By Emily Enfinger | The Selma Times-Journal

Paul Grist State Park closed in October but reopened Dec. 3, thanks in large part to a dedicated group of community volunteers. But the “Save Paul Grist State Park” group isn’t done yet. In fact, they say their work is just beginning.

The group has rebranded itself “Friends of Paul Grist State Park” and is creating committees to help keep up the publicize the park.

Anita Ellison is a native of Selma and one of the active community members who helped save Paul Grist State Park. She said when she heard about the park closing, she organized a group of her friends to take action.

“When we heard the park was going to close we met up with some friends one weekend when we were there,” Ellison said. “I decided this was a cause worth fighting for.”

She said the husband of one of her friends created the Save Paul Grist State Park Facebook page. She said they were only expecting a few hundred people to like it.

“It grew almost, in three or four days, to 1,700 people,” Ellison said. “I think that was one thing that helped our cause and the Dallas County Commission’s cause was that there were so many people who were concerned about the park closing and many of them were saying, ‘Hey, what can we do to help?’”

Ellison said they formed a group of volunteers from those who showed interest in helping. The Friends of Paul Grist State Park had a meeting last Saturday to create various volunteer committees.

“Not everybody is able to do everything, like there are some people who can’t do heavy, physical labor,” Ellison said. “So we wanted committees that those people could also be involved in.”

Park Manager Roger Nichols said the committee will help the park tremendously.

“I was happy for it, I thought it would really help,” Nichols said.

Five committees were formed: maintenance and general up-keep, campers, horse trails and activities and advertisement.

For information about becoming a volunteer, contact Ellison at (334) 419-3271.