Council names streets in honor of long-time businessman

Two streets at the South Industrial Park will now bear the name of Buddy Griffith – one of Demopolis’ long-time businessmen and industrial leaders.

Griffith owned and operated Griffith Packing, later Griffith Foods, before selling the operation to Foster Farms. Under his ownership, the business relocated from Demopolis’ Eastside to the South Industrial Park where Foster Farms is currently located.

Diane Brooker, chairman of the Demopolis Industrial Development Board, brought the request to the City Council at its Thursday meeting. She requested naming both streets after Griffith, since the long-term plan is to link the two streets into one. In the meantime, the two streets will be North Buddy Griffith Drive and South Buddy Griffith Drive.

The motion to re-name the streets from North and South Industrial Park Drive to their new names passed unanimously.

In other matters, the council learned that one of two dilapidated houses slated for demolition contains asbestos in the wallboard, and will require an extra $3,300 to demolish, since an environmentally-certified contractor will be required to remove the asbestos. The original demolition cost was approximately $3,200 for each house.

Also, Public Works Director Mike Baker asked for the public’s patience in the removal of limbs and debris in the aftermath of Monday afternoon’s intense thunderstorm. Baker said his crews are concentrating on areas that are being visited by the America in Bloom organization, whose representatives are currently in town.

The council also approved Aug. 2-4 as a Sales Tax Holiday, a state-wide promotion that exempts sales tax on the purchase of school clothes and supplies.

Council members provided various updates, including Charles Jones Jr., who said the new water line to Cedar Cove is 75% complete; Bill Meador, who informed the council that Bryan Whitfield Memorial Hospital is undergoing an IT upgrade; and Harris Nelson, who reported that the Demopolis Board of Education recently approved a two percent raise for all school personnel, and “swapped principals around,” referring the the BOE’s transfer of Leon Clark to U.S. Jones Elementary and Jones principal Tony Speegle to DHS.