By Staff
Arthur McLean
"They say a notebook and pen is like a computer over there." These were the word of Linda Gates when talking about her project to bring school supplies to the school children of Iraq.
Of course, she can't help them all, but with Atmore's men and women of the 711th Signal Battalion helping renovate some of the schools in their area of Iraq, she believed she could at least help a few, and make a positive impact in the lives of some of those children.
We decided to offer our help and made the Atmore Advance office a drop off point for the school supplies, making it easy for anyone who wanted to donate something.
Notebooks, but not three-ring binders, new or lightly used book bags, pens pencils, just the basics are needed.
I'm proud to say that a few people have answered the call, and we've been happy to take in a few donations over the past couple of weeks.
We have a room set aside here at the Atmore Advance building for storing the supplies and I personally would love to see it filled to the ceiling before the supplies are shipped overseas.
You can drop off your donations during our regular business hours from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
In other news, I'm glad to see there's been some action on the SAIL Center. As we reported earlier this week, plans are coming together for the new center. From what I saw at Atmore's planning board meeting, our area seniors will have a pretty nice place for their activities.
The planning board approved the overall site plan, and the city's architects will soon have a color artist's rendering of the proposed building. The next thing we need is a good estimated on when construction will start. I know a lot of people are interested in this project and we will keep you updated of developments as they occur.
Don't forget to vote June 29. William Brown and Junior Hall will be facing off in the runoff for the District 4 County Commission seat. There will probably be a low turnout for the race, so it will really come down to the candidate who can most motivate his supporters to actually get to the polls that day. As always we'll have coverage of the results in the next day's Atmore Advance.
There's no time to rest. After the county runoff, we'll be gearing up for city elections. Qualifying begins July 6, and we plan to bring you extensive coverage of the candidates and their plans for the city. I've already seen some signs in yards and potential candidates shaking hands in the community, so it looks like there is some interest in this election.
Arthur McLean is the Editor of the Atmore Advance.