Senator Bobby Singleton was on-hand Tuesday morning to accept the donation of computers for the district given by the Wal-Mart Corporation. “Wal-Mart has been a good corporate citizen in this community,” Singleton said. “We want to say thank you Wal-Mart for what you are doing.”

“We are going to make some other corporations step up and be good corporate citizens from this,” Singleton added.

Demopolis Mayor Cecil Williamson also attended the event on Tuesday. “This is not only a wonderful day for not only the city of Demopolis, but the entire Black Belt,” Williamson said. “I want to personally thank Wal-Mart.”

Representatives from Wal-Mart participating in the event at the Demopolis store on Tuesday included Quitin Hawkins, Wal-Mart governmental affairs executive, Len Moore, Wal-Mart district store manager, and John Whitehead, Demopolis Wal-Mart store manager. “Our job as the Wal-Mart Corporation is to be as involved in the communities as much as we can,” Moore said.

He said he was there on behalf of the company “to present and give away 50 computers today to the communities of West Alabama.”

Singleton had a meeting with David Norman, executive vice president of Wal-Mart Stores Division, earlier this year to discuss the needs of those within the district. “My goal is to have a computer in every home,” Singleton said. He added that he wanted to “set up computer centers in communities until we can reach the goal of putting a computer in every home.”

The Black Belt Mayor’s Association, which consists of the 27 mayors from the five counties making up the Black Belt, has been meeting for the past year and a half.

“It is important for us to get together and share with one another what is or is not happening in our communities, and we work very hard at getting people to come in from other communities to give us information that may not be readily available in this rural area,” Williamson said. “Six out of 27 mayors do not have access to computers. You can’t do anything in this world today without a computer.”

Organizations throughout the district that will receive some of the computers donated by Wal-Mart include the John E. Owens Technology Center in Greensboro, the Black Belt Mayor’s Association, educators in Choctaw County and the Greene County Policy Council.

The New Christian Life Center, which is run by one Hale County Baptist Church, will receive five computers. In western Marengo County, Virginia Scott Norman, from the Jefferson community, was on-hand to accept part of the computer donation for the Old Jefferson School, which is being converted into a computer center.

Freddie Armstead of Christian Chapel Church was there to receive one computer for the church, and the Rev. Paul Sanders of St. Mary A.M.E. Church in Marengo County, was on-hand to accept computers for the church’s summer and year-round programs for children.