What made you decide to run for Mayor?

My decision to run for Mayor was a very difficult one. Juggling school full time and working for my father has limited my amount of free time right now.  My grandmother died the week before qualifying ended and while I was sitting in the creek bed where her ashes will be spread, I opened my eyes and saw a small green tree growing in a clump of red construction mud. This red mud did not used to be in our creek and I believe it is a result of the recent development in our area. I am running for mayor because I would like to see the development of our area not hurt the ecosystem we all enjoy. I am also running because the traffic and safety situation in Mentone is growing increasingly more dangerous and the current town administration seems unable to answer the questions on how to handle these problems. However, I very much want to work with anyone interested in these goals to find solutions to our shared problems.

Are you living in Mentone now and do you intend to be here full time if elected Mayor?

My great great Aunt, Frances Berry, lived in Mentone full time in the 1920's and 30's and my grandparents lived here most of the time during the last 20 years of my grandfathers life. I spent the best time of my childhood here and moved up full time in 2002 for a job at Inspec Tech in Valley Head. Since then, I began taking law school classes at the Birmingham School of Law and have spent about 50% of my weeks in Birmingham and 50% in Mentone. I will be completing law school in December and will be living in Mentone full time again.

If you are in School Full time, how are you going to handle being Mayor, work and school?

The Mayoral job begins November 1 st so there will only be a six week overlap of my time before moving back full time.

What would you like to see done in Mentone?

I believe Mentone is at a Crossroads and decisions need to be made now to preserve the long term safety and beauty of our area. Currently, there are no building codes for commercial development and I think Mentone needs standards so we do not become the next Rainsville. The recent zoning of highway 117 into residential/commercial concerns me in that this opens the possibility for Mentone to become a miniature Gatlinburg with Strip centers lining Highway 117 (what is still shown on maps as Lake Street).

Are you married?

I am engaged to one of the most beautiful, kind-hearted, sweetest women in the world, Katherine Baker. You can find a picture of her here! The preliminary plans for our wedding are to be at Desoto Falls, and we want to raise our children in the small town environment of Mentone.

What Church do you belong to?

I am baptized and have attended First United Methodist Church in Birmingham for most of my life. However, since moving to Mentone, I have been attending St. Joseph's on the Mountain Episcopal Church and feel a loving camaraderie with this particular church family. Katherine is an Episcopalian and is trying to talk me into being confirmed –though my Methodist roots will always remain an important part of me. On the note of different denominations, I believe that Christianity and the belief in Christ overcomes any difference in worship practice.

What Civic and Community Organizations are you involved in?

I have been on Desoto Rescue Squad since 2002 and have worked a number of accidents and participated in several rescue operations, including rescuing jumpers from Desoto Falls. I am President of the Lookout Mountain Heritage Alliance. Its mission is the preservation of Lookout Mountain and its Rivers and Streams. I am also starting to counsel cancer patients with the Alabama Lymphoma/Leukemia society.  

Cancer Society! Do you have cancer?

Last year, I was diagnosed with Stage 4 Diffuse Large B - cell Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma . I had a tumor the size of a Tennis ball wrapped around my lower spine. Although I was misdiagnosed several times, God was watching out for me. The tumor was caught weeks before it would have spread to my brain and caused brain cancer. It had entered the final layer of my spinal tissue that protects my spinal wall from my spinal fluid. Had the doctors not caught it when they did, they estimated I had about 6 months to live. I am currently in remission and am looking at this as a new lease on life. Now, I am working to live my life in a manner of good sense and honor so as not to have any regrets. I have the complete story of my tumor and cancer information at www.ireallyhatecancer.com

Someone said you are against Mentone having a new bridge, is this true?

