Trussville mail Award ‘dream thieves sentenced, come true ... · Interstate 459 in Bessemer with...

A federal judge on Friday de-nied a request for a preliminary injunction that would block con-struction of the Northern Belt-line.

The 52-mile corridor will link Interstate 459 in Bessemer with Interstate 59 just north of Truss-ville.

The estimated cost for the project — expected to take 30 to

35 years to complete — is about $5.4 billion. The first 1.3 miles will connect Alabama Highway 75 and Alabama Highway 79 near Pinson. Construction of the first segment is expected to be-gin in February. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued a 404 permit for the first segment of the project in September 2013.

The Alabama Department of Transportation in November opened bids for the first phase of construction of the Northern Beltline near Pinson. The appar-

ent low bidder for the 1.3-mile segment was Wright Brothers Construction Co. Inc. of Charles-ton, Tenn., which came in with a bid of $45,999,999.69. The other bids were received from Jones Brothers Inc. of Mt. Juliet, Tenn., with a bid of $73,506,447.52, and Vecellio and Grogan Inc. of Beckley, W.V., with a bid of $75,482,857.32.

Contact Gary Lloyd at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @GaryALloyd.

The vice president of the PTA at Ker-mit Johnson Elementary School in Pin-son wants “better facilities” for the stu-dents, she said last week.

Christy Rainwater, a Pinson resident, said she spends a lot of time in Kermit Johnson Elementary School as part of her

role as PTA vice president and the edi-tor of the yearbook. Rainwater, who has helped with lunch duty at the school, said the cafeteria and gymnasium are not ad-equate.

In September, the Jefferson County Board of Education approved a five-year capital plan, a prioritized, 42-item list of plans for capital projects to potentially be funded between the 2014 fiscal year and 2018 fiscal year. The fifth item on the list was a projected $2.3 million renovation for Kermit Johnson Elementary School. The funding year would be 2015, and the renovation would be for a new cafeteria to accommodate increased enrollment.

That project is now “on hold” until closer to the end of this fiscal year, ac-cording to Jefferson County Board of Education New Construction Depart-ment Director Rafael McDaniel. He said the cafeteria is connected to the gym, and in order to expand the cafeteria’s seating

Trussville City Schools Superinten-dent Pattie Neill said at last week’s Trussville Area Chamber of Commerce luncheon that the Feb. 25 property tax vote is a “huge moment” for the school system.

The vote of Trussville residents for or against the seven-millage property tax increase is Tuesday, Feb. 25, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. The increase would fund two new community elementary schools in

the city, one near Magnolia Place and one in the renovated school building in the Cahaba Project.

A seven-millage increase equates to $70 per year extra on homes appraised at $100,000, $140 extra per year on homes appraised at $200,000 and $210 extra per year on homes appraised at $300,000.

Should the vote pass, funds will go toward new construction, renovation, additions and operations of the schools. The levy would take effect Oct. 1 and

It’s been two years since an EF-3 tornado ripped through northeastern Jeffer-son County and a large por-tion of the city of Clay.

The city is still moving forward.

“The major area still is the debris cleanup,” said City Manager Ronnie Dixon. “Most of the (right of way) has been done but there are many private homes and lands that were either not covered by insurance or the owners used the money they received for other pur-poses, leaving the city to go through the abatement pro-cess in order to clean these areas.”

Dixon said the process is “time consuming” and that the money expended by the

city is not recovered until the properties sell and the liens are paid.

“Of course, the absence of any federal or state money to the city has extended the cleanup process,” he said.

Dixon said all collected debris -- hundreds of truck-loads -- that was taken to Clay City Park has been discarded and the acreage disturbed by that process is graded and was hydro-seed-ed Tuesday.

Dixon said Clay has sub-mitted all required docu-ments to the Federal Emer-gency Management Agency and the Alabama Emergen-cy Management Agency de-tailing “our emergency pre-paredness plan, the roles of employees and equipment.”

The Jan. 23, 2012, tor-nado destroyed 98 struc-tures in Clay and severely damaged 241. A total of

321 homes were damaged. That day one year ago was proclaimed as Christina Heichelbech Day in Clay, named for the 16-year-old Jefferson County Interna-tional Baccalaureate School student who was killed in the tornado, a Steeplechase resident who was the city’s only fatality.

“Dozens of lots have been cleaned up and houses demolished,” Dixon said. “The residents have rebuilt almost all houses that were salvageable, and now build-ers are looking at the lots and slabs in subdivisions like Georgebrook and Para-dise Valley to build on. The few damaged houses that remain are in some position in the abatement process and almost all of these are foreclosures that take lon-

by Gary Lloyd

Editor

by Gary Lloyd

Editor

by Gary Lloyd

Editor

January 23 - 29, 2014 50¢

www.trussvilletribune.com

The Trussville TribuneThe Trussville TribuneYour news source for Trussville, Clay and Pinson

Judge denies injunction request to block Northern Beltline construction

Two years after tornado, Clay still moving forward

see JOHNSON page 3 see TAX page 4see TORNADO page 3

file photo by Gary Lloyd

A lot in the Georgebrook subdivision in Clay, where an EF-3 tornado destroyed many homes Jan. 23, 2012

Property tax vote ‘huge moment’ for Trussville schoolsby Gary Lloyd

Editor

Kermit Johnson Elementary PTA VP wants ‘better facilities’ for school

photo courtesy of Jefferson County Schools

Kermit Johnson Elementary School in Pinson

submitted photo

Trussville City Schools Superintendent Pattie Neill

Award ‘dream come true’ for

Pinson RB, page 12

Trussville mail thieves sentenced,

page 5

photo courtesy of the Alabama Department of Transportation

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Yakety yak, don’t talk back.

That’s the message area school administrators are attempting to deliver to students about Yik Yak, a mobile app that allows users to post comments anonymously. It uses location services to bring comments to a user’s Yik Yak feed from others in a similar geographic region.

Trussville City Schools Superintendent Pattie Neill said Hewitt-Trussville High School’s administration contacted the system’s Technology Department about the app last Monday. The Technology Department reviewed Yik Yak policies and options for removing inappropriate content, Neill said. Among Yik Yak’s community guidelines are “You do not bully or specifically target

other yakkers and there is a zero tolerance policy on using people’s full names and phone numbers.”

