Anyone who has had the honor of meeting Heather Ralston, beloved wife of Shaun Ralston, and their eight lovely children, knows that Heather loves her community. From her efforts to stand in the gap in prayer for the community, to her advocacy of efforts to move the county towards growth, Heather is a diadem in the crown of this county.

The passage of scripture that reminds me of Heather is, “A wife of noble character who can find?
She is worth far more than rubies. … Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value. … Her husband is respected at the city gate, where he takes his seat among the elders of the land. … Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all. … Honor her for all that her hands have done, and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.” (Proverbs 31:10-11, 23, 29, 31).

Heather, as the interim chairwoman for the Marion County Republican Party, organized a meet and greet for the candidates, NOT JUST from the Republican party, but from the Democratic Party and any other candidate running as any other partisan or independent candidates.

Hosted at the former middle school lunchroom, several candidates showed up, and a few citizens, to include Heather’s mother, Betse Sutherland, known lovingly as “MiBaka,” Towanna Knight, myself, and my oldest little, Jasper, showed up too. The candidates in attendance were as follows:

• Jerry Anthony – Board of Commissioners – District 3
• Larry Franklin, Jr – Board of Education – At Large
• Shane Grier – Board of Commissioners – District 2 – Incumbent
• Vance McCorkle – Board of Education – At Large
• Shaun Ralston – Board of Education – District 1
• Ramone Wooddell – Board of Commissioners – District 3 – Write – In

What I noticed mostly, was how open and transparent each candidate was with the questions that I asked them, and great conversation was birthed among the candidates because of those questions. This, to me, is Marion County’s “League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.”

For those who were unable to attend, I thought I would do every one of you a favor and allow you to participate in the meet and greet as though you were there, from my perspective, of course.

I began questioning Shaun Ralston first, as he was sitting at my table. Shaun is running as a Board of Education member for District 1. The question that was asked of him was, “Since all of your children are homeschooled,” which was asked by another citizen in the county, “what is it that you think you would bring to the Marion County School District?” Shaun answered, “I really love kids,” which is evidenced by his eight children. He said that he would be able to provide fresh perspective to the needs of the children and parents in the school district, because of his work and contributions among the citizens and their children. He said that he wanted to bring “safety” to the children in the school district, citing the instances where children were bringing weapons to school. He also spoke of working with the other school board members and citizens to increase male presence in the schools, which he and another candidate, Larry Franklin, Jr. mentioned many children are lacking, due to being raised in single mother households. Overall, Shaun’s heart was apparent for changes in the community and indicated that he had no issues with how the current board is operating.

Vance McCorkle indicated that he wanted to bring back some of the programs that he had when he went to school. He spoke about how many children are being taught to be college career minded and that as a farmer, we need to bring more vocational classes to Marion schools. If we, as a rural and farming community want to leave an inheritance to our children, then we have to teach them vocations and trades that will maintain that inheritance. I want to add her that Vance was very quiet and observant. It is important to know that just because a man is silent, he isn’t absent. Vance had open ears, eyes, and a heart to hear the discussion and added humor to the room when I made the comment that I could tell he was observant, that he hears, but doesn’t always remember everything he hears. I think that’s something we can all say we experience.

Larry Franklin, Jr. was quite the breath of fresh air, when it came to intelligence, experience, and statistics regarding the current school challenges and program for troubled children in Marion County schools. He cited that one of his main complaints about the current school board, is that there are not enough parents that are coming to the meetings. He spoke passionately about how 20 percent of the responsibility for these children and their education and discipline is equally distributed among the parents, the teachers, the board, the community, and mentorship/counseling programs. He spoke about how children who are underperforming are being “placed,” not promoted through the grade levels, and that due to the underperformance of Marion’s children in ELA, the future of our children is impacted and it also impacts what businesses will come to Marion. When those business see that our children are unable to read, write, and speak correctly, it causes those businesses to take their business elsewhere. As a pastor and middle grade math teacher, Larry Franklin, Jr. delighted the room with his passion for growth, change, and citizen involvement.

