Brewton resident named to Hall of Fame for service to gulf coast
Nalty, center, is presented plaque from Eddie Kerr, right, chairman of the Gulf Coast RC&D, along with Charlie Ramsey, right, executive director of the council.
Brewton resident Frank Nalty was recently inducted into the Alabama Association of Resource and Development (RC&D) Council's Hall of Fame for his work in bringing hundreds of thousands of dollars to the gulf coast region that includes Mobile, Baldwin and Escambia counties.
Nalty, 65, is a native of Brewton and a 1977 graduate of T.R. Miller. He has served on the RC&D Council since 1993. He is currently the longest serving member on the gulf coast RC&D council.
Nalty said he began working on establishing RC&D for southwest Alabama in 1990 that was involved with people from Baldwin, Mobile and Escambia counties, along with the Poarch Band of Creek Indians.
"The county commissions in each county had to appoint two members each," Nalty said. "We were the smallest RC&D Council in Alabama and had to be approved by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and then approved by the president."
Nalty said a group went to Washington, D.C., and met with President George H.W. Bush with the help of U.S. Rep. Sonny Callahan and his chief of staff Jo Bonner.
"We saw President Bush and he approved the council," Nalty said.
He said the RC&D helps provide seed money to allow counties and municipalities to make improvements to conservation, education and health.
"A good example is RC&D, in conjunction with Florida's Three Rivers RC&D, was able to get the grant funds to clean up the log jam on Big Escambia Creek which was causing flooding in Flomaton," Nalty said.
He said that project wouldn't have been possible without the help of James Campbell who allowed access across his property to address the problem.
Nalty said without the help of RC&D he doubts the Turtle Point Environmental Center in Flomaton would have ever been created.
"If it hadn't been for RC&D getting people together, it wouldn't have happened," Nalty said of Turtle Point.
"There are a lot of things RC&D does that people don't realize," Nalty said. "We've done a lot of stuff in Atmore, Brewton and Flomaton," Nalty said.
He added that the RC&D has helped get a lot of money for the Future Farmers of America (FFA) at W.S. Neal High School, helped with funds for Hurricane Park (now Dewey Bondurant, Jr., Park) in Flomaton and was involved in Atmore's Main Street project along with helping address drainage issues in Atmore.
Nalty said RC&D gets its funding through the Alabama Legislature and uses those funds to help communities.