“These guidelines are not being implemented or monitored by Yik Yak,” Neill said. “So, the decision was made to block the Yik Yak website within Trussville City Schools’ web filter, which would prevent students from using the school network

to access the comments.”Neill said the school

system contacted Yik Yak about its concerns. She said the company responded with its apologies and two ways to report inappropriate content. One way is to have two people select the comment and click the report inappropriate button. The second way is to take a screen shot of the comment and email it to [email protected] for immediate removal.

Clay-Chalkville High School Principal Michael Lee said the first few days the app was available, “it hit like a ton of bricks.” He said he’s spoken with area principals who have also had problems with Yik Yak.

“Any time there’s something out there where you can be anonymous and make false accusations or say things you think are funny, middle school and

high school kids fall into that trap a lot of times,” Lee said.

Lee said because the app uses location services, messages can be seen by students at other area schools, like Hewitt-Trussville and Pinson Valley. He said it’s bullying and harassment via social media.

“I think the problem with an app like Yik Yak is the anonymity to it,” he said.

Lee said the app has been disabled from all Jefferson County Schools wireless networks. Students, however, can still use the app if their WiFi is turned off. He said some students have come to the office to talk about the app and that he’s received emails from parents letting him know some of what they’ve seen.

Rules and consequences regarding Internet and cell phone use can be found in the Jefferson County Schools Code of Conduct,

available at www.jefcoed.com.

“It’s just an added thing teachers and administrators are going to have to look for and understand and do the best we can to try to educate our kids about,” Lee said.

Lee said parents should be “nosy” and know what apps their children are using. Neill said it’s a good idea for parents to “monitor

all digital activity” of their teens and make sure Yik Yak is not downloaded on their phones.

Lee normally makes announcements over the school’s intercom system about character education. The day after Yik Yak “took off,” Lee said, he didn’t. He talked about reputation versus character, about students not compromising their character for what their reputation could be. He said the classmate a student chooses to bully on social media could be the nurse that will save your life 10 years from now, could be the business owner that hires you.

“I just ended that by saying, ‘Don’t you hope they have good character?’” Lee said.


by Gary Lloyd

Editor

Yik Yak app hit schools like ‘ton of bricks’

file photo

Clay-Chalkville High School Principal Michael Lee

file photo

Trussville City Schools Superintendent Pattie Neill

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ger due to having to deal with mortgage companies and Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.”

In May 2013, the Clay City Council set aside $50,000 for use in case of a disaster situation. In June 2013, the city council put a new disaster recovery plan ordinance in place to help allocate resources after a disaster. In case of a disas-ter, the ordinance states, the mayor will be the official public information officer, and the city manager will be the emergency opera-tions manager. Either offi-

cial is authorized to spend up to $50,000 for “emer-gency equipment, supplies, or personnel without a vote from the council,” the ordi-nance states.

Dixon said the city

has “come a long way in 2013.”


TORNADO continued from page 1

The Trussville City Council last week ap-proved of a fast-dry ten-nis court to be constructed at the Trussville Racquet Club.

The city council ap-proved of Lower Bros. Co., Inc. constructing the court for $59,500.

City officials said that another tennis court was needed due to the popu-

larity of the courts in the Trussville Sports Com-plex. Trussville City Coun-cil President Buddy Choat said there is a “tremen-dous amount” of use of the courts.

The Trussville Racquet Club already includes six clay courts and six hard courts.

The city council last week also awarded a con-tract to Birmingham Coca-Cola for a $56,000 con-tribution to the city to be used for park purposes.

A new scoreboard will be coming for Spradling Field for $4,000, an ice machine will be purchased for the Trussville Senior Activ-ity Center for $4,000 and $2,500 will be used toward future scoreboard repairs.

Choat said he believes this may be the best con-tract he’s seen to help with park projects. Parks and Recreation Department Director David Vinson agreed.

“It really, really comes in handy,” Vinson said.

Trussville approves fast-dry tennis courtby Gary Lloyd

Editor The Trussville City Board of Education last week approved kitchen equipment, mechanical, plumbing and electrical for the concession stand at Phil English Field.

Trinity Contractors won the bid for the work for a total cost of $123,984, said Trussville City Schools Facilities Coordinator Barry Davis.

Davis said the work should be done by the

time baseball season starts. Hewitt-Trussville hosts Grissom and Hartselle on Feb. 17. Davis said should the work not be completed by opening day, that it would be complete later that month.

“We’re looking good,” he said.

In December, the board of education approved of new bleachers being installed at the field for $83,700 by Red Bay-based Stadium Pros. Davis said at the time that new sidewalks and aluminum bleacher seating would be added. There will

be 100 Silver Husky seats and 200 general admission bleacher-style seats.

Hewitt-Trussville head baseball coach Jeff Mauldin said he’s “excited” about the concession renovation and the addition of the bleachers.

“We’re trying to make something our kids are proud of, our community is proud of,” Mauldin said.


by Gary Lloyd

Editor

photo courtesy of Hewitt-Trussville Athletics

Fans watch a Hewitt-Trussville baseball game at Phil English Field last season.

School board OKs Phil English Field concession renovation

area, the initial thought was to construct a new gym. He said the remaining gym space could be used for a large meeting room, choral room or health room.

The cost of construction was about $800,000 more than the original estimate, McDaniel said. He said there is “hope” that suffi-cient funding could be se-cured closer to the end of this fiscal year, which runs through Sept. 30.

In the meantime, Mc-Daniel said alternative solutions are being re-viewed, including building a new “standalone” caf-eteria complex in lieu of a new gym. Decisions about a “standalone” cafeteria could be made closer to the end of the fiscal year.

“It appears that this alter-native will be more cost ef-fective and solve the prob-lem with a lack of space,”

he said.Johnson Elementary’s

enrollment is about 800 students. Rainwater said the cafeteria was built for approximately 300 stu-dents. She said lunch starts around 10 a.m.

“Imagine yourself eating lunch in a cafeteria built for a school with around 300 students when Kermit Johnson now has almost 800 enrolled there,” Rain-water said. “They have to start lunches at around 10 a.m. so everyone can have lunchtime.”

