A Cherokee County resident is seeking the county¡¦s assistance on repairs to at least three local roads.

During a recent meeting of the Cherokee County Commission, John Hooker who lives in the Lawrence Community, mentioned County Roads 189, 19 and 707.

According to Hooker, several hundred families reside on County Road 189 and residents have requested that the road be paved several times. While portions of the road have been paved, most of the work has been merely ¡§patchwork¡¨ he said. He also noted damage to the road by loggers cutting timber in the area.

Currently, Hooker travels Cherokee County Road 19 to work each day. The road is used frequently as a shortcut for students traveling back and forth from Cherokee County to Jacksonville State University.

¡§I traveled this road way before the landfill was ever started,¡¨ said Hooker. ¡§We told the county commission what was going to happen to these roads. You can see all the washouts, holes, patches and bad areas. That road is a mess! It is all because of the landfill. Big trucks are destroying that road all the way to the county line and on down 278. Calhoun County has been working on their little stretch there trying to fix it. The county saw fit to pave County Road 6 of which I think I counted about 18 houses on the whole road. I¡¦m not against paving any road, but we have questioned our road for years.¡¨

County Road 707 needs attention as well, Hooker said.

¡§I just want to get it on the record that we are concerned about our roads out there,¡¨ said Hooker.

Commissioner Harold Woodall said a great deal of work has already been done in those areas. Commissioner Earl Westbrook noted that the county, at this time, does not have the funds to do these jobs the way they need to be done.

¡§We know the problem there, but it is going to take almost $2 million on 19 alone,¡¨ said Westbrook. ¡§If you can get the governor to give us $2 million, we will fix it tomorrow. I¡¦d like to see the road paved, I know it is in bad shape, but if you don¡¦t have the money, you just can¡¦t afford to do it.¡¨

Cherokee County Engineer Roger Hall stated that the highway department has made a request for assistance on the County Road 19 project from the governor, but that request has not been granted at this time.

Cherokee County Commission Chairman/Probate Judge Kirk Day recommended that the county engineer investigates these roads and report back to the commission at its next planning meeting, Monday, Oct. 11, at 9 a.m. The commission approved the recommendation.

Hooker expressed his appreciation to the commission for changing the times of its meetings.

In other business the commission approved the highway department¡¦s annual material bids including:

ƒÞAggregate from Vulcan Materials; surface treatment tar and gravel paving from Charles E. Watts, Inc.; Concrete-Kerr¡¦s Ready Mix; concrete pipe, Sherman Industries; grader blades, Tractor and Equipment; guard rail, Alabama Guard Rail; herbicide-Helena Chemical; asphalt and paving, McCartney Construction; Hot mix, asphalt and materials, Calhoun Asphalt; Liquid Asphalt, Vulcan Construction Materials. Metal pipe, Harvey Culvert Company; petroleum products, small load fuels, oils and lubricants to Cedar Bluff Oil Company and the large load fuels to McPherson Oil Company; plant mix, patching materials, Apax Southeast of Ohatchee and on traffic striping from Ozark Striping Company.

On another highway department matter, the commission, acting upon a request by Cherokee County Engineer Roger Hall, voted to declare three pieces of equipment as surplus property and to apply proceeds from the sale of this equipment toward purchase of a new fuel truck for the highway department.

¡§As you remember, we had to replace two items this year, a 1989 Chevy flatbed fuel truck cab and chassis and a 1975 International Low Boy Tractor,¡¨ said Hall. ¡§We¡¦ve replaced one of those with a leased vehicle and the other with a lease purchase agreement. We¡¦d like to have these two declared as surplus equipment, put them in an available auction and apply the proceeds toward the purchase of the fuel truck.¡¨

One other item Hall wanted declared as surplus property was a 1969 Chevrolet van, which is no longer used by the highway department.

The commission approved declaring these items as surplus property