City unfurls first municipal flag
Published 5:10 pm Monday, March 11, 2013
The Atmore City Council unanimously adopted the design for Atmore’s first municipal flag. Pictured are, from left, City Councilman Cornell Torrence, Leadership Atmore Vice-president Sydney McGhee, Councilman Chris Harrison, Leadership Atmore member Ricky Martin, Councilwoman Susan Smith, Mayor Jim Staff, Councilman Webb Nall, Leadership Atmore President Bub Gideons and Councilman Chris Walker.
Thanks to a project by the Leadership Atmore class of 2013, the City of Atmore now officially has a new emblem of community pride – its very first municipal flag.
The new city flag’s design was unveiled Monday and adopted by the Atmore City Council during their regularly scheduled meeting.
Leadership Atmore Class President Bub Gideons and Vice-president Sydney McGhee presented the new flag and city council members unanimously approved the design.
Gideons said the symbol on the flag, a locomotive inside a circular pattern with the words “Atmore, Alabama” above it and “Founded 1907” below, is meant to commemorate the rich traditions of Atmore that started with the town’s beginning as Williams Station.
Susan Smith, Atmore city councilwoman for District 4 and member of the Leadership Atmore Advisory Committee, said she is very proud of the creativity used and the initiative taken by this year’s class in order to come up with such a significant class project – one she says will have lasting repercussions.
“I think it is absolutely awesome,” Smith said of the new flag. “I think it will be something that for years to come, we’ll be able to look back and be proud of. Ten years from now, I think people will be buying these for their yards the way they do Williams Station Day flags now.”
Smith said Leadership Atmore members consulted her about the flag’s design, but ultimately put their heads together in order to create a unique design, perfectly tailored to the City of Atmore.
“I’m going to have to say that I’m in awe of the new leadership class,” Smith said. “They took the ball and ran with it. They had talked to me about the design and I told them that the train is kind of our symbol, but they did it themselves.”
During Monday’s council meeting, Mayor Jim Staff also expressed his appreciation to the class for their civic-minded approach to their latest project.
“We just want to thank you for doing this,” Staff said. “I think it looks great.”
The flag will be officially dedicated during this year’s Mayfest event, Saturday, May 4 at Tom Byrne Park.
The Leadership Atmore class of 2013 is: Bub Gideons; Sydney McGhee; Ricky Martin; Terri Morris; Dalana Brooks; Deri Kietrich Grissett; Murlie Johnson; Brooke Marsh; Joseph McGhee; Anthony Morris; Ben Odom; Ross Parham; Mark Rice; Wanda Robbins; Christopher Roland; Leigh Ann Rowland; Sarah Frances Thompson; John Tucker; Coleman M. Wallace, Sr.