McDaniel said additional classrooms were built sev-eral years ago for increased enrollment, but additional space was not provided for the cafeteria or gym. He said Chalkville Elementary School experiences “iden-tical problems,” though Chalkville’s situation is a “little worse.”

“Presently, the staff at Johnson Elementary does an excellent job of working within these limited spaces, but we do not like the idea of students having to eat lunch early and late,” Mc-Daniel said.

Rainwater encouraged parents of Kermit Johnson Elementary students to ask the Jefferson County Board of Education questions.

“Email them. Call them. Don’t let them forget about us and our school’s needs way out there on the other side of Pinson,” Rainwater said. “Hold the powers that be in our county responsi-ble for the things they said they’d do for our school.”


JOHNSON continued from page 1


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Several Pinson residents have rejected the proposed Highway 75 name change, Pinson City Councilman John Churchwell said at last week’s meeting.

According to Church-well, residents would rather have a name that reflects Pinson as a com-munity than something generic.

At the Jan. 2 meet-ing it was proposed that all of that highway from Brumbeloe Drive to the Tapawingo Road intersec-tion be changed in order to avoid confusion. That road currently has three differ-

ent designations within the city limits: Highway 75, Center Point Road and Center Point Parkway. This inconsistency has caused confusion in the past, Mayor Hoyt Sanders said at a previous meeting.

For simplicity, Sand-ers suggested the entire stretch simply be called Highway 75.

“I’ve heard several sug-gestions,” Churchwell said. “One was Pinson Parkway, one was Pinson Boulevard, something like that that has some charac-ter to it that people want to identify with the city.”

Sanders worried that Pinson Parkway might be-come confused with the already existing Pinson

Valley Parkway, the des-ignation for Highway 79 within Pinson city limits.

Churchwell also be-lieves the name change should go all the way to the city limit at Saturn Lane, rather than stop-ping at Brumbeloe. Coun-cilwoman Dawn Tanner agreed with both sugges-tions, adding that it will always officially be High-way 75 no matter what de-cision the council makes.

Sanders said that the change to something more resembling Pinson’s iden-tity would be discussed over the course of several meetings.

The city council next meets Feb. 6 at 6:30 p.m. at Pinson City Hall.

Pinson residents want highway name to reflect cityby Lee Weyhrich

Staff Writer TAX continued from page 1run for 25 years.

Neill talked about over-crowding at the Paine cam-pus and the traffic prob-lems that campus presents.

“We can do so much bet-ter than that in Trussville,” Neill said.

She talked about bring-ing the New Deal-era school building in the Ca-haba Project, which has been closed for five years, back as a school.

“This is a jewel,” she said. “That is something to be proud of, something to bring back to life.”

Both new schools would be equipped with Federal

Emergency Management Agency-approved commu-nity tornado shelters. Neill said that procedures would be put in place for the schools to open when there is a tornado warning. She said Trussville police of-ficers on patrol could have keys to open the schools.

Neill said out of 10 school systems in Jeffer-son County, Trussville is ranked seventh in terms of the amount of money the system receives from prop-erty taxes. A passing of the seven-millage property tax increase would put Truss-ville closer to the fund-

ing that systems such as Mountain Brook, Vestavia Hills and Homewood re-ceive. She said she wants Trussville City Schools to be the “premier school sys-tem” in the Birmingham metro area.

“I just want people to vote, and we’ll take it from there,” Neill said. “What-ever the people decide, that’s what we’re going to do.”


The Trussville City Council last week autho-rized the execution of a warrant purchase contract with Merchant Capital for the sale and issuance of the city’s general obligation warrants.

The warrants’ purpose is to provide funds to con-struct, acquire and equip various capital improve-ments in the city of Truss-ville, including the new Hewitt-Trussville Stadi-um. The other purpose is to provide the refunding, at lower interest rates, of var-ious debt issued by the city.

Trussville City Council-man Alan Taylor said last

Thursday that the warrants had sold.

“That went extremely well,” he told the Truss-ville City Board of Educa-tion.

Trussville City Board of Education President Bill Roberts said the quick sale of the warrants speaks to the “good quality” of Trussville.

The city council in Octo-ber approved an ordinance refunding its general obli-gation warrants from 2003. The city council earlier that month had authorized Mayor Gene Melton to take out a loan with Compass Bank to pay off a bond is-sue of $4.975 million with 10 years remaining on the debt obligation.

The current interest

rate on the bond issue is 4.1 percent, escalating to 4.875 percent over the next 10 years. The interest rate on the loan from Compass will be 2.43 percent.

According to the or-dinance, the principal of and interest on the warrant shall be payable in month-ly installments on the 10th day of each month begin-ning Dec. 10.

Melton said the refinanc-ing will save the city of Trussville about $700,000.

The bonds were issued in 2003 to pay off 1996 war-rants for parks, fire trucks and drainage.


Trussville OKs warrant purchase contractby Gary Lloyd

Editor

The Trussville City Council last week voted to participate in the 2014 Severe Weather Prepared-ness Sales Tax Holiday, choosing to relinquish the city’s municipal sales and use tax for storm-related purchases.

The sales tax holiday be-gins at 12:01 a.m. Friday,

Feb. 21, and runs through midnight on Sunday, Feb. 23.

Examples of items in-cluded in the sales tax holi-day are batteries, weather radios, cell phone chargers, tarps, flashlights, first aid kits and plywood.

The Clay City Council voted in October to partici-pate in the sales tax holi-day.

The sales tax holiday was first held in 2012.

The city of Pinson will also participate in the sales tax holiday.

For more information, visit the Alabama Depart-ment of Revenue website at http://revenue.alabama.gov.


Trussville to participate in severe weather preparedness sales tax holidayby Gary Lloyd

Editor

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The U.S. Attorney’s Of-fice for the Northern Dis-trict of Alabama collected $2.3 million in fiscal year 2013 from criminal and civil actions, and an ad-ditional $12.2 million in criminal and civil forfei-tures, U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance announced earlier this month.

