May 29 2014

inside

The Suburban Newspaper for Mountain Brook, Homewood, Vestavia Hills, Hoover and North Shelby County

OVER THE MOUNTAIN

JOU RNAL otmj.com

th

ursd ay, May 29, 2014

V ol . 23 #11

Classroom Champ

Grammy-themed Gala: Steve Martin, Edie Brickell headline ASC fundraiser

Cherokee Bend’s Corgill Is State Teacher of the Year

about town page 4

By Keysha Drexel Journal editor

See corgill, page 29

Wing Ding Weekend: Chefs compete in charity event chicken wing cook-off

about town page 5

Photo special to the Journal

A fourth-grade teacher at Cherokee Bend Elementary School in Mountain Brook has been named the Alabama Teacher of the Year.

State School Superintendent Tommy Bice announced Ann Marie Corgill as the winner of the Teacher of the Year title on May 14 at a ceremony in Montgomery.

Corgill was one of three Over the Mountain teachers named to the state Department of Education’s “Sweet 16” pool of candidates for the Alabama Teacher of the Year award.

Hoover City Schools’ Ellen Anson of Rocky Ridge Elementary and Craig Thompson of Spain Park High School were among the 16 finalists selected in April from more than 150 elementary and secondary school candidates across the state.

Corgill and Anson advanced to the “final four” candidates in the race for the Alabama Teacher of the Year.

As the 2014-2015 teacher of the year, Corgill will be a spokesperson for education and teaching professionals in the state and will also pres-

Ann Marie Corgill is congratulated by her fourth-grade students at Cherokee Bend Elementary School in Mountain Brook. Corgill will be recognized by the president at a reception at the White House and is now in the running for the National Teacher of the Year title and will attend the National Teacher of the Year Program Conference.

Recreation Station: Homewood unveils new community center

History Making Spain Park Wins First-ever Baseball Title

sports page 32

Finds are Keepers Photo courtesy David Hutto

Photo courtesy James Spann

news page 10

Lake House Renovation Turns into Family Project

Home page 20

Wild Night: Zoo’s Junior Board hosts Tails in the Trails

social page 12

Meet the candidates p. 8 • vestavia hills garden club marks 65th year p. 14 • Van hoover parties on p. 23 • hoover grad debuts on mtv p. 26

2 • Thursday, May 29, 2014

Opinion/Contents

Calling All Foodies

murphy’s law

And They Lived in Therapy Ever After...

Journal file photo by Lee Walls Jr.

Are you a Food Network junkie? A regular reader of Bon Appetit? The first in line when an intriguing restaurant opens?

Foodies, you know who you are.

In our June 12 issue, we’ll begin a regular section devoted to food, drink and the people who love both.

You’ll read about folks who make food their business, new places and good things to eat, cool new cooking tools and upcoming foodie events.

We hope our first Food section will help satisfy your appetite for culinary news—and give you a taste for more.

On otmj.com Browse through more photos from the best parties in town and check out the latest events happening in the Over the Mountain area.

Coming June 12

We will celebrate Dads and brides in our upcoming Father’s Day and Wedding issue.

in this issue About Town 4 People 8 news 10 Social 12

Weddings 19 home 20 schools 26 Sports 32

OVER THE MOUNTAIN

JOU RNAL

May 29, 2014

Publisher: Maury Wald Editor: Keysha Drexel Features Writer: Donna Cornelius Office Manager: Christy Wald Editorial Assistant: Stacie Galbraith Sports: Lee Davis Contributors: Susan Murphy, June Mathews, William C. Singleton III, Emil Wald, Marvin Gentry, Lee Walls Jr., Bryan Bunch Advertising Sales: Suzanne Wald, Julie Trammell Edwards, Tommy Wald Intern: Taylor Burgess Vol. 23, No. 11

Over The Mountain Journal is a suburban bi-weekly newspaper delivered to Mountain Brook, Homewood, Vestavia Hills, Hoover and North Shelby County areas. Subscriptions for The Journal are available for $24 yearly. Mail to: Over the Mountain Journal, P.O. Box 660502, Vestavia Hills, AL 35216. Phone: (205) 823-9646. E-mail the editorial department at editorial@otmj.com. E-mail our advertising department at ads@otmj.com. Find us on the Web at otmj.com.

Copyright 2014 Over The Mountain Journal, Inc. All rights reserved.

The Journal is not responsible for return of photos, copy and other unsolicited materials submitted. To have materials returned, please specify when submitting and provide a stamped, self-addressed envelope. All materials submitted are subject to editorial review and may be edited or declined without notification.

OVER THE MOUNTAIN Journal

O

nce upon a time, I was a Picture it. There he was, all snugchild who loved to read. gled down in his cartoon PJs, chocolate When I graduated to mothmilk at his side, when I smugly began, erhood, reading became part of my “Once upon a time…” It was “The three-part-mantra (Read a book.

Gingerbread Man,” that rollicking story Draw a picture. Clean your room.) about the cookie boy who is pursued because I knew that reading was by a string of secondary characters. The important, not just the physical act illustrations were soft and sweet and of decoding words into meaning, my grandson enjoyed the repetition, but but the stories you encountered, the then we came to the final page where doors they opened, the way they the Gingerbread Man was unceremonihelped you make sense of the emoously snapped in two by the fox. tional world around you.

“But that’s okay,” the storyteller So, it should come as no surprise continued, ”Because that’s what gingerto anyone that when my grandchildren bread men are made for.” The End. were born, I began to deluge them with I couldn’t even look at my grandson.

Sue Murphy books--board books and touch-andWhat a cruel trick. Introduce a child to feel books, books with flaps and character, drag him along My heart sank. This aoncuddly books with finger puppets, books the little guy’s quest, show him that rhymed and books that were just wasn’t literature. I a picture of the character being canplain silly. then say, “Okay, sweetie, didn’t remember The nibalized, When my 4-year-old grandson go to sleep.” came to visit, I quickly volunteered Brothers Grimm ever Miraculously, he did, but I didn’t. to take over the bedtime story ritual, referencing some- I stayed up half the night poureager to introduce him to the fairy ing through all the other children’s tales I loved as a child. But that one’s underwear. classics--“The Three Bears,” where first night he crawled into bed and an unaccompanied minor is surhanded me a chapter book with a prised in a stranger’s home, “The child-sized super hero on the cover.

Three Pigs,” where we’re supposed to rejoice when the It was volume five of the series and he was anxiously wolf falls down the chimney and dies in a pot of boiling awaiting chapter four. water. How about “Red Riding Hood,” where Grandma It was a lively story, to be sure, the chronicle of a smallish imaginative boy trying to work his way through is swallowed by the wolf and is released when the woodsman opens him up with an axe? Or my personal a soccer game. It contained a lot of drawings and boldfavorite, “Hansel and Gretel,” where the father abandons faced BAMs and POWs thrown in to liven up the text. his children in the woods at the request of his new wife, There was also a lot of potty humor and constant referleaving them to be lured into a candy house by a witch ence to a character named Stinky.

My heart sank. This wasn’t literature. I didn’t remem- who wants to fatten them and eat them, and the big hurrah comes when the witch herself is pushed into the oven ber The Brothers Grimm ever referencing someone’s and the door is slammed shut? Sweet dreams, my angel. underwear. There was never a mention of someone passEverybody loves you. ing gas or picking their nose. Surely we could do better No wonder we’re so neurotic. It’s all so…Grimm. than this. So the next night, I set out to introduce my grandson to the classics.

Given the choice, I think I’d rather be Stinky. ❖

over the Mountain Views

What’s your favorite vacation memory?

“My favorite memory has to be from when I went to the beach in 1950.

We went to Panama City before it was Panama City. ” Chris Underwood Homewood

“Our trip to Disney World was my favorite. We took the kids and the grandkids and it was just the best. A second choice would be when we visited the Holy Land.”

Suzy Johnson Vestavia Hills

“I have two. One of my favorite trips was to Egypt.

My other favorite vacation memory is when we took our grandson to Universal Studios in Orlando about three years ago. That was the best.”

Rhetta Wright Homewood

“My number one favorite memory is from our vacation in Australia. We went swimming at the Great Barrier Reef. Another favorite was our October 2013 trip to Italy. We visited Florence, Venice and Rome.

Susan Barber Vestavia Hills

OVER THE MOUNTAIN Journal

About Town

SPRING INTO STYLE

Thursday, May 29, 2014 • 3

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Welcome Center open daily. Homes from the high $300s to $600s plus.

Home to the highly-rated Vestavia Hills Elementary and Middle Schools at Liberty Park.

All information contained herein deemed accurate but not warranted. Liberty Park Joint Venture, LLP, Liberty Park Properties, and their respective builders and agents, are not responsible for errors or omissions.

(205) 945-6401

libertypark.com

4 • Thursday, May 29, 2014

About Town

By Keysha Drexel

W

Journal editor

hile the Alys Stephens Center has hosted the performances of a multitude of Grammy-winning artists over the years, Charlie Perry said the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s performing arts center is more than just a place to catch a great show.

Perry and his wife Sherri are the honorary chairmen of the 2014 Viva Health Starlight Gala, which will include a performance by Grammy Award winners Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers featuring Edie Brickell.

The June 8 fundraiser will benefit the Alys Stephens Center.

“People look at the Alys Stephens Center as a great place to go to see a concert, but what the Alys Stephens Center really is is a vehicle to bringing culture to our city and community,” Perry said.

The ASC opened in 1996 and houses four performance venues, including the 1,330-seat Jemison Concert Hall, the 350-seat prosceniumstyle Sirote Theatre, the 170-seat ReynoldsKirschbaum Recital Hall and the Black-box Odess Theatre.

The ASC’s mission, Perry said, is to be a place where the entire community experiences and engages in the arts. The ASC is home to the Alabama Symphony Orchestra, the UAB theater and music departments and ArtPlay, a new arts education center.

“So many studies show that students learn more and do better in school if they are regularly exposed to the arts,” Perry said. “And at the other end of the spectrum, being involved in the arts helps our senior citizens stay sharp.”

The ASC also provides free or low-cost arts education programs for children and adults through workshops, classes, master classes and school shows.

Perry, the owner of Highlands Associates Inc., is the president of the Alabama Symphony Orchestra’s board of directors. He and his wife are involved with several community organizations, including Central Alabama Boy Scouts and UAB’s Health Services Foundation and Comprehensive Care Center.

“I’ve been on the symphony board since the early 2000s when I made the push to really get involved with the cultural part of our community,” Perry said. “I’m also really involved

OVER THE MOUNTAIN Journal

A Boost for Birmingham

ASC Brings Culture to Community, Gala Chairman Says Charlie and Sherri Perry are the honorary chairmen for the 2014 Viva Health Starlight Gala.

Photos special to the Journal

Viva Health Starlight Gala

with UAB, and when this opportunity (to be the honorary Starlight Gala chairman) came up, I couldn’t think of a reason to say no because it helps UAB and the Alys Stephens Center.”

In addition to supporting the arts in Birmingham, the ASC is important to the metro area’s economic development, Perry said.

“I think it’s critical for Birmingham to offer more than the typical entertainment venues normally associated with the South,” he said. “Yes, we have great football traditions here, but for economic development, you have to have venues that are going to attract people from all over the world.”

And because UAB does attract students and professionals from all over the world, Perry said supporting cultural venues in Birmingham is more important than ever.

“With UAB, we have scientists looking to come here from every corner of the world, and to attract those brilliant minds, we have to show them that Birmingham is a place with a rich and diverse arts scene,” he said. “Those are the kinds of things that make people want to move their families here and do business.”

Perry said it benefits all residents in the Birmingham metro area to establish the city as a cultural destination.

“I’m a huge booster of Birmingham. I work in Birmingham. I eat in Birmingham, and I find my entertainment in Birmingham,” he said. “People need to realize that ultimately, as Birmingham goes, so goes the suburbs.”

Perry said he’s excited about hearing the featured performers at this year’s Viva Health Starlight Gala.

“To have someone like Steve Martin coming to Birmingham is a big deal, and I think it really speaks to the quality of what the Alys Stephens Center offers us,” he said.

Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers featuring Brickell will perform songs from the new album “Love Has Come for You” at 8 p.m. June 8. The playful performance will showcase original material performed by Martin and Brickell along with the unique blend of bluegrass and comedy that Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers have been delighting audiences with at their sold-out, critically-acclaimed shows.

The group won a Grammy in 2012 for Best Bluegrass Album with its “Nobody Knows You.” The group kicked off its tour March 14 in California, and aside from a stop in Snowden, Miss., in August, the ASC show in Birmingham is the only show planned for the Deep South.

When: June 8, 8 p.m. Where: Alys Stephens Center What: The University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Alys Stephens Performing Arts Center will present Grammy Award winners Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers featuring Edie Brickell for its 2014 Viva Health Starlight Gala. For more information: Visit www. alystephens.org or call 934-4012 The group’s recent appearances include “Austin City Limits,” “The Late Show with David Letterman” and “The Today Show” and performances at Carnegie Hall, the Grand Ole Opry, MerleFest and Neil Young’s Bridge School Benefit.

Several ticket packages are still available for the 2014 Viva Health Starlight Gala, but the supporter ticket package is sold out. The contributor ticket package has limited availability and includes premium seating for the performance and an elegant reception prior to the performance for $125 per person. For more information on the contributor ticket packages, call 975-2787.

The pre-show reception will begin at 7 p.m. at the Alys Stephens Center, 1200 10th Ave. South.

A VIP dinner package is also available for this year’s gala. James Lewis, owner and chef at Vittoria in Lakeview, will prepare a locallybased, seasonal menu for the gala dinner at the UAB National Alumni Society House. For more information on the VIP dinner packages, call 934-4012. ❖

Save the Date Homewood

Brookwood Live!

May 29, 5-9 p.m.

Colonial Brookwood Village Brookwood Live! returns to Colonial Brookwood Village May 29 with a performance by the Bicho Brothers. The event is free and runs from 5-9 p.m. For more information, call 871-0406.

Murray performing Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto at the ASO Coffee Concert at 11 a.m. May 30 at the Alys Stephens Center. Case Scaglione returns to the ASO podium for the concert. Guests can arrive early for complimentary coffee and pastries. Tickets are $19-$33. For more information, visit alabamasymphony.org or call 975-2787.

Hoover

Shelby County

Iron Giant Percussion May 29, 6:30 p.m.

Hoover Public Library The Hoover Public Library will host a performance by Iron Giant Percussion at 6:30 p.m. May 29. The four-piece percussion ensemble uses traditional drums as well as found objects like soda bottles, brake drums and propane tanks to make music. The event is free. For more information, visit www. hooverlibrary.org or call 444-7821.

Birmingham

ASO Coffee Concert May 30, 11 a.m.

Alys Stephens Center The Alabama Symphony Orchestra will close its season with violinist Tai

Show & Go May 31, 1-6 p.m.

Hoover Met Shelby County’s Show & Go antique and classic car event’s swap meet and food truck rally will be at the Hoover Metropolitan Stadium from 1-6 p.m. May 31. Vendors featuring a variety of crafts, information and classic car materials will set up shop at the Hoover Met. Food will be available from several different food trucks. Winners of the classic car competition will be announced. The event is open to the public and free to spectators. Classic car registration is $50. The event benefits SafeHouse of Shelby County. For more information, emailerinb@safehouse.org or call 3782922.

Birmingham

Yard Sale Fundraiser May 31, 7-10 a.m.

Pepper Place Market The Birmingham chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier International, a worldwide philanthropic organization of professional women in food, hospitality and beverage-related industries, will host a kitchen and tableware yard sale to benefit the Community Food Bank of Central Alabama and Pepper Place Market. The sale will be from 7-10 a.m. May 31 at Pepper Place Market, 2829 Second Ave. South, Birmingham.

LDEI Birmingham is working with Southern Progress, Hoffman Media and Birmingham Originals to put together this special yard sale. Shoppers can expect to find gently used cookware, utensils, gadgets, nice dishes, serving pieces, linens, cookbooks and more. For more information, visit www.ldei.org.

Hoover

Ross Bridge Spring Market May 31, 9 a.m.-2 p.m.

Ross Bridge Welcome Center The annual Spring Market at Ross Bridge May 31 will host vendors selling

fresh-picked local produce, honey, handmade jams and jellies, artisan and specialty products and regional crafts. There will also be activities for kids, music and more. The event is from 9 a.m.-2 p.m. at the Ross Bridge Welcome Center, 2101 Grand Ave. in Hoover. For more information, call 9510412.

Birmingham

Old Thyme Herbal Remedies of the South Presentation May 31, 12:30-4:30 p.m.

Birmingham Botanical Gardens Learn about herbal remedies of the South from 12:30-4:30 p.m. May 31.

The event will feature a presentation on common remedies for common complaints found in Southern folk medicine. Weather permitting, a portion of the class will be held in the native plant area. The class is $30 for members and 35 for non-members.

Parking is free. For more information, visit www.bbgardens.org or call 4143950.

North Shelby

Summer Reading Kickoff

May 31, 10 a.m.- 1 p.m.

North Shelby Public Library The North Shelby Library will kick off its summer reading program with an event from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. May 31. The event will feature inflatables, refreshments, games, face painting and more. No registration is required. The event is free, and all ages are welcome.

The library is at 5521 Cahaba Valley Road. For more information, visit www. northshelbylibrary.org or call 439-5550.

North Shelby

Bump N Grind XX May 31-June 1 Oak Mountain State Park Birmingham Urban Mountain Pedalers will present Bump N Grind XX May 31-June 1 at Oak Mountain State Park.

This is the largest mountain bike race in the South, according to event organizers.

On-site registration will be from 2-6:30 p.m. May 31; the basic entry fee is $45 and $25 for juniors 14 and younger.

The youth series is free on both May 31 and June 1. On June 1, the basic entry fee is $55 and $30 for juniors 14 and younger. For more information, visit www. bumpngrindrace.com.

About Town

OVER THE MOUNTAIN Journal Birmingham

Slow Art Sunday June 1, 2-3 p.m.

Birmingham Museum of Art Unlock the secrets of the collection at the Birmingham Museum of Art with Slow Art Sunday from 2-3 p.m. June 1. Docent Clyde Oyster will lead a discussion about the museum’s samurai armor in preparation for the summertime exhibition “Lethal Beauty: Samurai Weapons and Armor,” which opens June 28. The event is free. For more information on the program, visit www. artsbma.org or call the museum office at 254-2565.

Hoover

Battle of the Teen Bands June 6, 6-8:30 p.m.

Hoover Public Library Theatre Hear the tunes of some local bands as they compete for prizes in the

Thursday, May 29, 2014 • 5

Hoover Public Library’s 11th annual Battle of the Teen Bands in the Library Theatre June 6. The event is free and will run from 6-8:30 p.m. For more information, visit www.hooverlibrary.org or call 444-7830.

Wing Ding Weekend

Vestavia Hills

Summer Reading Kickoff June 1, 2-4 p.m.

Vestavia Hills Library in the Forest The Vestavia Hills Library in the Forest will kick off its summer reading program from 2-4 p.m. June 1 with a performance by Roger Day. The event will also include bounce houses, ice cream and science fun. Participants can register for the summer reading program during the event. For more information, visit vestavialibrary.org or call 978-0158.

Vestavia Hills

VBS: Ultimate Conquerors June 2-6, 9 a.m.-noon Shades Mountain Baptist Church Shades Mountain Baptist Church is hosting VBS: Ultimate Conquerors from 9 a.m.-noon June 2-6 for students entering kindergarten through those who have completed the fifth grade. Vacation Bible School is free. The church is at 2017 Columbiana Road in Vestavia Hills. For more information, visit www. shades.org/vbs or call 822-1670.

Vestavia Hills

The annual Wing Ding fundraiser will be this weekend in Vestavia Hills. From left: Tammy and Scott Holston and Susan and Beatty Richardson. Photo special to the Journal

Wing Ding 2014 May 31, 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m.

