It is unfortunate that reporter David Pittman missed the real story in reporting on the Calhoun County Community Foundation’s fourth annual meeting. The speaker, Mr. S. Truett Cathy, offered good advice that we should heed to better manage our businesses and our lives. He was both interesting and inspirational. But he was not the story of the day.The real story was about the Community Foundation and the numerous individuals that unselfishly give of their time to improve our quality of life and make the area a better place in which to live. The real story is the $600,000 distributed in 2002 and the over $3.8 million distributed since the Community Foundation’s inception four years ago. The real story is about the Juliette P. Doster award recipients —Mrs. Eleanor Youngblood for her 16,000 hours of volunteer work over 14 years at the Saint Michael’s Community Service Center and Mr. Tony Areno, posthumously, who through The Calhoun County Head Injury Association and The Practical Side spent 13 years motivating and supporting others who also suffered from a traumatic brain injury.
The real story is about establishing a Drug Assist Program that has distributed more than $3 million in free medications to the elderly poor and the current effort to develop a dental clinic for those who are unable to afford episodic or regular dental care.
The Calhoun County Community Foundation, its grants, scholarships and partnerships are a real gift to the community. I hope that in the future The Star will report this good news to our citizens.
H. M. Burt, Jr., Trustee and Past Chairman
The Calhoun County Community Foundation
A matter of trust
The staff at the Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal Facility wants you to know how much we appreciate the contributions by Jason Landers and The Anniston Star to the understanding of our program with such a series as “A Matter of Trust.”By past experience, some of our staff members have destroyed chemical agents using both incineration and neutralization technologies.
Your stories helped illuminate this complex and often misunderstood issue. Your series also provided a public service by describing how challenges can be faced and met by cooperation of all affected parties.
Our chemical agent disposal operations are scheduled to begin in the last half of 2003.
We are proud of the commonality of purpose forged between the local community, state and Army to safely dispose of the Umatilla stock-pile.
Don E. Barclay, Army Site Project Manager
Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal Facility
