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By David
Fisher
Staff
Reporter |
U.S. Senator Bob
Corker was the guest speaker at a dinner honoring the
McWherter Scholars Tuesday, April 14, at Richie & Reggie’s
Barbecue, located at 8387 Highway 22 in Dresden.
During the Senate’s April recess, Corker is touring the
state to hear from citizens, local officials, and community
leaders about how our nation’s economic challenges are
affecting them and to update them on his work in Washington
to address these issues.
Corker, a Republican who was elected to the United States
Senate in November 2006, joined former Tennessee Governor
Ned Ray McWherter (for whom the state-sponsored scholarship
is named) and State Senator Roy Herron of Dresden
representing Tennessee’s 24th Senatorial District, both
Democrats, in honoring the McWherter Scholars for their
academic success and leadership abilities.
The three distinguished statesmen talked about the status of
the economy and what government at all levels is doing to
improve the living conditions for Tennesseans, including
ongoing programs and new initiatives.
The inaugural class of McWherter Scholars are seventeen
rural West Tennesseans, one or more of whom represent each
college and university in West Tennessee outside of
Memphis. Each student was nominated by her or his college
president and was selected from an extremely competitive and
outstanding group of students.
In this first year, the McWherter Scholars have met weekly
and heard a number of speakers. Also, they have done
considerable work on issues facing West Tennessee.
The scholars were asked about their areas of study and how
it relates to solving the economic problems of our nation.
Some of the main topics included: the importance of
providing a first-rate education for all Tennesseans, having
good roads to promote industrial development, and how
broadband Internet access is revolutionizing the educational
and business world and promoting economic stimulus by
helping small businesses in rural areas to compete with more
industrialized areas by utilizing the Internet to market
local goods and services.
The McWherter Scholars present at the dinner meeting were:
UT Martin seniors Eric Wilson and Heather McLean; Bethel
senior Thomas Butler; Union University students Nathan
Chatham, a junior, and Chad Keathley, a senior;
Freed-Hardeman junior Mandy Mansfield; Dyersburg State
students Joshua Caviness, a sophomore, and Alexander Aitken;
Lambuth University students Laurence Tumpag, a junior, and
Lisa Maholmes, a senior; Jackson State sophomore Andrew
McArthur; and Lane College junior Elon Brice.
When Sen. Corker asked what was the central focus of the
McWherter Scholars, one of the students explained they are
involved in studies relating to education and economic
development.
“You all know Gov. McWherter focused on building roads in
most of the rural counties in our state,” Corker said.
When asked about his road building initiative, Gov.
McWherter, who served two terms as governor of Tennessee
from 1987 to 1995, stated the push to build and improve
roads in rural communities was started during his first four
years a governor.
Sen. Corker mentioned he was appointed to serve as Tennessee
commissioner of finance and administration under Gov. Don
Sundquist.
“Gov. McWherter was nice
enough to let me start on December 7, about a month and a
half before he left office,” Corker said. “That shows what
kind of guy he is. He called me several times and let me
know how things were going in the State of Tennessee.
(Read the rest of this story in the April 22nd print edition of the Dresden Enterprise.)
