Cairo Association of Teachers - Newsletter



CAT Tracks for November 12, 2006
BREAKING INTO THE BOYS' CLUB

From the Southern Illinoisan...


Click the link below to read to lead article:
Williamson County's New Commissioner Makes History


Greenwell has seen all this before

by ashley wiehle, the southern

CAIRO - Williamson County welcoming its first woman commissioner is déjà vu for Angela Greenwell.

At 71, Alexander County Commissioner Greenwell can say "Been there, done that" to making her way into what has traditionally been a boys club.

Tracey Reel Glenn will bring the number of female county commissioners in Illinois up to three in early December, but Greenwell can say she's been part of the elusive pair of women commissioners since December 2004.

After volunteering her services in a major way with the Save Fort Defiance project in the 1970s, Greenwell has come to see herself as something of a "professional volunteer."

Greenwell saw many problems in Alexander County and depressed Cairo in particular, and decided that taking action rather than waiting for others to find answers was the best solution.

"I thought, 'This is so corrupt,'" Greenwell said. "I was bold enough to step forward and put myself in the position where I now sit. I felt that the people knew me, and knew I would be doing this job as I worked in Fort Defiance Park for almost 15 years."

Being a woman - and an older woman to boot - was never a consideration for Greenwell. She entered the job to do one thing and one thing only - cleaning house.

"That's why I got in - to do house-cleaning," Greenwell said. "We need a lot of house cleaning, and we're going to start here at the southern tip of Illinois."

Of course, the analogies and ways women relate to political problems are different than those utilized by men.

"I'm hearing male politicians talk about toolboxes and tools," Greenwell said. "I'm thinking more like a woman, about house cleaning."

The real issues of Illinois are not men's issues or women's issues, Greenwell said, and so tiny matters such as gender and age are just that - insignificant.

"I'm an unconventional type of person who will maybe go where angels fear to tread because of the need," Greenwell said. "There's so much sadness I see down here that I described when I campaigned and walked the entire county. It's a crime against God and man what happens here. The people have been harmed greatly for political control to special interests. I just knew it had to stop."

Greenwell will focus her considerable efforts elsewhere after her six-year term is up.

"I had a vision to make a better Southern Illinois," Greenwell said. "I think we're placed on earth to do good with the talents and skills the Lord gives us."