Vestavia Hills City Center Local chefs will be put to the test May 31 at the annual Wing Ding fundraiser in Vestavia Hills. The event will feature a chicken wing cook-off, refreshments and entertainment from Rollin’ in the Hay and Willie Guy and the Lost Maples.

There will also be children’s activities. The event raises money for the fight against cystic fibrosis. Tickets are $5 for adults. Children 12 and younger get in free. Wing Ding is from 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. at the Vestavia Hills Center City in the parking lot behind Mugshots. For more information, visit www. vestaviawingding.com or call 314-5537. ❖

The 30-Minutes-or-Less E.R. Service Pledge.

Emergency medicine is about three things: compassion, skilled care and speed. You’ll find these at Trinity Medical Center. The experienced E.R. physicians and the entire team are committed to working diligently to have you initially seen by a clinical professional* within 30 minutes of your arrival. If you need an E.R. fast, try our fast E.R. Once you do, you won’t want to go anywhere else. For more information, visit TrinityMedicalOnline.com.

*Clinical professional is defined as a physician, physician assistant or nurse practitioner. If you are experiencing a medical emergency, call 911.

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6/26/12 4:53 PM

6 • Thursday, May 29, 2014

big guy b’day

Birmingham

Vulcan’s Birthday Bash June 1, noon-4 p.m.

Vulcan Park and Museum Vulcan Park and Museum will host Vulcan’s 110th Birthday Bash from noon-4 p.m. June 1. The outdoor community celebration will include fun activities for the whole family.

The cost is $5 for ages 5 and older and will include admission to the party, Vulcan’s observation tower, the museum and a special exhibition in the Linn-Henley Gallery. Children 4 and younger and Vulcan members get in free. The park is at 1701 Valley View Drive. For more information, go to visitvulcan.com or call 933-1409.

Homewood

Miss Alabama Pageant June 4-7 Samford University The Miss Alabama 2014 pageant will be held June 4-7 at the Wright Fine Arts Center on the campus of Samford University in Homewood.

Contestants are divided into three groups. Preliminary competitions in talent, evening wear and swimsuit will be Wednesday-Friday with the final competition on Saturday. For more information, visit www.missalabama.com or call 871-6276.

Birmingham

“All In” Casino Royale June 6, 7:30-11 p.m.

Workplay The sixth annual “All In” Casino Royale benefiting the UAB Minority

About Town Health and Health Disparities Research Center’s Healthy Happy Kids Program will be from 7:30-11 p.m. June 6 at Workplay. The event is hosted by the MHRC Young Professionals Board to help raise awareness for the children served at the center. The event will include gaming activities, a DJ, heavy hors d’oeuvres and a full bar. Kier “Junior” Spates will host the semifinal round of Table Classic Championships and a concert featuring Yung Vokalz.

Tickets to the Casino Royale Concert, which include a signature souvenir beverage glass, are $85. Regular tickets are $65 and include one drink ticket.

Premiere tickets, which include reserved concert seating, express valet service, unlimited beer or wine and a keepsake beverage glass are $125 per person or $200 per couple. For more information, visit www.uab.edu/medicine/home/ casino-royale or call 401-7324.

North Shelby

Hoofin’ It 5K/10K/Fun Run June 7, 8:30 a.m.

Indian Springs School The Hoofin’ It 5K, 10K and Fun Run event will be held on the campus of Indian Springs School in North Shelby at 8:30 a.m. June 7. The event will benefit Special Equestrians, a therapeutic horseback riding program for those with physical, mental, developmental and emotional disabilities. The race will start in front of the horse barn and run

more information. visit http://altar84.org.

old-fashioned summer fun

Homewood

ROI Professional Networking June 11, 7:30- 8:30 a.m.

Drury Inns and Suites The newly-formed Return on Investment Professional Networking Group will hold its first meeting from 7:30-8:30 a.m. June 11 at Drury Inns and Suites in Homewood. The meeting is for business professionals from Jefferson County. For more information, contact Betsy Frazer at betsyfrombham@gmail.com or find the group on Facebook.

Homewood

North Shelby

Getting ready for the Summer Watermelon Festival are, from left: Brandi Nix, Alicia Brightwell, Savannah Nix, Sylvia Orrick and Sarah Yeager. Photo special to the Journal

Summer Watermelon Festival June 7, 8-11:30 a.m.

Homewood Central Park Alabama EDSers will host the Summer Watermelon Festival from 8-11:30 a.m. June 7 at Homewood Central Park. Proceeds will go toward research for Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, or EDS. The event will include old-time festival games, contests and a cake walk. Those attending will receive an attendance bag with prizes. There will also be food, drinks and vendor booths. Admission is $5. Tickets can be purchased for the games and other activities. The park is at 1632 Oxmoor Road. For more information, visit www.alabamaedsers.org or call 440-2638..❖

Birmingham

Magic City Brewfest June 6-7 Sloss Furnaces The eighth annual Magic City Brewfest presented by Free the Hops will be June 6-7 at Sloss Furnaces.

The weekend dedicated to craft beer will run from 7-11 p.m. June 6 and from 4-8 p.m. June 7. More than 200 beers from more than 75 breweries will be available, including many rare, specialty and cask ales. The Alabama Cask Garden sponsored

by The J. Clyde will feature firkins from the Alabama breweries. Tickets are $34.50 in advance or $40 at the door. Designated driver tickets are $10. For more information, visit www. magiccitybrewfest.com or call 531-5085.

OVER THE MOUNTAIN Journal

through trails and pastures. The cost is $30. For more information, visit www. specialequest.org or call 413-8246.

Birmingham

National Trails Day June 7, 9 a.m.-2 p.m.

Red Mountain Park Red Mountain Park will observe the American Hiking Society’s National Trails Day June 7 by hosting a trail hike. The two-mile hike is from 9 a.m.-2 p.m. on the park’s most popular trail, Ridge Walk. The event will also include snacks, drinks and fun giveaways. The event is free. The park is at 281 Lyon Lane. For more information, visit www. redmountainpark.org or call 202-6043.

Birmingham

SliceFest June 7, 9 a.m.-7 p.m.

Slice Pizza and Brew Slice Pizza and Brew will celebrate the Birmingham community with the third annual SliceFest Musical Festival

presented by Birmingham Budweiser June 7. Proceeds will benefit Alabama Forever. The festival will run from 9 a.m.-7 p.m. at 725 29th St. South in Birmingham. Tickets are $20 in advance or $25 at the door. For more information, visit www.slicefest.com or call 715-9300.

Hoover

Know More Orphans 5K June 7, 8-10 a.m.

Veterans Park Northwestern’s Mutual of Alabama will sponsor the Know More Orphans 5K to benefit Altar84 from 8-10 a.m.

June 7 at Veterans Park in Hoover.

Registrations starts at 6:30 a.m. The run starts at 8 a.m. and ends at 10 a.m.

Altar84 is an organization that serves orphans and vulnerable children locally and globally. Registration is $30. The park is at 4800 Valleydale Road. For

Birmingham

Art From the Heart June 15, 6 p.m.

B&A Warehouse The Art From the Heart fundraiser on June 15 at B&A Warehouse will also be a celebration of the 25th anniversary of Studio By the Tracks. The event will honor the studio’s students and 25 community residents for their contributions to its programs. The party starts at 6 p.m. and will include the works of 200 local artists up for bid at live and silent auctions. There will also be a student room featuring hundreds of pieces of students’ artwork for sale.

Heavy hors d’oeuvres will be served along with beer and wine. Tickets are $60. Tickets are available at www. studiobythetracks.org or at the door. ❖

Bring on the big green egg

Hoover

for more information please Call mike wedgworth: 205.365.4344

Sacred Harp Singing Convention June 12-14, 9:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m.

First Christian Church The 35th annual National Sacred Harp Singing Convention will be June 12-14 at First Christian Church, 4954 Valleydale Road in North Shelby. The event will feature three days of Southern hospitality, fellowship and shape-note singing from the Sacred Harp Hymnal, originally published in 1844 in Hamilton, Ga. The event will run from 9:30 a.m.2:30 p.m. each day and will include a covered dish luncheon. For more information, email pgwhite1901@gmail. com.

The second annual Big Green Egg Cook-off benefiting Easter Seals of Birmingham will be June 7 in Hoover.

From left: Joel Snead, Jessica Snead, Emily Shepherd, Brent Shepherd, Brooke Layton and Chad Messina.

Big Green Egg Cook-off June 7, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.

Photo special to the Journal Ross Bridge Welcome Center ABSCO Fireplace and Patio will present the second annual Big Green Egg Cook-off benefiting Easter Seals of Birmingham June 7. The fundraiser will be held from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. at the Ross Bridge Welcome Center in Hoover.

Those attending can taste the cook-off contestants’ food and craft beer from Cahaba Brewing Company. There will also be children’s activities including moonwalks, face painting and more. Tickets are $15 per person or $25 for a couple. Children 12 and younger get in free. The Ross Bridge Welcome Center is at 2101 Grand Ave. For more information, visit instagift.com/ eastersealsofbirmingham or call 314-2187.❖

people

OVER THE MOUNTAIN Journal

Wade Becomes Eagle Scout with Troop 63 A member of Boy Scout Troop 63 recently achieved the rank of Eagle Scout.

Louis F. Wade III was recently recognized at a Court of Honor ceremony held at Canterbury United Methodist Church in Mountain Brook.

Wade earned 24 merit badges and was elected by his fellow scouts to the Order of the Arrow.

He served as patrol leader, Louis F. Wade III assistant patrol leader and troop historian.

For his Eagle Scout project, Wade built and designed a trust fall, kiosk and benches for the Cherokee Bend Elementary Fair Oaks Adventure Curriculum program, a ropes course developed to promote team building skills at an early age.

Wade attended the Florida Sea Base and Northern Tier high adventure programs. He plans to complete the Triple Crown of scouting this summer by hiking more than 100 miles at the Philmont Scout ranch in New Mexico.

Wade is a rising senior at Mountain Brook High School, where he participates in the Leadership Mountain Brook program.

He is the son of Jane and Rick Wade.

His grandparents are Eleanor and Gene Cushman.

Callahan Earns Eagle Scout Rank with Troop 23 A member of Boy Scout Troop 23 at Discovery United Methodist Church has earned the rank of Eagle Scout.

Jake Callahan was recognized for

achieving the highest Boy Scout rank at a Court of Honor ceremony at the church in March.

Boy Scout Troop 23 is under the leadership of Scoutmaster Ted Moyer.

Callahan was a Cub Scout with Pack 393 at the church, earned the Arrow of Light and crossed into Troop 23 as a fifth-grader.

He attended many camps, including Philmont Scout Ranch and Florida Sea Base Camp, Boy Scout high adventure camps. Callahan had 93 total camping nights and 102 hiking miles.

He earned 23 merit badges on his way to becoming an Eagle Scout.

He served in many leadership roles, including senior patrol leader, assistant senior patrol leader and patrol leader.

He was also elected to the Order of the Arrow.

For his Eagle project, Callahan led friends and fellow scouts on the construction of pasture fencing Jake Callahan and gates and storage shelving at Special Equestrians, an equestrian therapy facility in Indian Springs.

Callahan is a 2014 graduate of Hoover High School and has played lacrosse during his high school years.

He has also been active in the Bluff Park United Methodist Church youth program and was a senior class officer at Hoover High.

He is the son of Jerry and Lori Callahan of Hoover. He is the grandson of Harold and Gerry Arndt of Hoover and Jerry and Ann Callahan of Oxford.

Callahan will attend Auburn University this fall.

Send People News to: kdrexel@otmj.com

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8 • Thursday, May 29, 2014

OVER THE MOUNTAIN Journal

Seven GOP Candidates in District 43 Race

By William C. Singleton III Journal Contributor

Seven Republican candidates are running to replace Mary Sue McClurkin, R-Indian Springs, to represent Alabama House District 43.

McClurkin last year announced she would not run for another four-year term after 16 years of service.

House District 43 covers portions of Jefferson and Shelby counties, including parts of Birmingham, Hoover, Helena, Indian Springs, Inverness and Pelham.

The seven candidates include McClurkin’s former campaign chairman, an optometrist, a former mayor, a radio personality and attorneys and business owners.

The Republican primary is scheduled for June 3.

John Bahakel

Age: 58 Residence: Hoover Occupation: Attorney Political Experience: Unsuccessful run as judicial candidate in 1998 Education: Law degree from Birmingham School of Law Why are you running for office?

“As your representative for District 43, I would work to develop more parks and green spaces for families, attract more businesses and create more jobs, attain funding for better roads, lower taxes, create more transparency in government (and) reduce government interference with businesses.”

For more information: Visit www. johnbahakel.com or www.facebook.com/ JohnBahakelfor43.

Cheryl Ciamarra

Age: 57 Residence: Unincorporated Shelby County Occupation: Self-employed at Ciamarra Communication Consulting Political Experience: Appointed by two governors to serve on the Alabama Women’s Commission and State Health

Four Vying for District 46 Seat

By Keysha Drexel Journal Editor

The pool of candidates vying for the Alabama House District 46 seat includes a former state senator, two newcomers to the political arena and an attorney who won the 2012 primary in a county judicial race.

Four Republicans are in the running for the seat being vacated by state Rep. Paul DeMarco, Justin Barkley

Age: 34 Residence: Homewood Occupation: Attorney representing employers and small businesses Political experience: First run

Coordinating Council Education: Bachelor’s degree from the University of Southwest Louisiana and master’s degree from Louisiana State University Why are you running for this office? “I have been a citizen advocate in Montgomery and know the legislative process.

I am concerned for federal intrusion into education and healthcare as well as the trend toward ever-increasing taxes on people and businesses.”

For more information: Visit www.cherylciamarra. com or www.facebook.com/ CherylCiamarraAL43 Doug Clark

Age: 57 Residence: Hoover Occupation: Owner of Pelham Eye Care, where he is a practicing optometrist Political Experience: First-time run for political office

R-Homewood. In October, DeMarco announced his candidacy for Alabama’s Sixth Congressional District. That seat is currently held by U.S. Rep. Spencer Bachus, R-Vestavia Hills, who is retiring after serving 21 years.

House District 46 includes portions of Homewood, Hoover and Mountain Brook.

The race to succeed DeMarco in the House District 46 seat includes Steve French of Mountain Brook, David Faulkner of Mountain Brook, Justin Barkley of Homewood and Pamela Blackmore-Jenkins of Hoover.

The Republican primary is scheduled for June 3 with a runoff date of July 15 if no candidate receives 51 percent of the vote. for public office Education: Graduate of Hoover High School, Harvard University and the University of Alabama School of Law Why are you running for this office? “This district is home to my family. I’m not a career politician. I don’t want to serve the big money special interests in Montgomery. I simply want to give back to the community that has

Education: Bachelor’s degree from the University of Alabama, doctorate degree from the University of Alabama at Birmingham Why are you running for this office? “As a business owner, I know what it takes to create jobs and grow our economy. I will work to free our business owners from unnecessary government interference so they can grow our economy.”

For more information: Visit www. dougclark2014.com or www.facebook. com/Dr.DougClarkHouse43 Gina H. McDonald

Age: 49 Residence: Hoover Occupation: Attorney/business owner Political experience: Helped to write federal legislation in the 1990s Education: Bachelor’s degree from Northeast Louisiana University, master’s degree from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, law degree from Birmingham School of Law Why are you running for office?

“I am running because I believe that my unique skill set will be an asset to not only the people of District 43 but to the state as a whole. I have extensive experience with business management and negotiation, and I understand the law. ” For more information: Visit www. ginahmcdonald.com Arnold Mooney

Age: 63 Residence: Meadow Brook

given so much to me.”

For more information: Visit www. justinbarkley.com or www.facebook.com/ friendsofjustinbarkley Pamela Blackmore-Jenkins

Age: 43 Residence: Hoover Occupation: Republican activist and homemaker Political experience: First run for public office Education: Graduate of Elizabeth City State University and Miles Law School Why are you running for this office? “I believe I can bring a new perspective to the legislature. I am a conservative who can balance compassion and common sense. I am a resultsdriven leader who works hard and will take action.”

For more information: Visit electblackmorejenkins.org David Faulkner

Age: 45 Residence: Mountain Brook

Occupation: Associate broker with Southeast Commercial Partners, LLC Political Experience: Campaign chairman for House Rep. Mary Sue McClurkin, campaign manager for Congressman Albert Lee, legislative assistant in the Alabama Legislature, staff assistant in the U.S. Senate and board member of Eagle Forum of Alabama Education: Bachelor’s degree and master’s degree from Samford University; post-graduate study in the School of Government at George Washington University.

Why are you running for this office? “Unlike the Greatest Generation, the biggest threat to our God-given rights and freedoms comes from within our own country. It is time for our state government to take a more active role in fighting back against the encroachment of the federal government.”

For more information: Visit www. arnoldmooney.com or www.facebook. com/ArnoldMooneyForAlabama Don Murphy

Age: 69 Residence: Pelham Occupation: Real estate broker/ owner, real estate developer, homebuilder Political Experience: Served as Shelby County Commissioner, Alabama State Representative for District 49 and mayor of Pelham Education: Graduate of Kirkman Technical, attended the University of Alabama at Birmingham and the U.S. Occupation: Partner at the law offices of Christian & Small Political experience: Won the Republican primary in the 2012 Jefferson County Circuit Court Place 6 race Education: Graduate of the University of Alabama and the University of Alabama School of Law Why are you running for this office? “After defending and representing businesses and individuals for almost 20 years and after a lot of thought and prayer, I feel called to serve and represent the people. I am passionate about the schools in this district remaining strong and about improving education in this state and about bringing more jobs to this area.”

For more information: Visit www. electdavidfaulkner.com or www. facebook.com/electdavidfaulkner Steve French

Age: 52 Residence: Crestline Occupation: Senior vice president

Army Helicopter School at Fort Rucker.

Why are you running for this office: “I am running to help resolve our local issues in Shelby and Jefferson counties. I am concerned with issues such as education, business opportunities and job recruitment, rising sewer rates, streamlining state and county road projects, adding additional quality of life opportunities for our families and protecting the rights and benefits of seniors.”

For more information: Visit Murphy43.com Amie Beth Shaver

Age: 41 Residence: Inverness Occupation: Conservative commentator and public speaker; author, radio personality Political experience: New media reporter, Alabama Policy Institute; spokesman for Allied Women, a conservative grassroots organization Education: Graduate of Briarwood Christian School and Samford University Why are you running for this office? “I’m alarmed by our out-of-control government. I’m distressed by the disastrous overhaul of our healthcare system. I’m running for the moms just like me, concerned for their children’s future; for small business owners in need of regulatory relief; for economic freedom and for lasting healthcare reform.”

For more information: Visit www. amiebethshaver.com or www.facebook. com/AmieBethShaverForAlabama of business development and governmental relations for Sterne Agee Political experience: Executive director of the Alabama Republican Party, 1988-1991; regional political director of the Republican National Committee, 1991-1992; state senator for District 15, 1998-2011; commissioner for the Alabama Athletic Commission, 2013-present Education: Graduate of Auburn University Why are you running for this office? “I want to take my conservative philosophy of limited government and low taxes, my business experience and my financial training to Montgomery. I’ll use my experience and my inclusion in the leadership to help the District 46 communities of Hoover, Homewood and Mountain Brook beginning on day one.”

For more information: Visit www. votestevefrench.com or www.facebook. com/votestevefrench

Wheeler Challenges Williams in District 47

By Keysha Drexel Journal Editor

Two Vestavia Hills residents are facing off in the June 3 Republican primary for the Alabama House District 47 seat.

That seat is currently held by Rep. Jack Williams, who is being challenged by political newcomer David Wheeler.

Williams was first elected the House District 47 representative in 2004 in special election and is chairman of the House Commerce and Small Business Committee and the ADECA Oversight Committee. He also co-chairs the Alabama Sports Agents Commission.

While Wheeler is the past chairman of the Jefferson County Republican Party, this is his first time to run for a public office.

