Lisa Brouillette: Local dreams improve our world

Lisa Brouillette
Columnist
Published: November 21, 2008

A long line of local community activists has left an inspirational legacy of legislation, ordinances, organizations and dreams. Yes, dreams. Most good things start with hopes and dreams.
People dreamed of healthy streams. The result? Local organizations Save Our Saugahatchee and Friends of Chewacla Creek. Thanks for those groups go to Wendy Seesock, Cliff Webber, Eric Reutebuch, Zack Sprayberry, Ron and Barbara Estridge, Mary Lou Smith and others.

People imagined publicly accessible local land, conserved for future generations. From those visions grew the Land Trust of East Alabama, the Auburn Greenspace Task Force and Auburn Greenspace Advisory Board. Kudos to Susie Thomas, Roberta Jackel, Jim Hansen, Cheryl Gladden, Gail Solomon, Joe Turnham and their colleagues for their hard work creating these groups. Louise Kreher envisioned a place where kids could explore nature and learn the value of wildlife. Thanks to her, the Forest Ecology Preserve was born and placed into the capable hands of Margaret Holler and Karni Perez. Yet others, to fulfill dreams of better government, tackled elected or appointed office. Often they became the eloquent minority: dissenting from the status quo, urging new priorities, new directions.

For their leadership a tip of our collective civic hats should go to David Cicci, Carolyn Carr, Cheryl Cobb, Fenny Dane, Sheila Eckman, Robert Gastaldo, Cheryl Gladden, the late Mary Fortenberry, Roberta Jackel, Gail Langley, Charles Neely, Charlotte Ward and Josie and Bill Walsh, to name just a few. And let’s not forget those in the local League of Women Voters chapter. How can one even begin to grasp the thoughtful community leadership provided over the years by such League members Ruth Wright, Anne Amacher, Ginnie Bennett, Charlotte Ward, and Sandy Robinson? What do these people have in common? Many were first propelled into the civic arena by issues critical to their neighborhoods. There are multiple strong neighborhood organizations in our area, many of whose members involve themselves in the broader community.

Think of Keith Campagna and Teresa Vest from the Shell Toomer Parkway area; Art Sullivan from the Cary Woods Neighborhood Watch; Paul Mitchell from Camden Ridge; Evie Ratner, Robin Jaffe, Shannon Hankes, Alice Buchanan and their neighbors in Forest Park Circle; leaders from Indian Hills, Woodland Park, Richland Road. Consider Mike Golden, who for five years led the Willow Creek Neighborhood Association.

I’ve named a handful of local pioneers and leaders, but I’ve left out 10 times more. Together they more than prove Margaret Mead’s comment that we should “never doubt that a small, group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world.”

Lisa Brouillette is a community activist, editor, and writer. Contact her at or visit her website http://placeforum.org