In addition to the $2.3 million the office collected on its own through civil and criminal actions, it worked with other U.S. At-torney’s offices or Justice Department components to collect an additional $184 million in cases pur-sued jointly. The Northern District of Alabama partic-ipated in 2013 collections resulting from the Justice Department’s $184 mil-lion fair lending settlement with Wells Fargo Bank.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced earlier this month that the Justice Department col-lected about $8.1 billion in civil and criminal actions in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30. The more than $8 billion in collections rep-resents nearly three times

the appropriated $2.76 bil-lion budget for the 94 U.S. Attorney’s offices and the main litigating divisions for the 2013 fiscal year.

“The department’s en-forcement actions help to not only ensure justice is served, but also deliver a valuable return to the American people,” Hold-er said. “It is critical that Congress provide the re-sources necessary to match the department’s mounting caseload. As these figures show, supporting our fed-eral prosecutors is a sound investment.”

Of the $2.3 million col-lected through civil and criminal actions in the Northern District of Ala-bama alone, $2.1 million was collected as part of criminal prosecutions and $216,562 was recovered through civil lawsuits and debt collections.

“I am proud of the hard work by employees in my office that allowed us to return more money to the taxpayer than we were al-lotted in our budget for the year,” Vance said. “The $14.5 million we collect-ed and recovered through forfeitures in local mat-ters, along with the $184 million we worked with

other offices and the Jus-tice Department to collect, should leave no doubt that the U.S. Attorney’s Office in North Alabama renders a great service to our com-munity.”

Among the cases that led to the office’s $12.2 million in asset forfei-tures was the conspiracy, fraud and money launder-ing conviction of Maurice William Campbell Jr. in a scheme to use his position as director of the Alabama Small Business Develop-ment Consortium to obtain $7.3 million from the state. A federal judge last year sentenced Campbell to 15 years in prison and ordered him to pay $5.9 million in restitution to the state of Alabama and to forfeit $7.6 million to the federal government as proceeds of illegal activity. The office seized $1.2 million in as-sets in the 2013 fiscal year toward the forfeiture judg-ment. Three other people who worked with Camp-bell were convicted in the fraud scheme.

The U.S. Attorneys’ of-fices, along with the Jus-tice Department’s litigat-ing divisions, are respon-sible for enforcing and collecting civil and crimi-

nal debts owed to the U.S., and criminal debts owed to federal crime victims. The law requires defendants to pay restitution to victims of certain federal crimes who have suffered a physi-cal injury or financial loss. While restitution is paid directly to the victim, criminal fines and felony assessments are paid to the department’s Crime Vic-tims’ Fund, which distrib-utes the funds to state vic-tim compensation and vic-tim assistance programs.

The largest civil col-

lections were from affir-mative civil enforcement cases, in which the United States recovered govern-ment money lost to fraud or other misconduct or collected fines imposed on individuals and/or cor-porations for violations of federal health, safety, civil rights or environmen-tal laws. In addition, civil debts were collected on behalf of several federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Hous-ing and Urban Develop-ment, Health and Human

Services, Internal Revenue Service, Small Business Administration and De-partment of Education.

Forfeited assets are de-posited into the Depart-ment of Justice Assets For-feiture Fund and are used to restore funds to crime victims and for a variety of law enforcement purposes.


U.S. Attorney’s Office collects $14.5 million in civil, criminal actionsby Gary Lloyd

Editor

Two women who were indicted in July 2013 for possessing stolen mail in Trussville were sentenced last Wednesday.

Toya Laparris Shepard, 22, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Abdul Kallon to three years of supervised probation, including six months of home detention. Shepard was also ordered to pay a $1,000 fine and be responsible for paying $29.69 in restitution to the

resident who was to have received a pair of Chico’s pants, which were stolen.

Shayla Monique Daughtry, 23, was sentenced by Kallon to the time she had already served in jail and two years of supervised probation. She was also ordered to pay $29.69 in restitution to the resident. Daughtry remains in jail because of state charges in unrelated cases, including theft of property, according to Kent Faulk of The Birmingham News.

Shepard and Daughtry were originally charged with possessing stolen mail

and clothing removed from a package that had been

stolen from the mail in Trussville on July 27, 2013.

According to plea agreements, a Trussville resident observed someone in the passenger side of a vehicle take mail from her mailbox. The vehicle then drove away and the resident followed while calling Trussville police. The resident then observed items being thrown from the vehicle’s passenger side. Trussville police officers stopped the vehicle shortly afterward, according to plea agreements. Shepard was the passenger. An infant and toddler were also in the

vehicle.Police recovered a pair

of Chico’s pants and some medical scrubs from the vehicle, according to plea agreements.

When the two were indicted, it was announced that the maximum penalty for possessing stolen mail was five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service and Trussville Police Department investigated the case.


by Gary Lloyd

Editor

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Pinson City Council-man Joe Cochran wanted to let people know that last Thursday’s council meet-ing was not typical.

The reason he made that statement was that thou-sands of dollars worth of checks were awarded or granted to various organi-zations.

Clay-Pinson Chamber of Commerce Director Ron-nie Dixon presented three organizations with checks for their participation in last year’s Alabama But-terbean Festival.

Pinson Valley Band Boosters received $750 for

taking care of cleanup and garbage collection efforts at the event. Restoration Church received $750 for putting on a car show. The Pinson Education Founda-tion received $2,000 from the proceeds of the festi-val.

Barry Wilson, president of the Palmerdale Home-steads Community Center, was on hand to present $4,386 to the Pinson Val-ley High School art de-partment. The money was raised during PHCC’s an-nual Insanitarium haunt-ed house attraction. The annual attraction raises money for the community center and the high school art department, and a por-tion of the proceeds go to

the city to help pay for rent and utilities at the commu-nity center.

Roughly $1,500 was paid out of the proceeds to the city for utilities, and another $1,500 went to rent, Wilson said. Wilson refused to take any credit for Insanitarium’s success.

“We appreciate the stu-dents, they really did it,” Wilson said.

Pinson City Attorney Shane Black was also on hand to present the checks for this year’s Christmas parade floats. The Pinson Historical Society won first place, First Baptist Church of Pinson won second and Sharon Baptist Church placed third.

photo by Lee Weyhrich

A check is presented for the success of last year’s Insanitarum at the Palmerdale Homesteads Community Center.

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The Relay for Life of East Jefferson-Trussville and surrounding areas will hold a kickoff event at the Trussville Civic Center on Saturday.

