Tears and Laughter: Wilcox County — hot, mad, and offended

As I have said before, not everything here is beautiful. Headlines that make it across the county line are seldom positive. During the past week we have had three gang related shootings that reportedly stem back to the fatal May 29 shooting at the Flip Flop Club. The shootings have had everyone’s attention.
A lot of people also turned their attention to the hearing Thursday evening that finalized the EMA Director being relieved of her position. Anytime there is a job opening in Wilcox County involving a salary and a car there is always creates somewhat of a hustle and shuffle.

Still others were angry that there are county commissioners who have had time to already begin trying to sabotage reelection campaigns of fellow commissioners two years from now, but who did not have the leadership ability to make sure employees in positions the commission supervises were meeting important deadlines. The state EMA Director had to make a special trip to a commission meeting in order to spell out the problem. As a result of the incompetence, the county lost out on just over $400,000 in disaster assistance relief from FEMA.

Maybe it is the heat and humidity that has everyone so sensitive, but anyone not upset over the shootings, or the lost money, or worried over who will replace the EMA Director, seemed to be offended by a picture that was on the back page of last week’s Wilcox Progressive Era. It was a picture of a couple of young guys playing around at the river the way young guys play around in 2016, but it was perceived by some readers as being distasteful.

This was amusing to me. I found it interesting that a silly picture truly offended people, but for about three weeks straight the facts about the Commission Chairman having a sexual relationship with a student while he was teacher were spelled out in great detail and it didn’t seem to overly offend too many. It didn’t even seem to bother local advocates of abused women and children…partly, I suppose, because so many of them already knew. And I think that speaks a lot about a person’s character. It’s the type of thing you can genuinely judge someone on. So rationally, it would seem a man disqualified by the state to teach children should be by default no longer qualified to lead an Alabama County. But…I guess there needed to have been pictures.

So it is true that Wilcox County can often look a bit like a disaster area from a distance, but what we have now is the opportunity to learn from one another. We have a mingling of races and cultures and ages. We are all imperfect and have all fallen short of the glory. There has to be some hope of finding harmony and moving forward, as the alternative serves no one well.

When a destructive storm blows through all you can do in the aftermath is what is directly in front of you. Whatever is within your reach and ability, and in doing that, you arrive at something more that needs to be done and then you do that too. It’s the same with cleaning up your own act or cleaning up the county’s image and reputation. If we all to the best of our being do over and over, the things we are individually charged with doing, and if we will do them truthfully and in accordance with what best serves our community as a whole, we should shortly find ourselves better than we thought us to be. We owe it to our children to at least try and set a functional example for the future.

Amanda Walker is a columnist with The West Alabama Watchman, Al.com, The Thomasville Times, and The Wilcox Progressive Era. For more information, visit her on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/AmandaWalker.Columnist.