Overheard at the Selma-Dallas County Chamber of Commerce Buttonhole Breakfast Thursday morning at the Carl Morgan City Auditorium.

“I took my son out on the boat the other day,” one man announced to those seated at his table. “We were coming back in to the dock and there were three or four girls about his age – 11, 12, 13, somewhere in there — watching us. I told him, ‘Son, come here. You take the boat in. And when we get close to those girls, you wave and tell ’em hi.'”

“Well, how’d it go?” inquired one of his tablemates, in between bites of scrambled egg and buttered biscuit.

“It went great,” replied the proud father. “He waved and hollered at ’em just like I told him, and they all waved back and ran up to greet us. Then he leaned sort of close to me and whispered, ‘Now what do I do, dad?'”

Fostering the chance to develop personal camaraderie among area business men and women is one of the chief reasons the chamber initiated its Buttonhole Breakfast program. Thursday’s program was all that and more.

“We wanted to do something a little different this time,” explained chamber President Jamie Wallace. “We wanted to sort of take a look at the big picture.”

The program highlighted just a few of the positive things that have taken place in Dallas County in recent months, and hinted at still others to come.

The program took on a special poignancy because it was Wallace’s last as chamber president. He retires Aug. 2 after more than 15 years.

Wayne Vardaman, executive director of the Selma-Dallas County Economic Development Authority, started things off by acknowledging up front that the area faces its share of economic challenges.

Referring to a number of manufacturing facilities that have closed in recent months, Vardaman said he encountered a friend in the economic development field who observed drily, “You’re not lacking for dirt.”

Among the other challenges Vardaman cited were the city’s ongoing battle against litter, no nearby Interstate, and an unemployment rate that is consistently higher than the state and national averages.

“We all know we have high unemployment,” Vardaman said, “and that’s bad. But it’s good if you’ve got good prospects.”

And, he added, the Selma area has a number of promising job prospects on the horizon.

He cited the recent decision to locate here by Composite Technologies Inc., an Atlanta-based company that produces countertops. The firm is expected to employ 100 people within 12 months – “and that’s a very conservative figure,” Vardaman said.

Although he said he was not at liberty to reveal the names of the firms involved, Vardaman said his agency is also working with two local companies on expansions that could employ an additional 200 workers each by year’s end, as well as two wood-related companies that are looking to locate here and could employ a total of 120 workers.

He also said his agency has begun receiving inquiries from a number of prospective Hyundai automotive suppliers. He even received an inquiry from a Canadian firm that services the Nissan plant in Canton, Miss.

“I’m here to tell you, Selma’s not dead. A lot of good things are going to happen in the next 12 months,” Vardaman said.

Lauri Cothran, the chamber’s executive vice president for tourism, pointed out that tourism remains a strong component of the city’s economy.

“We’re approaching the $500,000 mark in lodging tax collections for the year,” Cothran said.

Wallace reeled off a list of construction projects already under way or planned in the near future, including Hampton Inn, which is scheduled for completion in November; Mr. Waffle and Captain D’s restaurants; Central Alabama Farmers Co-Op; professional offices in Park Place; a yet-to-be disclosed facility on Ravenwood Drive next to Honda Lock; an elderly housing unit on North Broad Street; a pending multi-million dollar expansion to Vaughan Medical Center; and the renovation of the old Kress Building, which will be occupied by Roger Butler Jewelers.

“So often we talk about the negative and not the positive,” Wallace said. ” We wanted to use this time to point out some of the positive things that are happening. We’re not burying our heads in the sand, but we are moving forward to develop services that are needed in this community.”