VestaviaVoice.com
August 2013
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Volume 1 | Issue 4 | August 2013
High
alert
Officials encourage awareness, organization in response to increase in reported thefts
By REBECCA WALDEN
Friday night
fever
Will Coach Buddy Anderson reach 300 career wins? Can a new crop of team leaders take down area rivals?
Vestavia Voice takes a look at these questions and more with our Season Preview inside.
Sports page 16
Say hello
Get to know new VHHS principal Wes Gordon in this issue.
School page 14
Anne Lovette thought little of it when she found her driver’s side door slightly ajar one morning in June. In the midst of her routine, Lovette said she immediately attributed it to her 8-year-old son, Connor. Then she noticed that her glove box, center console and change drawers all were open – the last of which, despite it only containing pennies, was empty. Shortly after, she found the blood in her backseat. “The strongest feeling I have about the whole thing is that I’m mad at myself for not locking my car,” Anne said, adding that 99 percent of the time she does. “It was an atypical evening when I had returned from traveling. I got something out of the trunk and just forgot.” Anne reported that stolen items included headsets and a game controller for the vehicle’s entertainment system. Police told Lovette’s husband, Clint, they believed the blood discovered was evidence that one of the perpetrators had been wounded at some point prior that evening – possibly shot. “Clint and I both grew up in Vestavia,” Anne said. “We’ve lived on Granbury Road for the last nine years, and there have been no
It was a first for the area, but Rary said such activity is, unfortunately, a reflection of an uptick in the community. “Residential burglary in Vestavia Hills is not isolated to one street, neighborhood or area,” he said. “Most recently, residential areas adjacent to Columbiana Road and Rocky
See HIGH ALERT | page 19
By JEFF THOMPSON
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incidents like this before.” The evening of June 6 through the morning of June 7, residents in the areas surrounding the Lovette residence reported valuables were removed from 20 unlocked cars and one vehicle was stolen. Vestavia Hills Police Chief Dan Rary said police apprehended suspects in the case, who allegedly drove to Vestavia Hills from Fultondale in a stolen car.
A better, faster Rocky Ridge, U.S. 280 intersection
INSIDE City ..................... 5 Business ............ 8 Food ................... 12
Auto theft victim Anne Lovette found blood in her car following a string of vehicle break-ins in the Granbury Road neighborhood of Vestavia Hills in June 2013. Photo by Rebecca Walden.
Traffic patterns at the Rocky Ridge Road-U.S. 280 intersection will flow as illustrated above beginning this month, according to the Alabama Department of Transportation. Image courtesy of ALDOT.
As a late addition to the Alabama Department of Transportation’s U.S. 280 Intersection Improvement Project, Rocky Ridge Road could be more manageable for drivers around the beginning of August. According to Division 3 Engineer Brian Davis, ALDOT is stepping outside its jurisdiction to improve not only the intersection of Rocky Ridge and U.S. 280 but also the intersection of Rocky Ridge and Shades Crest Roads in an attempt to move traffic more quickly through the junction. “Where Shades Crest comes into Rocky Ridge is not one of our intersections, but it’s so close to 280 it has an effect on the highway,” Davis said. “We elected to include the signal in our work because of its proximity, so we’re treating it as one large intersection.”
See ROCKY RIDGE | page 19