Stockton in National News!

We have been so excited by the way our grassroots campaign for Amendment 3 and the Stockton Landmark District has grown over the past few months. But what a surprise to learn that our AP article was running in Wednesday's edition of USA Today! And in the first section! Needless to say we bought out all the copies at our local grocery store. You can view the story on their website here. This is HUGE for Stockton to have this kind of coverage. It is a testament to the fact that people across Alabama and the entire U.S. care about history and small towns like ours. They care about giving residents a voice in the future of their community and that's exactly what Amendment 3 will do. This is a great boost for our campaign in these final weeks!

We have been getting some great media coverage across the Alabama. A BIG thanks to Larry at WWNT 1450 AM Talk Radio in Dothan for letting us speak on his program this morning. We are so appreciative of the support of his listeners!

Thanks so much to all of you for supporting us and helping us on the home stretch. Stockton is truly deserving of this kind of attention!

12 Days!

We've passed the 2 week mark, the home stretch is officially here!  At 8am tomorrow, Lynn, Georgene, and Georgia Ann will be interviewed on WWNT 1450 AM News Talk Radio in Dothan, explaining the Stockton Landmark District and Amendment 3. You can listen to the interview live through the station's website. We are excited to have this opportunity to reach more Alabama voters!

Check out today's trivia question:

Question: This beautiful and rare flower is native to Stockton. It was first documented by William Bartram during his travels through the area in 1775. Can you name it?

Stockton is Famous!

We are SO excited to wake up this morning and see this fantastic article written by Phillip Rawls at the Associated Press running in numerous state and local newspapers, both online and in print. It is even in some papers around the country! This is huge for the campaign for Amendment 3 and the Stockton Landmark District and probably one of the biggest accomplishments of our statewide campaign tour. With Stockton's population being less than 500, telling almost 3 million Alabama voters to vote YES for Amendment 3 is incredibly overwhelming. This article has greatly amplified the voices of our residents and we hope this will be the extra push we need to win on Nov. 6th!

All this media coverage has led to big increase in blog readership this week which is great news! Please keep sharing a link to the site with your friends and family. We have one important weekly Q&A below. With just about 2 weeks to go, we need your help. Thank you SO much for continuing to support Stockton and Amendment 3!

Question: I support Amendment 3 and the Stockton Landmark District. What can I do to help?

Answer: 

1) Email, Facebook, and the Internet. These are probably our most valuable tools in these final weeks. Email all of your contacts links to our blog. Search for emails of club or organization leaders across the state and email them. Share a link to the blog on your Facebook. Like Stockton Landmark District on Facebook. Search for news articles across the state that detail the amendments and leave a comment encouraging voters to vote yes for Amendment 3. Social media is critical to this campaign and can spread our message to a large number of voters. 

2) Talk to people. Bring Amendment 3 up in conversation, mention it in meetings and appointments. Talk about it at the grocery store, with friends, at club meetings, at church. Speak to as many groups as you can.

3) Write letters to any publications across the state. The more we are mentioned in the media the better.

4) On Nov. 6th, we need volunteers to stand at various polling locations around the county. They will be holding signs and asking voters to consider voting YES for Amendment 3. We will be covering the morning from 7-8:30am and the evening from 4:30-7pm. If you would like to help us on election day please email us at stocktonlandmarkdistrict@gmail.com.

The Answer!

Trivia Tuesday

Question: Many people do not know that Stockton was once an incorporated town. Do you know what year it was officially incorporated?

Answer: Joshua Kennedy built one of Alabama's first sawmills in Stockton in 1811. The timber industry became the life blood of Stockton and by the 1830s, it had become a very prosperous town of considerable importance, second in size to Mobile! Kennedy began the process of incorporation but died before it was completed. His son-in-law, William Kitchen, carried out Kennedy's dream and the "Town of Stockton" was officially incorporated in 1839. Streets were laid out and a post office was established. Residents could travel to Mobile by a daily steamboat and the Stagecoach made 2 stops in Stockton on its way to Montgomery. It was a lively town, having three of four large stores, three or four hotels, several saloons, a barber shop, a ten-pen alley, and a number of gambling dens. It is unclear at what point Stockton lost its incorporation, most likely when local industry and transportation changed and Stockton's commercial importance diminished. 

It is possible that at some point in the future the residents of Stockton may want to re-incorporate. The protection that Amendment 3 will offer Stockton will be crucial if our residents ever pursue this possibility. Our legislators worked to write Amendment 3 for Stockton because of its unique history and its previous incorporation. Kennedy, Kitchen, and many other early fathers of Stockton were working well over 100 years ago to promote Stockton and protect it for future generations. Creating the Stockton Landmark District under Amendment 3 will honor the life's work of our ancestors and allow Stockton's citizens to continue to direct the future of this community as they have done for generations. Please vote YES! 

William Kitchen

Trivia Tuesday!

Exactly 3 weeks to go until Election Day! What an important day for our nation, state, county, and our little town of Stockton. We need your continued support as we race to the finish line. Every vote really does count, please keep getting the word out around Alabama about Amendment 3! Trivia Tuesday returns today. Test your knowledge with our Stockton history question and leave your answer in the comment section below.

Question: Many people do not know that Stockton was once an incorporated town. Do you know what year it was officially incorporated?

Check the blog tomorrow evening for the answer!

Q&A Friday on Monday

Ok, so it's not really Friday (sorry to break the news) but since the campaign tour last week bumped our weekly blog features we are playing catch up with our Friday Stockton Landmark District Q&A today. Trivia Tuesday will return tomorrow. Just about 3 weeks to go! The finish line is in sight and we need your help in these final weeks to tell as many Alabama voters as possible why they should vote YES for Amendment 3 on November 6th. Keep sharing the link to the blog, we will be updating it more frequently as the election approaches. Have a great week, ya'll!