The event will last from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.

Five acts from the Nash-ville Bound Academy of Country Music are lined up to perform. They in-clude Addie Hoffman, Megan Markle, Skylar Wallace, Brinkley Rack-

straw and Jackson Capps.Information about Relay

for Life will be presented at the event. Attendees can learn how they can make a difference in the lives of cancer patients in the area and make new friends.

There will also be door prize giveaways and a waffle bar.

All cancer survivors are encouraged to attend the event with friends and family.

The Relay for Life of East Jefferson event is scheduled for April 25 from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. the

next day at the Truss-ville Youth Football Field in the Trussville Sports Complex.

The East Jefferson Re-lay’s 2013 effort garnered more than $76,000, far surpassing the $50,000 goal set earlier in the year.

Relay for Life is an event that raises funds to fight cancer and a chance

to honor cancer survivors and remember loved ones lost. Special moments during a typical Relay for Life event include a lu-minaria ceremony, a fight back ceremony and a sur-vivors lap.

For more information, find “Relay for Life of East Jefferson-Trussville and surrounding areas” on Facebook.


Relay for Life kickoff Saturday in Trussvilleby Gary Lloyd

Editor

file photo by Scott Buttram

Participants walk the survivors lap during the 2012 Relay for Life of East Jefferson in Trussville.

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Gov. Robert Bentley last week announced his support for new legislation that will strengthen Alabama’s Open Meetings Law.

“Transparency promotes gov-ernment accountability, and as elected officials, we are held ac-countable for our decisions by the people we serve,” Bentley said. “It is important that our state’s open meetings law allows the public to see and be involved in government decisions. The goal of this new legislation is to fur-

ther strengthen Alabama’s Open Meetings Law.”

The legislation will propose three legislative amendments to the current 2005 Open Meetings Law:• It expressly states that meetings

in small groups without proper notice to discuss issues that will come before the full body is not permitted. There are times when government business re-quires closed-door meetings, and the current law provides for those situations.

• Clarifies that any Alabama citi-zen has a right to bring an action against a governmental body if

it believes it has violated the law, and any penalties assessed are payable to the plaintiff.

• The legislation reflects that the Alabama Constitution requires the Alabama Legislature to meet with its doors open to the public unless a vote is taken in public that secrecy is required in certain circumstances.The legislation, introduced last

Wednesday, is co-sponsored by Sen. Cam Ward of Alabaster and Rep. Mike Hill of Columbiana.

“Transparency is crucial to maintaining the public’s trust in our government institutions,” Ward said. “We must do every-

thing we can to ensure that we have the highest level of open access in the operation of govern-ment.”

Hill said meeting one on one to avoid discussing public business in public was never intended to be an acceptable practice under the Open Meetings Law, except where expressly permitted.

“I was a co-sponsor of the re-write of our Open Meetings Law in 2005, and as is the case with most comprehensive laws, some areas need to be better defined and clarified,” Hill said. “That is my goal with this new legisla-tion.”

The Alabama Press Association is a statewide trade association representing daily and non-daily newspapers in Alabama and also supports the new legislation.

“These simple amendments only clarify the original intent of the Alabama Legislature to have a strong and effective open meet-ings law that provides a window into the deliberative process of their government,” said Dennis Bailey, general counsel of the Al-abama Press Association.


Governor supports Open Meetings Law legislationby Gary Lloyd

Editor

U.S. officials earlier this month declared the con-ditions at Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women in We-tumpka unconstitutional, outlining allegations of prison guards harassing and sexually abusing in-mates for nearly 20 years.

The U.S. Department of Justice reported results of an April 2013 investigation to Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley and announced it would expand its investi-gation. The Department of Justice’s report condemns the environment at Tutwil-

er Prison and the failure of prison officials to address the problems.

The Alabama Depart-ment of Corrections had received written notifica-

tion from the Department of Justice on March 4, 2013, commencing an in-vestigation into the condi-tions of confinement at the prison.

In January 2013, Ala-bama Department of Cor-rections Commissioner Kim Thomas announced implementation of a for-mal action plan to improve operations at Tutwiler. The action plan is based on a technical assistance report provided by the DOJ’s National Institute of Cor-rections. Prior to receiving the report in November, the ADOC began address-ing and implementing 58 specific opportunities as identified by the National Institute of Corrections. To date, 57 action items have been completed.

“We consider allega-tions of custodial sexual

misconduct to be an unac-ceptable abuse of power,” Thomas said. “During the last year we have worked tirelessly to implement recommendations of the DOJ’s National Institute of Corrections, a review that I requested. Positive reforms have been put in place and those reforms will continue

“We have been proactive from the beginning. We have never downplayed the significant and serious na-ture of these allegations. I do not, however, agree that Tutwiler is operating in a deliberately indifferent or unconstitutional manner. We will cooperate with the Department of Justice

and continue our efforts to implement changes and recommendations with the goal of improving prison conditions and avoiding potential contested litiga-tion.”

The Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women is a maximum-security prison in We-tumpka. The prison has 13 dormitories, segregation, a mental health unit, a medi-cal infirmary, and units for inmates who are pregnant or aged and/or infirmed. In addition, Tutwiler has an auditorium, chapel, sub-stance-abuse treatment and administrative ancillary services.

photo courtesy of the Alabama Department of Corrections

The Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women

‘Positive reforms’ put in place at Tutwiler Prison for Womenby Gary Lloyd

Editor


Who is the fastest?You’ll find out Saturday.Trussville Boy Scouts

Pack 216’s Pinewood Derby on Saturday will include a first responders challenge.

The derby is scheduled for 10 a.m. Saturday at the

Trussville Civic Center. A Trussville Fire Depart-ment fireman and Truss-ville Police Department policeman will each race a pinewood car they made in a competition to determine “Trussville’s Fastest First Responder.”

The winner will receive a trophy that the depart-ment will keep for one year. Each year, the depart-

ments will compete for the same trophy.

In addition to the Pine-wood Derby, both depart-ments will set up emergen-cy vehicles and a smoke-house for the Boy Scouts to tour.


Rumors have circulated for weeks about the future of the Kmart in the Truss-ville Shopping Center on Chalkville Mountain Road.

