WARNER ROBINS -- Tyler Bryant was feeling a lot of pride for his city after watching Northside High School’s William Crouch advance in the “Jeopardy!” Teen Tournament Friday.
He decided to post some of his thoughts on Facebook.
“Warner Robins ... Yeah, it’s that city south of Atlanta and near Macon,” the post begins. But, it says, the city also produces sports championships, TV stars, professional athletes, former governors and U.S. senators. Bryant also notes Houston County’s good schools and low crime and unemployment rates.
He ends with, “All the while featuring the best Air Force Base in the country that keeps its residents patriotic all year round and not just on July 4th!”
Then, “my Facebook just blew up,” Bryant said. The post, which he also shared on a local television station’s Facebook page, has reached nearly 12,000 views, shares and likes, according to data from Facebook provided by Bryant.
Bryant, a self-proclaimed cheerleader for Warner Robins, has about 1,000 friends on Facebook, but he said most of them are college friends and business associates from out of town.
The response to his short post, he said, has been “overwhelmingly positive.” However, it did receive some criticism, mostly that there was nothing to do in Warner Robins. Bryant called those comments unjustified.
Bryant is a product of Houston County schools, attending Shirley Hills and Bonaire elementary schools, Bonaire Middle School and graduating from Warner Robins High School in 2005.
“I was born at Houston Medical Center, and I’ll probably die there,” said Bryant, event sales manager for Rigby’s Entertainment Complex.
Bryant attended Monday’s City Council meeting to read what he had wrote.
“I think it reinforces what we are dedicated to in this city as a great place to raise our families,” said Councilman Mike Brashear, who didn’t know Bryant but had shared the post.
Jimmy Autry, senior vice president at Flint Energies, attended the meeting. He said he hadn’t seen the post but was on his phone to look at it after he found out.
“If you touch someone’s heart, it moves people on Facebook,” said Autry.
Bryant hopes the post serves as a reminder about what good things are going on in the community.
“It’s OK to be excited and happy about your town,” he said.