Jerry Anthony was definitely charming and he reminded me of a proud pawpaw. He showed his heart for our children, stating that what changes he will bring to Marion County will be for the future of Marion’s children. He spoken openly and with a softness that showed that he knew that what we do now will be inherited by Marion’s children. He and I spoke about building a park on the north side of Marion County for Marion’s children and that we would need to secure grants for that effort. He spoke about wanting to bring recreational programs to the county, as did Heather Ralston, Shaun Ralston, Vance McCorkle, and current county commissioner, Shane Grier. Jerry indicated that he envisioned the new entity, which will be the Board of Commissioners as of January 2027, starting fresh. He spoke of wanting the county’s financial status to be brought to current, and enhancing communication between the citizens and the commissioners through the county manager. Overall, I had such a conviction about Mr. Anthony based on my previous beliefs – as written about with regard to his qualification as a commissioner. I choose to believe that Mr. Anthony is NOT at all WHAT I believed him to be and I DON’T believe he is capable of doing what I believed that he did with regard to my previous publication Marion County Election Supervisor, Tiffany Harris, Illegally Schedules and Cancels a Special Election, Qualifies, and Elects Jerry Anthony for District 3 Commissioner. I sensed no guile in Mr. Anthony, and I truly value our conversation.

Shane Grier spoke about the current county economics. He indicated that he was fully aware of the delinquency of the county’s financial status. He expressed a similar desire to increase citizen attendance at the board of commissioners meetings and for transparency and dissemination of information to the citizens. For the most part, Shane listened to our conversation and at times gave his feedback to the conversations at hand, which surrounded the county’s inability to acquire grants, changing the time of the commissioners’ meeting to 6:00 PM, instead of 5:15 PM, and enhancing recreational program presence in the county to provide our youth with positive outlets for their energy, growth, success, and discipline.

Ramone Wooddell, also a pastor, expressed his desire to foster government transparency, inhibit communication among the citizens and the commission, to increase citizen attendance at the commissioners’ meetings, and to enhance our current road, sewage, and water infrastructure through bringing the county’s financial status to a current status so that we can obtain grants. He indicated that he, too, wanted to see more businesses brought to the community. Mr. Wooddell and Mr. Franklin discussed that the current standing of the collaboration and partnership between the city of Buena Vista and Marion County was essential to figuring out how we can connect the water and sewage infrastructure to adopt the outlying areas of the county for businesses to consider coming to Marion, and cited the need to secure grants for this accommodation.

Overall, all candidates for the commission – Jerry Anthony, Shane Grier, and Ramone Wooddell – indicated that they are in favor of changing the time for the Board of Commissioner’s meetings to 6:00 PM, bringing transparency to the county, ensuring that the county manager and the clerks are given appropriate tasks and deliverables so as to bring the county to a fiscal and economic wellness, and that they are open to transparency even now. They each expressed their desire to report to the citizens the health of the county, whether good, bad, or ugly. We cannot fix what we do not address.

I know that Jerry Anthony and Ramone Wooddell are running for the same seat, and they both shared their good wishes for one another. I expressed my desire for whoever did not win the seat for District 3, for that person to run for the Commissioner at Large position in 2028, whether Marshall Fontaine chose to run again or not.

Each gentleman was very knowledgeable about their position requirements, their constituents’ needs, and are on board with making our county the best and most unified that it can be for our children.

To wrap it up, Heather Ralston indicated that she has worked to organize a repuplican party presence, a democratic party presence, and has done her diligence, with strong adversity at times, to foster open communication, elections education, and increase presence at the polls. We all spoke about how important it is that the church get engaged with our elections because our government here is supposed to reflect God’s intentions as exampled by His government. Whether churchgoers believe that they should vote or not, what happens to their children, their money, their ability to maneuver through the community, and ministry to their community, is affected by those who are in these seats.

Overall, I hope that each of you reach out to these gentlemen and ask them about your concerns. They seem very open to any question and answered honestly.

I want to say a special thank you to Heather Ralston for capturing her vision for our community through her organization of this event and the invitation of all candidates – irrespective of party affiliation.

Please make sure to join the Virtual Town Hall of Marion County, Georgia on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1WzdDfYBpW/ so that you can present your concerns and engage in discussion that will be reviewed by and relayed to the county commissioners.

If you have a story, feedback, or questions, please feel free to contact me at Plumblyne Productions by email at plumblyneproductions@gmail.com or call me at 229-329-2179. Don’t forget to subscribe, share, and follow to stay up to date.