To the Editor:

Amen to Maggie Davies’ letter to the editor. I think she has the real story there. She has pretty much touched on all bases.

But I have a few things to add. They say they want to Save Selma and to re-vamp the downtown to attract small, new businesses. Just try to rent a building downtown. If you ever get anyone to ever call back (no one returns phone calls in Selma) then they would rather use these beautiful buildings downtown either for storage or to keep them vacant because they belonged to “Mumma or Diddy” and they are keeping it as a decaying old shrine.

We tried to start a small business here and were met with a stone wall and an uncaring and unimaginative attitude. Seems like the majority of people just sit here, fat and dumb, and thinking they are happy while Selma literally rots down around them.

I don’t think I’ve ever met any more stubborn people anywhere. They let people lie to them and they believe that things really are getting better here.

Seems to me all they really want to do is re-live the past instead of marching into the future.

Anyone can see the sad state of affairs Selma is in. This once Grand Old Dame is in dire need of some powder and paint, or maybe it’s already gotten to the state of needing a facelift.

Seems like the only people here that are really happy are the ones living life with blinders, going along the way life always has in

its sleepy, Southern, unchanging way.

People don’t seem to care if anything changes in any way as long as it doesn’t interfere with their ingrained, narrow-minded Southern traditions. Someone said to me, “Marie, if you really want to help Selma, don’t put Selma down … do something.”

Well, I’m here to say that no one listens to anyone here. How can you do something in a place where no one wants to hear? So I officially give up. I came here because of the beauty and charm of the old homes and the history of Selma. I’m leaving because of the indifference and hard-headedness of its leaders. Good luck, Selma, with your future.

Marie Dooling