By By Matthew Nascone
A role model is a person many people look up to and respect. The Atmore Hall of Achievement committee wants to recognize role models who have come from Atmore.
"With this recognition we can get the young people of this community to see that people have done something grand with their lives coming from Atmore," committee member Bob Jones said. "It is real important the young people see the accomplishments of former Atmoreans."
Dana Vickery also had an idea for a way to reach out to the younger generation in Atmore.
"We need to have the induction ceremony at the high schools," she said. "That way this ceremony is like a pep rally and we can have one of the living inductees talk to the students. Because this way we know the students will witness it as they are locked in that gymnasium for the presentation."
Jones and the other committee members discussed this important element of the vision of the Atmore Hall of Achievement.
During the meeting yesterday at the Atmore Public Library committee head Lou Vickery explained the updated plans for the nomination process. Throughout the meeting members of the committee offered adjustments to the process and Vickery said he would have the final process for the committee's next meeting April 20.
Committee members in attendance were Jones, Lou Vickery, Dana Vickery, Floyd Adams, John Garrard, Silverzee Brown, Eldred Pritchett, Sherry Digmon and Weldon Vickrey.
The idea for the Hall was founded in a discussion Lou Vickery had with Dr. Ben Maxwell a few years back about the contributions of the Atmore community to the nation as a whole.
From that discussion Vickery said he researched the people who have gone on to greatness from Atmore and the vision is coming to fruition now in the year 2006.
As Vickery was explaining the process there was some confusion and he looked to Garrard for support.
"Am I making sense," Vickery said to Garrard.
"You are doing a good job," Garrard responded.
This friendly conversation displayed the open atmosphere of the meeting.
The vision of a few has turned into a plan to preserve the accomplishments of the past generations of Atmore residents.
The Hall has been broken into four categories of people, Business/Medical, Government/Military, Education/Theatrical/Ministry and Athletes/Coaches. The tentative plan Vickery and the people in attendance at the meeting have set up will have an 11-person selection committee.
This committee will be broken into sub-committees and those sub-committees will select five people from each of the four categories and those 20 people will be up for induction into the hall. The 20 people will be narrowed to a maximum of seven inductees through a selection process.
To be inducted into the Hall a person must receive 75 percent of the full committee vote at a meeting with a quorum present. For the 13-member committee quorum would be nine members.
A long discussion about how to select these seven ensued and the final decision was not made at this meeting. Some of the committee wanted to have the seven selected from any of the categories and the others wanted to make sure there was one inductee from each category.
There are a few variables left to discuss, but Vickery and the committee left the library with a fairly strong view of how the Hall of Achievement will select its members and nominations for a possible inductee are welcome.
Nominations can be sent to his home at 1879 Old Bratt Rd. Atmore, AL 36502. They can also be sent via email to uplinklou@yahoo.com.