Take action — #45strong

§10 · Take action this week

Six things you can do. None take more than an hour.

Pick one, do it today, and come back for the next. The goal is withdrawal. Every action puts another lock on the door.

011 min

Sign the petition

Sign the petition.

One signature. One minute. The petition is hosted on Change.org so the count is public, the comments are visible to the press, and the commissioners can see your name on the record.

Sign on Change.org →Share the link

PETITION · LIVE COUNT

1,858

signatures and growing — verify on Change.org.

NEXT MILESTONE · 2,500

025 min

Send the demands

FILL THESE IN — IT TAKES 90 SECONDS

Your nameTown in Lowndes CountyYears in the countyYour top concern

Open in email Find your commissioner →

RECIPIENTS — sent to the County Commission Office (3 staff who route correspondence and add items to the agenda) and CC'd to the Alabama Department of Commerce. Individual commissioners do not publish email addresses.

WATER — Pintlala Water System and the Lowndes County Water Authority do not publish email addresses. To register a water concern, call the Pintlala board members listed at /pintlala-water and the LCWA at (334) 548-6235, or include water-specific demands in this letter.

PREVIEW — UPDATES AS YOU TYPE

To the Lowndes County Commission,

My name is [YOUR NAME]. I have lived in Lowndesboro for [#] years.

I am writing about "Project Red Clay," the approximately 1,000-acre data center campus proposed by Cloverleaf Infrastructure at the intersection of U.S. Highway 80 and Alabama Highway 21.

I am not opposed to investment in Lowndes County. I am asking the Commission to make sure this is a good deal for Lowndes — not just for Cloverleaf and an unnamed hyperscaler. Specifically, I ask that no vote on tax abatement, road infrastructure, or water service be taken until the following five questions are answered, in writing, in public:

  1. I ask the Commission to make no vote on any abatement, road improvement, or water service agreement until the operator-tenant has been publicly identified and a representative of that company has testified in person at a public hearing.

  2. I ask that no service agreement of any kind be considered by the Lowndes County Water and Sewer Authority, the Pintlala Water System, or any municipal system until Cloverleaf provides peak and average daily water demand in gallons, supported by a third-party engineering analysis paid for by the developer.

  3. I ask the Commission to require, as a condition of any abatement, that the serving utility file a separate large-load tariff with the Alabama Public Service Commission and that the developer post a ratepayer-protection escrow before construction begins.

  4. I ask the Commission to pass a resolution carving out the education portion of property taxes from any abatement granted to Project Red Clay or any successor entity.

  5. I ask that any abatement, road improvement, or service agreement be conditioned on a binding community-benefits agreement signed by the eventual operator, with automatic sunset of all incentives if the project is sold to an entity not bound by the same agreement.

This is the largest land-use decision Lowndes County has faced in a generation. I am especially concerned about water and our well. Please do not approve this project until the operator-tenant has been publicly identified and these five demands have been met.

Respectfully,
[YOUR NAME]
Lowndesboro, Lowndes County, AL

035 min

Demand recusal

FILL THESE IN — IT TAKES 90 SECONDS

Your nameTown in Lowndes CountyYears in the countyYour top concern

Open in email Find your commissioner →

RECIPIENTS — sent only to the County Commission Office (3 staff). Recusal of the Chairman is a county matter; the Alabama Department of Commerce is not on this letter.

PREVIEW — UPDATES AS YOU TYPE

To Chairman Charlie King Jr. and the Lowndes County Commission,

My name is [YOUR NAME] and I am a resident of Lowndesboro, Lowndes County.

I am writing to ask Chairman King to publicly commit to recusing himself from any vote — abatement, road infrastructure, water service, or otherwise — related to "Project Red Clay" or to Cloverleaf Infrastructure.

By the structure of the Lowndes County Economic Development Commission, the sitting Chairman of the County Commission also serves as Vice-President of the LCEDC. The LCEDC is the body that recruited Cloverleaf and that is actively negotiating Project Red Clay on behalf of the county. The County Commission is the body that would vote on the tax abatement.

These two roles are in structural conflict on this specific project. I am not making a corruption claim. I am asking for the same procedural cleanliness that any reasonable person would expect when the same official sits on both sides of the same negotiation.

I respectfully ask that:
  1. Chairman King recuse himself in writing from any Project Red Clay-related vote.
  2. The Lowndes County Economic Development Commission publish its current officer roster and bylaws.
  3. Any other LCEDC officer or board member with material utility, banking, or supplier interest in the project formally recuse from any LCEDC vote on Project Red Clay.

Thank you for your service and for considering this request.

Respectfully,
[YOUR NAME]
Lowndesboro, Lowndes County, AL

041 hr

Show up

Be in the room.

The Hayneville commission meeting on April 28 ran out of seats and people stood outside in the rain.⁵⁹ Showing up is the highest-leverage hour you have this month.

A packed small-town public meeting room — folding chairs in rows, every chair full, more people standing along the back wall and in the side aisles. The audience is shown only from behind. — **Be in the room.** Standing-room-only attendance is the highest-leverage hour you have this month. Source: documentary photography, illustrative reference.

Wed Jun 3 · 5:30–7:30 PM

DEVELOPER OPEN HOUSE — confirmed

Hayneville Middle School

Hayneville, AL — Cloverleaf's community open house on Project Red Clay. A come-and-go with no formal presentation. Fill it anyway and put the hard questions to their team in person.⁶⁰

See all meetings

Tue May 26 · 6:00 PM

COMMISSION MEETING — held

Charles Smith Annex (Auditorium)

205 E Tuskeena St, Hayneville, AL — Standing room only for the second time. Chairman King pledged not to vote for a 30-year abatement, then voted against the motion to deny one.⁶¹

See all meetings

Sun May 3 · 5:00 PM

TOWN HALL — held

Lowndesboro C.M.E. Church

Lowndesboro, AL — #45strong community town hall. Standing room only.⁶²

See all meetings

Tue Apr 28 · 6:00 PM

COMMUNITY MEETING — held

Charles Smith Building

Hayneville, AL — Residents packed the room and stood outside in the rain. Coverage: WSFA 12.⁶³

See all meetings

Mon Apr 13

COMMUNITY MEETING — held

Highway 80 Cafe

Burkville, AL — ~100 residents on under a week's notice. The opposition went public here.⁶⁴

See all meetings

0530 min

Talk to a neighbor

Print one. Hand it to a neighbor.

A two-page PDF in plain English. Side A: seven verbatim Cloverleaf quotes with names, dates, and sources. Side B: five hard questions to ask at Cloverleaf's open house, with the receipts to deploy if they dodge. Designed to leave on a kitchen table or hand out at church.

Open the handout →Download the PDF

PDF · OPEN-HOUSE HANDOUTFIVE HARD QUESTIONS · SEVEN VERBATIM QUOTES
— print-ready 8.5×11, B/W safe

06—

Fund the fight

Pay for the lawyer. Pay for the print.

The opposition is volunteer. Yard signs, printed flyers, and consulting time of a land-use attorney are not. A funding structure is being set up; we will not collect contributions through this site until that structure is in place and audited.

Contact ops@45strong.net to commit

Donate flow coming soon. Until then, contribute by writing a letter, showing up, and talking to a neighbor.

WHAT FUNDING WILL BUY

Print — 1,000+ door hangers and yard signs
Counsel — land-use attorney hours for public records and recusal demands
Engineering — independent water-impact memo
Travel — coordination with peer organizers in Greenleaf, Dundee, and Monroe County