HUSTLIN' DOTHAN ~ (boy, I hope I don't hurt nobody's feelin's with this post but if I do, it be that way some times) Stories like this RENEW MY LOVE FOR MY OLD HOMETOWN and this one is right up there with the con job we did on THE STATE OF ALABAMA when we got our own courthouse and county in 1903. I was sittin' around yesterday and an old friend came by and what a story he told me! Did ya know that a Dothan man was behind GETTIN' THE STATE FLOWER CHANGED from the golden rod to the camellia? Come to find out that a buddy of mine's Grandpa, who married an OAKLEY/MCGRIFF girl from Columbia and another Dothan man both owned camellia nurseries in South Alabama and in 1959 they decided to change the Alabama state flower. (the other guy lived in Dothan on Montezuma and had dropped fishin' and taken up camellias as his hobby. At that time, the B'ham camellia show was attracting 40,000 people each year). Alabama already had a great state flower with the goldenrod but the DOTHAN HUSTLERS NEEDED TO SELL SOME CAMELLIA PLANTS so they came up with a new story, just like the Dothan guys did in 1903 when we needed to create OUR OWN COUNTY. When their idea was criticized BY NEWSPAPER EDITORS STATEWIDE because the goldenrod was a NATIVE PLANT and not a JAPANESE INVADER like the camellia, they countered with the NASTY RUMOR that the goldenrod was also an alien species because THE DAMN YANKEES BROUGHT GOLDEN ROD SEEDS TO ALABAMA with their hay! In 1960 Alabama, that was enough to put THE GOLDENROD OUTTA BUSINESS! (clipping fro the February 7, 1960 DOTHAN EAGLE)