Cancelled
Annexation Opposition
Meeting Draws Crowd Anyway
March 1, 2009 - By Dwight Hayes
Although a Sunday afternoon
meeting set to discuss opposition to annexation by the City of
Arab was officially cancelled due to the weather, many of those
interested in the issue did not get the message and an estimated
100-125 showed up for the meeting anyway. Meeting
organizer, David Webb, said a decision was made to cancel the
meeting due to the early morning snow and that attempts were
made to notify as many as possible. Webb and several other
members of the Citizens Against Annexation committee decided to
come to the Brindlee Mountain gymnasium just in case those who
had not heard of the cancellation, showed up. Webb said he
was surprised by the turnout. "I feel like many people did
get the cancellation message or we would have filled the
gymnasium."
Because of the turnout, members of the
committee decided to go ahead with an informal question and
answer session. They also asked those opposed to the
annexation to sign up for a mailing list and to participate in a
survey.. A brochure entitled, The Facts" Information About
Annexation was also passed out. The Q & A session
lasted for about 45 minutes. The official meeting has been
rescheduled for next Sunday
Arab Mayor Gary Beam and members of the Arab
City Council had planned to be at the meeting to answer
questions from the group but did not attend after they were
notified that the meeting was cancelled. Webb said he
hoped they would be at the next meeting. Representative
Jeff McLaughlin was at the meeting briefly but left after
learning of the cancellation. Two members of the Marshall
County Board of Education attended but did not speak.
Webb said the survey asked three questions and
was intended to gauge the interest of those attending the
meeting regarding: 1. Annexation, 2. Incorporating Scant
City, 3. The number of children in the group who
attend Grassy Elementary and Brindlee Mountain Middle and High
Schools.
Several of the questions centered around the
possibility of incorporating the Scant City and surrounding
area. Webb told the group that he was not sure about all
of the changes that incorporation would bring. "A lot of
research will have to be done in order to get all the answers
about incorporation." he added. "Any decision is up to the
people but we need information," he added.
One person asked if incorporation would do
away with the Arab Police Jurisdiction in the area. Webb
said that he thought that it would. "We can elect a mayor
and council and form a police department just like any other
city if we incorporate and that would do away with the Arab PJ."
In response to a question about legal counsel
for the committee, Webb said there was none at this time
although he was planning to contact someone recommended by
another committee member. Someone then asked how they
would pay for the legal services. Webb said they would
have to elect a treasurer and to seek donations. "We are
not going away, we will keep meeting," he added.
When asked who was pushing annexation, Webb
said that he did not know. "I am not here to cast stones,"
he told the crowd.
While the main concern centered around the
effect of annexation on the area schools, several people
commented on the possibility of alcohol sales and the extension
of the Arab sewer system into the area. Webb said that
Arab had recently voted to allow alcohol sales and that any
newly annexed area would be able to sale alcohol if granted a
license. He said he believed it would be many years before
any sewer expansion could be made into the area, "But it
may happen and you need to think about that now."
Webb said that he had been assured by the
local legislative delegation that they do not support
legislative annexation unless the people in the affected area
are in favor.
Lee Henry told the group that the committee
has the best interest of of the schools at heart. Henry
said, "Ideally, I would like to see all of the area not already
in the city limits be incorporated into a school district that
would protect our schools." " We would like to discuss
this with all of the people who are outside the Arab, Union
Grove, and Guntersville city limits."
Sharon Price said that while the assurances by
the legislative delegation were appreciated, it is past time for
legislation to levy a tax to support the schools or to make the
cities pay money back into the county system. Price said,
"Barring a miracle, Claysville School will be closed and it is
past time to get something done about equal access. We are not
safe until we get something done about revenue."
Price also said she had talked with a
representative from the Marshall County sheriff's office who was
at the meeting, and had been assured that the area would still
be protected by the sheriff's office if the area was
incorporated but did not provide their own police department.
The next meeting will be at 2:30 p.m. Sunday,
March 8 at the Brindlee Mountain High School gymnasium.
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