Anita

Tonight was the first night of stress management classes at Sipsey for the tornado survivors.......no one came but the mayor. That is ok, it's 100 degrees, folks are still in tents and travel trailers,

and honestly, the mayor needed the one on one. Anita is awesome. I know when she became mayor of the little community of Sipsey, Al, she never dreamed she would be in the middle of one of the most horrific natural disasters in state history.

She is working 15 hour days, she cries alot, has nightmares, and is trying to figure out how to keep folks from leaving Sipsey. Anita has a big heart. She wants what is best for her community, for the folks who live here. She is already talking with FEMA about storm shelters. She has become my hero. She knows her community is mostly poor, but she has a lot of pride and is doing everything she can to keep Sipsey alive and thriving.

You will probably never see Anita on national news, or hear her name in political circles.......but she is politics the way it should be. She is honest and fair, the people who voted for her come first, and she is doing everything she can to make sure their needs are met. Since the tornadoes on April 27, she has been at the community center or town hall seven days a week. I looked at her face tonight, she is exhausted......and it shows. She talked about how she loves the mountains, and I told her, she needs a vacation........but she told me, she can't rest.....not until

the homeless have homes, not until she knows her neighbors are taken care of. She knows them all by name, and she worries about them. I must have hugged her five or six times tonight.

I wish I could take her burden, Rick and I told her over and over, we'll do whatever we can, what ever she needs us to do. As we drove away from the community center tonight, I looked at her,

this one small woman, moving mountains, one stone at a time. Her name is Anita Sanders,

keep her in your thoughts and prayers.