ROXIE – Franklin County resident Arrick Rice has his own dream for his community and its newly formed chapter of the NAACP.

&uot;My personal dream … is every time there is a city hall meeting or a town hall meeting, I want the place packed,&uot; Rice said.

That way people in government will have more input from the community, he said.

Rice is spearheading an effort to create a chapter of the NAACP in his community.

The group held its first meeting Monday night with 15 to 20 people in attendance, Rice said.

He hopes the chapter will address such issues as federal funding, recreation, education and community involvement in Franklin Country.

Currently, Rice says Franklin County is losing access to federal money simply because it is not being used. That included $200,000 just last year, Rice said.

And Franklin County has also allocated some land for recreation and the NAACP would like to discuss possibilities for the property.

&uot;Right now we’re in the development stage of what we want we want to do (and) how we want to do it,&uot; Rice said.

But recreation is a necessity for Franklin County, he said. &uot;I’ve just noticed a lot our kids don’t have anything to do,&uot; he said.

The Franklin County NAACP will meet again at 7 p.m. Monday. A location will be announced at a later date.