A diverse group of roughly 15 local farmers turned out in support of District 11 House of Rep-resentative candidate Randall Shedd Tuesday during a luncheon at AJ’s Steakhouse in Cullman.

Shedd, director of Commission on Aging, is facing longtime Cullman County school board member Danny Alldredge in a March 26 runoff election.

“There’s been some negative things about Mr. Shedd, and its untrue,” said Billy Meeks. “We’re not into that. Farmers are not negative. We’re here to show our support to him and show him that we do care about who is representing our area. We know he’ll do a good job for us. I know he’s a man of character and a man of his word, and he’s a man I believe we need to support.”

Shedd touched on many of his political platforms while speaking to the group; however, much of the time was devoted to his past dealings with the agribusiness as an elected official.

“As County Commission chairman during the late 1970’s, our focus was water,” Shedd said. “We pretty much finished the water lines. We used our revenue sharing money to extend water lines throughout Cullman County, which meant the poultry community was able to operate pretty much anywhere throughout the county.”

In addition during his time as Cchairman, he noted giving match money to build the Ag center, which is located off of U.S. Highway 31.

“I think it has been tremendous for this community,” Shedd said.

Shedd also discussed his support of the Duck River Dam project.

“Duck River is important, and I want to make sure we don’t do anything to slow it down,” he said. “I think our choice is between Duck River and not having an adequate water supply. For our poultry farmers especially, if we don’t have an adequate supply of water then we’ve got a problem. We’ve got to get this finished, and finish it as fast as possible.

In closing, he said, “I love farming, and I care about our No. 1 industry.”

The winner of the Republican runoff will face Democrat Kelly Evans in a general election on May 7.

Ashley Graves can be reached by phone at 734-2131, ext. 225, or by email at agraves@cullmantimes.com