According to Commissioner Paul Johnson, who is spearheading the trip, the group will be talking with 90th District Rep. Sarah Stevens, 92nd District Rep. Darrell McCormick and State Sen. Don East. Those going also are hoping to speak with other state officials as well.
“We want to talk to as many other legislators and state senators, and people with the powers to be, concerning economic development and tourism, particularly Fibrowatt and the prison. That will be our two top issues going down there. But we are going to talk about other projects that are going while we are there,” Johnson said.
The commissioner said that while Fibrowatt does not need any approval from the state to build in Surry County, a group opposed to the company moving to Surry has already been talking with officials at the state capital.
“There has been a group of anti-Fibrowatt people in Raleigh that have been making some noise, and we are taking down a group of pro-business, pro-prison, pro-Fibrowatt group, to let our state officials know that 90 percent or more of the people in this county support Fibrowatt and the prison and other economic development projects we are doing.
“We are being proactive on our part. So we are going down in support of Fibrowatt, the prison and what we think is right for the citizens of this county,” Johnson said.
Officials from Elkin, Dobson, Pilot Mountain, Mount Airy and other private citizens will be accompanying the group as well.
“We will have elected officials, private citizens, we are even going to have some farmers going with us. It will be a real diverse group of people,” Johnson concluded.
The group is taking a 57-seat bus from the Piedmont Area Regional Transportation or PART Authority. The group will be leaving at 7 a.m. Tuesday and returning the same day around 4 p.m.
Contact Mondee Tilley at mtilley@mtairynews.com or at 719-1930.
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