Sears Holdings Corpo-rate Communications Di-rector Howard Riefs has quelled the notion, calling it “a bad rumor.”

“There are no plans to close that store,” Riefs said Monday.

The Big Kmart on Crest-

wood Boulevard in the Irondale area officially closed last month.


Bojangles’ will open its Trussville location Mon-day, Jan. 27 at 5 a.m.

The restaurant is located at 1880 Gadsden Highway.

According to a Bojan-gles’ press release, the av-erage investment made by the company for new loca-tions is $1.7 million.

Bojangles’ Regional Vice President Patrick Boykin said the company is “thrilled” to serve cus-

tomers in Trussville.Bojangles’ was founded

in 1977 in Charlotte, N.C.


Saturday’s Pinewood Derby includes Trussville first responders

Trussville Kmart closing? ‘Bad rumor,’ company spokesman says

Trussville Bojangles’ opening date set

by Gary Lloyd

Editor

by Gary Lloyd

Editor

by Gary Lloyd

Editor

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One property near Pin-son has seemingly been a continual source of trouble and that property was once again a topic of discussion at last week’s Pinson City Council meeting.

For more than a year, a property at 6201 Kaley Lane has been a topic of the council’s discussion. The land, which is in the city’s police jurisdiction but outside the city limit, has had two “danger-ous structures.” Since the property was outside city boundaries, the council has had to go through a lengthy process with the court system to be allowed

to demolish the abandoned home on the property.

That issue was recently taken care of, and the home was removed. However, the council was unsure if the court’s decision in-cluded the destruction and removal of a detached ga-rage on the property. The council has now been giv-en permission to remove that outbuilding as well.

A company did the de-molition on the main struc-ture, and placed a bid of $2,000 for removal of the smaller structure. Accord-ing to councilmen John Churchwell and Robbie Roberts, that company is currently in violation of several city ordinances at this time and should not be awarded city contracts

until it becomes compliant. The councilmen would not elaborate on the nature of the compliance issues, but only that the main issue was at their business lo-cation and “could be seen from the road.”

“Anyone we do business with needs to be following the guidelines of the city,” Churchwell said.

The demolition may be delayed while the council discusses demolition op-tions. The entire cost of the abatement and demoli-tion will be entered into tax documents as a lean on the Kaley Road property City Attorney Shane Black said. If that money is not paid back to the city during the next tax cycle, the property could be auctioned off.

Demolition of problematic structure near Pinson may be delayed

by Lee Weyhrich

Staff Writer

by Lee Weyhrich

Staff Writer

The Pinson City Coun-cil is still discussing op-tions for ground cover in the future Pinson city park playground areas.

Questions arose during the last council meeting regarding the loose wood-en material found in the original park plan.

There is a “significant cost difference between the wood carpet and the other items,” Mayor Hoyt Sanders said. “This is not just ordinary mulch that you would get from a pulp yard, this is treated prod-uct designed for (play-ground cover).”

The wood product is es-

timated to cost, initially, $4,400 with an additional $13,200 in maintenance over the course of a 12-year period. At the other end of the cost spectrum, poured-in-place rubber matting will initially cost $39,600 with $24,200 in upkeep over the next 12 years.

Bonded rubber and rub-ber tiles would each cost $22,000 initially with $22,000 and $17,600 in maintenance costs, re-spectively.

While costs will be much lower on the wood product, the wood materi-al would require more reg-ular maintenance than the other two to remain com-pliant under the Ameri-cans with Disabilities Act.

Councilwoman Dawn Tanner worries that main-tenance will only be one of the issues with the wood carpet.

“I personally would not prefer ‘loose’ anything,” Tanner said. “I think it’s a mess, I don’t think it looks good and I’m not sold on it.”

Some of the issues brought up over loose material at the previous meeting were its migra-tory nature, its ability to be thrown and the possi-bility that either of these two issues might cause problems with the nearby splash pad.

The council will further discuss the issue at a fu-ture meeting.

Pinson discusses park ground cover

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A traffic accident was reported early Monday morning on Highway 75 near Palmerdale, accord-ing to the Jefferson County

Sheriff’s Office.Sgt. Jack Self said the

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Self said a car flipped four or five times. The driver was alert and talk-ing, and was transported to

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Wreck reported near Palmerdaleby Gary Lloyd

Editor

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Trussville City Fest has been scheduled for Satur-day, May 3.

The event will begin at 11 a.m. and run until 9 p.m. In recent years, the event has been scheduled for two days.

“We just think it might work better to have as much fun as we can all in one day,” said Trussville

Area Chamber of Com-merce Executive Director Diane Poole. “I’m excited about the possibilities and can’t wait to see how it turns out.”

Volunteers are needed to assist with planning for the children’s area, food vendors, programming and booth vendor recruitment for the 34-year-old festival.

More information about the event, which typically features a children’s play area, a classic car show

and musical entertainment, will be released as the date nears.

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The Clay City Council at its next meeting will likely consider a citywide leash ordinance.

The city council meets Feb. 3 at 6:30 p.m. at Clay City Hall.

At Tuesday’s council meeting, Clay City Man-ager Ronnie Dixon gave council members a pro-posed leash ordinance to review. He said it would work “in conjunction” with the city’s “vicious dog” or-dinance approved in June 2013.

“I think you’ll find it suitable,” City Attorney Alan Summers told council members.

The proposed ordinance states that the city has un-dertaken to establish the ordinance “to protect the public health and safety of

its citizens and to promote the general welfare of the citizens and animals resid-ing within the city.”

The proposed ordinance states that it shall be unlaw-ful for “the owner or person in charge of an animal ex-cept cats and fowl to cause or permit such animal to run at large or be upon a street, sidewalk, thoroughfare, property other than that of the owner of the animal, or public place within the city or its police jurisdiction, un-less such animal is attached to a leash in the hands of said owner or person in charge of said animal.”

The ordinance goes on to say that any animal found running at large in the city or its police jurisdiction may be impounded in the shelter designated as the animal control center and there confined in a humane manner for a period of not less than three days and

thereafter be euthanized in a humane manner if not claimed by its owner.”

