By Staff
As proud as I am of being a lifelong citizen of Brewton, I was pleased to read of the positive experiences Ken Korkow and his wife, Liz, enjoyed while on a short visit to our fair city.
However, as a direct descendant of Chief Red Eagle (William Weatherford), Sam Moniac, and the first PCI Chief Calvin William McGhee, I was hurt and dismayed to read the &#8220toss away” line of their letter to the editor of The Brewton Standard. This letter told me more about the Korkows' seeming lack of inner compassion than all of the information available about the Korkows on the Internet.
To quote Mr. Korkow (who is, according to the Web site CBMC.com) the current regional director of the Heartland Christian Business Men's Committee, the drive into Brewton was described to him by his wife as &#8220looking like an Indian reservation.”
The words were carelessly dropped from the lips of the wife of a former member of the Rodeo Cowboys Association with no more thought than if she had said, &#8220Hey look, there goes Peaches with a saxophone.”
But seriously, Mr. Korkow apparently gave no thought to the feelings of the Indian nation himself, as he included it in his letter. Apparently neither did The Brewton Standard give a thought as to whether the line would offend anyone, let alone the members of the Poarch Creek Indians, who reside 30 miles from Brewton in the very same county.
Would it have made a difference if Mrs. Korkow instead said, &#8220This stretch of road looks like a bunch of professional rodeo crew folk camped here and left a big mess behind.” Would it have been so cavalierly printed if she had stated that the road looked as though a platoon of Gypsies had been passing through? Or if she had noted that it looked as though some Christians had been having themselves an old-fashioned outdoor sing-along? You get the picture.
Please know I mean no ill will toward you. Come on down to the Poarch Creek Indian Tribal Center, located on Jack Springs Road in Atmore, and see how pristine the reservation looks surrounded by the green grass and blue skies of Alabama.
Maybe you can convince a few members of the tribe to come on out and clean up the patch of road to which your wife referred. After all, it has been said (and I have read) that it is always better to light a candle than to sit and curse the darkness.
Paula Rolin McGhee Partin Bryant
Brewton resident