Democratic gubernatorial candidate Walt Maddox brought his campaign bus tour to Andalusia Friday afternoon, shaking hands on the Square, along the homecoming parade route and in the courthouse before speaking briefly to a small crowd of supporters.

Maddox referenced the atmosphere and said, “This is what Alabama is all about. Small towns, Friday night football and community. If we want to keep this community feeling across the state, we need to have great healthcare, infrastructure and great schools.

“We are not only about the future of Birmingham, Montgomery, Huntsville, and our larger cities. We are about the future of Andalusia and so many towns across Alabama.

Maddox said the state needs emphasis on improving education, from Pre-K all the way to college.

“We need roads and bridges that can meet the future,” he said. “Right now in Alabama we’re not doing that.”

Alabama’s infant mortality rate of 9.1 fatalities per 1,000 births mirrors that of a Third World country, he said.

“If you look at education, we rank between 45th to 50th. Twenty percent of the bridges in Alabama are functionally obsolete.

“We need to do better,” he said. “I know we can do better.”

Maddox repeated his campaign pledge that, if elected, in the first hour of the first day, he would expand Medicaid, providing access to health care for 330,000 working Alabamians.

“Twelve hospitals in the state have closed since we made the fateful decision not to expand Medicaid,” he said.

“One third of those who would benefit from the expansion of Medicaid would benefit from mental health services that would now be available.

“We’ve had four mental health institutions close over the last eight years,” he said. “Too many of our mental health consumers are getting treatment in jails instead of with physicians. We have to change that dynamic.”

He also said he would send a message to the world that Alabama is ending the practice of corruption.

“The first hour of the first day, the state would no longer pay legal fees for former Gov. Robert Bentley.

The people in Andalusia shouldn’t have to pay legal bills of someone whose own mistakes cost them money.”