Progress 2020

Progress

2020

For Every Generation

Meet the Citizen of the Year

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St. Vincent’s Orthopedics, PC

Specializing in Knees, Shoulders, and Sports Injuries Proudly Serving Chilton County and Surrounding Areas

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Progress PUBLISHER Tim Prince

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GENERAL MANAGER Brandy Clackley EDITORIAL Joyanna Love, editor J.R. Tidwell, managing editor Anthony Richards, writer MARKETING Zack Bates, marketing consultant CUSTOMER SERVICE Kacy Barrett PRESSROOM & MAILROOM Jimmy Ruff, production manager Michael Turner, asst. production manager Chris Love, asst. production manager Malinda Nance, mailroom manager Progress is a special publication of The Clanton Advertiser P.O. Box 1379, Clanton, AL 35046 205.755.5747 clantonadvertiser.com

Editor’s Note Progress for Every Generation feature stories from a variety of age groups in Chilton County. Some are just starting formal education, while others have already retired. We highlight stories of overcoming obstacles and businesses that have a vital role in their town’s success. We also asked several community members to give their thoughts on the greatest accomplishments of their generations. Students gave their input on the great things they think might happen in their lifetime that have not happened yet. As always, this issue also unveils The Clanton Advertiser’s citizen of the year. Thanks for reading, Joyanna Love

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

6 CITIZEN OF THE YEAR

Dr. Arlie Powell named Citizen of the Year

10 DEEP ROOTS Lumber-related products a key industry in Chilton County

17 ADDICTED TO GOD Jimmie Hardee found his way after a life of temptation

21 FULL OF FLAVOR AND PRIDE Neighborhood Grill grows with community in mind

26 GREATEST ACCOMPLISHMENTS REFLECTION

34 MAGIC AND MEDICINE Collins, Sanders quite the pair of cards

39 FOCUS ON 4 Preschool prepares future students

45 ONE WITH THE EARTH Painting, faith inspire Wilson Spottedbird and his wife

49 TENURED AT THORSBY Ricks’s passion for sports leads to career as teacher

28 DEALING WITH A BAD BREAK

54 PROGRESS FOR THE NEXT GENERATION

Verbena’s Nathaniel Morris comes back stronger after injury

Improvements on the horizon for Chilton County

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Dr. Arlie Powell has been named The Clanton Advertiser’s Citizen of the Year.

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FARMER’S FRIEND Dr. Arlie Powell named Citizen of the Year STORY BY JOYANNA LOVE

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his year’s The Clanton Advertiser Citizen of the Year is known for his lifelong work in the field of agriculture, specifically plants that produce food. Dr. Arlie Powell is known by farmers, orchard growers and others working with food plants throughout the county and beyond for his willingness to share what he knows. This is a trait that stood out to Citizen of the Year committee member Mickey Bates. “He was a fruit specialist from Auburn, but ever since he moved here, he has been very unselfish and giving of his time and his knowledge and experience (to) the fruit growers in the county,” Bates said. “His interaction with those guys and his willingness to expound upon his knowledge to them and to help them in any way he can to make their farms better, be more profitable have better fruit.” Powell was influential in the formation of the Alabama Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association, which Regional Extension Agent Gary Gray said was Powell’s “greatest contribution that he has made to growers in the state.” “One of the things that he strongly believed in and encouraged growers to do was to take advantage of agritourism opportunities,” Gray said. Gray met Arlie Powell in 1993 while he was a state fruit specialist and worked with him on some of his research projects.

“He has been a mentor to me,” Gray said. “I have just been absolutely fascinated with both his interest and passion in fruit production, which were my interests as well ... He does such a wonderful job of teaching and is so personable, you can’t help but love him, especially if you love anything about horticulture or fruit. He’s a rock star.” Now retired from Auburn University, Powell continues his passion for sharing best practices for produce production in an official capacity through classes at Petals from the Past and more informally in conversations with farmers and fruit growers meetings. “I think one of the times when he is the most excited is when people bring in pictures on their phone of what they’ve grown or they bring in samples of their fruit crop,” Jason Powell, Arlie’s adult son, said. Jason Powell said his father is not one to seek the spotlight and works more behind the scenes to help those in the community “to have success in their endeavors if its something they want to grow.” “It’s a very special honor, something he will greatly treasure,” Jason Powell said of the award. (The name of the 2020 Citizen of the Year was a closely guarded secret until publication of this story.) “He has found his purpose in life, and he wants to share it,” Jason Powell said. Jason Powell described his father as a patient man who would take time to answer questions or

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share plant information with anyone from a novice gardener to a commercial farmer. “Growing up, my dad worked with Auburn University as the fruit specialist for the state of Alabama, so from my earliest memories I can remember traveling with my dad going to different experiment stations, going to different farms and seeing him interact with different farmers,” Jason Powell said. These trips gave Jason an appreciation for the Alabama Cooperative Systems Extension Service. After graduate school, Jason Powell established Petals from

the Past, and Arlie Powell went to work with his son upon his retirement, an arrangement that the younger Powell called “a dream opportunity.” “He helped us to diversify,” Jason Powell said. Prior to Arlie Powell joining the business, it had focused on ornamental plants. Arlie Powell helped them add edible fruit-bearing plants. Arlie Powell serves on many committees, including being a board member for the Chilton County Farmer’s Federation and soil conservation board. He has volunteered with the Alabama Sustainable Agriculture Network. He also works with local fruit farmers in a less official capacity. “He doesn’t have a dull day,” Jason Powell said. Local fruit grower Steve Wilson of Mountain View Orchard met Arlie Powell during his days as a fruit specialist. “Periodically, he would come out to the farm, and he would bring some different experimental trials ... He was very influential with fruit growers, so he became invaluable for us. He had new ideas, and he wanted to demonstrate them and he worked with the growers tremendously well.” Wilson worked with Arlie Powell on techniques to increase the size of peaches and have an earlier harvest. Wilson was also a part of work Powell did work with growth regulators to make fruit be able to withstand colder temperatures. “He was always available if I ever had any questions,” Wilson said. Gray also worked on research with Arlie Powell. “We have worked together on a lot of peach-related research and education programs,” Gray said. “... Dr. Powell has worked very closely with the Chilton Research and Extension Center.”

