Legion wants to relocate
Leaders of McClainSealock American Legion Post 136 in Lindale are trying to be proactive in their effort to revive the organization.
A relocation of the physical facility is right at the top of the wish list for the Legion leadership in a concerted effort to revive membership and service to both veterans and the surrounding community.
McClain- Sealock CFO Ron Pajor met with Rome city commissioners prior to their February meet- ing to create awareness of the situation the post was in. He said members often refer to the post home at 124 Eden Valley Road as “The Bunker.”
Pajor said the building was having a lot of vandalism problems. “It’s almost sinking us. We had a $3,000 water bill when somebody busted a pipe and water ran for six or eight weeks,” Pajor said. “People have stripped and are stealing the copper from the gas line and the wire from the lighting. They may have gotten $10-$15 for it but it’s cost us over $1,000 (to replace).”
“We’re going to need help,” Pajor said. He said Post 136 does have the existing building on the market but has not been able to generate a lot of interest to this point.
He said the Legion would like to move it’s home closer to the heart of the Lindale community. “That way we would be visible, we’d be accessible,” Pajor said.
Lindale businessman Terry Simmons, a member of the post, said a move to the core of Lindale would make the group more active
in the community.
“We need new blood,” said post Cmdr. Bennie Terry. We need younger members, and it’s hard to get the sandbox ( Gulf War, Iraq, Afghanistan) veterans to understand that they need the American Legion.”
Larry Hand, a Vietnam veteran said that having a decent facility that members could come to would be a huge help.
The bunker, as they call it, is built into the side of a hill and Simmons said vandals have actually been able to ride their fourwheelers up the bank and on to the roof of the building. “
Pajor estimated the current membership of the McClainSealock Post is 88 members, but Larry Hand and Michael Baker said the post probably has 30 members who are currently active.
“The dues won’t even pay for two months of utilities,” Pajor said.
Rome Mayor Jamie Doss and City Manager Sammy Rich said that Floyd County was considering a Community Development Block Grant application in the coming year and suggested that Pajor talk to the Floyd County Commission about having a new facility, or renovations to an existing building, included in that program.