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The
family of the late Jerome "Buddy" Cooper has preserved forever
23 acres in the Mentone area – including about ¼ mile of riverfront
on The Little River West Fork – by donating the land to The Land Trust
of Huntsville & North Alabama.
In
May, Mr. Cooper’s children, Ellen Cooper Erdreich and Carol Cooper,
and his grandchildren, Jeremy C. Erdreich, Anna B. Erdreich and Caroline
Sokol, deeded his Mentone property to The Land Trust.
Buddy
Cooper had a long distinguished career as a labor and civil rights
lawyer. He was co-counsel in Reynolds V. Sims (1964), one of a
group of decisions that led to the Supreme Court’s historic "one
man one vote" decision in Baker v. Carr. In 1963, he helped
facilitate the Steelworkers’ secret wiring – at the request of
President Kennedy - of over $200,000 to post bond for the release of 900
protesters and children from Birmingham jails following the Children’s
Civil Rights March in May, 1963.
"My
father had a keen sense of the injustices in America," said Cooper’s
daughter Ellen Erdreich. "But, he’d say, ‘There is a great
scale in the sky. It will come out okay. We just have to fight for it.’"
Another
of Buddy Cooper’s passions was the environment.
"We
rarely took vacations when I was growing up. My father loved the
mountains and the cool weather. His idea of a vacation was going to
Mentone in North Alabama. A great evening for him was sleeping on the
porch and listening to the sounds of the woods."
Cooper’s
son-in-law, former Congressman Ben Erdreich, said, "Buddy always
wanted his property to remain wild. He felt protecting woodlands was
very much a civic responsibility. He served as president of Ruffner
Mountain Nature Center and was a Lifetime Director-at-large for the
Birmingham Audubon Society. He also helped set aside the Sipsey
Wilderness. His Mentone property was his wilderness."
"Buddy
Cooper accomplished what most of us strive to do – to make a
difference," said Land Trust Executive Director Cynthia Parker.
"The Land Trust is grateful we are able to help make his dream for
this lovely property become a reality. Mentone is growing rapidly, as is
Huntsville and all of North Alabama. We hope that the preservation of
the Cooper property may encourage other land owners to protect their
property from development via donation or Conservation Easements."
"Beautiful
areas like Mentone are turning into suburbs," Mrs. Erdreich stated.
"People are building mansions on the river. Our family wanted to
carry out his wishes of keeping this property as natural as possible. He
would be thrilled that The Land Trust is going to take care of it."
The
Land Trust, Alabama’s first land trust, is a member supported
non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of natural lands
for public enjoyment and prosperity in ten counties of North Alabama.
Since 1987, The Land Trust has protected and maintains over 5,100 acres
and has created 33+ miles of public trails on three land preserves –
each larger than Central Park and all within Huntsville city limits. For
more information on The Land Trust, contact Cathie M. Mayne,
256/534-LAND or cathie@landtrust-hsv.org. |
