Under the title “Alabama is a Big Front Porch,” made famous by the legendary Alabama storyteller, Kathryn Tucker Wyndham, I will continue to share some personal political stories with you this week.

As many of you know, I have been friends with our iconic, senior U.S. Senator, Richard Shelby, for close to four decades. History will reveal Senator Shelby as Alabama’s greatest U.S. Senator and folks, that is saying a mouth full because we have had some great ones. We have had a cadre of great Senators including Lister Hill, John Sparkman, John Bankhead, and Howell Heflin along with Shelby. As Chairman of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee, Senator Shelby has brought untold hundreds of millions of dollars home to Alabama. It would take a book or volumes of books to tell the story of Shelby’s prowess at bringing home the bacon to his beloved state.  He is completing 36 years in the Senate this year.