Mayor: No Hackleburg without Wrangler

By Michelle Rupe Eubanks, Published: Saturday, May 14, 2011 at 3:30 a.m. 

... U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., is expected to be in Hackleburg on Sunday or Monday to survey the site. Gunnin said Sessions told him he “would do whatever it took to keep Wrangler in Hackleburg. People at the state and federal level have all said they would help us out.”

It's that reassurance that keeps Gunnin convinced his optimism will pay off with a new plant, either on its current site on somewhere else in town limits. He also said he's encouraged by the other businesses that have begun the cleanup and rebuilding process in earnest.

“In 1943, Hackleburg got blown away, and we only had 300 or 400 people then, but we came back,” Gunnin said. “Now, we've got 1,527 people, and we're seeing progress. The Piggly Wiggly has got its place cleaned off; the Dollar General is about cleaned off. Crews have been working on the pharmacy and the doctor's office and across the street at Wachovia Bank.”