He retired from Alabama Power Company after more than 29 years and is the former minority owner and president of Vulcan Termite and Pest Control.

Williams said he wants to retain his seat in the Alabama House to continue his work in fighting for small businesses and Republican reforms.

Wheeler said he thinks it is time House District 47 is not represented by a career politician who is controlled by special interest groups in Montgomery.

Jack Williams

Age: 56 Residence: Vestavia Hills Occupation: Business consultant Political experience: House District 47 representative, 2004-present; former Jefferson County Tax Collector; former president of the National Conference of Republican County Officials; former

Thursday, May 29, 2014 • 9

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OVER THE MOUNTAIN Journal

chairman of the Greater Birmingham Young Republicans; current National Advisory Board member of GOPAC Education: Graduate of Southeastern Bible College Why are you running for this office? “(I am running) to continue the reforms the Republican majority enacted, to further reduce government red tape on small businesses and streamline our state government.”

For more information: Visit jackwilliams.org David Wheeler

Age: 64 Residence: Vestavia Hills Occupation: Retired from Alabama Power Company after more than 29 years; former minority owner and president of Vulcan Termite and Pest Control Political experience: First run for public office; past chairman of the Jefferson County Republican Party Education: Graduate of the University of Montevallo and Samford University Why are you running for this office? “My opponent has been in this office for 10 years and has a track record of ‘tax and spend’ politics. I think it is time for the citizens of House District 47 to elect a representative who votes their concerns, not someone else’s.”

For more information: Visit www. electdavidwheeler.com

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u Mountain Brook

Three City Council Seats Up for Grabs on Aug. 6 As Over the Mountain voters prepare to head to the polls June 3 in the primary elections, officials in Mountain Brook are gearing up for their own election.

The city will hold its biennial elections Aug. 26 with three city council seats up for grabs.

Candidates in this year’s Mountain Brook municipal election will battle

over the City Council seats currently held by Amy Carter, Billy Pritchard and Jesse Vogtle.

All city council representatives in Mountain Brook are elected on an atlarge basis.

Mayor Terry Oden and city council representatives Jack Carl and Virginia Smith began new terms in 2012, which will not end until

November 2016.

The last day to qualify for the Mountain Brook municipal election is July 15. Forms are available from the city clerk.

City Manager Sam Gaston said Mountain Brook residents should expect to receive postcards in August telling them their polling locations.

A run-off election, if necessary, is scheduled for October. New officials will begin their terms in November.

--Keysha Drexel

10 • Thursday, May 29, 2014

news

OVER THE MOUNTAIN Journal

New Community Center Opens u Homewood

By William C. Singleton III Journal contributor

The new $16 million Homewood Community Center is officially open.

Homewood city leaders on May 13 held a ribbon-cutting ceremony inaugurating the opening of the new facility, which was nearly a year in the making.

The new 51,830-square-foot facility features two gymnasiums, a fitness center with cardio and weight machines and free weights, indoor walking and jogging tracks and male and female locker rooms. The new center also has meeting rooms and offers Wi-Fi access.

The Homewood Community Center features an eight-lane competition pool and a splash playground, which were scheduled to open before the Memorial Day weekend.

Nearly 150 dignitaries and residents attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony, and nearly 750 toured the new recreation center during an open house event.

Parks and Recreation Superintendent Berkley Squires said Homewood residents are eager to use the new facility.

“The community is excited, and we look forward to everyone enjoying their new facility,” he said. “We feel

this facility is something our community can grow with.”

The new recreation center at Oxmoor Road and Central Avenue stands on the site of the former facility, which was smaller, more than 40 years old and too costly to continue pouring money into to renovate, parks officials said.

B.L. Harbert International built the new community center. ❖

The eight-lane competition pool will give Homewood residents a way to beat the heat this summer.

u Birmingham

Zoo Redo Includes New Entry, Exhibit

By Keysha Drexel Journal editor

The Birmingham Zoo Board last week announced plans to greet its guests in a new way and expand the exhibits they can see at the 59-yearold facility.

The zoo board has approved a $15 million capital campaign, paving the way for a newly-renovated front entrance, an Asian Forest exhibit and a new plaza, among other updates.

On May 20, the Birmingham City Council approved a resolution to raise $7.5 million in bonds for the project.

“The zoo has been a distinguished attraction for the Birmingham community for nearly 60 years. The new renovations will be an exciting opportunity for the community to come together and watch this landmark grow and develop into an even greater institution,” Birmingham Mayor William Bell said.

Zoo officials said the other half of the money needed for the project will come from private donations.

The one-time economic impact from this $15 million investment in the new entry and Asian Forest is projected at $31.5 million and the ongoing economic impact is projected at $37.2 million, following the initial investment, zoo officials said.

This artist’s rendering shows what the new two-story front entrance of the Birmingham Zoo will look like once renovations are completed. The entrance plaza will have office space for the zoo’s staff on the second floor and the public areas, including an assembly space, will be on the first floor of the building. Rendering special to the Journal

Birmingham City Council President Johnathan Austin said the project will be good for the city.

“These forms of capital funds will also help to ensure Birmingham’s thrust as a global attraction,” Austin said. “The zoo continues to provide numerous benefits for our city, and

we are excited about what is to come.”

Zoo officials said similar public/ private partnerships to fund capital improvements since 1999 have exceeded $30.5 million, which includes support of 32 percent from the public sector.

Clockwise from top: Homewood Mayor Scott McBrayer and Park Board Chairman Chris Meeks cut the ribbon to open the new $16 million Homewood Community Center on Oxmoor Road. The community center features two gyms and a splash park.

Photos special to the Journal

“The Birmingham Zoo is a wonderful place for all ages to enjoy and learn about nature and conservation. This public/private partnership investment certainly will increase Birmingham’s ability to serve more youth through our Kiwanis Zoo School and other educational opportunities,” said Jesse Vogtle Jr., chairman of the Birmingham Zoo board of directors. “We are very excited for the future.”

The project includes plans for a two-story entrance building that aims to transform the arrival experience of zoo guests. The second floor of the building will be office spaces for the zoo’s staff, and the first floor will serve as a public assembly space.

There will also be a classroom where students visiting the zoo can participate in hands-on activities and learn about all the zoo has to offer.

Zoo officials said the new entrance building will include retail space, too.

The new building will open to a two-tiered plaza with a water feature and an area where parties, concerts and weddings can take place after the zoo exhibits close for the day.

The project also includes the construction of the Asian Forest exhibit, which will house tigers, orangutans and monkeys.

Zoo officials said the planning and design phase for the project is expected to last about a year and the construction phase is projected to last about three years. ❖

u Hoover

City Renews Bus Contract

The city of Hoover has renewed its contract with the Birmingham-Jefferson County Transit System.

The City Council recently approved an agreement with the area transit system for bus service. The contract calls for Hoover to contribute $63,932.32, about $8,854 more than the previous year, Mayor Gary Ivey said.

The amount Hoover is contributing to the transit system–also called MAX for Metro Area Express--represents 1,191 hours of transit service at a rate of $53.68 per hour. The payment is for the transit system’s 2013-2014 fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30.

The transit system runs buses from downtown Birmingham through U.S. 31 in Hoover to the Riverchase Galleria.

Before the council voted on the contract, Councilman Gene Smith asked if MAX has conducted a study to determine if its pickup and dropoff points in Hoover were in the most beneficial spots.

Ann August, executive director of MAX, said the transit system is currently reviewing all its routes and using automatic passenger counters on its vehicles to determine where riders are getting on and off the buses. The transit system should be able to provide a more comprehensive report of Hoover’s most frequent stops in about two months, she added.

August also thanked city officials for their continued support. ❖

u Vestavia Hills

City Finds Buyer for Former Library

By William C. Singleton III Journal contributor

The city of Vestavia Hills has finally found a buyer for its former library site, a purchase officials hope will spark retail development along U.S. 31.

After repeated unsuccessful attempts to sell the 1.6-acre site at 1112 Montgomery Highway, also known as U.S. 31, the City Council this month approved selling the property to America’s First Federal Credit Union for $950,000.

The site has been vacant since the library moved to its new location at 1221 Montgomery Highway in December 2010.

“America’s First can be a great location on the property and serve again to change the entire context and appearance of Highway 31,” said City Manager Jeff Downes.

The council also gave its preliminary approval to a $1.6 million incentive agreement for a retail development center on 3.4 acres east of U.S. 31 across from Red Lobster and the property slated to house the proposed new City Hall.

GBT Realty Corporation, one of the nation’s largest retail developers, plans to bring retailers to the site which formerly housed Pizza Hut and Ruby Tuesday restaurants–their empty buildings still remaining.

Though city officials didn’t disclose the retail establishments Vestavia Hills is trying to lure, GBT Realty identifies on its website Sprouts Farmers Market as its major tenant. Based in Phoenix, Sprouts is a smaller, specialty grocery store which focuses on fresh foods, produce, healthy foods and vitamins and supplements. It has more than 150 stores nationwide, according to its website, but none in Alabama or the South.

“We didn’t want retail that was of a strip center nature,” Downes said. “We wanted retail that was significant, and we wanted retail that did not reduce the prospects of our existing businesses on Highway 31. We wanted that particular

Thursday, May 29, 2014 • 11

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OVER THE MOUNTAIN Journal

This artist’s rendering of U.S. 31 shows the proposed site for the new Vestavia Hills City Hall and proposed retail development.

Rendering special to the Journal

opportunity to be something new to Vestavia Hills.”

Downes said plans also call for the possibility of “two or more spaces (for retail businesses) in a 4,000 to 5,000 square-foot area outside of the major anchor tenant.”

The total amount of space for the retail establishment is 34,000 square feet, according to GBT and city officials.

Downes said the financial incentive agreement is necessary because “the site is difficult for a 34,000-square-foot development.”

Some of those difficulties include storm water issues, which will require major infrastructure improvements to prevent storm water runoff, he said.

It would take nearly $1.8 million to correct storm water issues on the site, Downes said.

The city has agreed to make the site suitable to withstand flooding from storms. The money from the sale of the old library and additional city money will factor into the incentive package.

The city received the old library proper-

ty through donation.

The city manager said Vestavia Hills should recoup its investment within a year after the retail development is up and running. He said conservative estimates have the development producing about $500,000 in sales tax annually.

The America’s First branch and the GBT retail development, along with the city’s plans to build a new City Hall on the west side of U.S. 31, will “reshape the central core of the U.S. 31 corridor which runs through Vestavia Hills,” Downes said.

“Then who knows what comes after that. Because once you start showing investment is taking place and that we’re refreshing the look and feel of our retail corridor, all of a sudden excitement starts to build; that momentum is created, and it’s something that will lead to greater things,” the city manager said.

Mayor Alberto “Butch” Zaragoza said the city needs to make this investment to spark economic development.

“We should be doing this if we’re going to move the city forward,” he said.

The mayor also noted while other cities offer incentives that don’t reap benefits until 10 to 20 years down the road, Vestavia’s incentive agreement should yield benefits within a year.

“We’re not taking this lightly. We will look at it to make sure we’re spending your money wisely, and we’re investing your money wisely for a good return in this community so we can do extra things you all want in the community,” Zaragoza said.

The incentive agreement is subject to successful negotiations to bring new retail development to U.S. 31.❖

u vestavia hills

Dent Reappointed to School Board

By William C. Singleton III Journal contributor

The Vestavia Hills City Council recently reappointed Jerry Dent to the city school board but not without objections from residents who feel consecutive terms are too long for school board members.

Dent, a managing director with Alvarez & Marsal Global Forensic Jerry Dent and Dispute Services and current president of the school board, was reappointed to another five-year term. His current term expires in June.

In reappointing Dent, council members said they thought he was the most qualified and felt his financial background and leadership were needed especially since the board is poised to hire a new superintendent to replace Jamie Blair, who is retiring Oct. 1, 2015.

The council selected Dent over former Vestavia Hills High School Principal Cas McWaters, Kimberly Cook and Allison Miller.

But the selection of a new school board member made the rounds on

social media as residents questioned whether one citizen should be allowed to serve a decade on the school board and whether the city should establish term limits. Several residents attended the council meeting to oppose Dent’s appointment because of the length of time he’ll serve on the board.

“It concerns me that we’re talking about a 10-year period of time,” Vestavia resident Beth Sanders said. “I know that continuity is important, but that’s always used as a reason to not have term limits.”

Mayor Alberto “Butch” Zaragoza said only four residents–excluding Dent–have served consecutive terms on the school board. City Attorney Pat Boone said the city council doesn’t have the authority to set term limits.

That would require an act of the state legislature.

Councilman George Pierce said current board members had asked the council to consider reappointing Dent because they needed his experience on the five-member board. Dent also had his share of supporters who attended the council meeting.

“I want to thank all the faculty, staff, friends and neighbors who are here to support us,” he said. “We’ll continue to do the job we set out to do.”

Blair said Dent’s presence on the board is necessary to maintain continuity.

“His financial expertise especially during this time has been tremendous,” Blair said. “We’ve got a lot of projects going on right now that he’s been a part of. And with the transition of the superintendent coming up, his continuity and leadership is important.” ❖

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12 • Thursday, May 29, 2014

social

Wild Night Zoo’s Junior Board Hosts Tails in the Trails

OVER THE MOUNTAIN Journal

T

he Birmingham Zoo’s Junior Board hosted its fourth annual Tails in the Trails event presented by O’Neal Industries May 2.

Beginning at 6:30 p.m., nearly 600 attendees were greeted by a fennec fox, Virginia opossum, blue tongued skink, ferret, chinchilla, Eastern screech owl, box turtle and a woma python in the Junior League of Birmingham-Hugh Kaul Children’s Zoo. Guests were then invited to have hors d’oeuvres catered

by Southern Food Management. On the menu were chips and salsa, chicken quesadillas, vegetables, jalapeno poppers and spanakopita as well as cocktails and beer provided by Old Black Bear Brewing Company, Cathead Vodka and Innisfree Pub. Guests also enjoyed live music by The Banditos and the zoo’s newest attraction, the Jane H. Brock Soaring Safari Zipline Adventure.

The Birmingham Zoo’s Junior Board strives to increase zoo membership, assist with events and promote the zoo.

Net proceeds from the event will benefit the Barbara Ingalls Shook Black Bear Trail, the new black bear exhibit coming soon to the Birmingham Zoo. Those spotted at the event included more photos at Dr. William R. Foster, Julie Herring, Erin Donohoo, Stacey Morales, Ambre Amari, Jay Anderson, Turner Burton, Austin Davis, Robin Sparks Davis, Lauren DeMoss and Pete Donohoo.

Others enjoying Tails in the Trails were Joey DuMontier, Cole Harbert, Raymond Harbert, Jr., Amanda Hawkins, Caroline Hottle, Matt Hottle, Bobbi Jones, Emily Jordan, Lauri Jordan, Randy Jordan, Danny McKinney, Madison Merrill, Wally Nall, III, Amy O’Brien, Javan Patton, Amanda Welden, Joseph Welden and Whitney Wright. ❖

OTMJ.COM

From left: Mary and Rob Brewer, Amy Robbins and Jeff and Laura Pitts.

Joseph Weldon, Stacey and Scott Morales.

Marci Green and Javan Patton.

Photos special to the Journal

Lindsay Mullins, Minda Campbell and Amber Kelley.

Amy O’Brien, Julie Herring, Stacey Morales and Emily Jordan.

social

OVER THE MOUNTAIN Journal

Farm-themed Festivities Garden Art Party Aids Alzheimer’s Organization

Alzheimer’s of Central Alabama’s 18th annual Garden Art Party went “Down on the Farm” May 10 at Iron City.

The event has raised more than $2.1 million for services for Alzheimer’s patients.

Mother’s Day weekend provided inspiration for more than 300 guests as they bid on auction items and Alzheimer’s artwork to help meet this year’s fundraising goal.

Auctioneer Bob Straka worked the main stage as guests bid on trips to Hawaii and California provided by Brownell Travel, Mayer Electric and the Lowder family.

Many ACA corporate donors attended the event, including Charles Collat, Lynn Campisi, John Beard, Renee Barnard, Chris Blackerby, Mel York, Paul Roberts, Eddie Cummings and Terry Rogers.

Among those helping sponsor the event were Anne and Mike Warren, Susan and Tom Lowder, Nancy and Murray Smith, Frances and Claude Bennett, Sara and Mike Harfield and Blake and RoyAnn Andrews.

The Garden Art Party committee included Catherine Cato, Jennifer Mancuso, Karon Brooks-Harris,

Above: From left: Miller Piggott, Nicole Crawford and Christy Baynes. right: David and Mary Bess Price.

Photos special to the Journal

Christie Baynes, Nicole Crawford, Dr. Lindy Harrell, Julie Bryant, Doug DeMedicis, Ellen Burton and Rebecca Hamiter.

ACA will host a caregiver conference and research symposium June 23 at Dawson Memorial Baptist Church in Homewood. Many University of Alabama at Birmingham Alzheimer’s researchers and experts will participate. ACA has funded 21 research grants since 2001.

ACA’s 2015 Garden Art Party will be May 9. ❖

Thursday, May 29, 2014 • 13

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14 • Thursday, May 29, 2014

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OVER THE MOUNTAIN Journal

Sibyl Temple Soiree Vestavia Hills Garden Club Marks 65th Year

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The Vestavia Hills Garden Club kicked off its 65th-year celebration last September and wrapped up the observance with an end-of-the-club-year birthday party on the Sibyl Temple grounds May 4.

Garden Club members Marsha Hire and Becky Babanats planned the event with the help of Kelly Sorrell, Jeannie Radecke and President Dawn Bendig.

Four Vestavia Belles greeted the guests.

Tables topped with burlap tablecloths and birthday party centerpieces were placed on the upper, middle and lower areas of the temple grounds.

Members and their guests enjoyed Full Moon barbecue, potato salad, slaw, baked beans, Half Moon cookies and birthday cake.

Although the Vestavia Hills Garden Club has been in existence since 1949, it was not until the garden gazebo of Sibyl Temple moved to its present site in the early 1970s that the temple and grounds became the club’s special project.

In 1985, Sibyl Temple was named a Historical Landmark by the Alabama Historical Commission and now appears in the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage.

In 1992 the garden club incorporated Sibyl Temple Foundation as a nonprofit organization for the beautification and maintenance of Sibyl Temple and its adjacent grounds.

Wendy Henry is president of the Sibyl Temple Foundation. The Foundation also coordinates reservations and provides rental information for weddings or private events.

Those attending the birthday party included Foster and Leigh Ann Yeilding, Holly and Stan Roth, Courtenay and Dot Renneker, Bubba Helveston, Forrest Anglin, Johnnie Prewitt, Shelley Watkins, Betty Ann Anglin, Anne Cates, Linda Wood and Anne Moulton. ❖

From Top: The Sibyl Temple. From left: Dot Renneker, Shelley Watkins, Jeannie Radecke, Betty Ann Anglin and Wendy Henry. Foster Yielding, Courtenay Renneker, Bubba Helveston and Forrest Anglin. Anne Cates, Linda Wood and Anne Moulton. Photo special to the Journal

social

OVER THE MOUNTAIN Journal

Sorority Social

Thursday, May 29, 2014 • 15

Alpha Chi Alums Hear About New UA House

The Birmingham area alumnae of Alpha Chi Omega sorority gathered for a spring social April 3 at the Mountain Brook home of Shannon Smith.

Guests enjoyed wine, cheese and hors d’oeuvres on the poolside patio.

Alumnae heard the latest news from the University of Alabama Alpha Upsilon Chapter from rush advisor Dena Prince.

Prince also shared details about the new Alpha Chi Omega house under construction on UA’s campus. The house is scheduled to be completed in July.

Alumnae were able to see the floor plans of the new house and to see fabric, furniture and paint samples.

