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By Robert DeWitt
December 19, 2001

   TUSCALOOSA — Constitutional reform advocates took a step toward establishing a local chapter of
Alabama Citizens for Constitutional Reform at an organizational meeting on Tuesday at the Chamber of
Commerce of West Alabama.

   "We hope the Tuscaloosa County chapter will be our anchor in West Alabama," said Bailey Thomson, a University of Alabama journalism professor.

   The group used the meeting to organize a steering committee that will develop a plan of action and nominate officers, said Johnnie Aycock, president of the chamber.

   The group hopes to receive a report from the committee by early January so a local chapter can be in place
in time to influence the legislative session and 2002 primaries and elections, Aycock said.

   The organizers included politicians and businessmen from around West Alabama, including Bibb County Probate Judge Jerry Pow, former Tuscaloosa County Probate Judge Conrad Fowler, State Board of Education member Sandra Ray, Fayette businessman Robert Hamner, Mary Jolley of Hale County, League of Women Voters representative Madeleine Hill, former legislator Fuller Kimbrell and Culpepper Clark, dean of the UA College of Communication and Information Sciences.

   The organization is a grassroots effort to change Alabama’s century-old constitution. Critics say it is an
unwieldy document that places too much power in Montgomery and not enough with local governments.

   The organization traces its roots to a rally held April 7, 2000, in Tuscaloosa. The chamber took a leading
role in organizing that rally, which drew about 600 people.

   "This room is where the statewide effort began two years ago," Thomson said. "Out of that rally grew
Alabama Citizens for Constitutional Reform. Since that time, it has truly become a statewide
organization."

   The organization has chapters in Mobile, Huntsville and Calhoun County and 1,400 members statewide.
It recently hired Kathy Bowden as executive director, with an aim to bring about a constitutional
convention by 2003.

   Local chapters are important because they deal with local media and make educational visits to schools,
Bowden said.

   Ray also said that it is up to local chapter members to dispel misconceptions and lies created by reform
opponents.

   The organization is pushing for an amendment to the constitution that would assure that approval of any
constitution would be in the hands of the state’s citizens.

   "We at Alabama Citizens for Constitutional Reform are not asking for any particular constitution,"
Thomson said. "We are asking for the democratic process."

   Thomson said the constitution’s preamble is fine and its judicial article is a model for the nation. But he
said the organization hopes constitutional reform would give home rule to local governments and make
education the central promise of the state government to its people.

   Reach Robert DeWitt at robert.dewitt@tuscaloosanews.com or 345-0505, Ext. 287.

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