NATCHEZ &045; Many years of serving on public boards have taught Dr. Eugene Taylor plenty about Natchez people. They volunteer generously and they work diligently to make their community better, he said.

After 17 years as a member of the Natchez-Adams County Board of Education, Taylor, an orthopedic surgeon in Natchez since 1968,

now serves as chairman of the six-member Natchez Tourism Council.

&uot;I’d like to tip my hat to all the members serving on all the boards,&uot; Taylor said. &uot;The whole community should tip their hats to them.&uot;

Taylor accepted an appointment to the tourism council, then known as the Natchez-Adams County Convention and Visitors Bureau board, about 15 years ago and has served as chairman for many of those years.

&uot;When I came on this board, there was a great deal of financial difficulty, and I decided I would stick it out and work out those problems,&uot; he said. &uot;We have worked them out. Our last audit was a perfectly clean one.&uot;

Taylor gives credit to Walter Tipton, director, for leading the tourism department into an organized, stabilized group of professionals. &uot;I can’t say enough about our whole staff at the convention center and at the visitors center, too,&uot; Taylor said.

Tipton, with policy set by the commission, oversees city personnel both at the Natchez Convention Center on Main Street and the Natchez Visitor Reception Center on Canal Street at John R. Junkin Drive.

&uot;Walter and his staff do a great job of promoting Natchez as a destination and go out of their way to help people when they come,&uot; Taylor said.

His philosophy as a board chairman has been to leave all the day-to-day running of the tourism department to the staff. &uot;We set policy and see that it’s carried out. We keep an eye on the overall financial situation.&uot;

Funding has been a challenge, and probably is the biggest challenge now facing the council, Taylor said.

&uot;In the last three years, we have faced a 50 percent cut in the money from state grants, from $100,000 to $50,000,&uot; he said. &uot;Also, we had a tribal grant of $30,000 a year ago that is not available this year.&uot;

Still, he is pleased with what the tourism department has done. &uot;Tourism is carrying our city now,&uot; he said.

Recently, the Natchez-Adams County Chamber of Commerce had an outside consultant study Natchez tourism efforts and make recommendations. Suggestions included reorganization of the tourism department.

&uot;I’m aware of the report, and I’ve read it. It has some great ideas, but I must say probably all those ideas have been discussed by this board,&uot; Taylor said. &uot;The staff right now is set up in an excellent manner. Walter assigns different members to attend tourism meetings all over the United States. He tries to pick the biggest and most popular meetings, where they set up a booth and sell Natchez to tour operators.&uot;

The tourism department depends on taxes raised through sale of food and beverage and overnight lodging. The largest segments of the budget go to advertising Natchez and to paying salaries.

Taylor grew up in Ferriday, La., and attended Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge and Louisiana School of Medicine in New Orleans, graduating in 1961 and going on for internship and residency at the former Confederate Memorial Hospital in Shreveport.

He spent two years in the U.S. Navy, 1966 to 1968, at the U.S. Navy Hospital in New York and then at a naval hospital at Guam.

&uot;I saw many, many injuries from the war and put a lot of people back together,&uot; he said. &uot;I went in knowing nothing about the military. I was a (medical) resident one day and a lieutenant commander the next.&uot;

Now 68, he continues to practice medicine on a limited basis, seeing patients in the office and at the hospital and doing some consultation.

Taylor enjoys the small-town atmosphere of the city he calls home. He likes the way so many people know each other. And as an avid golfer, he likes how quickly he can get to the golf course. Still, he has concerns.

&uot;I am worried about our economic future. I know we need some manufacturing, business-type jobs,&uot; he said. &uot;Most of our young people are leaving and not coming back. I don’t know what to do about it but to continue to promote Natchez.&uot;

He believes three keys will unlock the city’s future, and some of them are already in the works.

&uot;We have to have a decent highway system, a strong education system and a genuine change in attitude between the races,&uot; he said. &uot;There must be friendship, participation and cooperation. We can’t be a black-white community. We’re all in this together.&uot;