Those attending the social includFront, from left: Leigh Anne Phillips and Dena Prince. Second row: Karen ed Halcyann Badham, Dena Bowden, Caputo, Shannon Smith and Marian Washburn. Third row: Dawn Tucker, Laurie White and Marla Fuller. Back: Mary Lauren McBride and Susan Karen Byers, Karen Caputo, Bonnie Williams. Photo special to the Journal Church, Mary Jane Dillard, Cindy Doody, Sara Franklin, Marla Fuller, Rebecca Goodson, Judy Haise, Clare Huddleston, Rosie Millie Osborn, Lynne Owens, Leigh Anne Philips, Amy Roberts, Dawn Tucker, Annella Waldrup, Marian Johnson and Holly Lollar.

Washburn, Melissa Welch, Laurie White and Susan Also attending were Mary Lauren McBride, Cheryl Williams. ❖ McCoy, Judith McRae, Kathy Mouron, Carla Nesbitt,

Henderson Award recipient Mel Robinson with her grandchildren, from left: Katrina Schollenberger, Anna Robinson, Mel Robinson, Jimmy Robinson and Lindsay Robinson. Photo special to the Journal

Birmingham Chapter Banquet NSAL Honors Mountain Brook Resident

The Birmingham Chapter, National Society of Arts and Letters conferred its highest membership award on Mountain Brook resident Mel Robinson at the group’s annual banquet April 18 at Birmingham Country Club.

The Rosamon Henderson Service Award was established by the Birmingham Chapter in 2001 to recognize extraordinary service to the organization. The award is named in honor of Rosamon Henderson, who founded the Birmingham chapter on Feb. 23, 1956.

Robinson is the current membership chairman of the Birmingham chapter and former assistant treasurer of the National Society. Over the years, she has given generously of her time, talents, and resources to the chapter, according to the tribute presented by Edith Bauman, a past Rosamon Henderson Award recipient.

Since the death of her husband, Pete, Robinson has been president

and CEO of the couple’s real estate holding company, MPR, Inc. Her son, Mark Robinson, works with her in the business, which rents or leases buildings to the government and individuals.

She has three children and six grandchildren.

Her family members came to Birmingham from as far away as London and South Carolina to be present when she received the award.

Robinson has served on the Presbyterian Church Foundation and as an elder and trustee of South Highland Presbyterian Church. She also has served on the Samford University Advisory Board of Arts and Sciences among other activities.

Her many honors include a Plaque for Dedication from Samford this year, an Honorary Dean Award from Montevallo in 1993 and special recognition from Montevallo’s social work department in 2006 and 2014.

She also has been recognized by the Greater Birmingham Humane Society and Maryville College in Tennessee.

Her community interests include the Birmingham Society of Asian Art, Hilltoppers of Vestavia and the Harwell Society of Samford University. She is a life member of the Arlington Historical Association.

At the banquet, flautist Madison Monnette, a University of Alabama student and niece of NSAL member Jane Hinds, entertained with classical selections to the piano accompaniment of Dr. K. Lee Scott.

Chapter President Mildred AllenTaub welcomed guests and presided at the event.

Round tables for dining were centered with an Oriental design of quince branches on bases of moss, rocks and ivy leaves. The centerpieces by member Dannette Ledbetter duplicated the design on the banquet invitation.

Among members and guests attending were Mildred AllenTaub and Ed Taub, Maxine and Keith Williams, Edie Barnes, Edith and Robert Bauman, Zelda Covey, Margie and Robert Denton, Cindy Free, Jane Hinds, Ruth and Virgil Jensen, Melva and Ray Jones, Nancy and Ed Jones, Gail Ledbetter, Jeannine McElroy, Mary Frances and Bob Reed, Catherine and Brown Rogers, Sue Watkins, Lynn Russell-Davis and Steve Davis, Paul Monnette, Connie Prather, Rachel Russell, Dr. Stephan Meador and Loretta Brown and Denise Gibbs, both of Huntsville.

Also attending were family members and guests of the honoree, including Mel Ann Schollenberger and Katrina Schollenberger of London, Simrin Patheja of South Carolina and Cathie Robinson, Daniel Tankersley, Anna Robinson, Jimmy Robinson, Mark Robinson, Nikki Robinson and Lindsay Robinson, all of Vestavia Hills. ❖

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16 • Thursday, May 29, 2014

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OVER THE MOUNTAIN Journal

Moonlight Magic

BLUFF PARK WINDOW WORKS

• Wood window restoration and repair • Sash replacement, rot repair • Replace broken and fogged glass • Wood insulated, putty glazed, and composite vinyl replacement sashes • Locally owned and operated

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From left: Benjamin Parker, Kathryn Dodson, Sam Hirsberg, Julia Jane Duggan, Jackson Dewine, Emma Goolsby, Anderson Smith, Helen Camp, Francis Conner and Marshall Smith. Photos special to the Journal

To: From: Date:

Jim Over The Mountain Journal, PHONE: 205-823-9646 FAX: 205-824-1246 Oct. 2010 This is your AD PROOF from the OVER THE MOUNTAIN JOURNAL for the Nov. 4 2010 issue. Please fax approval or changes to 824-1246.

Please make sure all information is correct, including address and phone number!

Please initial and fax back within 24 hours.

If we have not heard from you by 5 pm of the Friday before the press date, Julia Jane Duggan, Laine Meisler, Maggie Hightower your ad will run as is. We print the paper Monday.

Thank you for your prompt attention.

and Sara Chandler Mitchell.

Annual Ball Honors Mountain Brook Sophomores

• Specialized Instruction for Dyslexia, ADD and other Learning Disabilities.

• Small Class Sizes with a 9:1 Student Ratio.

• Lower School Through 12th Grade Carlton Smith, Ed. D. Executive Director 205-423-8660

The 2014 Moonlight Ball was held April 26 at the Cahaba Grand Conference Center. Presentees were sophomore girls from Mountain Brook.

A seated dinner preceded the presentation of the girls and their escorts.

The décor included tall glass vases filled with branches and glistening stars on tables with midnight blue linens.

Lighted stars and shimmering blue letters spelling out “Moonlight” formed an archway over the stage.

After the presentation, honorees and their dates danced to the music of Creativity.

Pam Meisler was chairman of this year’s event.

Co-chairmen were Dana Compton and Evelyn Graham.

Those presented at the 2014 Moonlight Ball were Abigail Elizabeth Adams, Griselle Aguiar, Eleanor Claire Baddley, Sara Margaret Baker, Sabrina Nicole Balmer, Theresa Anne Baren, Sophie Grace Barnes, Madeline Elizabeth Barron, Margaret Virginia Beasley, Meghan Lile Beck, Gabrielle Aerin Berman, Sarah Elizabeth Berryman, Adele Woodward Bird, Sarabeth Blakely, Molly Rose Bloomston, Mary Virginia Bolton, Elizabeth Copeland Boston, Lindsey Ann Brakefield, Sophia Louise Brint, Eden Brittain, Frances Elaine Brock, Morgan Elizabeth Brown, Virginia Warren Cain, Helen Bovingdon Camp, Kayla Grace Carr, Sara Jennings Carr, Mary Olivia Francine Chew, Louisa Bradford Collins, Anne Stanton Compton and Frances Henley Conner.

Others presented were Anna Jackson Cooper, Carlton Ramona Cooper, Carolyn Cason Crommelin, Lillian Victoria Dale, Sarah Elizabeth Daniel, Helen Catherine Darby, Margaret Hannon Davidson, Elizabeth Hadley DeAtkine, Madeline Lysbeth DeBuys, Katherine Hufham Dodson, Kathryn Avery Dodson, Anne Raines Doidge, Anna Margaret Doody, Julia Jane Duggan, Lydia Katherine Edwards, Ann Marie Eich, Meredith Owens Featheringill, Catherine Dianne Fruin, Jacqueline Sophia Giovanelli, Carly Elise Glidewell, Clair Conzelman Godwin, Sarah Creagh Goings, Emma Lowry Goolsby, Anne Cadman Graham, Mary Margaret Grammas, Piper Michelle Gray, Catherine Morris Greene, Kaylyn Böehm Greene, Margaret Barnett Gunn, McKinley Clare Hamilton, Katherine Elizabeth Hamn, Frances Hughes Hancock, Kristine

Julia Bell Pope, Anne Cadman Graham, Catherine Fruin and Anne Compton.

Madison Harvey and Emilie Andrea Harwell.

Also presented were Margaret Lorraine Hayslip, Tara Brooke Henderson, Georgeann Elizabeth Hester, Margaret Anne Hightower, Anna Carter Howell, Emily Rebecca Howell, Anne Caroline Hughes, Carson O’Neil Hull, Anna Magee Ingram, Sarah Frances Jackson, Eleanor Pryor Jernigan, Emily Catherine Frances Johnson, Evans Fowler Johnson, Olivia Marigo Karagas, Adelaide Essick Kimberly, Katherine Joann Klasing, Margaret Mayes Koopman, Amelie Vera Marie Kraaz, Cary Elizabeth Krumdieck, Jennifer Ashley Lauriello, Anne Kesti Flemming Leonelli, Haley Anne Lewis, Brianna Patrice Lipp, Kathryn Grace Liscomb, Alida Miller Livingston, Grace Wyman Lockett, Lucy Allen Long, Allyson Lynn Lott, Anne Traywick Lovelady, Sarah Caroline Lowe and Lucile Malvern Lundberg.

Other sophomore girls presented at the ball were Olivia Isabel Mannon, Caroline Louise Marks, Meme Owen Marshall, Harris Watkins McCullough, Susan Elizabeth McElroy, Emily Elisabeth McLean, Laine Francis Meisler, Ann Kathryn Miller, Sara Chandler Mitchell, Bradford Elizabeth Moore, Caroline Page Moore, Katherine Grace Moore, Caroline Wakefield Morris, Frances Elizabeth Morris, Lauren Christine Mussell, Elizabeth Marie Nabors, Sophia Danielle Nadler, Sarah Winston Nathan, Georgia Wakefield Nelson, Courtney Ann Niemann, Ashley Anne Niketas, Claire Sims Norris, Ella Grace O’Neill, Frances Alice Patrick, Margaret Hanna Pewitt, Katharine Harris Pippen, Cleary Gray Plosser, Julia Bell Pope, Kelsey Emille Potter and Virginia Elizabeth Poynor.

Those presented also included Ellen Wynn Regan, Mary Claire Ritchey, Emily Grace Rollins, Caroline Elizabeth Saia, Logan Elizabeth Sanderson, Margaret Kennedy Schwefler, Payton Alyssa Selman, Mathilde Trueheart Sharman, Caroline Hall Shea, Elizabeth Jane Smith, Laney Fowlkes Smith, Laurence Hailey Smith, Katherine Dixon Spurlock, Elizabeth Gray Statham, Nicole Elizabeth Strahl, Meredith Coleman Stringfellow, Mary Tate Thomas, Nancy Austin Trammell, Gabrielle Elizabeth Turnbough, Charlotte Clayton Turner, Elizabeth Corinne Turner, Madeline Dalel Turner, Oona Turunen, Alli Kate Walters, Grace Landon Wann, Kathryn Louise Wason, Laura Elizabeth Wason, Hannah Guy Waudby, Sara Katherine Wiginton, Clara Alexander Williams and Callie Anne Wilson. ❖

Thursday, May 29, 2014 • 17

social

OVER THE MOUNTAIN Journal

Taking a Bow New Hoover Belles Are Presented

The 31st annual Hoover Belle Presentation Ceremony was held May 4 at the Hyatt Regency-The Wynfrey Hotel Grand Ballroom in Hoover.

The Hoover Belles is a service organization that gives high school juniors and seniors the opportunity to volunteer and serve as ambassadors for the city of Hoover.

The Hoover Belle Committee sponsored the presentation. Sandra Barnett is chairman. Committee members are Jennie Alley, Laura Boyd, Cathy Connor, Pam Harris, Jan Pruitt and Becky Walker.

Katie Boyd was mistress of ceremonies. Lt. Daniel Kane was the official escort.

Flowers were by Flowerjoy, and music was provided by the Sonny Harris Group. The event’s photography was by Nyeste Photography.

The 2014 Hoover Belles presented were Marley Elizabeth Barnes, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Hamp Barnes; Alexandra Nichole Blakley, daughter of Mr. and Mrs.

Horace Blakley Jr., Elizabeth Chase Burton, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Wesley Burton; Katherine Rae Conrad, daughter of Mrs. Ray Hiram Conrad and the late Mr. Ray Hiram Conrad; Jacquelyn Leigh Dees, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. David Howard Dees; Morgan Whitney Foster, daughter of Ms. Stacia Newberry Foster and Mr. Keith Wyatt Foster; Haley Elizabeth Fullman, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Terry Ray Fullman; Lindsey Claire Hardy, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. George McGraw

Hardy; Susannah Elizabeth Harvey, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William Todd Harvey; Melinda Elizabeth King, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Lumpkin King; Lilly Elizabeth Martin, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Gregory Scott Martin; Mallory Anne McClung, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Wilton Lee McClung Jr., Kennedye Necole McGhee, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Cleon Lloyd Mitchell; Melissa Rebecca McGowan, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Jimmy Nelson McGowan; Lydia Ann Powell, daughter of Mr. and

Mrs. Gregory Ray Powell; Kathryn Lee Richards, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William Stephen Richards; Ashleigh Nicole Rye, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Robert David Rye; Caitlin Brooke Saenz, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Ronald Glynn Saenz; Mary Kathryn Savage, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Don Lamar Savage; Kelsey Lauren Schmitt, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. David

Walter Schmitt; Emily Christine Schneider, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Glenn Thomas Schneider; Hannah Lee Seale, daughter of Mrs. Leisha Oakley Watson and Mr. Robert David Seal Jr.; Katherine Rose Sexton, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Roy Dale Sexton; Carly Orr Short, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin William Short; Alana Felicia Shunnarah, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. George John Shunnarah; Katherine Elizabeth Splawn, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Steven Dalton Splawn; Meredith Lea Taylor, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Allen Ray Taylor; Lauren Emelia Teter, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Lynn Teter; Anna Ruby Burch Thigpen, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William Brent Thigpen; Emma Katherine Thomas, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Alan Thomas; Laura Catherine Vaughn, daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Michael Severson Vaughn; Annelyn Brooks Veal, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. David Evan Veal II; and Lillie Grace Veazey, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Randall

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Turning Challenges Into Opportunities New Linley Heflin members for 2014 are, from left: Julie Goyer, Thomasene Collins, Ginny Hutchinson, Cindy Marbury, Jean Oliver and Tricia Dodson.

Ellen Walker and Katherine Billmeier are not pictured. Photo special to the Journal

Fashionable Event Linly Heflin Unit Welcomes New Members

The Linly Heflin Unit welcomed its newest members during its May meeting at the Country Club of Birmingham.

Katherine Billmeier, Thomasene Collins, Tricia Dodson, Julie Goyer, Ginny Hutchinson, Cindy Marbury, Jean Oliver and Ellen Walker, all of Birmingham, will join the service organization founded in 1919.

The eight new members will start work immediately on the group’s 56th annual Scholarship Luncheon and Fashion Show.

Since 1923 the major focus of the group has been to further the higher education of young women in Alabama. Through the years, more than 3,000 scholarships totaling more than $5 million have been awarded to deserving recipients.

Scholarship Committee Chairmen Caroline Thomas and Happy

Anthony announced that 30 four-year scholarships and two one-year grants were awarded for fall admissions this year.

The annual Linly Heflin Scholarship Luncheon and Fashion Show continues to be the primary fundraiser for the group’s scholarship program. All operating expenses for the Unit are covered by membership dues, which allows all monies raised from the community to go to scholarships.

This year’s event is set for Oct. 1 at the Sheraton Birmingham Hotel Civic Center Ballroom.

Co-chairmen Kate Cotton and Sue Ellen Lucas announced Michael Tatum will produce the show.

Birmingham clothier Gus Mayer will again partner with the Linly Heflin Unit and provide designer fashions for the show. ❖

Selling my mother’s home presented challenges, but Vicki Warner with ARC Realty handled the deal with patience and professionalism when most people would have thrown in the towel. Vicki excels as a real estate agent because she develops a one-on-one personal relationship with her clients and makes them her first priority.”

– Michelle Kidd, Alabama Insurance Exchange

A Relationship Company 4274 Cahaba Heights Court, Suite 200 • Birmingham, AL 35243 205.969.8910 • www.arcrealtyco.com Vicki Warner • (205) 789-5114 • vwarner@arcrealtyco.com • www.vickipwarner.com

18 • Thursday, May 29, 2014

social

For over 90 years, Levy’s has been Birmingham's Specialist in Antique and Estate Jewelry as well as Fine Diamonds, Art and Antiques.

OVER THE MOUNTAIN Journal

From left: Lynell Bolen, Diane Horn and Bob and Sally Stanley.

Photos special to the Journal

Pearls at the Party Coronets Host Annual Spring Dance

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www.levysfinejewelry.com

To: From: Date:

Jennifer Over The Mountain Journal, PHONE: 205-823-9646 FAX: 205-824-1246 Mar. 2014

The Coronets welcomed spring with the club’s annual spring dance last month.

Members and guests were greeted by strings of pearls at the Vestavia Country Club entrance and throughout the ballroom as they gathered for the spring dance April 25.

Chairmen for the dance were Sue Belcher and Carolyn Edge, who both wore pearls for the occasion.

The decorations included gold and white tables centered with lighted champagne glasses filled with white flowers and draped with pearls.

President Edna Alderman presented Faye Richards and Sheila Horne, the first mother-daughter inductees of the club, with bouquets of flowers as they were introduced. Faye Richards was accompanied by Gene Roberts, and Sheila Horne was with

Bill Horne.

Those enjoying food and music

by The Tradewinds were Edna and Ken Alderman, Linda and Spencer Bachus, Una Ray and John Barnett, Nancy Becker and Don Englebert, Sue and Dave Belcher, Lynell and Joe Bolen, Dot Crook and Brother Pritchard, Bettie Davenport and George Smith, Carolyn and Jim Delk, Geri Dunham and Dr. Wayne Finley, Carolyn and Arthur Edge, Cindy and Tom Edmonds, Glenda and Roy Etheredge and Shirley and Roy Evans.

Also in attendance were Clarice and Dr. Sydney Gibbs, Virginia and John Golightly, Jean and David Hendrickson, Dianne and Richard Horn, Margaret and Dr. Bill Howell, Gloria Hudson and Dick Paxton, Cecelia and Dan Lowe, Joanne and

Liz and Mike Slive

Art McConnell, Betty and Malcolm Miller and Cele and Gus Miller.

Also at the dance were Susan and Mike Murphy, Shirley and Howard Palmes, Dena and Wallace Parker, Susan and Bob Rapier, Evelyn and Bill Ringler, Mary Jean and Danny Sanspree, Liz and Mike Slive, Sally and Dr. Bob Stanley, Susan and Jerry Stofel, Betty Tucker and George Miller, Debbie and Bill Visintainer, Shelley and Steve Watkins and Jackie and Rex Webb. ❖

This is your AD PrOOF from the OvEr THE MOuNTAiN JOurNAl for the April 3, 2014 issue. Please fax approval or changes to 824-1246.

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From left: Martha Cheney, Sahra Coxe, Betty Wagstaff, Judy Carns, Virginia Lavallet, Peggy Marshall, Lynn Ault and Theo Greene. Photo special to the Journal

Wine and Cheese Get-together Carousels Dance Club Installs New Officers

Members of a local dance club recently raised their glasses to its outgoing officers and toasted its new leaders.

The Carousels Dance Club members met recently at the home of outgoing president Lynn Ault to enjoy a wine and cheese party and install newly-elected officers.

Judy Carns is the new president, and Betty Wagstaff is the new treasurer. Peggy Marshall is

assistant treasurer, Martha Cheney is secretary, and Virginia Lavallet is party co-chairman.

Sahra Coxe is yearbook chairman, and Theo Greene is publicity chairman. Carole Sullivan is party co-chairman.

