NAMES IN THE NEWS : Williams Returns Favor to State
As a boy, Hank Williams Jr. enjoyed hunting and fishing in southeast Alabama. Now he wants to help flood victims in that region.
The country singer’s manager, Merle Kilgore, said Wednesday that Williams will donate his entire concert fee plus concession sales from an April 1 appearance in Birmingham to the people of Elba. Kilgore said the amount is expected to exceed $100,000.
The rain-swollen Pea River swept away parts of a levee surrounding Elba last weekend and inundated the town, forcing 1,500 people to evacuate.
Kilgore said Gov. Guy Hunt’s office will administer the money, and that Williams wants every family in Elba to receive part of it.
Williams as a boy spent his summers with his maternal grandfather, Shelton Sheppard, who lived in nearby Troy.
“They would go hunting and fishing, and that is the reason that part of Alabama is dear to his heart,” Kilgore said. “He also has been inducted into the Alabama Music Hall of Fame, and he feels a special fondness for the state for that reason also.”
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