By LIZZIE BOWEN | Staff Writer

PELHAM – Senator Tommy Tuberville held a luncheon meeting and press conference at the Pelham Civic Complex and Ice Arena discussing a variety of issues including the current state of small businesses in the area as well as his endorsement for Donald Trump.

“Most of you own your own business, God bless you for what you do,” Tuberville said. “It is hard. Small business contractors want every nickel they can get out of you, and it is a shame.”

Tuberville reiterated his stance on the importance of small businesses in the area and the purpose they serve.

“I want you to survive,” Tuberville said. “Small businesses have been the success and driving force of how this country is made.”

Tuberville also spoke in a press conference after the luncheon about why small businesses are important specifically in localized communities.

“Small business is the backbone of our country,” Tuberville said. “I’m talking about stores, farms and small law firms, people that do business for the community, and they help the community thrive. They give us an opportunity to grow and employ a lot of people.”

Tuberville said in the press conference that it is important not to subject small businesses to overbearing taxes, often forcing them to close down.

“The problem is, now these small businesses are being attacked with taxes,” Tuberville said. “We are $32 trillion in debt. We keep getting in debt and spending more money than we bring in, and the problem is, someone is going to have to pay for that. If we start taxing our small businesses more and more, they’re going to go out of business.”

Tuberville said many small businesses were shut down during the COVID-19 pandemic, and these small businesses in local areas need to be protected.

“We’re going to lose our farmers,” Tuberville said. “We’re going to lose them to corporations. These small businesses are going to go out, and we can’t afford for that to happen. We need to stand behind small businesses. We need less taxes and less regulation, so they can survive.”

Tuberville said during the luncheon that he will put his endorsement behind Donald Trump.

“I made a decision on who I am going to vote for,” Tuberville said. “I am going to vote for Donald Trump. They’re after him, and I don’t think any Democrat can beat him.”

Tuberville said in the luncheon that it is important to work towards the mental health of veterans.

“We lose 20 veterans a day to suicide,” Tuberville said. “It’s because these wars that they’ve had, we haven’t taken care of them. We have a huge mental health problem in our country, and it’s getting worse every day.”

Tuberville also spoke in the luncheon about the fentanyl crisis and how it falls directly in line with the mental health needs of the country.

“I tell people that we can’t afford not to put money into mental health,” Tuberville said. “We’ve got to come up with a solution. The fentanyl coming across in unbelievable. We will probably loose 150,000 young people this year who overdose on fentanyl.”