Those attending the wine and cheese party included Joyce Lott, Rosalyn R. Strand, Deedee Bloom, Suzanne Parsons, Alice Williams, Paula Pointer, Margie Williams, Pattie Perry Finney, Joanne Gaede, Ruth Pitts, Nina Crumbaugh, Augusta Forbes, Jane Cannon Culverhouse, Sarah Neal and Sara Jane Ball.

Also at the event were Ann Harvey, Tina Darnall, Bev Bright, Sarah Creveling, Beverly Register, Connie Bishop, Anne Waudby, Helen Mills Pittman, Lettie Lane North, Patsy Norton, Bebe Costner, Marcia Little, Lee Scott, Ann Garrett, Emmy McGowin and Ann Rutland. ❖

Moulton-Curtis

Mr. and Mrs. Edward Russell Moulton II of Birmingham announce the engagement of their daughter, Catherine Anne Moulton, to Alan Ellis Curtis Jr., son of Mr. and Mrs. Alan Ellis Curtis Sr. of Birmingham.

The bride-elect is the granddaughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. Billy LeBold Harbert of Birmingham and Mrs. John Lewis Moulton and the late

Burg-Norton

Mr. and Mrs. Edward Nicholas Burg Jr. of Birmingham announce the engagement of their daughter, Margaret Amberson, to Alexander Harris Norton, son of Mr. and Mrs. Karl Winfield Norton of Loudon, Tenn.

The bride-elect is the granddaughter of Mr. and Mrs. Joel Ray Davis of Athens and Mr. Edward Nicholas

Fulks-Irvin

Mr. and Mrs. Wade Allen Fulks Jr. of Vestavia Hills announce the engagement of their daughter, Heather Nicole Fulks, to Brian Douglas Irvin, son of Ms. Catherine Wilkey and Mr. William Doug Irvin.

Thursday, May 29, 2014 • 19

Weddings & Engagements

OVER THE MOUNTAIN Journal

Mr. John Lewis Moulton, formerly of Albany, Ga. Miss Moulton is a 2006 graduate of Vestavia Hills High School.

She graduated in 2010 from Auburn University and received her bachelor’s degree in early childhood education. She was a member of Kappa Delta sorority. Miss Moulton is employed by the Telluride Montessori Mountain School in Telluride, Colo.

The prospective groom is the grandson of the late Mr. and Mrs. Claud Wilson Dent Jr. of Tuscaloosa and the late Mr. and Mrs. John Christopher Curtis Sr. of Tuscaloosa.

Mr. Curtis is a 2000 graduate of Vestavia Hills High School. He graduated from Auburn University in 2005 with a bachelor’s degree in building science. He was a member of Phi Gamma Delta fraternity and a member of the Auburn baseball team.

Mr. Curtis is employed by Williams Construction Company in Norwood, Colo.

The wedding wil be June 28 at the Cathedral Church of the Advent.

Burg and the late Mrs. Barbara Amberson Burg of Birmingham.

Miss Burg is a graduate of Mountain Brook High School and was presented at the Ball of Roses.

She graduated magna cum laude from the University of Alabama, where she received a bachelor’s degree in education and was a member of Chi Omega sorority. Miss Burg teaches fourth grade at Green Valley Elementary School.

The prospective groom is the grandson of the late Mr. and Mrs. Jack Heatherly Lefler of Loudon and Mrs. Janice Cothran Norton and the late Mr. Jack Samuel Norton of Pell City.

Mr. Norton graduated from Mountain Brook High School and the University of Alabama, where he received a bachelor’s degree in biology. He was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. Mr. Norton will enter the Samford University McWhorter School of Pharmacy in the fall.

The wedding will be July 12.

The bride-elect is the granddaughter of Mrs. Betty Wallis and the late Mr. James B. Wallis.

Miss Fulks is a 2004 graduate of Vestavia Hills High School and a 2008 graduate of Auburn University with a bachelor’s degree in human development and family studies. She is employed in Auburn.

The prospective groom is the grandson of Mrs. Jo Reid and Mrs. Marilyn Irvin and the late Mr. Billie Irvin as well as the late Mr. Aaron Doug Wilkey.

Mr. Irvin is a 2003 graduate of Madison Central High School in Kentucky and a 2012 graduate of Southern Union State Community College with an associate’s degree in computer science. He is employed at Charter Bank in Auburn.

The couple will marry July 12 on Samford Lawn in Auburn and move to Houston after the wedding.

Fall-Funderburg

Mr. and Mrs. Wyatt Franklin Fall of Mountain Brook announce

Lawrence-Milling

Mr. and Mrs. Randall Bascom Lawrence of Birmingham announce

the engagement of their daughter, Amy Elizabeth, to Corey David Funderburg, son of Mr. and Mrs. David Bernard Funderburg of Pell City.

The bride-elect is the granddaughter of Mrs. Ray Osborne Welborn of Laurel, Miss., and the late Mr. Ray Osborne Welborn and the late Mr. and Mrs. Ira Veltus Fall Jr. of Ellisville, Miss.

Miss Fall is a graduate of Mountain Brook High School and Auburn University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in foreign language education. She was a member of Delta Gamma sorority and was presented at the 2006 Poinsettia Ball.

Miss Fall is employed with Pell City Schools as a high school Spanish

teacher.

The prospective groom is the grandson of Mrs. William Turner Funderburg and the late Mr. William Turner Funderdurg of Pell City and the late Mr. and Mrs. John Francis Brady Jr. of Albuquerque, N.M. Mr. Funderburg is a graduate of Pell City High School and the University of Alabama, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in music education and played in the Million Dollar Band. He is the director of bands for Williams Intermediate School, Duran South Junior High School and O. D. Duran Junior High School. He is also the assistant band director at Pell City High School.

The wedding will be June 21 at Canterbury United Methodist Church.

the engagement of their daughter, Kristen Walton Lawrence, to Christopher Howard Milling, son of Mr. and Mrs. Keith Howard Milling of Birmingham.

The bride-elect is the granddaughter of Mrs. Lenora Thaggard McGarity of Birmingham and the late Mr. Edmund Cody McGarity Jr. of Gadsden and Mrs. Dan Little Lawrence Sr. and the late Mr. Dan Little Lawrence Sr. of Birmingham.

Miss Lawrence is a cum laude graduate of Auburn University with a bachelor’s degree in accounting and a master’s degree in accountancy.

She was a member of Kappa Delta sorority, Omicron Delta Kappa and Mortar Board and is a member of the American Cancer Society Junior

Executive Board. Miss Lawrence is a CPA with Sellers, Richardson, Holman & West LLP. The prospective groom is the grandson of Mr. Eugene Grady and the late Mrs. Clariece Bell Grady of Birmingham and the late Mrs. Catherine Adams Milling and the late Mr. Howard Francis Milling of Birmingham.

Mr. Milling is a graduate of Auburn University with a bachelor’s degree in accounting. He was a member of Theta Chi fraternity, where he served as treasurer, and was also treasurer of Tiger Habitat for Humanity. Mr. Milling is employed as a risk analyst with Regions Financial Corporation.

The wedding will be July 26.

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20 • Thursday, May 29, 2014

OVER THE MOUNTAIN Journal

‘We’ve always been a do-it-yourself kind of family. We get a lot of satisfaction in tackling projects together.’

Kursten Hutto

Left: David Hutto built this deck area overlooking Smith Lake using wood he found around the lake. above: The family hauled every single rock used in the stone columns in the house from Smith Lake. The stone columns extend from the first floor through the second floor of the house. Photos courtesy David Hutto

Finds Are Keepers Lake House Renovation Turns into Family Project

By Keysha Drexel

retreat on Smith Lake that offered them not only a place to spend quality time with friends and other family members but an opportunity to flex their creative muscles.

“We’ve always been a do-it-yourself kind of family,” Kursten said. “We get a lot of satisfaction in tackling projects together.”

The renovation of the lake house gave the family plenty of chances to put their creative do-it-yourself skills to use, David said.

“When we bought the house, the inside of it looked

Journal editor

W

hen the Hutto family of Homewood wanted to create the perfect lakeside getaway, they didn’t turn to architects, designers and construction crews.

Instead, they went “shore shopping” around Smith Lake. and over the years, the family didn’t just watch their dream lake house take shape--they built it with their own hands.

From the door that was made out of the children’s old sandbox to the handrail constructed from driftwood, the 1,000-square foot home in Cullman reflects the hard work, ingenuity and love David, Kursten, Madison and Dylan put into its custom design.

“Working on the house brought our family together with a unified goal, and it taught us so much,” Kursten said.

The family discovered the two-story house while looking for a house to buy on Smith Lake in 2006.

“We’d been looking for our own place on the lake, and we were looking nearby when I spotted this neat little house,” David said. “It ended up that it was owned by the mother of a friend of a guy I went to college with, so I asked about seeing the inside of it.”

For David and Kursten, their first glimpse at the lake house proved to be a moment of love at first sight.

“As soon as we pulled up into the driveway, we both said that the house was exactly what we were looking for in a lake house,” David said.

And what the Hutto family was looking for was a

The Hutto family of Homewood, from left: Madison, Dylan, Kursten and David. The Homewood family bought this1,000-square-foot house, below, on Smith Lake in 2006. They renovated it themselves using recycled and reclaimed items they found around the lake. Kursten collected all of the wood used in the master bedroom, right, from around Smith Lake, and David hand-cut and placed each piece.

more like a beach house,” David said. “The whole interior was painted in bright pinks and purples, and while that can be fun, we knew it had to go.”

Instead of a Miami Beach vibe, the Hutto family sought to bring a more rustic feel to the home and embrace its natural setting, Kursten said.

“We really wanted it to reflect the natural beauty of Smith Lake and be a casual and comfortable space for all of our friends and our family,” Kursten said.

To that end, the family started from the ground up and transformed the three-bedroom house, one project at a time.

The cinderblock house’s exterior was covered in siding, which David promptly removed.

“We tackled the outside of the house first. We installed new cedar shake on the exterior and tore out the existing deck, because the way it was set up, you couldn’t even really see the lake,” he said. “I put cedar railing and posts and cedar supports on a new deck and built a spiral staircase to give easier access to the house.”

One of the family’s first priorities was creating a backyard space to gather in the evenings.

“The first weekend we were up there, we dug the fire pit. The house sits on a bluff, and we wanted as many ways to take advantage of that view as possible,” David said.

The fire pit quickly became a favorite spot for hanging out with their neighbors on the lake or spending quiet moments after company had gone home, Kursten said.

“We love to sit out there at night and just look up at the stars and listen to the sounds of the tree frogs and the whippoorwills,” she said.

The backyard area also includes an outdoor kitchen with a custom grill and a smoker that is called Bubba’s Bones.

“David’s childhood nickname

Thursday, May 29, 2014 • 21

home

OVER THE MOUNTAIN Journal

was Bubba, so that’s where that came from,” Kursten said. “Michael Majerick custom made that grill. It’s nine feet long, and it took six men to carry it up here and put it in place.

We’ve cooked eight to 10 slabs of ribs, plus four chickens, on that grill at one time.”

A swing Kursten received from Madison and Dylan for a Mother’s Day gift offers guests a place to take in the view of the lake while they wait for David to serve up his Bubba’s Bones specialties.

The backyard area also has an outdoor shower that the family and their guests use to rinse off in between dips in the lake.

The shower is made of materials that Kursten salvaged in Homewood.

“The outdoor shower is made of tin and bamboo, and I found the bamboo on Saulter Road in Homewood,” she said. “The Alabama Power men cutting it down said I could have it when I stopped to ask about it, and they even cut it up so I could fit it in my old Volvo.”

Kursten said she’s always been one to see the potential in things others might discard.

“Everyone used to tease me because I was always finding these treasures on the side of the road,” Kursten, who lived in Canada for a while as a child, said. “I found some antlers on the side of the road one day and carried them two miles back home.”

Kursten said before they bought the lake house, David would also tease her about the things she would find and bring home.

“I remember one time, a man was asking David what we were going to do during one of our home improvement projects, and David told him that it all depended on what I found on the side of the road,” she said.

But after the family bought the lake house, David started seeing things from his wife’s perspective a little more.

“If you give yourself the freedom and flexibility to look at the possibilities and you have a blank canvas, you

can do all sorts of fun stuff,” David said.

Kursten and David said they were always on the lookout for items they could recycle and use in their renovations.

“We’d get out on the boat and go visit our friends around the lake, and we’d always come back with something that caught our eye to use in the house,” Kursten said.

One day, David discovered that someone had discarded a broken

dock, cutting it from its tethers and letting it float down the banks of the lake.

“I saw this huge 20-by-20 dock that had Styrofoam on it, and I knew someone probably just cut it loose in the dead of night to get rid of it, and so to clean up the lake, we hauled it out of the water,” he said. “It took us about two hours to drag it back to the house, but we made some beautiful benches out of it.”

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22 • Thursday, May 29, 2014

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lake house, From previous page

An old deck railing that washed up on the shore was transformed into a headboard for Madison’s room, and a discarded skim board was used to create a fun decoration for Dylan’s room.

“David found this old broken skim board that someone had thrown away, and he cut parts of it out to make it look like it had been bitten by a shark, and now it’s a fun little piece hanging from the ceiling in Dylan’s room,” Kursten said.

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A piece of a log Kursten and David discovered on a walk around the beach is now a handrail on a staircase leading to the second floor of the house.

“I would say about 50 percent of From the mountains, to the prairies, the materials we used to redo the lake To the oceans, white with foam house were all recycled things we found around the lake,” he said. “You hear a lot about green construction, and well, this truly was green construction.”

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“The kitchen cabinets were painted this bright, bright pink and I just wanted to tear them out, but Kursten said she could get the paint off, so that’s what she did for about three months,” David said. “She was in there every Please initial and fax back within 24 hours. weekend with a heat gun and a scraper we have notInc. heard from you by 5 pm of the Friday before the pressuntil date,she got down to the bare wood.”

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The couple also replaced the countertops in the kitchen and added a personal touch before they sealed them.

“A few years back, I gave David a book on pirates for Father’s Day, and so he tore out a treasure map from that book and put it on this one section of the countertops before he finished them,” Kursten said. “It’s like a nod to the house being our own little treasure.”

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covered an old terra cotta pipe flume, which led him to believe that at some point the house had been heated with a wood-burning stove.

“When I saw that, I knew we needed a wood-burning stove in the living room, and it really adds to that cabin feeling,” he said.

David tore out all the sheetrock throughout the home’s interior and replaced it with wood. He pulled up all the carpet and put in pine hardwood flooring, renovated the half bathroom downstairs and rebuilt the staircase going from the first to the second floor.

The staircase offered David another chance to incorporate a unique feature in the house, Kursten said.

“He drilled holes in the steps and put pennies in, like pennies from heaven,” she said. “It’s a sweet accent.”

The home’s rustic theme continues in the bathrooms, which has sinks made out of galvanized tin buckets.

The shower floor in the master bedroom features smooth pebbles the family collected on the shores of Smith Lake.

The lake house boasts a ton of rock work--literally. From the fireplace in the living room to the backsplash in the kitchen to the mountains of stone used to construct two rock columns that go up two stories, every single piece was hauled from the lake by hand, Kursten said.

“When the water in the lake would go down, it would reveal the most beautiful flat rocks, so I took a bucket and walked down the 50 steps to the lake and started hauling them up, a bucket at a time,” she said. “It was in the wintertime and it was cold, but I just kept bringing David the rocks because I knew that if I gave him the materials, he could create something beautiful.”

And while hauling up enough buckets of rocks for all the stonework in the house was tough, the family said the most challenging--and rewarding-project in their lake house renovation involved moving a mountain.

“When we bought it, the house backed up to this bank, and one day, Dylan just started digging it up,” David said. “It soon became a family project, and over six months, we worked together to move a mountain of earth so that we could build a little workshop area.”

Kursten said the whole family really invested in moving the dirt and the rock, and it became a common goal they all worked to accomplish.

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“We were out there with pickaxes and shovels--and eventually a tractor-for eight or 10 hours a day every weekend,” she said. “I joke that the neighbors were probably scared the children were going to get hurt working so much, but they really got into it--we all did.”

After a few months, the digging was done, and David said he knew his children had learned something in the process.

“It showed them that they can move mountains, that there’s no obstacle they can’t overcome through hard work,” he said.

David said he thinks Madison, 20, and Dylan, 17, also learned the satisfaction that comes with putting in a hard day’s work.

“It was really exhausting at times, but it’s such a rush to see your progress after you’ve worked hard all day at something besides pushing paper

‘I would say about 50 percent of the materials we used to redo the lake house were all recycled things we found around the lake. You hear a lot about green construction, and well, this truly was green construction.’

David Hutto

behind a desk,” he said.

Now that Madison is in college and Dylan is about to begin his senior year in high school, Kursten and David said they’ve decided to sell the lake house.

It’s a choice that leaves Kursten a little teary-eyed, she said.

“When I think back to all the good times we’ve had at the lake house, it’s not just the loud, fun times with all of our friends that I think about,” she said.

“Some of my favorite memories are of the quiet times we spent there.”

Kursten said the lake house will always hold a special place in her heart because of the connection it provided to her mother and to David’s mother.

David’s mother passed away about five years ago, Kursten said, but visited the lake house several times.

“We cherish the memories we made with David’s mom there,” she said.

Kursten’s mom passed away in 1985 and never got a chance to see the lake house, but Kursten said she has felt her mother watching over her there.

“When I was a little girl, we would go canoeing up in Canada, and there was always this one heron that would follow me around, and it was kind of a joke between my mother and I,” she said. “One day, I was walking with Madison and Dylan here at Smith Lake, and a heron started following us, and I thought about how much my mother would love it here. This is a very spiritual place for me.”

Kursten said she hopes the next family to live at the lake house will experience the joy her family found during their time on Smith Lake.

“I wouldn’t take anything for the years we’ve spent here, for all the memories that we’ve made here with our children, with our families, with our old friends and our new friends, but it is time to give it up so that someone else can enjoy it,” Kursten said. ❖

OVER THE MOUNTAIN Journal

seniors

Thursday, May 29, 2014 • 23

Van Hoover Parties On

Harbert Employee Celebrates 90th Birthday—Then Gets Back to Work

By Keysha Drexel Journal editor

W

hen Van Hoover’s colleagues at BL Harbert International threw a party for her earlier this month, the occasion not only celebrated her 90th birthday but also honored her more than half-century of service at the company.

Hoover, a Bluff Park resident, has worked as an executive assistant at the company since Jan. 1, 1951.

But when she first came to work for BL Harbert, she had no idea she’d still be there 63 years later, Hoover said.

Her older sister, Rex Barrington, was John M. Harbert’s secretary in 1951 and told Hoover about a job opening at the company.

“I wasn’t really looking for a job, but they needed someone to help type W-2s so I came in to help, thinking I’d only be there about two weeks,” she said.

Hoover started as a typist and was soon the late Bill L. Harbert’s executive secretary.

She eventually became the company’s assistant corporate secretary.

“Until the day he died, Bill got the biggest kick out of telling the story of how I started here, and he would always tell people I was a slow learner,” Hoover said.

When Hoover began working at BL Harbert, the company had only a few employees, she said.

“It was John and Bill Harbert, Ed Dixon, Ted Randolph, Charles DeBardeleben, Louise Daniel and my sister and I and that was it,” she said. “Now, this company has thousands of employees all over the world.”

And Hoover said she’s known many of those employees--and their parents-- since they were in diapers.

“The grandson of Ted (Randolph) works here. Ted will be 93 in December,” she said.

“I’ve seen generations of employees come through during my time here.”

And Hoover knows most of their birthdays by heart--no Google calendar reminder needed.

“Of course I know everyone’s birthday--I remember when most of these people were born,” she said.

It wasn’t long after Hoover started working at BL Harbert that she had lots of birthdays to remember. Hoover said as the company grew, so did her responsibilities.

“The company just kept growing and growing and they needed help, so I stayed on to do what I could,” she said. “They needed help in accounts payable, so I had to learn the bookkeeping machine. They needed help with payroll, so I learned to do that.”

