By Wendell Snowden

Summer’s almost behind us and fall’s on the way. After a very successful Blueberry Festival and two months off for recuperation, the WCA is back in business. Our new year will start at our meeting on Sept. 10 at 7 p.m. We will be discussing the October 3rd yard sale to be held at Andrews Square at 7 a.m., in conjunction with the Blueberry Pancake Breakfast. We will also be talking about our Wellborn Children’s Halloween Party on Oct. 3 and our Thanksgiving Community Dinner. So, you see how time flies? I left out Christmas Party discussions on purpose so as not to alarm too many readers, but December will be here before you know it.

Another thing we will discuss this coming season is “community.” We need more Wellborn and Suwannee County residents to get involved in our community. I’m talking about going out of your way to be DIRECTLY involved. If you’re reading this column, you receive the Suwannee Democrat and read “Rant and Rave.” People who are interested in certain issues bring these issues up in this column. There are complaints about us being a dry county, about the county commissioners and how they vote, trash on the streets, etc. It’s OK to phone in your opinion to the newspaper, but we need to get more involved. I would like to say here that Editor Robert Bridges and Publisher Myra Regan run a well-organized, unbiased newspaper while managing to get directly involved.

I hear District Four Commissioner Billy Maxwell encouraging people all the time to attend commission meetings. When five commissioners look out at an audience of only five to ten county citizens, what must they think! They must think that we don’t care how they vote or on what issues. It’s called support. Support your county commissioners by attending meetings.

You can get involved on an easier, simpler task - trash on the streets! Since the Suwannee Correctional Institution has opened, we have less trash. I have personally witnessed road crews out picking up trash. Our streets and roadways are cleaner. But we can do better. Help the road crews by covering your loads. If you drop something, go back and pick it up. Clean up your street in front of your own property. Fifteen minutes a week in front of where you live is all it would take. Thanks go out to Warden Jim Witt for his help in keeping our hometown clean.

Most people do not attend political rallies or debate sessions when they come up prior to election time. This is your very best opportunity to get your ideas and feelings known to incumbent officials and those running for the office. You get to hear their ideas and get to know why they are running for an office. Let them know what you expect from an elected official. Will they vote for what their constituents want, or for their personal agenda?

Suwannee County has a lot of newcomers. I even consider myself a newcomer. Except for those born and raised here, we came here for a reason. Whatever that was, you moved away from something you didn’t like or couldn’t afford. Or, you were just tired of the hustle and bustle. Don’t try to make Suwannee County over! We are a rural, peaceful county. Newcomers should not tell us how they did it where they moved from, or that they had more traffic lights, or that every street corner had a four-way stop sign and every road was paved. Believe me, folks, paving in front of your house is good, but it brings more traffic, different problems and higher taxes. If you live on a dirt road, it was dirt before you moved there. Newcomers and born-and- raised folks need to work together to keep Suwannee County a great place to live and raise our families.

I hope I haven’t rambled for too long or offended anyone - that was not the intent. The intent is to say that regardless of race, creed, color or political affiliation, we should unite as one and work together to resolve any issues and problems that Suwannee County may have.