POWERGRAMS

29 because "they were just going to knock it all down." Tucker started serving the restaurant customers when she was 12 years old. To hear her talk, that streak will soon end, but her five employees are quick to whisper "it will never happen." She owns a house three blocks away but says she hasn't lived there in eight years, since her near-'round-the-clock cooking, catering and managing efforts usually force her into one of the six cabins behind the main inn. Although business is slow on this day, Tucker says she has more business than she can handle serving regulars and travelers. "One fellow said last week, 'Miss Sara, you need to get some more workers,'" she says with a laugh. "I took over in February 1989 and we get busier all the time, but you can't get good help. My grandpa had a tire business next door and I worked there changing tires. My son said it was too hard of a work for me, but it wasn't as hard as this restaurant." All the News … The Florala News has kept the 2,000 or so residents informed since 1900. The weekly paper is a family business continued by Floridians Larry and Merle Woodham, who also own the even-older DeFuniak Springs Herald. In a world of collapsing major newspapers, the 50-cent Florala version continues meeting the needs of about 1,700 subscribers. "We've been holding our own pretty much," says Editor Lisa Windham, a Florala native who has worked at the paper for 30 years and handles most of the operations with the help of one stringer. The July 13 edition is eight pages printed on 100 percent recycled paper with a masthead that heralds "Location of One Hundred Forty-Five Consecutive Annual Masonic Celebrations" and beneath the date and volume, "On Beautiful Lake Jackson and Gateway To The Gulf Coast." The top headline tells of a Utilities Board customer whose request was denied for a 25 percent forgiveness of a $1,153.34 bill. Another top story is of the Kiwanis Club donating $100 to Florala City Park. The Florala News has other typical small-town offerings: church services and community meetings, obituaries, reunions, the police blotter and youth all-star results. Windham said those are reflective of the laid- back lifestyle that she believes makes Florala favorable compared to cities with shopping malls and tourist attractions. "I couldn't imagine living anywhere else," she says. "I like being in a low-crime area that's family oriented. When one of our people needs help, the community helps them. You know your neighbors and they know your kids." umpeting the i-Cities Just down Fourth Street from the newspaper, retired teacher Pat Strickland heads the official efforts to boost three adjoining communities on the state border: Florala and Lockhart, Ala., and Paxton, Fla. She taught Florala students for 33 years and has found a natural extension inside the City Hall complex. The Chamber of Commerce slogan is "Three cities, one great place to live." "We're in the hub of so many things," she says, noting that beaches are a short drive away, as are the bigger cities of Dothan and Andalusia. "We're really closer to bigger places than if you lived in the suburbs of some really big cities." Growing up in Florala, Strickland shopped in some of the same businesses she patronizes today. She regrets the loss of the area's largest industries – sewing factories and lumberyards – and that the biggest remaining employer is the nursing home. But new businesses are opening. There's Coastal Cotton Clothing producing shirts, pants and swimwear sold in high-end stores in Alabama, a dozen other Southern states and online. Sunshine Aero Industries operates the local airport and refuels military helicopters. Fort Percy S. McClung has been purchased and the shuttered National Guard building will open soon as a private venture. "We're a bedroom community with a lot of retirees," Strickland says. "But we're very proud to be getting some young people coming here and opening businesses." Each spring and summer, every Thursday through Sunday, the roads through town become crowded with cars carrying vacationers to the beaches. The tourists often stop to buy snacks, meals, gasoline and other products in established local stores and new ones such as Sass & Grits boutique, Pizza Express or Bubba's Dawg House. "I was born here and have never left," she says. "It's just a comfortable, homey town. As you can tell, I'm a cheerleader for Florala. Things are really looking up." ugs, Guns & Gifts Florala Pharmacy's unconventional advertising heralds the popular store as offering much more than medicine. Indeed, it's hard to imagine what isn't behind the drugstore walls where customers can buy a recliner lift chair alongside many kinds of hunting and fishing gear. That's not to say that Charles Smith doesn't do a brisk The Florala News has published weekly since 1900.

• Cover