The Wilson Post
October 22, 2008.
Round 3... Candidates answer question about 'Green Lebanon'
From Post staff reports
The Wilson Post recently invited the two candidates for Mayor of
Lebanon to come by the office for a series of questions and answers
which will be presented here during the next few weeks leading up to
the Nov. 4 election.
The questions were provided by local citizens and Post staff members.
They include issues facing the city and also include questions asked to
try and give citizens a better idea of who the candidates are they will
be voting for in November.
Two candidates are seeking the office of Mayor. They are William
Farmer, currently the Ward 3 Lebanon city council and mayor pro tem,
and Philip Craighead, a local homebuilder and business man and member
of the Neighborhood Revitalization Committee. Farmer visited The Post
on Friday, Oct. 3, and Craighead on Monday, Oct. 6.
The following are the first, second and third sessions with the
candidates:
This is the third part of the question-and-answer
session. Published in the Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2008
issue of The Wilson Post)
What is your favorite movie?
Farmer: My favorite movie is “Patton.”
I’m a fan of George C. Scott’s. I thought that
particular movie teaches a lesson about life in many ways, and the
struggles of it, and how people can overcome adversity in very
important times.
Craighead: I really liked “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance
Kid.” When I lived here on Hill Street, we would go down to
the old Capitol Theater and I guess I watched it seven or eight times.
I remember one day I just sat there and watched it twice. I really
enjoyed their humor and you know, westerns.
The other one would be “W.W. and the Dixie Dance
Kings.” Have you ever heard of that one? Well, I was in that
one. I was in the dance scene. I was going to MTSU and it was Spring
Break. They needed the old cars, and people that would be extras. So I
went down and signed up. They sent a little map to me that sent me off
down to Nolensville.
They had a dance scene and the cars were outside. I got paid for the
use of my car. It was a good experience. I got in the dance scene.
I’d always told my wife that I was in there. She looked for
two years for a tape of it. She finally found (it) and then gave it to
me for my birthday. It was a fun learning experience and I made a
little money, too.
Which church do you attend?
Farmer: West Haven Baptist Church
Craighead: First United Methodist Church on West Main. We moved here in
1969. My father was the pastor of a church in Pulaski until we moved in
‘69 and we stayed until ’75. Then he was
transferred to become the district superintendent. Later I was a
councilor for the youth, my wife and I. We’ve attended there
for 40 years.
What is your favorite season of the year?
Farmer: I enjoy spring except when my allergies act up.
Craighead: Right about now is just right. You don’t want it
to be too hot and you don’t want it to be to cold. Right
about now I enjoy the beauty of the leaves.
What are some ways to make Lebanon more environmentally conscious or
“green”?
Farmer: Tough one. We need to encourage people to plant trees and to be
aware of the fact of how important it is for our total environment to
be improved in the so-called green area. We need to look at improving
the recycling advantages we have in Lebanon.
The City of Lebanon has chosen not to set a separate recycling program
as some cities have, that is where you save your cans and papers at the
curbside. That has not come before the city council since
I’ve been on it, but I think it was discussed in the past.
The problem was money, of course. It would be good if we could go
toward that if we could find the money to do that because it would be a
real positive toward improving the environment. There are things,
however, that we can do. That is to encourage people to recycle with
what is already available.
My wife and I recycle through the Humane Society, in that we take our
paper and cans to them. They use the paper to assist them to enhance
themselves. There are other opportunities without spending tax dollars
that we can do.
But long range we need to look at a recycling program. We need to
encourage more energy efficiency throughout Lebanon, and in particular
one thing I’d like to see is to have a review of all of the
energy that we are using in buildings in the city of Lebanon to see
whether we can make them more energy efficient. That is important to
the green environment, but it’s also important to the bottom
line of saving money.
Craighead: Elect me. My wife is big into recycling and doing things
that are green. Cans we collect go to different charities, and papers
and all. She really is big on that and in the process I’ve
jumped right in, too.
Also, I have a philosophy I’ve taken in on my own building,
using products that help lower utility bills and energy consumption. We
have to incorporate the whole idea, you look at things that are
happening now, how much our fuel and oil is and the cost of electric
has gone up 20 percent.
If we don’t take care of ourselves and conserve,
we’ll never be able to take the next steps because
we’ll be throwing money back at what we’ve used.
