Many individuals and groups received accolades when a soft opening was held last week for the new Fannin County Public Library.
But throughout the remarks by several speakers, one name appeared time and again, that of David Ralston. The late District 7 representative and Speaker of the Georgia House of Representatives was remembered as the driving force behind the new facility.
Fannin County Commission Chairman Jamie Hensley said, “We thank David Ralston first and foremost for giving us the money to be able to do this (build the library).”
He recalled a meeting with Ralston at the capitol when he asked for the extra money that would be needed for the construction. He remembered how Ralston asked him straightforward what he needed. To which the new commission chairman, in his first year in office, replied “I need money.”
Both former School Superintendent Dr. Michael Gwatney and former school board member Terry Bramlett later echoed the importance of that meeting and the funding it produced.
Hensley called the new library a “team effort...with everybody’s help.”
Commissioner Johnny Scearce talked of early meetings with Gwatney and called placing the library below Fannin County High School, “the most logical thing to do.”
Commissioner Glenn Patterson told the room of invited guests they were witnessing “history in the making” that creates “an opportunity to learn.”
Gwatney urged the group to never take the quality of people in Fannin County for granted. “Sometimes it’s easy to overlook what’s so special here,” he said.
Christie Gribble, president of the Fannin County Chamber of Commerce & CVB, talked of the help the Chamber was able to provide toward the building thanks to dollars originating in the Hotel/Motel Tax – Tourism Product Development monies that work to benefit local residents and visitors alike through “bricks and mortar” construction.
Nick Wimberley, who was the master of ceremonies for the casual event February 24, told of library history in Fannin County, and pointed to the work of the Friends of the Library and the Fannin County Library Development Group to help make the new building a reality.
Hensley summed up the completion, saying success was all about “unity in the community.”