LINDEN, Tenn. -- Sen. Bob Corker held more town hall meetings Friday, but the one in Perry County had a different flavor.

Unemployment isn't as high as it has been in the county, but it's still near 20 percent, and some attended the meeting to ask the senator for help.

Perry County has seen some good news over the past few days: The governor's use of stimulus money to create jobs has lowered the unemployment rate to 19.3 percent, making it no longer the highest in the state.

But there are still fears about the future, and Corker heard about that Friday.

There are signs of life and hope in downtown Linden. The hustle and bustle masks the struggle Perry County has dealt with for months.

"Nobody's got a job, and we can't find any jobs," said one Linden resident. "We need help."

When Corker arrived for his town hall meeting on Friday, there were reminders of what this county has been through.

"We have people that are unemployed. We have people with trouble with health insurance and all of that," said one woman who attended Friday's meeting.

"We need to get politics out and get to the real needs of the people," said a man who attended the meeting.

At one point this year, Perry County's unemployment rate was 27 percent. Figures released on Thursday show it is now down to 19 percent. Corker said that's good, but not good enough.

One of the health care-related questions on Friday came from Cheryl Tinan. When her husband lost his job, she lost her insurance, and the cost of private insurance for her would be $2,000 a month.

"I started crying, and I told the lady that day back in November, 'Well, I'll call you back if we should win the lottery,'" Tinan said.

The fear is that while stimulus money has given Perry County a big boost, county leaders know there could be more people like Tinan unless they can recruit permanent jobs before that money goes away.

"Everybody still realizes that we still have a long way to go," said Perry County Mayor John Carroll. "This program is temporary, and we've got to find some type of permanent employment to take its place."

Right now, Perry County is looking to bring businesses into the area. The hope is to recruit many different small businesses so that if one of them goes under, it won't decimate the entire county's employment. There is also some help that some of the temporary jobs that have been created by the stimulus money could become permanent if the economy improves.