BAILEYTON — The town of Baileyton hosted Rep. Jeremy Oden (R-Eva) in a town hall meeting Saturday morning.

Oden, along with other elected officials, spoke to concerned citizens about the current state of government in Alabama.

“I usually wait until the session is over, but there are so many important things going on right now,” Oden said. “Basically, this year is going to be tough.”

He said some of the top concerns are unemployment rates and education system problems.

“The biggest concern right now is the state of the economy,” he said. “The unemployment rate is pretty high.”

Oden discussed many bills that will be introduced this session and in particular two he will be sponsoring.

One concerns gun rights.

“I am a firm believer in the Second Amendment rights and I like my guns,” he said. “House Bill 2 repeals the short-barrel rifle law. It’s an archaic law that needs to be repealed so we can just follow the federal standards.”

The second bill he will be carrying is a grandparents’ rights bill.

“There are so many situations where when there is a divorce, grandparents don’t get to see (their grandchildren) anymore,” he said. “So this will give the judge a right to give grandparents visitation rights in a divorce decree.”

The session has only been in session two days and there have already been well over 1,000 bills introduced, Oden said.

“I will probably spend more time fighting bills than introducing bills this year,” he said.

He said there will be bills dealing with everything from car emissions and healthcare, to guns and graduated licenses.

Oden also serves on the education trust fund.

“We got a tremendous hit the last few years,” he said.

He said there may be a bill introduced to have larger classroom sizes, which will increase the student-to-teacher ratio.

“I will fight the student teacher ratio, and if there is a movement for this, I will not be for it,” he said.

He said he hopes there will be no teacher layoffs this year.

Oden introduced the newly formed Cullman County Community Development Commission (CCCDC), whose sole responsibility is to distribute funds provided to the county from state-collected monies from the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and funds provided to the county from state alcohol sales taxes.

Mayor Max Townson of the City of Cullman is over the commission for the next year.

“The new commission in effect is run by the commission, not by the state,” he said.

He told how the money is distributed and where it is going.

“Each community can fill out a form to receive grants,” Townson said. “We try to do what’s best for each community.”

The commission has already given out four grants, to Hanceville, Vinemont, Cullman Emergency Medical Services and Joppa.

“We are here to help communities,” said Mike Graves, who is on the commission. “There are projects needed but no funding. This is a way funds can be distributed on a local level.”

The next CCCDC meeting will be Feb. 4 at 5 p.m. at the Vinemont Town Hall.

Oden’s mom, Carol, a Silver Haired Legislature representative, spoke about issues facing senior citizens.

“You are the largest group we have in North Alabama,” she said. “We like to have your opinion and your needs. From 55 and older, we are important and we do have needs.”

She told about a bill her son helped to pass last session about a senior citizen type Amber Alert system and told about some upcoming bills.

“I am praying real hard another nursing home abuse bill passes,” she said.

Neal Morrison, director of NARCOG, spoke about how his organization helps.

“The organization was created in 1966 to pull government organizations together,” he said.

He said they help develop strategic plans, write grants and help displaced workers find jobs, among other things.

NARCOG, based in Decatur, serves Cullman, Morgan and Lawrence counties.

Sheriff Tyler Roden talked about improvements coming to his department from Congressman Robert Aderholt.

The sheriffs department, Hanceville Police Department and the City of Cullman Police Department received $2.5 million to update radio and computer equipment in all vehicles.

“It will allow field officers to do a lot of things a dispatcher had to do before,” Roden said.

To contact Jeremy Oden, call 334-242-7600.



Tiffany Green can be reached by e-mail at tgreen@cullmantimes.com or by telephone at 734-2131, ext. 220.