Earlier this week, Associated Press reporter Jay Reeves took a critical look at the region known as the “Redneck Riviera,” which includes the beaches of Alabama and the Florida Panhandle, and how people living in and visiting it were reacting to the COVID-19 threat.
Reeves warned the area’s “carefree lifestyle” was contributing to a spike in pandemic numbers and implied a solution would be to put in place measures to limit the “carefree” behavior.
During an appearance on FM Talk 106.5’s “The Jeff Poor Show,” State Sen. Chris Elliott (R-Daphne), whose district includes a large swath of Alabama’s beaches, rejected any suggestions of shutting down the tourist economy once again.
“That’s not something that’s going to go over well with me at all,” he said. “And I’ll say that’s one of those ‘over my dead body’ type of things. We’re not doing that again. You know, one of the things we fought during the shutdown before was this idea that the tourist economy and tourist venues were somehow or another less important — that they were frivolous and that therefore, it was OK to shut them down. They’re not flippant or frivolous to the folks that own those businesses, those small businesses that are the lifeblood of our economy.”
“You know – the bowling alley, the mini-golf, the sports tourism venues — those are incredibly important small business to our economy,” Elliott continued. “They keep our state running. They keep our state flush with cash. That is not something that is going to go over very well if there is an attempt like that — not at all.”
@Jeff_Poor is a graduate of Auburn University and the University of South Alabama, the editor of Breitbart TV, a columnist for Mobile’s Lagniappe Weekly, and host of Mobile’s “The Jeff Poor Show” from 9 a.m.-12 p.m. on FM Talk 106.5.
Don’t miss out! Subscribe today to have Alabama’s leading headlines delivered to your inbox.