Jackson’s future? Woodie’s World …
Woodie’s World. That’s it. That’s the blueprint. That has to be the goal for Frank Melton, Jackson’s hope, Jackson’s new mayor, the most important electoral hire in decades.
It was on the front of the newspaper Tuesday, Woodie’s World. There’s an estate sale this weekend, 402 Alta Woods Blvd. Woodie and Ruby’s daughters are selling much of the stuff their parents collected over a lifetime.
With Woodie, like with Bono or Madonna or, now, Frank, the last name is very nearly redundant. Assaf. Woodie Assaf. For 50 years he was the face of WLBT, the voice of Channel 3, everybody’s neighbor, everybody’s friend, everybody’s favorite uncle.
Woodie was a rock star around here before there was rock. Through births and deaths, tornadoes and hurricanes, segregation and integration, civil rights and civil wrongs, for half a century Woodie was there, like morning sunshine.
He was Jackson. He was us. He was kind and gentle. He was the sweetest guy in the world.
That would be Woodie’s World.
And that’s the challenge for Frank, isn’t it? To recreate Woodie’s World, a kinder, gentler, more neighborly place …
Orley Hood
Clarion Ledger
6/22/5
