In a meeting last week, members of the Cleburne County Hospital Board said they were “offended” and saddened by recent action of the county in temporarily placing garbage dumpsters on their property in Ranburne. The dumpsters were placed there for the quarterly county-wide clean-up. In the past they had been placed at the school but due to construction there, the site was changed to the Ranburne Water Board location. The Ranburne Water Board rents their building from the CCHB which owns it. The board has just spent several thousand dollars in putting a new roof on the building and plans are to upgrade the facility similar to what has been done with the Sarrell Clinic and the old mental health building, now Quality of Life Healthcare, both of which are in Heflin. “It’s just not right. We are trying to upgrade our properties and they come in and treat it (Ranburne site) like a trash dump,” said CCHB member Dan Hopkins. CCHB Chairman Willie Wise said he has spoke with Cleburne County Commission Ex-Officio Chairman Ryan Robertson about the matter and is going through a third-party to discuss the matter with Cleburne County Commissioner Dwight Williamson whose district the property is in. “Well, it offends me and it annoys me and it is sad. We need to grow up. If you are having to use a third-party to talk to your commissioner then it is sad. This needs to be resolved by the May meeting or Mr. Williamson needs to come before us,” said CCHB member Sandy Weston. Wise said he has asked Williamson that the commission make sure the dumpsters are not put on the property again. “I’m working on that. I have spoke to the judge (Robertson) Your driveway (on the property) is hurt. It’s nasty and it’s a shame,” Wise said. Hopkins said the county commission is responsible and they should repair the damages to the driveway and yard. “They overstepped their bounds,” he said. Hopkins recommended that other board members visit the facility. “It is a building worth fixing,” he added. Wise said additional planned renovations could bring the value of the building up to well over $100,000 and it could, if the board chose, be sold as a home. The CCHB is now in the process of tearing down the old hospital in Heflin.
Commissioner Tracy Lambert said he felt sure Williamson and the other commissioners will want to do what is right and if the driveway and yard of the Ranburne site needs repairs, they will be done.
About Wayne Ruple
Cleburne News editor Wayne Ruple is a native of Ashville. Before coming to Heflin, he worked for three years as a computer systems manager in Birmingham. Ruple has worked for The Sand Mountain Reporter in Albertville, and was the editor of The Independent in Robertsdale. He has also worked for the Shades Valley Sun, the St. Clair News-Aegis and The Daily Home in Talladega.
