Davis touts education in city visit
By Staff
Nathan Strickland
County and city residents gathered at Russellville City Hall Saturday evening to hear from Alabama Democratic gubernatorial candidate Artur Davis.
Davis was born in 1976 and grew up in a single-parent home. The first time he visited the state capital was in 1977, he told the crowd.
Education was one of Davis’ key issues and plans to base his campaign pushing for today’s youth and the importance of education.
According to Davis, almost half of high school graduates do not attend college and a fourth of high school freshmen do not graduate. Davis’ mission is to change those statistics and strive to push young people to finish their education. Once graduates finish their education, Davis believes they should stay here and work.
There were four things Davis really wanted to get across to Franklin County citizens:
The families must support and push their kids to do well in school. Other stipulations include the children of those families must stay in school, make good grades and stay out of serious disciplinary trouble.
Davis also believes the state of Alabama needs a new Constitution.
Davis said he wants to get Montgomery past partisanship and “bickering.” He also told the group of 25 that every vote counts.
Davis took questions from the audience about the healthcare bill, gambling issues and said the rumor is that he voted against the stimulus. Davis replied that he is for healthcare reform, but believes Washington has “mishandled” the healthcare debate. Davis said he is in favor of letting the people vote when it comes to the gambling issues and told the audience that they have been misinformed and that he was one of the only ones who actually voted for the stimulus.
He also promised to never raise taxes and believes the best way to bring more revenue is to bring more jobs into the state.
Russellville Mayor Troy Oliver believed Davis had some key points.
Russellville resident Elka Graham said she enjoyed Davis’ speech and believes he has some interesting ideas people should pay attention to.
Russellville resident Mildred Finch believes Davis can’t do what he has set out to do without help.
