Sun Neighborly news & entertainment for Hoover
Coming Clean
Volume 4 | Issue 3 | December 2015
Deck the malls
Decorating Riverchase Galleria is tall task
Hoover man shares his story of heroin addiction, recovery and how he’s helping other to follow in his footsteps.
See page A18
On To State
Spain Park pulled off a narrow victory over Hoover, securing their trip to the Super 7.
See page B1
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Gift Guide........... A26 Sports..................... B1 Bluff Park.............B16 Calendar..............B26
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Anthony McMahon adjusts a giant ornament over the Riverchase Galleria food court. Photo by Frank Couch.
By JON ANDERSON So you think you’ve got a big job decorating your house for Christmas? Try decorating the 1.57 million-square-foot Riverchase Galleria. That was the task given to Glenn Bridges and his crew from the Christmas Décor franchise in Northport. They had a 26-foot-tall Christmas tree to install and decorate in the Galleria food court, 27 large ornaments to hang from the cavernous ceiling in the mall, about 50 large Christmas sprays to spread throughout the shopping center common areas and six to eight smaller Christmas trees to put up. Plus, they had to create an area for all the children to come and visit Santa and let him know what’s on their Christmas list. In all, it took an estimated 260 man-hours to get the job done, said Bridges, owner of the company. This is the first year that Bridges’ company has handled the Galleria decorating duties alone. Last year, another company started the job but was unable to finish, so Bridges and his crew were brought in to complete it. The company came highly recommended and did such a professional job last year that the Galleria invited its crew back, said Angela Jacks, marketing manager for the Galleria. They have the expertise and knowledge to ensure quality installation and storage, Jacks said. Most people never saw the Christmas Décor team because they did their work at night, after the Galleria closed. But they got the mall almost completely decorated in just two weekends, with the help of a 60-foot-tall lift.
See MALLS | page A30
Overcoming stigma Trace Crossings battles negative perceptions; faculty, parents think school quality is strong By JON ANDERSON A dark cloud of sorts has been hanging over Trace Crossings Elementary School for several years, and parents, teachers and administrators say it’s time for that cloud to go away. Superintendent Kathy Murphy said the school
has been suffering from a perception problem based on unfounded beliefs about the quality of education offered there. And administrators and teachers are eager to share what they say is the reality at their school. From their standpoint, Trace Crossings has just as much, if not more, to offer students as
any other elementary school. A talented and experienced group of teachers is using innovative programs to help children learn and progress at admirable rates, Principal Carol Barber said. Much of the perception problem appears to come from the school’s test scores, which have been lagging behind many other Hoover schools in the past decade. Lower test scores mean lower rankings on websites that rate schools, and that
See SCHOOL | page A31