Soon, Hoover became known as Bill L. Harbert’s right-hand man, and the two professionals formed a lifelong bond.

“I always say that you didn’t work for Bill Harbert, you worked with him, and that preposition makes all the difference,” she

“She’s privy to the most confidential negotiations within the company, and if she were to leave, I would, too,” Harbert wrote in a company newsletter congratulating Hoover on her 35th year at the company.

Hoover said much of her work success comes down to showing up and being willing to do a good job every single day.

“I had worked here 40 years without missing a day until I fell and broke my hip,” she said. “I’ve been very lucky to be healthy and be able to keep working.”

When she reached her 60s, Billy Harbert, Van Hoover, Ann Harbert Moulton and Hoover said, the questions about Anne Michaels, from left at when she might retire became Hoover’s 90th birthday party more frequent. at BL Harbert where she has “It seemed like everybody worked for 63 years. was ready for me to retire, Photos special to the Journal except for me,” she said. “But I knew I had more good years left in me and more to give to the company, so here I am, 30 years past retirement age.”

Besides, Hoover said, there’s nothing really about the thought of retirement that appeals to her.

“I’ve never been much for playing bingo or that sort of thing, and I don’t really care to travel,” she said. “I’m doing exactly what I want to do, and not many people can say that.”

Hoover said she thinks the loyalty she feels to BL Harbert is something not many employees feel these days.

“I wish everybody could work for a company and for people that they believe in and that believe in them, but I don’t see that happening in other places much anymore,” she said.

“There’s no real loyalty from employees to their employers, and it works the other way, too. People used to know that a company would take care of them if they were loyal and worked hard, and not too many companies still work like that.”

Hoover said she’s seen the business world change in a lot of good ways--more women in senior roles in the workplace-and in some bad ways, too. She said she’s learned the best companies are the ones where there’s a team mentality.

In addition to giving her a unique perspective on changes in the business world, Hoover said she thinks staying in the workforce has benefited her in many ways.

“I’m always learning something new and ‘I always say that you I’m always talking to folks, and there’s a didn’t work for Bill lot to remember in this job, so I think it has Harbert, you worked with really helped my mind stay sharp,” she said.

Hoover said she doesn’t follow any spehim, and that preposition cial diet or exercise routine but eats sensibly makes all the difference.’ and tries to stay active.

Van Hoover on her working relation“Every morning that you put your feet on ship with the late Bill Harbert, above. the floor, you have to thank the good Lord When Hoover began working at that you can get up and go to work again,” BL Harbert, the company had she said. only a few employees.

Hoover said her strong work ethic is something she supposes she has had her could start talking and I’d finish his sentenc- entire life.

In 1941, she graduated from Shades es--that’s how close we were.”

Before his death, Harbert said Hoover See hoover, page 25 knew the company as well as he did. said. “His greatest asset was his compassion for other people. His son, Billy, is a lot like his father in that way. He just had a birthday on May 23.”

Hoover said up until Bill Harbert’s death in June 2012, she and he would meet at the office every morning at 6 a.m. to discuss the day’s agenda over coffee.

“We had a relationship made in heaven that was based on complete trust,” Hoover said. “He knew I’d get the job done. He

David Roberts IV of Vestavia Hills retired from the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 2001 after almost three decades as a philosophy and ethics teacher. The 70-year-old Mountain Brook native is now a studio arts major at UAB and recently authored a book on bullying.

Roberts also plays bass guitar with a group at venues in the Birmingham metro area.

Journal photo by Keysha Drexel

Lifelong Learner

UAB Retiree Returns to School as a Student

By Keysha Drexel Journal editor

A

t a time when most of his peers are content to slow down and reflect on their lives, a Vestavia Hills man is proving that learning is a lifelong adventure that never stops.

David Roberts IV, 70, retired from teaching philosophy and ethics at the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 2001, but that doesn’t mean he’s still not a familiar face on campus.

“I have retired only to go to the other side of the lectern,” Roberts said. ‘I am a studio art major at UAB specializing in printmaking. The back cover of my book is a print I made this semester.”

That’s right—his book.

Not only is Roberts an accomplished professor and student artist, the Mountain Brook native is also an author.

Roberts held a book signing for his debut novel, “Becoming Twigo,” at Little Professor Book Center in Homewood earlier this month.

“When I retired, I didn’t just want to go home and have my life come to a standstill all of a sudden,” Roberts said. “It’s been vastly overused, but there is some truth in YOLO, or you only live once. We really should savor every moment of life and every chance to learn something new.”

Roberts’ love affair with learning began when he was a student at Crestline Elementary School.

“I’m a hometown boy. I grew up in Crestline on Elm Street, and I think I have always loved being a student,” he said.

When he was in the eighth grade, Roberts was in a car accident that left him in a coma for four days and left a friend of his paralyzed.

“I had severe head injuries, and my capacities were reduced back to those of an 8 year old,” Roberts said. “I remember that summer, I was playing with model toys like a small child and I looked up and my mother was crying, and that’s when I realized the extent of what had happened See Roberts, page 24

24 • Thursday, May 29, 2014

seniors

roberts, From page 23

Crafters: Kim Lucas, Norma Sorenson, Susan Lanier, Barbara Beckkett-Gaines and Donna Parker

PrimeTime Treasures celebrates returning over $4 million to its talented Alabama craftsmen

Assistance League of Birmingham is proud to announce that since 1977, PrimeTime Treasures has sold the work of more than 1000 Alabama seniors and returned over $4 million to these talented artists and craftsmen. PrimeTime Treasures is a unique consignment shop and sells a wide variety of items – art, pottery, jewelry, furniture, seasonal décor, children’s toys, clothes and furniture and much more. Assistance League welcomes new craftsmen; anyone over the age of 50 and residing in Alabama is invited to apply to sell their items in the shop. PrimeTime Treasures is a shop that supports and encourages the senior crafters of Alabama – everything Alabama made!

In 2010, Assistance League opened Encore, an upscale thrift shop.

Encore features gently used clothing, shoes, jewelry and home décor. The shop is a fundraiser to help support the three nonprofit programs of Assistance League; PrimeTime Treasures, Operation School Bell and Operation Literacy. The community is invited to bring their “almost new” items to Encore and a tax receipt will be given to the donor.

Both shops are located at 1755 Oxmoor Road in Homewood and are open Tuesday – Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Follow us on Facebook for the latest happenings at the shops.

Assistance League of Birmingham is a 501(c) (3); over 100 volunteer members administer and run the three nonprofit programs: Go to www.assistanceleaguebhm.org for more information.

Chairs by Larry Sligh • Planters by James W. Stone

PrimeTime Treasures

870-5555 • 1755 Oxmoor Road • Homewood Open Tuesday - Saturday 10:00-4:30

to me.”

Roberts said he worked hard to recover the skills he had lost because of his head injuries, and by that fall, he was ready to enroll at Indian Springs School.

Because of his history of severe head injuries, playing sports at school was too risky, he said.

“That’s where I got the taste of being the other, the person who is an outsider in some way, and I drew on that experience to write ‘Becoming Twigo,’ which is all about that feeling and the effects of bullying,” he said.

Self-published by Roberts in April, “Becoming Twigo” is the story of a 15-year-old girl who struggles to adjust to life in a new school where money rules and where some of the meanest bullies are the cheerleaders.

The story’s main character discovers that one of the girls bullying her is a lesbian.

“While at UAB, I taught, among other courses, ethics. I was always interested in discrimination, especially against women and gays. Much of the novel concentrates on aspects of bullying and harassment of them,” Roberts said.

But even before he taught ethics, Roberts said he learned firsthand what bullying can do to teens.

“Bullying is a cross between ridicule and criticism, and it can really change a person,” he said. “You may not remember a lot of things as the years pass, but you will always remember how people make you feel.”

After graduating from Indian Springs School, Roberts enrolled as a pre-med student at Rollins College in Winter Park, Fla. “Disney World wasn’t in that area at the time. Back then, it was just one big orange grove,” he said.

Roberts said his time as a pre-med student was short in part because he has problems seeing some colors.

“I flunked qualitative chemistry.

It’s where you run a lot of tests that are based on colors and I’m slightly colorblind, so I had such a rough time with that class,” Roberts said. “That’s when I decided to change my major to psychology.”

While pursuing his undergraduate degree at Rollins College, Roberts took a few art classes.

“I would hurry and get all of my work done for my psychology and other classes so that I could get to the studio and have as much time in there as possible,” Roberts said.

Roberts said some of his fondest memories from his undergraduate days—the first time around—are of the nights he spent in the art studio at Rollins College.

“It was the smell and the feel of the place that I loved so much,” he said. “It was the beauty of the things I saw that were in progress, that were evolving from an idea in a student’s mind into a work of art.”

Roberts said time would slip away as he worked on his own art projects and watched those of his peers take shape in the studio.

“I saw people struggling with their pieces one night, and then the next

OVER THE MOUNTAIN Journal

night I would come into the studio and I would suddenly see what they were working toward,” he said. “And when it was finished, I would get to see how they hit that artistic sweet spot where everything came together.

It was inspiring.”

Art wasn’t Roberts’ only creative outlet during his time at Rollins College.

“I earned pocket money in college by playing rock and roll,” he said. “I played electric bass, and I still do. I get together with a bunch of old-timers, and we rock out and play at different spots around the Birmingham area. We are all members of the Magic City Blues Society.

It’s amazing that when we all get together, it still works and it’s a really good time.”

Roberts earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Rollins College and then continued his education at Emory University.

While he had initially planned to pursue a master’s degree in psychology, Roberts said the things he was naturally interested in studying began to point him in another new direction.

“I was interested in the nature of beliefs and how they are learned,” Roberts said. “For example, how does a 4 or 5-year-old child come to believe that Santa comes down the chimney with all those presents?

Those kinds of questions were the ones I wanted answers to at that time.”

Roberts said he found his curiosity drawn to ideas and feelings the philosophy students were talking about and grew less and less excited about the discussions going on in his psychology courses.

“In the experimental psychology department, I ran head-on into these rabid behaviorists, and they were oriented to operational definitions.

They didn’t want to talk about ideas

‘When I retired, I didn’t just want to go home and have my life come to a standstill all of a sudden... We really should savor every moment of life and every chance to learn something new.’

David Roberts

and feelings,” he said. “So I walked across the quadrangle to the philosophy department where they were dealing with the things I wanted to talk about at that time.”

Roberts earned a master’s degree and a doctorate in philosophy from Emory University. He came to Birmingham to take a job at UAB in the early 1970s.

“Even back then, it was known that if you wanted to be a doctor, UAB was the place to go,” Roberts said. “At that time, the study of medical ethics was very new, believe it or not.”

Roberts worked in several roles during his tenure at UAB, both as a professor and administrator. But just because he was the one giving the lectures didn’t mean he wasn’t learn-

ing, he said.

Roberts’ interest in art was renewed almost by chance one evening when we he went to pick up his daughter from her art class at Space One Eleven.

“I came to pick up my daughter one day and I was a little early, so I walked inside and I saw all these children so excited about painting and drawing and creating, and it was wonderful,” he said.

The next time he came to pick up his daughter from art classes, Roberts said he purposely arrived a little early so he could look closely at the students’ work.

“They had some butcher paper set up on a table there, and while I was waiting, I just started drawing on the paper, sketching a bit,” Roberts said.

“Then Anne Arrasmith, one of the founders of Space One Eleven, came over and looked at what I was drawing. We struck up a conversation, and she started offering me art tips.”

Pretty soon, Roberts was showing up to retrieve his daughter from her art class 20 or 30 minutes before the class ended.

“I was getting there so early, it was like I was pushing the kids out of the way so I could draw and paint,” Roberts said. “At one point, Anne said, ‘OK, Dave. We have just started adult art classes and you need to sign up,’ so I did and I took lessons from her for many years.”

After he retired, Roberts said, he almost immediately enrolled as an art student at UAB. “I wanted to keep learning, to branch out into different areas of art that I hadn’t tried before and see what I could discover,” he said. “I’ve taken classes in sculpture, painting and basically, all of the art courses except for graphic design.”

And while Roberts said he has relished learning more about each medium, he said that so far, printmaking has been his favorite.

“Something just clicked when I started taking the printmaking classes,” Roberts said. “In printmaking, you can do a lot of good work in black and white, which makes it a perfect medium for me because of the trouble I have with seeing some colors.”

Roberts used his new printmaking skills to create a design for the back cover of “Becoming Twigo,” a book he started writing about three years ago.

“I took a fiction writing class from an old friend I had worked with at UAB, and something very important that he taught me was that to be a good writer, you have to listen,” Roberts said. “The idea for the book actually came from a conversation I heard. I listened, and what I heard became the lead plot underlying the whole book.”

While Roberts said he hopes that readers embrace “Becoming Twigo” because of the important message on bullying it contains, he said he’s not content to stop at just one book--or one vocation.

“I have several projects I’m working on now--in art, in writing, in music--and I’m looking forward to all of them,” Roberts said. “There are still plenty of chances for this old dog to learn a few new tricks.” ❖

hoover, From page 23

Cahaba High School, a high school in the Jefferson County System from 1920 to 1949. The renovated building now houses Shades Cahaba Elementary School on Independence Drive at the intersection of Hollywood Boulevard in Homewood.

“I graduated from high school and started working the very next day,” Hoover said. “My first job was at First National Bank’s Woodlawn branch. I was a secretary there.”

Hoover said her family’s love and support is another reason she’s still young at heart.

“From the very beginning, my husband was supportive of my career, and that’s no small thing because at that time, not a lot of women were working full time,” Hoover said.

Hoover’s husband, James, was her childhood sweetheart. They met when James moved next door to her when she was just 6 years old and living in the Oxmoor Valley area in the 1930s.

The couple married on March 8, 1944 and had two daughters, Sherry and Sandy.

“Like I said, I wasn’t really looking for a job when my sister told me they needed help at Harbert,” Hoover said. “I had two little girls who were just starting school at that time.”

But as much as her family needed her at home, Hoover said she also knew she was needed at work.

“I have always felt like I was doing something useful, something helpful here, and everybody wants to

Thursday, May 29, 2014 • 25

seniors

OVER THE MOUNTAIN Journal

feel useful, no matter who they are or how old they are,” she said.

At a time when most Alabama families did not have both parents working full time outside the home, Hoover and her husband were pioneers when it came to sharing the responsibilities of being working parents.

“When I started working at Harbert, my husband switched his shift at the railroad so that he worked nights,” Hoover said. “He was home with the girls during the day when I was at work, and I was at home with them at night while he was at work.

It worked out perfectly for us, and we were very lucky for that.”

Hoover said the arrangement not only meant she could work with peace of mind knowing that her children were being taken care of but also resulted in her husband and daughters sharing a close bond.

“He got a chance to spend time with the girls that a lot of other fathers back then and even today don’t have a chance to do,” Hoover said. “The girls got the chance to spend so much time and have so much fun with their father.”

James retired from L&N Railroad and passed away July 18, 1986.

Sherry Askew, the couple’s older daughter, lives in Auburn and has four children--Clay, Robyn, Lee and Misty.

Hoover’s younger daughter, Sandy, lives about three blocks from her mother and has two children, Andrea and Bryan.

“My children still think I hung the moon, and I let them keep thinking that,” Hoover said.

Hoover said she gives young women starting out in their careers today the same advice she gave Sherry and Sandy.

“I always taught them to work hard and to give their employers 115 percent every single day, and they’re both doing just fantastic in their careers,” she said.

Hoover’s work ethic is so relentless that she didn’t even let her own 90th birthday party keep her from her duties very long.

“Billy (Harbert) wanted to do a big gala-type party, and I didn’t go for that. I played on his sympathies and told him that at 90, you should have the kind of party you want,” she said. “So we had some cookies and they played ‘I Don’t Need Your Rocking Chair’ by George Jones over the office intercom, and it was a great party. After that, I went back to work for the rest of the day.”

Hoover said she has no plans to retire anytime soon.

“I have a little saying that goes, ‘I know I’m not the brightest bulb on the tree, but I know all my bulbs are still lit.’ I still think I have something to contribute here, and I truly enjoy every day at work.”

But just because she’s not letting her age slow her down doesn’t mean Hoover doesn’t like to take advantage of her senior employee status at the office from time to time.

“When you’re almost 100 years old, people won’t say too much to you because they’re afraid you might drop dead and have a heart attack, so I get by with a lot of stuff,” she said. ❖

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26 • Thursday, May 29, 2014

schools

OVER THE MOUNTAIN Journal

‘Mine’ Makes a Splash Hoover Grad’s Music Video Will Air on MTV, BET

By Taylor Burgess Journal intern

T

hough many teenagers sing or play music for enjoyment, Houston Kendrick, a 2014 Hoover High School graduate, has more long-term ambitions.

“My end game would definitely be to have this as my career, as my way to feed myself,” Kendrick said.

“That’s my goal.”

Kendrick recently released his debut video, “Mine,” through the Birmingham-based Audiostate 55 Entertainment Company.

The video was released on YouTube in April and has since attracted more than 6,000 views.

The filming of the video, which took place at Woodlawn High School, was a new experience for Kendrick, he said.

“The video process was crazy, to say the least,” Kendrick said. “It was my first video, obviously, and it was in the middle of the summer and really hot.”

Other conditions on the film set made the day challenging, he said.

“There was no air conditioning in the building,” Kendrick said. “There also wasn’t any running water.”

But Kendrick said that didn’t stop him from savoring the experience.

“We got there early in the morn-

ing, and we were waiting for everyone to get there, and I just sat there and thought, ‘I’m about to shoot my first music video. This is crazy,’” Kendrick said.

During the shoot, Kendrick said, he was nervous about how the video would turn out.

“Everyone eventually got there, so we started shooting the opening scene,” Kendrick said. “The whole time I was wondering, ‘Am I doing this right? Do I look good?’”

Ultimately, however, the video came together, and everyone involved enjoyed the process, he said.

“Overall, the shoot took about seven or eight hours,” Kendrick said.

“We had a blast—the director, the crew, everyone—we all gelled and had an absolute blast.”

Before the video, Kendrick recorded “Mine” as a single at the Audiostate 55 Recording Studios.

“I wrote the single with Clint Green, who is also the producer of the record,” Kendrick said. “We came into the studio one day and it just kind of happened.”

Kendrick’s session at the studio also happened somewhat by chance, he said.

“The story goes that my dad ran into Dr. Henry Panion (Audiostate 55 president and producer) at Publix,” Kendrick said. “When my dad saw

Shades Mountain Christian School

him, he asked, ‘Can my son sing for you?’”

Kendrick, then a high school sophomore, came into the Audiostate 55 studios, where Panion said he was impressed with his abilities.

“Dr. Panion saw something, and we started working on it, and now we have ‘Mine,’” Kendrick said.

By recording at Audiostate 55’s studios, Kendrick found himself among successful company.

“We’ve done a lot of projects here, from Carrie Underwood to Kirk Franklin,” Panion said. “Most of Ruben Studdard’s records are done here as well.”

Additionally, music specifically released by Audiostate 55 Entertainment is distributed by Warner Music Group, one of the largest global record companies, Panion said.

But Kendrick’s abilities aren’t restricted to the studio, Panion said.

“Houston is actually a great singer,” Panion said. “He’s had a lot of experience singing as a participant in the Red Mountain Theatre Company and as lead in many of the musicals at his school.”

Kendrick has even received awards for his vocal talents.

“Houston is the winner of soloist of the year from the Capital City Show Choir Competition in Montgomery,” Panion said. “He’s not just coming off the bench at church; he’s very active as a singer.”

Panion said he thinks “Mine” may have the potential to be more than just a vanity project.

“Anything we do here that is released, because of our relationship with Warner Music Group, they have to put their ears on it,” Panion said.

Houston Kendrick, a 2014 graduate of Hoover High School, in the Audiostate 55 Recording Studios, where he recorded his debut single, “Mine.”

Journal photo by Taylor Burgess

“So it wasn’t until they listened to ‘Mine’ that they told us we should look into doing more with it.”

