By: Ali Elizabeth Turner
West Limestone native LaDon Townsend has been the Limestone County District 4 Commissioner since 2020. LaDon’s family goes “way back,” in Limestone County history, and he has worn several hats, including farming and driving a truck for 10 years. He grows row crops, chicken, and hay. While a student at West Limestone, he played football and baseball, and he married his high school sweetheart, Lisa. They have two daughters, a son, and a recently added son-in-law. He beamed with pride when speaking about his little spitfire of a granddaughter, who is “the apple of her granddaddy’s eye.” Lisa received her degree in education from Athens State University and taught at Brookhill Elementary. LaDon not only coaches at West Limestone, but he also works the chains on Friday nights, and even did a stint helping to maintain the football field.
As Limestone County continues to grow quickly, LaDon has found that he gets calls from all over the country from people who are planning on moving here or have just moved here and want to know all about the quality of life, schools, local culture, and of course, the number one priority: public safety. Because the Limestone County Sheriff’s Department is under the jurisdiction of the county, it is super important to LaDon to make sure the Sheriff’s Department has what it needs to run well. He said, “We work hard to get Josh (McLaughlin) what he needs—deputies, corrections officers, and safety equipment. We’ve got to take care of them because they take care of us.” We celebrated the fact that recently the Sheriff’s Department had gotten its first conviction as part of Operation Millstone, the anti-trafficking coordinated effort with other law enforcement agencies that has been so successful.
As is the case with the other commissioners and districts, taking care of the roads is crucial to everything — business, commerce, quality of life, education, and public safety. “In District 4 we have 330.4 miles of roads, and we have been working on getting the roads paved. In 2022, we were able to do 14.76 miles of paving. In 2023, it was 16.06, and in 2025, it was 23.55. We are going to keep going until it is all done,” said LaDon. He then added that he has a goal of getting as many secondary roads paved within the next three years as possible
Being a coach, LaDon knows how important it is for young people to have leaders and mentors that they can look up to in life. He’s received multiple opportunities to be part of school projects and even was a guest on his niece’s podcast, answering questions about his role both as commissioner and as a farmer in Limestone County. Overall, he just wants to leave a lasting impact in the lives of the people he serves and show up for the community he loves. He said, “We want to make a difference, one life at a time.”
District 4 has always been involved in the clean-up projects sponsored by Keep Athens-Limestone Beautiful. Especially daunting as well as satisfying is the Elk River Clean-up which is held every spring. For some reason, people who choose to litter really “go big or go home” when it comes to littering in the rivers. Sometimes there are cars in there, sofas, all kinds of stuff, and getting it cleaned up so it can be enjoyed by everyone in the county is important, both for quality of life as well as public safety.
LaDon is aware that the challenges of growth in our area are great, and that planning well for growth is non-negotiable. He asked, “How do we keep our small-town feel, and the charm that makes Athens-Limestone so special?” I replied, “That’s the million-dollar question.” He talked about how “alive” the courthouse square is, and how much newcomers to Athens-Limestone enjoy it. “I want us to always keep that,” he said. We talked about what a beautiful historical building the Commission office on Washington Street is. “I love this building,” he said, as we sat at the boardroom table. And, everyone knows that, at some point, there is going to have to be a new building constructed to accommodate our needs as a county. Several ideas have been discussed, and perhaps there will be one that has a one-stop shop approach so you don’t have to go to several offices.
Lastly, LaDon wanted to talk about how much he appreciates his crew. “They are out in storms in the middle of the night to take care of us. Without our guys, there is no way we could do “it.” By “it,” he means everything in District 4 that makes and keeps it beautiful for now and years to come.
By: Ali Elizabeth Turner
