Special to The Journal

An enthusiastic group of citizens in the Honoraville community met Thursday night, Feb. 8, at the old school building to begin the process of building a new senior citizens' center on that site.

Crenshaw County Probate Judge Jim Perdue led the discussions with Commissioners Ronnie Blackmon and Rickey McElwain and Jessica Ahn of the South Central Alabama Development Commission.

About 30 people were in attendance.

A grant from the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs, ADECA, totaling $250,000, and another grant expected from the USDA – Rural Development, will cover a majority of the construction costs of the new center.

The center will provide a much-needed facility for the Senior Nutrition program.

This program is currently being run in the old school building, which has severely deteriorated throughout the past several years.

The new building will be placed on the same lot on which the school is located requiring demolition of the old building.

&#8220Originally, the grant request was to renovate the old school, but the costs to do this were so high that this was not a possibility,” Perdue said. Commissioners Blackmon and McElwain echoed Perdue's sentiments and said that they, too, look forward to seeing the senior program get a much-deserved facility upgrade.

Since the old school will be demolished, the Alabama Historical Commission has asked the Honoraville community to help preserve the memories of the old school.

Citizens have been asked to bring old photographs, old school newspapers and other memorabilia to the school or to the Probate Office in the Crenshaw County Courthouse for copying and scanning.

Original photos will be returned.

Also, any memories will be recorded and transcribed for preservation.

Anyone with old photographs or papers to be copied should contact Judge Jim Perdue at the Probate Office at 335-6568.