Dixon said that a dog was killed by another dog in the Paradise Valley subdivision last week. He said in late July 2013 that 15 to 18 pit bulls had been registered with the city since the “vi-cious dog” ordinance took effect in June. He said that also since that time, two dogs in the city had been killed by pit bulls and three more injured by pit bulls. He said in one of those five cases, a dog climbed over a fence, and in another a dog was unleashed. He didn’t know the particulars of the other three instances. A small bird dog was killed by an American Bull Terrier in Clay in November.


Trussville City Fest to be May 3

Clay will consider leash ordinance

by Gary Lloyd

Editor

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Wintzell’s coming to Trussville, Old Navy leaves

Mobile’s Wintzell’s Oyster House is planning an April opening in Trussville, company spokeswoman Stacey Wellborn told The Tuscaloosa News.

The seafood restaurant opened in Mobile in 1938 and currently has 11 locations in Alabama and a 12th in Pittsburgh, Pa. The nearest restaurant is in Northport, but that location will close at the end of its lease

and re-open a few weeks later on Skyland Boulevard in Tuscaloosa, according to the article.

Sources have said Wintzell’s has shown interest in the former Costa’s Barbecue building on Chalkville Mountain Road, but that location has not been confirmed.

The Old Navy store in Trussville’s Colo-nial Promenade at Tutwiler Farm shopping center had its last day of operation Tuesday.

A “We’re Moving” sign posted on the store’s doors says the store opened Wednes-day at 5 p.m. at a location at the Outlet Shops of Grand River in Leeds.

The move was first reported in July 2013.

Business briefs: From staff reports

photo by Diane Poole

The scene at Trussville City Fest in a recent year



SAVE THE DATE!

All Tickets $5.00 Children 10 and under FREE




www.BLACKRIDGELAND.com

12pm: Doors Open 12pm–3pm: Chili Sampling 2:30pm: Awards Ceremony

by Gary Lloyd

Editor


“What was I thinking?”

Did you really think that you would not have to make funeral arrangements one

day for a family member or friend? Why wait until there is a death to find out

what’s involved and how much it will cost?

Are you prepared? Don’t put it off any longer.

Everything you need to know is just a phone call away.

j m g a r d e n s . c o m

Call us at (205)655-2536 and make an appointment with our Family Service Department for more details.

We are offering a $3,000 preneed discount on our Traditional Funeral Service Package

until February 16, 2014.

Do you really think that you won’t have to make funeral arrangements for a family

member or a friend one day? Why wait until there’s a death to find out

what’s involved and how much it will cost?

Are you prepared? Don’t put it off any longer.

Everything you need to know is just a phone call away.

Zumba on Mondays, Wednesdays in Trussville

Zumba with Karla is at the Trussville Civic Center Mondays and Wednesdays at 9 a.m. The $7 classes are for members and non-members. For more information, email [email protected] or call the civic center at 205-655-9486.

Wrestling at Palmerdale Homesteads Community Center

GCW Wrestling is the first Saturday each month at 7 p.m. at the Palmerdale Homesteads Community Center. The Mark Taylor Band performs the fourth Saturday each month, clogging and line dancing, 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.

Georgiana Davis Masonic Lodge meetings

Georgiana Davis Masonic Lodge No. 338 in Trussville meetings are at 7:30 p.m. on the second and fourth Monday each month. Practice nights are on the first and third Monday. Family nights are on the fifth Monday of the month. The lodge is at 190 Beechnut St. in Trussville. For more information, call Bryan Stover at 205-706-5220.

Jazzercise at Trussville Civic Center

Jazzercise is Mondays at 5 p.m., Tuesdays and Thursdays at 9 a.m. and 5:30 p.m., and Saturdays at 9 a.m. at the Trussville Civic Center. For more information, contact Beth Gilbert at 205-966-9893.

Trussville property tax vote Feb. 25

A special property tax election in Trussville will be Feb. 25, 2014, for the purpose of two new elementary schools. Voting places will be Trussville City Hall and First Baptist Church of Trussville. Polls will be open that day from 7 a.m. to

7 p.m. Seven additional mills in property taxes would cost Trussville residents $70 per year on homes appraised at $100,000, $140 per year on homes appraised at $200,000 and $210 per year on homes appraised at $300,000.

Super Chili Bowl Feb. 1The Super Chili Bowl is scheduled

for Feb. 1 at the Trussville Civic Center. The registration deadline is Jan. 30. Registration is $25 per competitive team and $20 per fun team. Admission to the event is $5 in advance and at the door. Children ages 10 and under get in free. For more information, visit www.trussvillechili.org.

Square dancing Jan. 27A free introduction to square dancing

class will be Jan. 27 from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Friendship Hall in Fultondale. For more information, contact Dan Bailey at 965-8572 or Rilla Mewbourn at 680-4711.

Next Trussville City Council meeting

The next Trussville City Council meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 28 at 6 p.m. at Trussville City Hall.

Trussville school board meeting Jan. 27

The Trussville City Board of Education will hold its first meeting of 2014 on Jan. 27 at 6 p.m. at the Trussville City Schools Central Office on North Chalkville Road. A public work session begins at 4:30 p.m.

Reading, memorizing scripts workshop Feb. 6-27

A workshop on reading and memorizing scripts will be held each Thursday from Feb. 6 through Feb. 27 at ACTA Theater in Trussville. Students will practice with small scripts and monologues. The class is intended to teach actors a fun way to

memorize lines. The class each Thursday lasts from 4:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. The cost is $65 for the one-month class. To register, email [email protected].

Springville dance Feb. 1The Traylor 8-piece band will play

Feb. 1 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at The Shack Burgers & BBQ at 5393 Highway 11 in Springville. For more information, visit www.bandmix.com/traylor8-pieceband or call 205-467-0770.

Author book signing in Trussville Feb. 16

Trussville native Garrett B. Robinson will sign copies and read from his book Feb. 16 at the Trussville Public Library. The signing will be from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. For more information, call the library at 205-655-2022.

First board meetings in Clay of 2014

The Clay Public Safety Committee will meet Jan. 27, the School Committee meets Jan. 23 and the Library Board meets Jan. 28. For more information, call Clay City Hall at 205-680-1223 or visit www.clayalabama.org.