Question 1: Why is it important that Amendment 3 passes on November 6th? Why not just wait until if and when a neighboring municipality attempts to annex Stockton?

Answer: Remember the old Ben Franklin quote, "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure?" Amendment 3 simply puts in place a protective barrier around Stockton. It is a precautionary step that will be so valuable to our residents if and when another municipality proposes annexation. As the law stands today, a larger municipality can annex unincorporated areas without a vote from the area's residents as long as the Alabama Legislature approves it. If this happens,  the annexed community's only recourse is to fight the annexation in court which can be very costly not to mention extremely long and tenuous. Ft. Morgan, located at the very bottom of Baldwin County, has been in a legal battle with its neighbor, Gulf Shores for years over the same issue. Another example in Baldwin County is the Malbis Plantation. This area located just down from the Eastern Shore Center in Spanish Fort was a very integral part of Greek history and culture in South Alabama. It has been completely annexed into Spanish Fort and Daphne. Newcomers to the area and younger people do not even know that there was a Malbis. They just see a pretty Greek Orthodox church and a few big houses along the road on their way into Daphne. What a devastating scenario this would be for Stockton, the oldest community in the county. 

We need to act now to give our residents a vote in the future. Amendment 3 is our best shot. Please vote YES on November 6th!

Question 2: Which party supports Amendment 3? Is this a partisan issue?

Answer: The Stockton Landmark District is a completely non-partisan issue and is not backed by any party. Amendment 3 is supported by Alabama voters from all party affiliations and independents. We visited numerous Democratic and Republican Headquarters on our statewide campaign tour last week and overwhelmingly the consensus from both parties was, "this amendment just makes sense." Amendment 3 isn't really about politics. It is about preserving the history and heritage of Stockton and giving residents, many who can trace their roots back over 200 years in the community, a vote. No one wants to wake up one morning to find that the town their families have called home for generations is no longer on the map. Visit Why Should I Vote Yes? for more info.

Landmarkers Return!

It was a strange feeling this morning, not waking up and heading out the door to stop at every newspaper and campaign headquarters between here and the next town. In 3 days we covered 965 miles, stopping at 35 places around Alabama. We visited 12 restaurants and stores, 5 newspapers, 2 television stations, 1 radio station, 4 Democratic Headquarters, 8 Republican Headquarters, 1 Chamber of Commerce, 1 Junior League, and gave 1 interview with the Associated Press. We feel pretty good about what we accomplished in just a  few short days. We have a GREAT state. Every single person we spoke with was receptive to learning about Amendment 3. People are confused by most of the amendments. If they aren't from that area, oftentimes they just don't vote. When we explained to them about what Amendment 3 will do for Stockton, the response was "that just makes sense." People appreciate history and the importance of preserving an area and giving its citizens the chance to vote on its future. We returned from our trip feeling energized about our state and the election on November 6th.

Here is just a brief re-cap of each day and finally some photos!

Day 1 (Stockton--Florence): I'll be honest, at first the idea of just going up to strangers in restaurants was a little intimidating. We weren't sure exactly the best approach for this tour so we just jumped in. Day 1 was about getting our feet wet. The more people we spoke with and the more positive feedback we received, the easier it it became to tell anyone who would listen why they should vote YES for Amendment 3. We drove from Stockton to Florence taking only the back roads. In Tuscumbia, we met Tori Bailey at WZZA radio, the "The Soul of the Shoals" and she provided us with some excellent advice and contact information for some very influential folks in Montgomery. Another BIG thank you to her!

 Our Place, Evergreen, AL

AJ's Restaurant, Monroeville, AL

 JJ's Bait & Tackle, Monroeville, AL

Thomasville Times, Thomasville, AL

 Demopolis, AL

Tuscaloosa County, Republican Headquarters, Tuscaloosa, AL

Tuscaloosa, AL

 WZZA Radio "Soul of the Shoals" Tuscumbia, AL

Day 2 (Florence--Auburn): By day 2, we were getting into the groove and realized that we needed to talk to people who could really amplify our 3 voices. We focused on Republican and Democratic Headquarters (this is a completely non-partisan issue), newspapers, and TV stations. We really felt good about these stops and met many helpful Editors and other folks. The Chamber of Commerce in Decatur was extremely helpful and welcoming to us. We are excited to be mentioned in their upcoming newsletter!

Times Daily, Florence, AL

Morgan County Chamber of Commerce, Decatur, AL

Decatur Daily, Decatur, AL

WHNT 19 News, Huntsville, AL

Democratic Headquarters, Huntsville, AL

Democratic Headquarters, Huntsville, AL

Day 3 (Auburn--Stockton): By Day 3, it seemed like all roads led to Montgomery so we focused our final day of the tour in and around the State Capitol. Andy Powell at the Gadsden Times had given us a contact at the Associated Press which resulted in a great meeting and interview. We hope this will lead to bigger publicity for Amendment 3. We also were given the names of some influential political leaders who are sharing our information with their parties and organizations. We returned to Stockton in the early evening tired but VERY encouraged about the election and the wonderful people of our State!

Associated Press, Montgomery, AL

Montogomery County Republican Headquarters, Montgomery, AL

Alabama Democratic Party State Headquarters, Montgomery, AL

Again, we want to thank every one who we met during our state tour for giving us a few minutes out of their day. We hope they will help us inform their communities about the Stockton Landmark District and Amendment 3.  We greatly appreciate and need their support!

We have just a few more weeks to go before November 6th. Please keep helping us inform voters across the state to support the Stockton Landmark Distric, Amendment 3 and not to ignore it! Thanks for following our blog and sharing it with others!