colbert Countians wanted some free publicity. We in Lauderdale County will also lobby for a new name in Colbert County...but we don't expect one.
Then one week ago, Russ Corey did the follow-up story. No new name. Period. Sandra Killen-Burroughs and the tourism board had spoken. That should have cleared things up for good, now shouldn't it? Apparently not for the TD.
Yesterday, the TD did a second story on this non-issue. Apparently our local rag and Jennifer Edwards decided to poll every board member to see how he/she felt individually. Same outcome--no big surprise. If the TD really wants to help things in the area, we suggest they contact the Colbert County Commission to encourage them to keep their nose out of Lauderdale County's business.
But, hey, if Colbert wants to play that way, we're pretty sure Lauderdale has a much nicer facility waiting for the Walgreen's Call Center on this side of the river. How about it, guys? Why not offer them an incentive to move since that's how we seem to be playing the game these days?
Shoalanda