‘The Night Sky’ storytime at Pinson library Feb. 21

Join Ms. Allison for “The Night Sky” storytime on Feb. 21 at 10 a.m. at the Pinson Public Library. Hear songs, stories and enjoy a snack. The library is located at 4410 Main St. in Pinson.

Movie night at Palmerdale UMC“Ragamuffin: The True Story of Rich

Mullins” will show Friday, Jan. 31 at 7 p.m. at Palmerdale United Methodist Church at 7776 Highway 75. Tickets are $10 and are available at www.palmerdaleumc.com or at the church office. For more information, call 205-681-9762.

Flashlight Easter Egg Hunt in Trussville April 5

A free flashlight Easter egg hunt will be April 5 at the Trussville Youth Football Field in the Trussville Sports Complex at 6:30 p.m. The hunt is for children ages 2 through 8. There will be 5,000 candy- and toy-filled eggs, face painting, a fire truck, a fire dog, cotton candy and a space bounce. Children should bring flashlights and baskets.

Emergency response trainings continue in Trussville

A community emergency response team module in Trussville is tonight, Jan. 23, at the Trussville Civic Center. Sponsored by the city of Trussville, the module will focus on disaster medical operations and last from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Other modules each week after that focus on disaster medical operations (Jan. 30), light search and rescue operations (Feb. 6), CERT organization (Feb. 20), disaster psychology (Feb. 27), terrorism and CERT operations (March 6) and graduation (March 13). All modules must be completed to graduate. For more information, email John Griscom at [email protected].

Have events you want to share? Email them to [email protected].

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205-655-0313137 North Chalkville Road, Trussville

“You are my friend if you do what I

command” (John 15:16).One of the favorite

hymns of millions of Christians is the old hymn, “What a Friend We Have in Jesus.” It has been popu-lar for many years because we all have a heartfelt need for a friend like him.

He is a unique friend in that as the hymn says, “He bears our sins and griefs.”

No matter how much we may be loved by our friends, we have only one friend who can, and did, bear our sins. His name is Jesus. We sinned, but he paid. He took our sin, our shame and our punish-ment upon himself on the

cross. As God’s word says, “We all like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid upon him the iniquity of us all” (Isa-iah 53:6).

He is unique, too, be-cause he can help us bear our griefs. Jesus knows about grief. Isaiah says of him, “He was despised and

rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with grief” (53:3).

Grief is widespread here on this earth. Death often comes and takes our loved ones, leaving us sad and lonely. When that happens, we need to lean heavily on Jesus. He can help us bear our grief and overcome our sorrow.

Oh, what a friend he is.

Dr. Robert Wilkerson is a minister, writer and founder of People for the Christian Way, an organi-zation whose mission is to encourage all people to practice Christian prin-ciples in business, politics and every area of life.

A collection of recent headlines suggest housing sales have

risen and that there is a boost in the housing mar-ket.

What does it all mean? There is no denying that 2013 was a much better year for the real estate mar-ket throughout most parts of Alabama. That said, ev-eryone should understand that these headlines and signs of marked market improvement do not apply uniformly to all markets. Everybody’s situation is different.

Even so, the improve-ments have been more than just encouraging. The ques-tion being asked by folks now is what can we expect in 2014. Headlines reflect a bit of a mixture of good news and maybe bad news.

First, the good news. Real estate sales are definitely up and that improvement is

building on itself. We are now experiencing sustained market appreciation. How-ever, it will take some more time for the losses of the past six to seven years to be made up.

If you were waiting on the bottom, you missed it. The bottom for most of the Birmingham metro area markets occurred in Oc-tober 2012. Prices are in-creasing at a rate above the inflation rate. Good news for homeowners, bad news for those wanting to buy their first home at rock bot-tom prices. Even so, rising rental rates and increasing mortgage interest rates are making that decision to buy a home almost a no-brainer for those that don’t own a home. However, first-time homebuyers need real guid-ance to understand how to make all this work to their advantage. As big an advo-cate as I am for home own-

ership, home ownership isn’t for everyone in every situation.

Zero down options are shrinking. One of the most formidable of these options, the USDA Rural Housing Program, is set to expire for many areas, most no-tably: Pinson, Moody, Pell City and Chelsea. The re-cent “final” expiration date for these zones was set to

expire Jan. 16. We were given yet another reprieve at the last minute until the government passes a con-tinuing resolution or budget before implementing the changes mandated by the 2010 Census. How much longer those changes can be delayed is uncertain. But it is certain that when they go into effect they will have dramatic impact on sales in these areas.

A year ago interest rates were at 3.25 percent, a his-toric low. Today they are 4.375 percent, still very low, but rising. By year’s end they will probably be above 5 percent. Many forecast are calling for 5.5 percent, which I believe is a worst-case scenario.

Note these rates are for the best loan applicants. Most will be paying from .5 to 1 percent higher than the low rates seen in advertise-ments. It’s important to un-

derstand that in the world of mortgage interest rates, ris-ing rates are at the moment the result of good economic news and falling rates the result of bad news.

New mortgage rules that went into effect Jan. 1 are expected to make it more difficult for mortgage lend-ers to make loans, at least that’s what the mortgage industry is saying. I sus-pect that for a while this will be true as they adjust their practices in response to needed industry change. My sense is that they will work through the mortgage quality issues and find a way to continue business by raising mortgage rates rather than front-end costs and passing unnecessary risks on to the secondary mortgage market. Those with poor credit and/or bur-densome debt will find it difficult to get a mortgage, and when they do they will

be paying significantly higher rates.

While on the decline, foreclosures are still with us and will probably continue at above historic norms for the next several years. While the new mortgage rules are intended to im-pede the creation of mort-gage time bombs, it’s really more complicated than that.

Simple answers are flawed, half-truths. Every market is unique and in the metro area we have literally thousands of micro markets each with its own set of dy-namics. Whether buying or selling you should get real guidance from a proven real estate professional. From my view, 2014 is already shaping up to be a banner year for the real estate mar-ket and I hope for you.

May the market be with you.

A heartfelt need for a friend like Jesus

Good news, bad news for real estate in 2014OpiNiON

Robert G. Wilkerson, D. Min.

Dave ParrishThe Real Story ...News and commentary

about the real estate market and related topics.

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