BARDWELL- Bardwell Fire Department was the place to be Saturday night, the 20th, if you’re a Republican, that is. The Republican Rally began at 4:30 pm and by the time the food was served; there were well over 125 people. The multicounty GOP rally (Ballard, Carlisle, Fulton, Hickman and Graves)brought the Governor, First Lady and First Dog to the Purchase. “Despite other things going on around…we’ve had a great turnout.” stated Joyce Adams, one of the rallies organizers. Ernie, Glenna and Abby (the First Dog) arrived at 5:30 to thunderous applause. “Abby enjoys the traveling, but the flight today was a little long for her, she began to get antsy.” Said the First Lady Glenna Fletcher. 
After a few minutes of meeting constituents and press, Brother Charles Blair of Hickman County, gave the invocation, and the food was served. The meal consisted of fried fish, bar-b-que, cole slaw, French fries and dessert. At 6:30 the real politics began.
Philip King the current Mayor of Bardwell introduced Gov. Fletcher with a story. Almost four years ago, Fletcher came to a fish fry in Bardwell. There he promised that the firefighters in the local area would have a training facility. Now the training facility is built and just behind the fire department in Bardwell. “If he (referring to Gov. Fletcher) gives you a promise, it will happen.”
Gov. Fletcher admitted that he had made mistakes in the past and seemed quite contrite about them. If reelected, he wants to continue to bring tourism to the area by paving more roads; continuing of the 4 laning of Highway 60 and extending Highways 68 and 80. With better paved roads, the citizens of Kentucky will also be safer. This year, there have been many fewer fatalities on the roads, Fletcher said.
At the end of his speech, Gov. Ernie Fletcher presented two checks. One was to the city of Bardwell for $50,000 coming from the Governor’s Office for Local Development (GOLD) Fund to help purchase a building to replace City Hall. The current city hall has been flooded twice with over 7 ½ inches of water, which ruined the city’s computers, created a mold problem. To make matters worse, the building is infested with brown recluse spiders. “This grant will move the center of government in Bardwell to a building that is safe from environmental hazards,” Governor Fletcher said. “It’s important that the business of the people goes on without interruption.” On the way to the Fish Fry, Gov. Fletcher got approval to present the City of Arlington for with a grant of $60,000 to repave the city streets, in dire need of repaving.
 After Fletcher gave his speech, Linda Greenwell, running for state Auditor, gave an impassioned discourse about what she would do for the citizens of Kentucky if she were to become the next State Auditor. She would provide timely financial audits and reports, establish an appeals process for disputes, scrutinize how politicians use your tax dollars and hold Government officials accountable. She told the partisan crowd that she believes in a “citizens first and self promotion last” philosophy.
Photo at left - Linda Greenwell, candidate for State Auditor.
Photo at right - Mayor Fritts of Arlington thanks the Governor and Mrs. Fletcher for paving funds for city. |
