Mike Goins can't stop taking cheap shots at persons who have expressed doubts or reservations in the past about economic development progress in the Shoals. Trouble is, Goins seems to want to lump together as "soreheads" (his word, TD Sunday July 22, page B-1)essentially the entire spectrum of those who in the past have either criticized SEDA and/or the local governments for failure to deliver. Then he proceeds to laud the locals for having worked together so hard and so unselfishly to bring in the "big one," the rail car plant.
Is Goins so dense that he does not recognize that one of the prime REASONS why so much blame was directed toward public officials and organizations in the past is their chronic past failure to act cooperatively? Their failure was rooted in a provincialism that Goins is now happy to see replaced with a spirit of cooperation. Most everyone is glad to see that, but the fact is that this yellow brick road mentality is kinda new and before all the huggin' and kissin' there was a lot of small-minded, me-first silly civic selfishness that undoubtedly crippled economic recruitment. In other words, all this wonderful cooperation sprouting up all over the Shoals is what we DID NOT have before and what the local leaders needed to be chastised for. And when, in the past, they failed to present a united front and screwed up as a result, they deserved the criticism they got.
Goins has reserved his strongest vitriol for those who opposed the RSA project in its original concept, which would have involved hijacking several hundred acres of the TVA nature trail/hiking and biking area/ and associated archaeolgical resources for the RSA golf courses. He was a shill for the RSA folks and their "partners," the local gummints as they tried to ram that ill-fated venture through against the objections of the majority of Shoals citizens. What Goins, RSA and the rest of these schemers should have known was that the land at issue was so cumbered with environmental obstacles that they NEVER would have gotten permission to develop it. The way the golf courses got built--and the only way they could have been built--was for the White Knight, Harvey Robbins, to come riding to the rescue with his land donation. And once that happened, there was essentially no more objection from the environmental sector, since the grab for the TVA land was a dead issue.
Goins, writing in an earlier column about a recent visit to the Shoals by the Mayor of Dothan, says, "He was told it's unlikely that the project will ever win over some critics. Whoever told him that obviously knew what they were talking about.
The RSA project remains a thorn in the side of some residents. Some people are against any progress. Others are likely having trouble letting go of their hope that they will some day tell us all, "I told you so.'"
Just where are all that herd of naysayers Goins refers to? Sure, there are always a few who object to most anything, but I seriously question that Goins is doing much more here than throwing up a straw man so he can send a few barbs toward those who were on the other side in the controversy over the TVA land.
How much was the good Mayor of Dothan told about how some of the local schemers, with Goins in their pocket, tried to ram through the TVA land transfer? Not a lot, I'll wager. I suspect the Mayor got hosed thoroughly with one side of the story.
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