Village Living
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October 2011 |
neighborly news & entertainment for Mountain Brook
Dr. David Hufham pg 26 -pg
Alabama Forever -pg 10
Volume 2 | Issue 7 | October 2011
A mystical tradition Hitting Home
Parents invited to anti-drug discussions
MBHS cheerleaders kick off last year’s Mystics of Mountain Brook Parade in Crestline. Photo by Dan Starnes.
By RICK WATSON Casey Horn and her brother Trent Wright brought a taste of Mardi Gras with them from Mobile when they moved here and started the Mystics of Mountain Brook Halloween parade. What started out eight years ago as one car driving down Dexter
October Features Editor’s Note City Council Kari Kampakis Salsa Senorita Finley Evans Larry Wilson Village Sports School House Business Spotlight Restaurant Showcase Around the Villages Calendar of Events
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Avenue tossing beads to people on the street has grown to 25 floats and thousands of people along the parade route. Even though the parade is always on Halloween, it has a Mardi Gras feel to it. Paraders throw Mystics of Mountain
Brook T-shirts, beads, stuffed animals and footballs to bystanders as the parade passes. According to Casey Horn, some people go all out with their floats. In years past
See MYSTICS | page 15
After an unprecedented turnout for last year’s event, the Mountain Brook Anti-Drug Coalition and Mountain Brook Schools are inviting parents to home discussions for their second Hitting Home program. “We have always felt that parent involvement is one of the most critical weapons for combating underage drinking, and we want to do what we can to encourage conversation about this topic,” said Leigh Ann Sisson, co-chairman of the Mountain Brook Anti-Drug Coalition. “We hope to see many parents this year.” The event will held in homes on Monday, Oct. 24, 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Last year, about 210 parents met in six homes around town, on the same evening and at the same time. “The remarkable thing about that level of participation is that we have not been able to come close to that number of parents coming to programs on this kind of topic when we’ve held them in school facilities,” said Dale Wisely, director of student services at Mountain Brook Schools. “In
See HITTING HOME | page 31
Emma’s dreams of balance beams By MADOLINE MARKHAM
When Lori Planson approached Mountain Brook Gymnastics about her daughter, Emma, taking gymnastics, the gym’s staff didn’t hesitate to say yes. It didn’t matter to the coaches and board of directors that Emma was blind. “When she came to me, it wasn’t a question of if we would teach Emma but of how was the best way to go about it,” board of directors vice president Chantal McManus said. Emma, a kindergartner who attends public school, was born with Bilaterial Microphthalmia. She wears prosthetic eyes with a clear pupil, which allow her to use her residual vision. Just as Emma learns Braille and other non-visual methods at school, she learns gymnastics through auditory and tactile methods. Often gymnastics skills are taught to children by visually modeling them, but Emma must learn by repetition so that she can develop muscle memory for the positions. In order to best teach Emma, the gym consulted with a teacher for the visually impaired as well as a cheernastics gymnast who is blind. Leila Owen, a gymnastics coach with 25 years of experience, started showing Emma how she should interpret
Emma Planson, who is blind, learns gymnastics techniques with assistances from Hailey McManus at Mountain Brook Gymnastics. Photo courtesy of Lori Planson.
words like “vault” and “backbend” in private lessons. “Even the first time she just grabbed a bar with her hands and hung on was exciting for her,” McManus said. “It seems
WE CLEAN.
you shine
a very simple thing, but it is one that you wouldn’t know about if you hadn’t seen it. Gymnastics has opened up a whole new venue of life experiences for Emma.”
See GYMNAST | page 31 Call now to receive your free, no-obligation estimate
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