We’re going to have to be conservative in the city when we
can. Look at alternative fuels for all the vehicles. That’s
one thing I’m interest in and I don’t know enough
about it, but driving diesel trucks a lot I’m interested in
bio-fuels, also running vehicles on alternative fuels.
As a builder and developer and a business man, I’m always
looking at new ideas. You don’t just shun something off real
quick, because you never know when that idea might make the project, or
change the project or save you a ton of money.
At what point do you feel it would make sense for the citizens of
Wilson County to accept a municipal form of government?
Farmer: Consolidation of government is attractive to some persons for
the potential savings in jobs not having duplication and overlapping
government services.
Having one government which would be the central government would
require that one of the cities take the lead and become the central
city. For example, it became Nashville/Davidson County Metropolitan
Government. Under the state law the largest city would take the lead in
doing that.
We are not the largest city. Mt Juliet is the largest city. Therefore
if that was pushed it would become not the Lebanon/Wilson County
Metropolitan Government, it would become the Mt. Juliet/Wilson County
government.
I do not think it’s to the best interests of the citizens of
Lebanon to have that occur. I believe that we need to work together
with the many other governmental agencies to improve government
agencies and not duplicate expenditures where we can do so. I believe
we can do some of that, by what I would propose.
I talked to a county official and told him one of the things I wanted
to do was what Sumner County and Robertson County do. I would put forth
a program if I’m elected Mayor to sponsor a breakfast or
lunch program maybe once a month where we sit down with the county
officials and the Mt Juliet officials and break bread and talk, no
particular agenda, not trying to sell that Lebanon’s better
than Mt Juliet or that Mt Juliet’s better.
But to get to know them, and to understand them, because only when you
understand the other person’s problems can you begin to
discuss with them intelligently what we need to do for the future.
Wilson County, Lebanon, Watertown and Mt Juliet should work closer
together to solve the problems of this area, I think we can do so if we
can get some of this communication improved.
I think I have the background to do that because of the qualification
and training I have, and also I have worked in county government and in
city government.
Craighead: I feel like it’s a long ways off, the reason being
that the concerns for the whole county are so varied. Mt Juliet is
growing so fast. We have our concerns here and then Watertown has their
concerns. They’re similar, but they’re still varied
quite a bit. I think we need to really open up communication and our
working with each other.
It’s kind of like everyone’s kind of arguing and
fighting with each other. Reminds me of the way me and my sister used
to always bicker. We still loved each other, we were still family and
we knew we were family. But we’d still bicker and fight and
not get the job done.
I think we really need to concentrate on the future. I think our
communities are different. I don’t think metropolitan
government would work just yet. But there are a lot of things where we
need to cooperate, work with each other and save the taxpayers money by
sharing responsibilities.
What can we do in our city to increase the quality of life we now enjoy
so that the “added values” we have by living in
Lebanon will keep up with the ever-growing population?
Farmer: We need to continue to support the recreational activities the
City of Lebanon has. We need to find a way to increase the park
program. One of the major attractions for the City of Lebanon is that
it is a great place to live. We have a lot of friendly people.
And we need to have the areas of enjoyment that people love to improve
their quality of life. That can be done, however it’s going
to take a great deal of work. I think working with the council I can
improve Lebanon in that area.
Craighead: We’re going to have to come together and identify
our goals and where we want to be. But we can’t wait for
government to do everything for us. If we wait for government to do
everything we’re probably not going to see the changes we
need.
We need our churches and civic organizations to really continue to work
together. That does so much more toward improving the quality of life.
It’s like the Low Country Boil we had out on South Fork, we
had over 300 people to attend and it looks like we might have raised
about $34,000. That money will go to people in need locally, to pay for
ways to doctors and their medicine, whenever they have cancer. We have
people and groups of people like that all over town and
that’s what makes it so special.
We went to the Civic League, the mayoral forums and to Peyton Road
Church and one thing my wife said, and I totally agree with her, the
east side of town has been neglected in a lot of ways.
We need to do some things. The revitalization of the Upton Heights
area. We need to show we know they’re a part of the city. We
need to step up and be supportive of their endeavors. We need to make a
difference all over Lebanon, not just certain parts of it.
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