Kendrick’s debut video stemmed from Warner’s initial interest, Panion said.

“We began to talk with Warner about the project, and from that we decided to do the video,” Panion said.

“It’s taken on a life of its own since then.”

Even so, Panion said there are certain realities that Kendrick faces by considering a career in the music industry.

“This world is very competitive.

So much of what goes into making a Chris Brown or a Rihanna is all about the money you spend on the image,” Panion said. “But even though Warner recognized we weren’t doing that, they saw that we had a great project: a project worthy of national exposure.”

Through their relationship with Warner, Panion and Audiostate 55 are starting to give Kendrick that national exposure.

“The video will be beginning to air on MTV and BET. That’s major,” Panion said. “We’ve been working

with a team of people to get that out.”

Even with its potential for national reach, the project is still personal for Kendrick, he said.

“Because of Warner’s interest, we ultimately have more than a vanity project,” Panion said. “But even if we didn’t do anything with it, we still have something we can be proud of.”

Kendrick said that even with his music career ambitions, he is still pursuing a normal education track after his graduation from high school.

“College is the immediate plan: either Belmont University in Nashville or the Berklee College of Music in Boston,” Kendrick said.

Kendrick said he is just as focused on his music career.

“I definitely have an aim. I want to get to that point where I’m signed to a label—an artist—actively working on things,” Kendrick said. “I want to be influential. The goal is to get to a place where I can have an impact with my music.”

To watch Kendrick’s debut video, “Mine,” or for information about Kendrick or the Audiostate 55 Entertainment Company, visit audiostate55.com or call 592-2222. ❖

School Notes

▪K3 - 12th Grades ▪Student/Teacher Ratio 12:1 ▪AHSAA Sports ▪Band, Theatre, Choir & Art

VHEW Holds Teacher Appreciation Week The Parent Teacher Organization at Vestavia Hills Elementary West showed teachers appreciation through several events during the week of March 3.

The Room Parent Committee began the week by providing teachers with breakfast.

During the week, students brought notes of appreciation to their teachers.

The Room Parent Committee sent

small tokens of thanks home with faculty members.

Teachers were treated to an elegant luncheon, hosted by Jenni Mote, Alissa Padgett and Marti Register, on March 6.

Ashley Goetz, Chrystal Kracke and Stacey Ball coordinated the week’s events.

Homewood High School Ranked by Newspaper The Washington Post recently

smcs.org Call to arrange a tour

205-978-6001

The Vestavia Hills Elementary West PTO recently held a luncheon for the school’s teachers. From left: Debbie Brown, Dawn Norris and Jamie Kolb. special to the Journal

Alisa

Photo

named Homewood High School one of America’s Most Challenging High Schools.

Homewood High School was ranked fifth among the seven Alabama high schools that were ranked.

Only 9 percent of the approximately 22,000 U.S. public high schools were ranked under the high standards of the list.

The Washington Post compiles the list of America’s Most Challenging High Schools to provide a comprehensive look at public high schools nationwide and each school’s commitment to offering challenging, college-level coursework to all students.

To determine which schools make the list, the Post tallied the number of Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate or Advanced International Certificate of Education tests given at a school each year.

That number was then divided by the number of seniors who graduated that year; the Washington Post refers to the final number as that school’s Challenge Index.

If a school received a Challenge Index of 1.000, then that school had as many tests as graduates.

Homewood High’s Top Scholars

National Merit Scholarship students at Homewood High School are, from left: Hunter Kimbrell, Daniel Spieler, Katherine Gardner, Rachael Dantzler, Houston Wingo, Laine Smith and Margaret Gauntt. Photo special to the Journal

Experts Visit Bluff Park Enrichment Students Third and fifth-graders at Bluff Park Elementary School in Hoover recently heard from science professionals as part of their enrichment classes.

Fifth-graders were visited by a fabricator who worked on the team to restore the Saturn V. John Viviani visited the school to talk to enrichment class students who are participating in the Aerospace in Education program.

Viviani brought examples of the materials used in his work on the Saturn V and explained design decisions he made based on aeronautics, engineering and budget.

Third-graders at Bluff Park Elementary School learned about the rocks in their own backyards from their visitor.

As part of their studies on rocks and materials, the students in the enrichment program were visited by Roseanne Beasley.

Beasley gave a presentation on the “rocks that built Birmingham,” which gave the students a unique historical perspective on the geology and development of the city.

Homewood Teacher Selected for Workshop Liz Pipkin, a teacher at Homewood Middle School, has been selected from a national applicant pool as a National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Scholar to attend one of 17 Landmarks of American History and Culture workshops.

Pipkin will attend “The Most Southern Place on Earth: Music, Culture, and History in the Mississippi Delta” workshop June 22-28 at Delta State University.

The Delta Liz Pipkin Center is a Center of Excellence at Delta State University, the management entity for the Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area and home of the Blues Highway Association.

Pipkin said she is looking forward to

Thursday, May 29, 2014 • 27

schools

OVER THE MOUNTAIN Journal

photography journalism opportunities as she travels the Delta.

Pipkin has participated in past Alabama Humanities events that have dealt with human rights issues in Alabama and the Middle East. In 2011, she was chosen as a fellow to study Turkey and its impact on the global world.

The National Endowment for the Humanities is a federal agency that each year supports summer study opportunities so teachers can work with experts in humanities disciplines.

Berry Students Chosen for STEM Camp in Huntsville Students from Berry Middle School in Hoover have been selected to attend a week-long science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM, summer camp in Huntsville this summer.

Naomi Gonzales, Anastasia Zellner and Kristen Hopkins will attend the Tech Trek summer camp July 20-25.

The STEM camp is for rising eighthgrade girls and the Berry Middle students were selected from among hundreds of other applicants for the opportunity.

Tech Trek was created in 1998 by the AAUW, formerly the American Association of University Women, in Palo Alto, Calif. Over the last 15 years, Tech Trek expanded to eight college campuses in California and served more than 9,000 girls.

Through Tech Trek, girls are immersed in a world that empowers and encourages them to think about themselves as future scientists, engineers, mathematicians, and computer specialists.

The Huntsville AAUW branch is co-sponsoring the event, along with the University of Alabama Huntsville.

The Birmingham AAUW branch announced that the Berry Middle School students and four other students from Jefferson County were selected for the summer camp.

Eighth-graders Help with Easter Basket Project All eighth-grade students at Liberty Park Middle School in Vestavia Hills recently participated in a day of service for the community.

The students helped assemble 190 Easter baskets at Liberty Park Baptist Church as part of a Hands On

Birmingham project called Bunny Aid. The students originally had planned to participate in a service field trip in February, but that was canceled due to bad weather. Looking for an alternate way to give back to the community, eighth-grader Kanley Lemke told her social studies teacher, Courtney Burger, about the Bunny Aid project.

Teachers and students coordinated a school-wide collection of Easter basket supplies. Students worked together April 10 to assemble the Easter baskets at Liberty Park Baptist.

The completed baskets contained candy, stuffed animals and toys.

Hands On Birmingham representatives distributed the baskets to children in need.

Later that afternoon, a kickball tournament was held to benefit Relay for Life. All donations went to Vestavia Hills High School’s Relay for Life fundraiser on behalf of LPMS. Dylan Teague’s homeroom claimed victory in the kickball tournament final.

Plaque at Hoover High Honors Berry Graduate

Members of the Kitchings and Shaw families attended the plaque dedication ceremony for Julie Kitchings Shaw at Hoover High School. Photo special to the Journal ceremony, including Shaw’s children and other family members, friends and classmates and teachers from W.A. Berry High School.

The plaque will hang in Hoover High School’s front lobby and is titled “Cherish Every Day”–a motto by which friends say Shaw lived.

Berry High School Coach Wayne

A plaque was dedicated at Hoover High School April 4 honoring the memory of 1989 W.A. Berry High School alumna and Hoover native Julie Kitchings Shaw.

Shaw passed away from cancer in 2012.

Dozens were on hand for the

Wood coordinated plans for the event with the Shaw family.

Shaw was the mother of two. She was involved in numerous athletic teams and extracurricular events at W.A. Berry High School.

She graduated from the University of Alabama in 1993 and worked for CBS Radio in Birmingham and in Atlanta.

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28 • Thursday, May 29, 2014

schools

OVER THE MOUNTAIN Journal

Rodas Honored at Bumpus Choir Show

Fifth-graders at Edgewood Elementary School in Homewood celebrate winning third place in this year’s McWane Science Center Science Celebration competition. Photo special to the Journal

Edgewood Students Win in McWane Contest Fifth-graders at Edgewood Elementary School in Homewood recently received $750 for a prototype exhibit they created for McWane Science Center.

The enrichment students in Christen Sloderbeck’s enrichment class won third place in this year’s McWane Science Center Science Celebration competition.

The students competed against 19 other teams in the contest, a year-long program where students work together to design a prototype for a new exhibit at the McWane Center.

Students began brainstorming ideas in September and then completed the steps of the engineering process, submitting the final prototype in April.

Edgewood’s class prototype is called “Do You See What I See?” and features a model of a giant eye. Visitors could walk in and around the model to learn about the structure of the eye.

The prototype also includes four “fact centers” inside the eye where visitors can learn about common types of vision problems such as nearsightedness and color blindness. ❖

Shades Mountain Christian School ▪K3 - 12 Grades th

▪Student/Teacher Ratio 12:1 ▪AHSAA Sports ▪Band, Theatre, Choir & Art

smcs.org Call to arrange a tour

205-978-6001

R.F. Bumpus Middle School’s Cadence Show Choir Spring Show held special meaning this year for director/ teacher Sal Rodas.

The two-hour presentation included performances by students, as planned.

However, the show went off script at one point, to Rodas’ surprise.

Former Cadence member Stephen Thomas, a student at Hoover High School, worked behind the scenes for weeks with Cadence members and alumni to choreograph a special show to express appreciation for Rodas, who has led the group since 2001.

“I had no idea about the surprise and was overcome with emotion as I watched the group sing and dance. It is so exciting to me that they would take their time and effort to put together a special moment for me,” Rodas said. “I love all the students that have been a member of Cadence and feel privileged to have the opportunity to put into and share in their lives.”

The Cadence Show Choir Spring Show included performances of the group’s Competition Show and its student-choreographed Spring Show and solo performances by members of the group as well as by alum Houston Kendrick, a 2014 graduate of Hoover High School, singing his single, “Mine.”

The Brock’s Gap Sixth-grade Show Choir also performed its 2013-14 show.

The concert highlighted members of the group through a photo presentation and individual recognition for graduating eighth-graders.

More than 80 students and alumni participated in the show.

Altamont Grad Is National Scholars Semifinalist Emily Pohill, a 2014 graduate of the Altamont School, has been named one of the 565 semifinalists in the 2014 U.S. Presidential Scholars Program.

The semifinalists were selected from more than 4,000 candidates on the basis of superior achievements, leadership qualities, personal character and involvement in the community and school activities.

Semifinalists Emily Pohill were chosen by a panel of distinguished educators after a review of students’ essays, selfassessments, descriptions of activities, school recommendations and school transcripts.

Sal Rodas was honored at the Cadence Show Choir Spring Show at Bumpus Middle School in Hoover. Photo special to the Journal

Samford, Hall-Kent Pen Pals Meet Face to Face Second-graders at Hall-Kent Elementary School in Homewood recently had a chance to meet the people they have been exchanging letters with throughout the school year.

The students of Amy Anderson and Faith Whitlock have been writing letters to their pen pals at Samford University

Bryan Olmos-Ramos, left, a student at Hall-Kent Elementary School in Homewood, talks to his pen pal, Aaron Conner, a Samford University student. Photo special to the Journal since the beginning of the school year.

Earlier this month, they got a chance to meet their college friends face to face.

The Samford University students visited the elementary school to meet their student pen pals.

The college students participated in the pen pal program as a part of their literacy education class at Samford.

Liberty Park Students Place in Math Tourney The math team from Liberty Park Middle School in Vestavia Hills earned honors at a recent tournament at the Alabama School of Fine Arts.

Both the seventh and eighth-grade teams placed third in the tournament’s small school division.

In individual awards, eighth-grader Josh Gray won third place, and eighthgrader Kanley Lemke won sixth place.

Seventh-graders Karen Reyes and Robyn Sanders also won fourth and eighth place, respectively.

Kathrene Westbrook.

The purpose of the conference was to teach science teachers how to add rigor in their classrooms. Some of the sessions the Vestavia teachers either taught or co-taught were a hands-on physical science session, a life science session and an outdoors session.

In the physical science session, teachers were shown how science, technology, engineering and math concepts really work in a classroom.

In a session on plant reproduction, the teachers presented a hands-on lesson that included a flower dissection.

Participants dissected a lily, mounted it on an index card and labeled its parts.

Another session encouraged teachers to take science outdoors.

Attendees were taught how to create mini ponds from leaf litter and distilled or spring water. Participants prepared slides from a pre-made mini pond and used microscopes to examine the microorganisms collected during the mini field trip into nature.

Highlands French Classes Offer History, Culture Sixth-grade French students at Highlands School learn more than the language in their classes. They also study the history and culture of many French-speaking countries through language, art, music and cooking.

The sixth-graders recently participated in a cross-curricular project as they studied the lives and work of the French Impressionists and their impact on the art world in the 19th and 20th centuries.

At Highlands School, students are exposed to the French, Spanish and Chinese languages beginning in the 4K year. In the fourth grade, the students choose one of the languages on which to focus through the eighth grade.

The study of world languages is part of the core curriculum. Middle school students take classes in their chosen language every day. ❖

Prince of Peace Holds May Vestavia Teachers Attend Science Works Conference Crowning Ceremony Preschoolers at Prince of Peace Catholic School in Hoover held a May 1 crowning ceremony. Preschool students brought flowers to place at the feet of a statue of Mary.

Molly Krauss, 4, was selected to place a special bouquet and small crown atop the statue. She is the daughter of Heather Krauss, a teacher at the school.

Several Vestavia Hills City Schools science teachers presented at the 2014 Science Works Conference held recently at the McWane Science Center in downtown Birmingham.

Participating Vestavia Hills teachers were Jennifer Anderson, Jennifer Brown, Jemmie Clements, Aimee Farrer, Becky Gibson, Brett Horne, Alicia Johnson, Desiree Spencer and

Highlands School student Peyton Allen works on her Impressionist artwork. Photo special to the Journal

Thursday, May 29, 2014 • 29

schools/sports

OVER THE MOUNTAIN Journal

BHM Blazers Win State Championship

Patriot’s Mike Rohdy will Run for Bulldogs

Homewood High School senior Mike Rohdy signed a letter of intent to run cross country track for Samford University next year.

“Mike is one of the hardest workers and best leaders to ever come through our program, and he has led the program to four State Championships during his high school career,” said Patriot track coach Tom Esslinger. Attending his signing at the school recently were parents Katherine and Michael Rohdy, his brother Andrew and sisters Elizabeth and Allison.

Glenn Ireland Continues Football Career at Sewanee in Fall

Baylor School senior Glenn Ireland, right, will continue his football career at Sewanee: The University of the South in the fall.

A four-year letterman for the Red Raiders, Ireland was a team captain for the 2013 squad. Baylor head coach Phil Massey says Ireland’s leadership and play will be missed.

“Glenn always had a positive attitude and gave a great effort every day, whether it was at practice or in a game. I believe Glenn will make a huge contribution for Sewanee next

corgill, From page 1

ent workshops to education groups.

Corgill will travel the state promoting education in a 2014 Chevrolet Traverse. She received a year’s use of the new car from Alfa Insurance and the Alabama Farmers Federation.

She will be recognized by the president at a reception at the White House and have a chance to spend one week at Space Camp at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville.

Corgill is now in the running for the National Teacher of the Year title and will attend the National Teacher of the Year Program Conference with other state winners.

Corgill has been a teacher for 20 years and has taught at Cherokee Bend Elementary since 2012. Before that, she was a national consultant for Development Studies Center and taught at Hewitt-Trussville Middle School and at Riverchase Elementary School in Hoover. She was also a teacher at the Manhattan New School in New York City.

Her first job after receiving a bachelor’s degree in education from the University of Alabama in 1994 was at Brookwood Forest Elementary

fall,” he said In addition to football, Ireland participated in concert band and was a member of the lacrosse team.

He is the son of Rhonda Ireland of Lookout, Mountain, Tenn. and Patti and Bill Ireland of Birmingham.

Baylor is a day and boarding school for students in grades 6-12, located in Chattanooga, Tenn.

School in Mountain Brook.

Corgill also has a master’s degree in early childhood and elementary education from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

She is a National Board Certified Teacher and the 2007 recipient of the Donald H. Graves Writing Award.

Corgill is also an author and is currently working on her second book, which will be about quality instruction. Her first book was “Of Primary Importance: What’s Essential in Teaching Young Writers.”

Corgill said she believes professional development is a key to improving schools.

“We as teachers need the same things our students need--ongoing support, focused and specific studies, a ‘less is more’ philosophy, and multiple opportunities to practice what we’ve learned,” she wrote in her author’s biography on the Stenhouse Publishers website.

Corgill said the process of writing her first book was both “painful and dreadful” and “the most amazing way to learn about my students and my teaching.”

“I’ve never run a marathon, but I would suspect finishing the book feels a lot like crossing the finish line,” she said. ❖

The fourth-grade BHM Blazers won the Youth Basketball of America state championship May 11 at Pelham High School.

The team went 6-0 in tournament play and defeated the Madison County Warriors 44-40 in the championship game.

The Blazers are a cross-community team with players from Mountain Brook, Oak Mountain and Vestavia Hills. Five elementary and intermediate schools are represented on the team’s roster.

The Blazers recently were runnersup in the YBOA Alabama Super Regional and have received an automatic bid to participate in the YBOA National Championship tournament in Orlando.

The team will attend the Jerod Haase Basketball Camp at UAB in June.

The BHM Blazers are the Youth Basketball of America state champs. From left, front: Clayton Marek, Reese Gurner, Evan Smith, Matthew Thackerson, Brady Dunn and Tom Fischer. Second row: Caiden Howle, Ryan Giegel, Wilder Evers, Patch Lyman, George Scofield and Jack Poole. Back: Coaches Troy Marek and Kris Dunn. James Barron is not pictured. Photo courtesy Shannon Marek

Mountain Brook Board of Education Honors Spartans Soccer Team Members of the Mountain Brook girls’ varsity soccer team were recognized at a recent Mountain Brook Board of Education meeting for their outstanding season. The defending 6A state champs, coached by Scott Flowers, made it all the way to the 6A state title game again this season before losing to Oak Mountain in a tough 1-0 decision.

Members of the team are, from left, front: Julia

Photo special to the Journal

Garrison, Leigh Haynes, Frances Morris, Cate Armstrong, Alexa Ruttenberg, Liz Clutton, Adelaide Kimberly, Laney Smith, and Katherine Brian. Back: Carlin Pittman, Maggie Clemmons, Baily Martin, Lowry Neil, Nicole Strahl, Anna Catherine Gillespy, Heitho Shipp, Sarah Grace Lindsey, Ansley Joy Peacock, Elizabeth Gillespy and Jessica Sirkin.

Kathryn Wason is not pictured.

Berry Girls Finish Season Strong, All Tourney, All Metro Announced

The Berry Jaguars completed one of their most successful seasons in school history, going 18-14 overall on the season, finishing with a 6-4 record in the Metro South, and placing fourth in the Metro South Tournament.

The Jaguars, who only fielded two eighth-grade starters, were led offensively by Maddie Majors, Kristen Hopkins, Caroline Wooley, Casey Kizer and Bailey Bowers. Bowers, Kizer, Hopkins and Majors also provided stellar defense and Caroline Kendrick and Kate Campbell formed an effective pitching tandem throughout the season.

The rest of the Jaguars’ roster included eighth-graders Katelyn McClure, Abby Goddard and Emma Knott and seventh graders Haley Hickman, Mallory Smith and Ashley Keel. The Jaguars were coached by Christopher Carey and Allyson Ritenour.

