Rhea Wessel - freelance writer, author

On the road again ... and again ... it's the morning commute
Rhea Wessel, Star Staff Writer
The Anniston Star
August 29, 1998

With the creativity demanded of children on a road trip, Lynwood Williamson and Ernestine Lambert entertain themselves during their three hour daily commute.

No, that wasn't a typo. Three hours a day.

The two are members of a car pool that leaves Heflin by 6:30 a.m. each workday morning and braves Interstate-20 all the way to Atlanta.

Entertainment comes in the form of small talk, "How's the hubby? Did you see ... ? Did you hear ... ?" The group has plenty to talk about since they grew up together and all graduated from then Heflin High School.

After small talk is exhausted, they may start scouting license plates. First prize goes to a Georgia driver called "Sassy." Second was an allusion to Star Trek.

Another I-20 trekker, Carolyn Parker, listens to Christian music while she practices self control.

"I don't drink a lot of coffee before I go," she says. Parker doesn't like to pull over for any reason - including bathroom breaks. She fears that on her trips to Birmingham, she won't get started again if she stops. "If I can help it, I just wait 'til I get there."

The number of Americans commuting from rural homes to urban worksites is on the rise for several reasons - and the Heflin commuters are prime examples. The pundits have all sorts of reasons for the daily interstate shuffle. One sociologist believes globalization may be the cause. Others say the rural lifestyle and lower costs of living are the draw. Williamson and Mrs. Lambert do the deed for very basic reasons: to avoid losing their pensions and to keep their spouses happy.

Rural commuters are distinct from suburban dwellers, who often drive long cross-city distances to work for the benefit of spacious homes in new developments. Those from small towns may shun the development of the burbs or seek a quiet lifestyle away from the hustle and bustle of the big city.

More than 27 million of America's 115 million workers leave their county of residence for work. This number has tripled since 1960, according to the latest figures available from the Washington-based Community Transportation Association.

Auburn University rural sociologist John Dunkelberger attributes the growing number of rural commuters to the global push for cheap labor.

"In the past 20 years, rural areas looked for economic development. They tried to get some kind of industry heavily oriented towards getting jobs for women ...They went out and tried to get glove factories, etc. Today, those plants are closing down and moving offshore to Mexico, Haiti or Asia," he says.

"The same community that worked so hard to get factories, that community is worried about their future."

Beverly Casey, a consultant for the Cleburne County Chamber of Commerce, says the type of job opportunities workers need aren't available in a rural county.

"I hope that the level of jobs will increase and that people will find the types of jobs they're looking for so they can stay in the community," she says.

Mrs. Casey is one of the lucky ones. In 1995, when she and her husband returned to Heflin, his home town, after working in Tuscaloosa, she debated taking a job in a larger nearby city or staying in Heflin. Since she runs her own business, BSC Consulting, a public relations and management consulting enterprise, Mrs. Casey had the option of working out of her home.

"I had some experience in this and leads on potential clients. In the age of technology, the type of work that I do, I do not have to depend on the local economy to keep me going," she says.

This brings up the interesting issue of telecommuting, the practice of working from a remote location, usually home, via computers. According to a recent study by KPMG Peat Marwick LLP, a consulting firm, telecommuting is also on the rise.

"One in four Fortune 1,000 companies now has a formal program for employees who regularly telecommute either part time or full time and the number is expected to double within the next three years," it said in July 1997.

The rise in the number of telecommuters, whether they program computers from southern India for U.S. firms or keep an eye on their kids in suburban Atlanta, may also be affected by the forces of globalization.

What's good for rural residents, though, is that there is a definite connection between telecommuting and rural economic development, says John Schiffert, director of university relations of Clayton College & State University in Morrow, Ga.

He believes that as people better understand what telecommuting is, and that it's not "rocket science," it will become even more relevant for rural communities. Clayton College offers telecommuting training certificates for workers and managers.

Jobs are the most frequently cited reason for making long commutes, but the good, warm-fuzzy feeling of home should not be discounted, according to the Heflin commuters.

Williamson says that when his former employer, Moore Document Solutions, closed its plant in Heflin in April 1987, his wife "didn't particularly want to give up her position" at then Bank of Heflin. And Mrs. Lambert's husband is the chief of police in Heflin.

"It was family that kept me there," she says.

Mrs. Parker's husband, Erle, commutes to Tallapoosa to work for Stoffel Seals, Inc., a printing business. "Heflin is home," he says, "I'm an only child and my parents are elderly, so I have the responsibility."

Since he works in Georgia in the Eastern time zone and she commutes to either Anniston or Birmingham, Mr. Parker beats the Mrs. home.

"I get home every afternoon about 3:00. My wife likes it because I can get dinner started," he says.

The lower cost of rural living also pulls people to the country.

"The cost of living is lower than in Atlanta or Birmingham," says Mrs. Casey about Cleburne County, "we've got that small, rural community feel." She says people are moving into the area from Atlanta and that the Chamber gets calls from people who want to move out of urban areas.

Maybe that's a sign of her efforts. The chamber contracted with her to do development work. "We're gathering data, locating properties available and going out and pitching ourselves to companies ... Here's what we have," she says. Before she began consulting in March, the Chamber "was very instrumental" in bringing in South Wire, a manufacturer of cables.
South Wire can be seen as an example of rural job trends. Dunkelberger says rural areas are dependent on having employment nearby. The villages, as he calls them, become bedroom communities. "They're not suburbs because they've always existed and they provide the neighborliness, the smallness and the green space that goes with rural," he says.

"Back in the 1980's, there was a growth of the rural population after many years of declining population. When we looked at that, we found it to be true, but found it in areas near larger urban places," he says.

The study cited by Community Transportation Association, the second national report on commuting patterns and trends, says the size of the metropolitan area is critical to travel time characteristics. Generally, the trend is the larger the metropolitan area, the longer the travel time.

Williamson and Mrs. Lambert would be happy to tell you their take on commuting trends.

"We're facing the sun in the morning and then in the evening," Willamson says about summertime. In winter, it's dark when they leave and dark when they get home.

Other trends include putting about 36,000 miles a year on his cars - the last five of which have been easy-on-the-gas Geo Prizms. The group learns all the alternate routes to work. In 11 years, the car pool has only been late to work once or twice. They also practice patience with the other drivers on the road, monitor the radio and keep eyes out for car carnage.

Williamson says he has seen some "dandy" wrecks. Taking his fist and pounding his noggin, he adds with a smile, "Knock on wood."