Thursday, January 5, 2012
State, Local Reps Oppose Redistricting Split
State Representative Dr. Joey Hensley and Lawrence County Executive J. Mack Chandler say they oppose the state legislature placing the southern portion of Lawrence County into another state district.
Click here to see the state map pdf.
Representative Hensley says the current proposal is to combine most of Lawrence County with Lewis and northern Giles counties. The southern part of Lawrence County - Iron City, St Joseph, part of Loretto and the Five points/Bonnertown/Appleton areas (about 6000 people) would be combined with southern Giles, Wayne and Hardin counties.
“I do not support this plan and will not vote for it,” Hensley stated Wednesday. “The Districts are all changing because it is required by law after each census to equalize the Districts according to the population changes. The senate districts will change as well.” Hensley says the proposal is still preliminary.
County Executive Chandler has asked Hensley to do everything he can to keep all of Lawrence County in the same representative district. “Every ten years the redistricting comes up and the party in control has the upper hand on redistricting.
If it’s possible, we need to remain as one district for the best representation. It would be much easier for our county leaders to work with one representative rather than two.”
Chandler says that Lawrence County was split into separate state districts once before with state representatives from Wayne and Giles counties.
Chandler was working with Lieutenant Governor John Wilder at that time and says state officials worked hard to restore Lawrence County to one representative district.
“We all need to work together now to keep the state from splitting our county again,” said Chandler. He is asking local citizens to contact Hensley and State Senator Jim Summerville to express their concern on this issue.