All Tourney, All Metro Selections

Members of the Metro Tournament, All-Tournament Softball Team from the Over The Mountain area are: Maddie Majors, Berry; Katie Threeton, Bumpus; Hannah Crocker, Homewood; Mary Emma Davidson, Liberty Park; Caroline Keller, Mountain Brook; Tori Martin, Oak Mountain; Sarah Cain, Pizitz and Kenzie Tinney, Simmons.

Selected Metro Players of the Year from the Over The Mountain area are: From Berry: Maddie Majors, Kristen Hopkins and Bailey Bowers. Bumpus: Madeline Harris, Mackenzie June and Jordyn Johnson. Homewood: Hannah Crocker, Hannah Gibson and Kassidy Crawford. Liberty Park: Merritt Cahoon, Mary Emma Davidson and Maddie Nelson. Mountain Brook: Caroline Keller, Lauren Gilbert, and Emma Gaines Reaves. Oak Mountain: Clara Fuller, Lindsay Brown and Maddie Katona. Pizitz: Sarah Cain, Lily Henley and Mary Sanders James. Simmons: Saralyn Campbell, Annemarie Kacker and Caroline Nichols.

Coming in your Jun e 12 over the moun t ain journ al

T he 2014 All-OTM Baseball and Softball T eams

30 • Thursday, May 29, 2014

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OVER THE MOUNTAIN Journal

The Jaguars clinched the crown with a 9-4 verdict in the deciding game at Montgomery’s Riverwalk Stadium.

Photo special to the Journal

Photo courtesy James Spann

Members of the Oak Mountain Varsity Blue Team are from left, front: Meredith Edwards, Elizabeth Richmond, Lexi Gregson, Rachel Robb, Cici Brand, Kelli Stewart, Gina Sherman and Brittni Jones, captain. Back: Dave Klementz, head coach, Katie Sherman, Kayla Hoye, Catherine Clark, Sarah Dayhood, Madeline Mullins, Maddie Everhart, Kelly Huggins, Taylor Fondren, Gracie Wilkes and Rob Haley, assistant coach. Christina Dorsey is not pictured.

Oak Mountain Caps Off Impressive Season with LAX State Championship The 2014 Oak Mountain High School’s Girls’ Varsity Lacrosse blue team capped off a very successful season by winning the GBYLA Alabama State Championship on May 4, beating Mountain Brook High School 12-6. Oak Mountain finished the in-state season with a record of 14-1, and an overall record of 21-3. Since December the team has played opponents from Georgia, Tennessee and Mississippi

as part of its non-conference schedule.

During the season, the team averaged nearly 17 goals per game in offense and only gave up an average of 2.8 goals per game. They outscored GBYLA opponents by a total of 253 to 43 goals. Oak Mountain’s varsity team finished first among 11 teams in the state, and the Oak Mountain JV red team finished fourth among 11 teams in the state.

Berry Middle Wins Metro Girls Golf Tournament Berry Middle School’s Girls Golf Team has once again emerged as champion of the annual Girls Metro South Golf Tournament. The tournament, held April 16 at the Highland Park Golf Course in Birmingham, featured nine area teams. Berry’s overall score was 135.

Another Hoover City Schools Golf Team, R.F. Bumpus Middle, placed second with a score of 148.

Liberty Park Middle School came in third with a score of 164.

“The tournament went very well

Berry Middle School girls golf team with coach Lincoln Clark, from left: Jessica Shaw, Caroline Waldrop, Lauren Choi, Caroline McCabe, Tanya Gupta and Sarah Nelson Photo special to the Journal

thanks to Mace Muse at Highland Park and the wonderful ladies at the Lady Legacy Foundation who volunteered their time to help officiate,” Lincoln Clark, Berry Middle School

teacher and head coach for the girls golf team, said.

Carson McKie, from R.F. Bumpus Middle School, won the trophy for best round with a 37.

Spartan Runners Receive Colonel George V. Irons Award Two of Mountain Brook High School’s outstanding long distance track athletes have won the 2014 Colonel George V. Irons Distance Trophy awarded at a Mountain Brook High School Assembly recently. This award is presented in memory of Dr. George V. Irons, Sr. Irons broke records throughout the South as captain of the University of Alabama Distance Team in the 1920s. The Colonel George V. Irons Distance Trophy is awarded to the top long-distance track athlete who has excelled in scholarship, character and citizenship.

This year’s recipents are Rachael Reddy and Stewart Hawk.

William L. Irons, Colonel Iron’s son, presented the trophies to Rachael Reddy and Stewart Hawk at Mountain Brook High School’s Awards Assembly.

Photo special to the Journal

spain park, From page 32

The dream met reality for the Spain Park senior last week–not once but twice.

With his Jaguars playing a best-ofthree series with Sparkman for the 6A state championship, Sumner got key hits in the first and third games to give Coach Will Smith’s team its first-ever baseball state crown.

Spain Park won Friday’s game 2-1, but the Senators rebounded to claim a 5-0 decision in Saturday’s second match. The Jaguars clinched the crown with a 9-4 verdict in the deciding game at Montgomery’s Riverwalk Stadium.

Sumner’s biggest blast came in the third inning of the third game, when his triple with two out broke open a 4-4 tie to give his team an insurmountable 7-4 advantage. Two more insurance runs in the fifth frame effectively sent the blue championship trophy to Valleydale Road.

Starting pitcher Tristan Widra retired the side in the seventh inning to end Sparkman’s final hopes.

“When I came up to bat, I knew I had to move the ball, whether it was a single, double or triple,” Sumner said. “Since there were two outs, we couldn’t afford to lose this opportunity to score. So I had to figure out a way to get our guys to score runs.”

As important as Sumner’s hits were, Smith said Spain Park’s championship was a true team effort.

“Our guys have fought hard all year,” he said. “In 6A baseball in Alabama, nothing comes easily. The players set a goal and achieved it. I can’t express how proud I am of them now.”

After the Jaguars opened the game with three runs, shaky defense allowed the Senators to gain the lead at the bottom of the inning. Sparkman scored four times after three Spain Park throwing errors.

The early troubles didn’t faze Widra, who turned in a strong pitching performance by tossing a three-hitter with seven strikeouts.

“I didn’t get worried when we struggled at the beginning,” Widra said. “We just had to play one inning at a time and not worry about what happened earlier. I treated every inning like it was the first one of the game.”

Josh Rich and Parker Hall got two hits for Spain Park in the titleclinching game.

Friday’s opening game was a taut thriller dominated by pitching and defense, but once again it was Sumner’s bat that made the decisive difference.

With the score tied 1-1 in the bottom of the seventh, Sumner, trailing 1-2 in the count with two outs, pounded a hit to score Alan Desantis with the game-winning run.

Sumner’s second strike came from a curve ball by Sparkman ace Brock Anderson, but instinct told the batter to expect something different on the next pitch.

“I thought he would come with a fastball,” Sumner said. “Fortunately, I got a good swing at it.”

Good swings were a rarity, as each team earned only six hits as the pitchers controlled the tempo. Spain Park’s Mason Duke allowed six hits and one unearned run in seven innings.

He struck out 13 Senator batters.

Anderson also yielded just six hits and two earned runs. He fanned four Jaguars.

“It was a really exciting game,” Smith said. “You have to tip your hat to Anderson. Mason was great, too. He kept us in the game, and we got the big hit at the end.”

The score was tied 1-1 in the bottom of the sixth inning when Sparkman’s best chance to take the lead came. The Senators loaded the bases with only one out, as Smith elected to walk Sparkman’s A.C. Dantonio, who already had two hits for the day.

“We didn’t want Dantonio to get a chance to swing, so we took a little bit of a gamble,” Smith said.

The bold move paid off. Duke forced the Senators’ pinch-hitter, Jalen Luter, to send a pop fly to first for the second out. Then Sparkman’s Dylan Schram grounded into a fielder’s choice that forced the third out at second base to end the threat.

Spain Park’s game-winning inning began with Desantis getting a single.

He moved to second after Dalton Brown’s sacrifice. Matt Berler’s fly ball to right brought the runner to third. Sumner’s hit scored Desantis for the opening game victory.

“It was the kind of game true baseball fans love,” Desantis said. “We saw their best, and they saw our best.

It was a classic pitching matchup.

You couldn’t ask for anything more, especially if you were on the winning team.”

Sparkman bounced back on Saturday to win the second game, thanks to pitcher Breonn Pooler’s two-hit performance on the mound.

Anderson helped his team with a three-run homer.

So the stage was set for the third and deciding game. And Jon Sumner used the opportunity to make his childhood game of make-believe become a blue-trophy reality.

Black Lagoon

Hoover, Spain Park, Briarwood Fall in State Softball Tournament

By Lee Davis

Journal Sports Writrer

Montgomery’s Lagoon Park–the site of the Alabama high school softball championships--has spawned many title-winners from the Over the Mountain area.

Unfortunately, 2014 was not one of those years.

Despite strong runs that got them into the state’s biggest softball show, all three local entries–Class 6A’s Spain Park and Hoover, along with Class 5A’s Briarwood–fell short of the sport’s biggest prize.

Spain Park made the strongest run, losing 5-4 in eight innings to eventual state runner-up Hillcrest-Tuscaloosa in an elimination game May 17.

After a 2-2 tie in regulation play, the Lady Jags took a 4-2 lead when Julianna Cross scored on a wild pitch

joseph lee, From page 32

events, Lee totaled 5,766 points to win the state decathlon by almost 400 points against runner-up Chris Taylor of McGill-Toolen of Mobile.

Lee threw the javelin 160 feet, 1 inch and had a toss of 38:01.50 in the shot put. He cleared 14 feet, 11 inches on the pole vault.

The Vestavian also finished third in the discus throw with a toss of 115 feet, 5 inches.

Lee started the second day in ninth place, trailing front-running Caine Robinson of Fairview by more than 400 points.

“I was still pretty confident I could make up some points,” Lee said. “On the second day we had field events, the kinds of things I do every weekend in track meets. There were a lot of great athletes here, but I was confident.”

It was also a big day for Hoover’s Daniel Fort, who set a decathlon record with a javelin toss of 190 feet, 6 inches. Fort was also second in the discus throw.

Hoover’s Jonathan Harvey was third in the overall decathlon competition, including a second-place finish in the 1500-meter run. Mountain Brook’s Drew Williams took fourth in the 1500-meter run and the high jump.

In the girls’ heptathlon, Homewood’s Kiara Williams took second with 4307 points to lose narrowly to Shelly Spires of St. Paul’s of Mobile.

Williams won the 100-meter hurdles and the 200-meter dash. She also finished fourth in the long jump.

Taylor Young of Altamont was fourth with 4,119 points.

Mountain Brook’s Sanders Reed

Thursday, May 29, 2014 • 31

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OVER THE MOUNTAIN Journal

Mary Kathryn Bonamy hitting one of her two home runs which included a grand slam in the Lady Jaguars 15-1win over the Lady Bucs.

Photo special to the Journal

and Mary Kathryn Bonamy singled to drive in another run.

Hillcrest rallied in its half of the inning, when Dakota Morrow hit a two-run homer to tie the score at 4-4. Lyndsey Vaughan belted a twoout double that was followed by an error and intentional walk. Samantha Cummings’ single to right field scored Vaughan and ended Spain Park’s season.

Bonamy also had a home run for the Lady Jags, who ended the season with a 49-17 record.

In a previous game, Spain Park eliminated Hoover 15-1. Bonamy was the catalyst, hitting two home runs, including a grand slam, as the game was shortened to five innings because of the 10-run mercy rule.

Mary Katherine Tedder had three hits, including two doubles and three RBIs. Marley Barnes also had three RBIs for the Lady Jaguars.

Shelby Lowery had two hits for Hoover as the Lady Bucs ended their season with a 36-21 worksheet. won the 800-meter run. Homewood’s Ann Mosely Whitsitt was second, with the Spartans’ Helen Camp finishing third.

Success in the decathlon or heptathlon is one of the finest accomplishments any athlete at any level can achieve. It’s a shame that in Alabama, the event takes place so late in the school year that it’s almost overshadowed by proms, championships finals in team sports and graduation.

I’m not an expert on how to administer track and field meets, but it would be nice to tie the decathlon and heptathlon to the state outdoor meet instead of holding them at a different venue a week later. Maybe that’s something the Alabama High School Athletic Association could consider in the future.

New Reign for Spain…

Spain Park’s thrilling victory over Sparkman for the Class 6A baseball championship last week wasn’t exactly an upset of monumental proportions, but the Jaguars probably weren’t on most people’s short list of post-season favorites. Coach Will Smith’s charges earned their blue trophy with the time-honored formula that brings baseball success at any level.

First, they played their best ball at the end of the year. Second, someone always got the big hit or made the crucial defensive play at the time it was needed the most. And third–and perhaps most important–Spain Park received quality pitching from Mason Duke and Tristan Widra.

The mixture of the right timing, good offensive and defensive play and first-rate pitching proved to be a winning ticket to the championship hardware.

Hoover’s first loss of the tournament came in an 8-5 decision against Mary Montgomery. Mary Catherine Nichols scored two runs for the Lady Bucs, and Jenna Olszewski had two hits in the losing cause.

In Class 5A, Briarwood was knocked out of the tournament by Curry 4-0. The Lady Lions earned five hits but couldn’t dent the scoreboard.

Briarwood ended its season with a 26-15-1 mark.

Earlier in the tournament, Briarwood defeated Valley 5-1 in an elimination game thanks in part to a three-run home run by Morgan Reed.

The homer was Reed’s 14th of the season. She also added a single, knocked in four runs and pitched late-inning relief to earn the victory.

Rachel Walz had three hits, and Ashlyn Boyd added two hits, including a double.

Briarwood fell to Moody 1-0 in the second round to suffer its first defeat at Lagoon Park.

In first round action, Briarwood edged Athens 2-1. Marleigh Miller and Anna Virginia Seabury had RBIs for the Lady Lions. Walz had two hits.

Reed allowed seven hits to earn the victory.

Songs of Spring—Again…

Spain Park’s title was the perfect cap of yet another impressive spring run of championships for area schools. It’s easy to get dizzy just trying to keep up with the train of titles.

Hoover captured championships in Class 6A boys’ and girls’ track and field, while Homewood pulled off a similar feat in Class 5A. The Patriots’ rise as a track powerhouse is one of the most interesting stories of 201314.

Spain Park won its third consecutive boys’ Class 6A golf title, and Hoover claimed its first girls’ Class 6A golf crown in a decade.

Tennis saw another Over the Mountain sweep in Class 6A, as Vestavia Hills won the boys’ competition and Mountain Brook took the girls’ crown.

When it comes to the most championships, however, the South Jefferson/North Shelby County areas should be called Soccer Country.

No less than five area schools claimed championships in the game the rest of the world calls “football.”

And two Over the Mountain schools claimed runner-up spots.

Vestavia, under Rick Grammer, won its second consecutive boys’ 6A title. Oak Mountain defeated Mountain Brook to win the girls’ prize. Homewood grabbed the Class 5A boys’ title while John Carroll Catholic claimed the girls’ title. The Indian Springs boys won the Class 1A-4A championship.

And then even beyond Spain Park’s baseball title–Vestavia’s Lee takes the decathlon.

All in all, it was a really good year. And just think: Football is only about 12 weeks away.

Golf Titles, From page 32

a comfortable win over runner-up Mountain Brook. Connor Smith, the low medalist in 2013, finished in second place this time, shooting rounds of 69-72 for a three-under par 141 total.

McGill-Toolen’s Steven Setterstrom was low medalist at 136.

Three other Spain Park golfers finished in the top five. Vasili Kartos tied for third alongside the Spartans’ Taylor Eyster with a total of 142 over the two days. The Jaguars’ Patrick Martin and Conley Miller tied for fourth with scores of 144. Mountain Brook’s Ben Fuller and Michael Brown also finished in the top 10 with scores of 149.

Spain Park coach Brian Carter was proud of his team’s effort.

“Our guys came out and played with a purpose on both days,” he said.

“Our older players understand that we have expectations to compete for and win the state title. We put it all together at just the right time.”

Kartos said Spain Park rose to the occasion.

“We weren’t playing our best golf coming into the state tournament,” he said. “But once we got here, we wanted to be champions again.”

Hoover’s girls edged three-time defending titlist Mountain Brook 464465 to claim the team championship.

Spain Park finished third in a tightlybunched field with a 469.

The Lady Spartans led by five shots after the first day before the Lady Bucs fired a dazzling 228 on the second day to clinch the blue trophy.

“One stroke is about as close as it gets,” Hoover coach Lori Elgin said.

“I was nervous. But our girls were relaxed and got the job done.”

Elgin pointed out the youth of her team.

“We’ve got two freshmen and an eighth-grader in our top three,” she said. “This could be the start of something special. I’m really proud of these young girls.”

Spain Park’s Jordan Susce was runner-up low medalist at 141, finishing one shot behind Fairhope’s Virginia Green, who ended two rounds with a total of four-under-par 140.

Mountain Brook’s Tatum Jackson was third at 146, while Hoover’s Julie Baker was fifth at 149. Mountain Brook’s Grace Wann was sixth at 155.

Mychael O’Berry tied for ninth at 156. Spain Park’s Caroline Waldrop was 11th at 157, and Hoover’s Carson McKie was 13th at 159.

In Class 5A boys, Spanish Fort took first place with a 603 total.

Homewood was second with 627 and Briarwood a stroke behind at 628.

The Patriots’ Crawford Flatch shot a two-day score of 148 to finish tied for sixth, and the Lions’ John Hayden shot 149 to finish in a tie for 11th.

In girls’ Class 5A play, Briarwood didn’t place but the Lady Lions’ Abby Parks finished seventh with a score of 160.

Members of the Spain Park high school boys golf team with their 6A state championship trophy are, from left: Connor Smith, Sam Prater, Vasili Kartos, Patrick Martin, Conley Miller and Coach Brian Carter. Photo special to the Journal

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Thursday, May 29, 2014

Sports

Oak Mountain Wins LAX State Title P. 30

Meet the 2014 All-OTM Baseball and Softball Teams in the June 12 Over The Mountain Journal

sumner breeze

Spain Park’s Matt Berler turns a double play against Sparkman’s Will Sipes during the first game of the championship series against Sparkman. The Jaguars won Friday’s game 2-1. More photos at otmj.com

Jon Sumner knocks in the winning run in game one of the 6A state title series.

Journal photos by Marvin Gentry

Lee Davis

Decathlon Joe

Rebel Captures Decathlon State Championship

T

Jaguar’s Big Hits Lead Spain Park to Top Prize

By Lee Davis

Journal Sports Writer

Much of Jon Sumner’s childhood was probably spent playing baseball in his backyard, imagining he was the game-winning hero.

See spain park, page 30

Double eAgle

here was a time when the winner of the decathlon in the Olympic Games was considered the greatest athlete in the world.

Joseph Lee, below, may not be the world’s greatest athlete, but he made a strong case for being the best in Alabama.

Lee, who recently graduated from Vestavia Hills, put together a strong second day of competition to win the state decathlon title at Hoover May 12-13.

Helped by second-place finishes in the javelin, shot put and pole vault See joseph lee, page 31

Spain Park Boys, Hoover Girls Take 6A Golf Titles

By Lee Davis

Journal Sports Writer

Hoover girls golf team members celebrate their 6A state championship, from left: Assistant coach Carol Steinert, Emily Simpson, Kaily Ford-Davis, Carson McKie, Julie Baker, Elizabeth Moultrie and Mychael O’Berry. Photo special to the Journal

The Robert Trent Jones golf courses of Legislator and Senator may be located in Prattville, but they certainly had a heavy Over the Mountain influence during the middle of May. Spain Park’s boys won their third consecutive 6A state title on Capitol Hill’s Legislator Course, while the Hoover girls claimed their first blue trophy in 10 years at the Senator Course.

The Jaguars shot a two-day total of 571 to take See Golf Titles, page 31

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