The Homewood Star
Volume 6 | Issue 7 | October 2016
October Events
neighborly news & entertainment for Homewood
HOMEWOOD MAN’S STORY OF SURVIVAL EDUCATES GENERATIONS
Preview events happening in Homewood this month from Sunday in the Park to the Witches Ride.
See page A18
Spirited Sisters
Cheerleader, Star Spangled Girl, football player — the Crim sisters support each other in their extracurricular activities.
See page B1 special section
home & garden
With the change in seasons comes home and landscaping improvements. Check out this guide to point you in the right direction.
See page B6
INSIDE Sponsors ......... A4 City ................... A6 Business .........A12 Community .....A18
Sports .............A26 School House .. B4 Opinion ...........B20 Calendar ......... B22
Max Herzel, holding a picture of himself as a young boy in an orphanage during World War II, and his wife, Cecille, at their home on Devon Drive. Max Herzel’s family, who was Jewish, fled from Belgium to France at the onset of the war. Photo by Sydney Cromwell.
Family W on the run
By SYDNEY CROMWELL ithout knowing it, the Herzel family locked the door to their apartment one day and would never return to it. They thought it was only for a short visit to family in another city, but this was Belgium in the late 1930s, and World War II was looming. Sitting in his home on Devon Drive with his wife, Cecille, Max Herzel remembers the trip with his parents and older brother from his hometown of Antwerp, Belgium, to the capital of Brussels. He remembers finding out they could no longer return to their home and were left with no valuables, no papers or even most of their clothes.
City set to approve budget for 2017 By SYDNEY CROMWELL
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See FAMILY | page A31
A finished greenway, a firearms simulator for the police department and a significant increase in sidewalk construction are on deck for Homewood in the next 12 months — at least according to the budget the city council recently discussed. After weeks of budget hearings, the fiscal year 2017 budget was set to be approved at the end of September, after The Homewood Star’s press date. Fiscal years begin Oct. 1 for the city. The total budget is $61 million, most of which is spent on employees and operating costs in the general fund budget of $43.3 million.
The capital projects budget for this year will be $7.1 million, and debt service will be $6.3 million. In his initial budget presentation to the council, Mayor Scott McBrayer said he is once again expecting to have a surplus at the end of the year, which has been used in previous years to give bonuses to city employees. The bonuses this year are projected to total about $375,000. A portion of the city sales tax and ad valorem property tax revenue will be given to the school system, totaling $16.5 million. “The mayor has done a lot of work on the front end meeting with department heads and
See BUDGET | page A30
The Oxmoor Road “turkey foot” intersection project may be redesigned after project costs more than doubled. Photo by Sarah Finnegan.