Tuesday, April 21, 2009

One town gets wiped away, but mine made the NYT!!

I am a firm believer that people who do not know where I'm from are disillusioned at the prospect of their town being a "Small Town". I laugh (sometimes out loud) at people who say Cleveland is small, or those who think of Dalton as small.

Cleveland/Bradley Co. population (as of Census) - 37,192
Dalton/Whitfield Co. population (as of Census) - 33,045
West Point population (as of Census) - 3,382

HI, my name is Jennifer. I am LITERALLY from Small Town, America.

My town... is itty bitty. Fortunately, the area I'm from is a conglomeration of three towns... Valley, Alabama, Lanett, Alabama, and West Point, Georgia - -an area that locals refer to as "The Valley". (That's right folks, I cross the state line like 100 times when I'm home. It's just the way it is.) Valley is a merger of five mill communities into one, and Lanett was a merge of two families (Lanier & Bennett). And Yes, I've spent extensive time at the "Libry" to know these things. The three towns together have approximately 20,000 peeps but only a handful are from "The Point".

But... my town is working it's way up! The first American Kia plant is actually finished about 2.5 miles from where my Mom and Stepfather live, and life in The Point... it's changing. Everytime I go home, something is new, or land is completely cleared, or some new shopping something has popped up. The entire downtown was renovated, and before that sounds illustrious... it was just A STREET. LIKE 6 BLOCKS. But hey, progress is progress, right?

Well I was ridiculously excited to call my brother this morning and tell him that West Point? MADE THE NEW YORK TIMES.

HOLLA!

You can read the article here. I should mention, the Mayor, he's also a dentist. :) And his Dad and Granddad live in the same subdivision as my Mom. And the Chief of police's daughter tried to teach me to drive a stickshift. And we say "Why come?" and "How come?" and you run into people in Givorn's, or at THE WalMart, and people still get their hair done, and we have Merl's diner, and The Chicken Stop, and lots of other really good local stuff.

And before you tell me that you're from a small town, check the census and then we'll talk.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/22/us/22kia.html?_r=3&hp

In response to my title, this weekend, I found out the town my grandparents live in, which is maybe 6 miles from my Mom, was completely wiped off the map due to local corruption. We may only have a handful of folks, but you'd better believe we've got some SCANDAL!

15 comments:

Aims said...

My town that I am from is the biggest town in our county and it has about 13,000. It is also the ONLY town in my county. All of the other places are called "villages." One of the villages has 1 stop light and it is a flashing light. My dad grew up in a "village" that is in my county that has less than 1,000 people in it and most of those people were relation:-) I know about small towns. I am from the epitomy of small town life. Oh, and the town where I teach is REALLY small too. We have 400 students in the 7th through 12th grade and 99% of the students are white. We have no African American students.

Dawgfan said...

I'm from Hazlehurst,GA. Population = 2,806. I feel you girl!

Jenn said...

Tash... I Know people from Hazelhurst!!!!!

Dawgfan said...

Ok so I'm thinking it might be Heather or Amy Jowers? I know they went Lee?

Jenn said...

I do know the Jowers, but I also knew Laura Buzzell (now Thompson) and a Natasha (whose last name eludes me), and Caycee and Courtney Hand.

Dawgfan said...

Ok I know ALL of them :) I guess that's part of growing up in a small town. I'm thinking Natasha's last name is Bennett? And Caycee and Courtney were really good friends of mine growing up. They moved away right before high school. Their parents (love them!) and my parents are still close. It's a small world!

Tasha

Holly said...

Fredonia? Isn't that where they live? What happened?

crittyjoy said...

haha I too am from a small town....4585... and it is called Talking Rock so I understand you girl....

I hate it when people say they are from a small town like Canton...that is not a small town ;)

Holly said...

yep...The Hands were from Hazlehurst.

Loving the shout out to "The Valley" Jenn.

Jenn said...

The Hands went to High School with me and the two Holly's the commented. Courtney graduated my freshman year, and Caycee was on Tigerettes with me and graduated with my brother. Lora and I had homeroom together, and she and I (and Caycee) are all friends on facebook. A good friend of mine dated Natasha for a few years too. :)

Jenn said...

Bubba Lanier didn't like the name Fredonia, so he convinced the Chambers Co Commissioners to wipe out their charter and not publish the notice in the paper. The residents of Fredonia didn't find out about it until it showed up on the news (columbus WRBL). Fredonia is where Auburn University originally started. They have a website now -- www.savefredonia.com. The conspiracy theory is that Bubba paid off the Commissioners. Scandalous!

Aims said...

Yes, you were right about who was texting me. I text back sometimes but keep it short. He wanted to take me out for passing my Praxis, but I said no. It is like as soon as I get over him, Satan tries to lure me back in. I have told him I cannpt get caught up again. So far, so good. Just pray for me. It is hard to let go of someone I loved so much,but I have to because I was done wrong... really wrong.

Dawgfan said...

I actually got to see Caycee and Courtney last summer at my bf wedding in Atlanta. Their mom had a bridal party brunch for us. It was so great to see them and catch up. Caycee and I have caught up on facebook since then. We all use to twirl together too. But don't tell my Nashville friends that. I pretty sure if they found out I use to twirl it would be a constant joke :)

Tasha

Holly said...

Caycee was the first twirler we had in the band since the early 80's! She transferred and asked to audition as a feature twirler. Our band director was not fond of twirlers (due to some bad history with a mama) but let her and she was fabulous!

Dawgfan said...

Twirler mamas can be kind of crazy:)