Dover mayor talks new town businesses, economic future
They stretch back to his mother's people, the Whitleys, who came to
"My granddaddy was a blacksmith, couldn't write his name but he could take a piece of metal and do anything with it," says Wetherington. "My dad was a carpenter, a good one. We didn't have a lot and didn't know we didn't have it."
Wetherington, who was born in 1941, recalls that two railroad services ran through
"I grew up here like everybody else. You go to school in and school out and never leave town. Go around barefooted and everyone knew everybody. Back then there were 650 people here, now it's down to like 425. Most of it is because people migrated out," he says.
After graduating from
And then he came back home.
"I always told 'em, 'I'm coming back, in a box, whatever, but I'm coming back," he insists.
Wetherington said his time in the insurance business instilled in him a stubborn patience and refusal to quit, traits that have served him well since returning to
As the second of three generations to be elected to the
In recent years, that work has begun to pay off.
A new Family Dollar store is being constructed on the east end of town. According to Wetherington, construction on the store should be completed by the end of March.
"It's been three years since I made my first telephone call to try to get that store here," said Wetherington. "But I worked on life insurance sales for as much as three years, so I don't give up. I ain't going to quit. Don't tell me I can't do it. There are people out there willing and ready to do something if you'll ask them."
In 2016, the mayor was able to secure a
"I hand delivered the grant proposal to their office in
Wetherington said he also received a
Though the 76-year-old may move a little slower these days due to recent knee replacement surgery, he says his resolve to bring new business and recreational opportunities to
"When I left to go in the
Wetherington said he has three
"The community clinic is going to be my next project. The library, that is the one thing that has kicked me around for the last six years. I just can't get it jumped. I've got the books and stuff for it and the furniture but I don't have anything to go with it. And as far as a gas station, we haven't been able to buy gas here since the environmentalists took all our tanks, which were underground," said Wetherington.
Wetherington said he believes
"I get calls every week that someone wants to move here, but we don't have anywhere for them," he says. "I've done everything I can to get an apartment project off the ground. If I had 100 units of two- and three-bedroom houses right here today, I'd have them all rented before next year at this time, every one of them. But I can't get anyone to believe that but me."
A recent recipient of the Order of the Long
"We have so much potential here. We just have to have something to go with it," he said. "But I'll get it, or at least some of it."
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