Derrick Jones Awarded Citizen of the Year at Aliceville Area Chamber of Commerce Banquet

By Felicity Holman
Managing Editor

The Aliceville Area Chamber of Commerce Annual Banquet occurred on March 7, 2023, at the Aliceville Museum. In opening, Chamber Board President Martin Colvin welcomed all those in attendance and led the invocation. A wonderful dinner had been prepared by Mac BBQ Place & Wright’s Catering; The caterers were Katie Clark, Contonia Wright, Marva Gipson, Kathy Morrow, and Ja’Nyla Prince. 
The speaker for the event was Aliceville Mayor Terrence Windham. Mayor Windahm thanked everyone that came out to celebrate those individuals that had made significant differences in the community. He took a moment to recognize and thank Robert Wilder and Rebecca Gilliam for attending the banquet as members of the city council and recognizing Commissioner Jill Noland for being in attendance. He then thanked the members of the city hall staff and Chief of Police Tonnie Jones and his support staff for all of their hard work before giving a brief update on the happenings in Aliceville.
“Starting back in May, or even reaching back to April, it’s our responsibility to seek out grants, to seek out opportunities, and seek out ways in which we can make Aliceville a little better. We’re a community that has limited funding. I appreciate those predecessors that have come before me, such as Ms. Gipson, that have led the charge. But it is our responsibility to try to maintain the city of Aliceville and try to increase the visibility of our city. Back in May, we received a grant that will help improve our helicopter pad for the city of Aliceville. As the hospital is closed, we do not have adequate medical attention in our city. We have our doctors, but it is our job to improve that. This grant we’ve received will allow us to build our helipad behind the National Guard Armoury so that the helicopter will have a designated place to land if a situation needs a helicopter. We also know that we need to spread money around. We’ve come up with the idea that the helicopter pad can also double as a basketball court. In our health field, we know that the hospital has closed. I received information that there is legislation pending through the state that will hopefully pass and see our hospital reopened in a new way. It will be more so a mental health facility with an emergency room performing at some point in time. It will take some time, and it will not be this year that it opens. We do have Whately Health Services that will be coming to Aliceville. They plan on opening within the next few months, which will significantly impact our community. This is done in partnership with our local area doctors.