As many already know, my family's home is directly adjacent to the Mentone Bridge. I have been the first medical responder to 3 of the last 4 bridge accidents requiring medical attention --making me personally aware of the dangers involved with this bridge and location. The Alabama Department of Transportation has proposed a new 45 foot wide 55mph bridge realigning approximately ¾ of a mile of Mentone to accommodate the new bridge. Even though the idea of giving up any property is not a welcome thought, we believe in safety first and want to see Mentone's children, citizens, and visitors safer, no matter what the cost. You can't put a price on human life. However, numerous traffic safety engineers, who have been brought in to look at ALDOT's proposal, believe a bridge designed for 55mph will create additional traffic dangers for the rest of Mentone.

My family and my feelings are if the existing bridge can be rehabilitated to make Mentone as safe as having a new bridge, then we prefer this option. However, if it is physically impossible to rehabilitate the existing bridge to meet the necessary safety standards, than a new bridge is the only option. WE WANT TO SEE THIS BRIDGE FIXED AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE.

I heard you are suing the Alabama Department of Transportation over this project, is this true?

NO. No lawsuits have been filed or even mentioned involving my family and the Alabama Department of Transportation. Two years ago during his presentation in Hammondville, Senator Lowell Barron stated that a law suit had been filed involving the Mentone bridge. My father, who was present during Senator Barron's presentation, promptly corrected this misstatement.

If you are not suing the Alabama Department of Transportation, what is taking this project so long? Does this have to do with your home being on the National Registry of Historic Places?

I have been unable to receive an answer from ALDOT or Mayor Hammond on why this project is taking so long. In 2006 our home was listed on the National Registry of Historic places, but a typical historical review for ALDOT's purposes usually takes 90-180 days. I personally have requested numerous times that this project be completed as soon as possible, and I have not received word back on when anything can start. I will be sharing the information we have available on the Mentone Bridge and what might be the possible delays happening with this project in the next couple of days on this site.

Other than the bridge, what other safety issues are you concerned about?

Four years ago, we began a petition requesting the speed limit through Mentone be lowered, and we now have over 1,100 signatures requesting Mentone's speed limit be 25mph through downtown and 35mph through the rest of town. You can find and sign the petition at: http://lmha.ws/index_speed_limit.htm

Additionally, the Mentone Inn and many others are requesting that ALDOT have pedestrian crosswalks at the highway 117/89 interchange at the top of the mountain, so pedestrians can safely cross the street. I fully support the idea of a pedestrian crosswalk.

I heard you have a web site called I Hate Women, do you really hate women?

I ran a “.dot com” company back in the 90's, and we developed thousands of web sites, including the Birmingham Bar Association, the Alabama Diabetes Association and Birmingham Jewish Community Center, and many more. We created two humor-based sites, I Hate Men.com and I Hate Women.com. Though they were humor-based, they also contained many humanitarian links to provide information for the heartbroken, troubled, and abused. Over the years, family, friends and even my fiancé have helped develop parts of the sites and write advice for them. Even though they are sites, we have been interviewed on numerous shows, including the WGKA-AM Radio station in Atlanta, The Chicago Tribune, and even The Ricki Lake Show –as well as several other interested media outlets around the world. The sites have provided information on topics such as, Parental Rights (Fathers Rights and Mother's Rights), How to Healthily Approach Custody Battles, and How to Locate Domestic Violence shelters, groups, and hotlines for men and women all around the world.

I noticed a lot of profanity written on the sites, why?

The sites have online forums where visitors can post and respond to one another. Some posters use adult language, but such language is not encouraged. Threats and the posting of personal information which would allow someone to contact or locate anyone offline is strictly forbidden.

I get a weird error message when I am visiting these web sites, what's going on?

These sites have always been the target of numerous attacks by hackers. A couple of weeks ago someone figured out how to corrupt the database driving the sites causing the server to go down. I have been instructed by my server administrator to keep the sites down until the problem is corrected. If you would like to contact the server administrator to learn more, his contact information is provided at the bottom of the sites. 

Please write me with any questions, thoughts or ideas you have about Mentone and/or myself!