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Gray said protecting peach blooms from being destroyed by frost was a major area of focus, as were techniques to get fruit to develop if the tree has not received the necessary amounts of chill hours. Gray said Arlie Powell “had a great rapport with the growers.” While peaches were a specific focus for his work, he also worked with a wide variety of projects during his tenure with Extension. Arlie Powell is originally from Florida. After graduating with a doctorate from the University of Florida, Powell took a job with Texas A&M where he was a fruit specialist for the state. From there, he went to work with the University of Georgia system. After about three years, Auburn University offered him a job. He was a state fruit specialist for at least 25 years before moving into a more administrative role with the university. He was also an associate director for the Alabama Cooperative Extension System’s programs in agricultural and natural resources.

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An average of 400 loads of timber a week is harvested by Parnell Inc.

DEEP ROOTS

Lumber-related products a key industry in Chilton County STORY AND PHOTOS BY JOYANNA LOVE Lumber and other products made from trees have been crucial industries to Maplesville and the surrounding areas for generations. “Chilton County was founded around sawmills,” Joseph Parnell, general manager of Parnell Inc., said. In the 1700s and 1800s, “even before Alabama became a state these little communities popped up, and they were sawmill towns,” Parnell said. These mills were mobile, moving from place to place where the trees were ready to be cut. Parnell said train tracks were used to transport the lumber to the mill.

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“Most of the lumber that was produced here during that time was actually sent up north to build cities with,” Parnell said. In that time, many of the lumber companies were owned by Northern businesses and investors. Today, tree-related products account for major employers in the Maplesville area, including Parnell Inc., West Fraser, Taylor Made and South Coast Paper. “We all help each other,” Dale Enfinger, vice president for converting for South Coast Paper, said. “If someone needs something, we are all open to conversations helping each other. We are competitors in different industries, but where we can pitch in or they can pitch in (the companies will).” Some of these companies, such as Parnell Inc., have deep

Logs are loaded onto a truck for transport to a sawmill. Logs are divided by size and quality. Weight is watched to stay within a statewide weight limit of 88,000 pounds. roots in the area. Parnell Inc. was formed in 1979, but the Parnell family’s experience with lumber goes back further than this. Some of the sixth generation of the family work for the company today. The Parnell family settled south of Stanton even before Alabama was a state and established a sawmill before the Civil War. Other companies, such as South Coast Paper, are newer to the area. Enfinger said the company purchased the building, which had been a paper company, in 2005 and moved the South Coast equipment in. The company started with 12 employees. Today, the plant runs shifts 24/7 producing copy paper. It has grown to six lines and employs about 80 people. Paper comes into the plant in large rolls and is cut down to size. “Mechanical aptitude” and wanting to work with their hands are some of the qualifications that make good employees. While the majority of this paper is shipped throughout North and Latin America, some is shipped to other parts of the world. “We are the largest private, minority-owned paper converter,” Enfinger said. Enfinger said several members of his family have worked in paper mills in Florida. What became Parnell Inc. started in 1961 when Joseph Parnell’s father James decided to start his own business after having worked with his father Manly. Manly Parnell had started logging as a way to generate additional income during the Great Depression. James Parnell started the business with minimal equipment and almost no other employees.

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Branches are put into piles for property owners to use. “He worked crazy long hours and built a business out of it,” Joseph Parnell said. James Parnell still works for the company. “My dad is 75 and still works about 55 hours a week and will probably continue to do so as long as his health will allow it,” Joseph Parnell said. “... He’s the kind of guy that nothing seems to bother him, no matter how bad it is he battles through. He spent his entire life working more for his family than himself.” By choice, most of James Parnell’s time working is spent in the woods bringing down the lumber. Joseph Parnell said his father spent time teaching him things on the farm and during breaks on the logging jobs. In addition to being taught good work ethic from his father, Parnell had a solid influence from his mother.

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“She was always kind of everyone’s rock spiritually in our family,” Joseph Parnell said. Even before he or his brothers could really help, they would go to work with their dad and watched him work from the truck. “We probably started work way too young,” Joseph Parnell said. Joseph Parnell’s oldest brother Jimmy worked in the family business for more than 40 years, and now works for the Alabama Farmers Federation/Alfa Insurance. Their brother Jeff Parnell is the production manager for Parnell Inc. Today, sawmills are stationary buildings for large scale operations valued at up to $150 million, Joseph Parnell said. The company moves half a million tons of raw materials each

A vehicle gathers logs to be placed on to the truck.

year — about 400 loads of timber a week. Forestry management has also become an important focus for the lumber industry. The industry has joined the Sustainable Forest Initiative ensuring that there will always be more trees. “What that means is we have self-regulated ourselves, so that we don’t cut any more of the forest than we grow each year,” Joseph Parnell said. This is measured in cubic volume. The lumber industry has been a part of the initiative for about 30 years, which includes protecting the quality of streams and other bodies of water near lumber operations. “That is one of the things our industry is most proud of,” Joseph Parnell said. Following this initiative has led to more trees being planted

each year than are cut down. Today, Parnell Inc. has grown to seven log crews made up of about 25 employees. The company has about 35 drivers. Most of these employees are from Chilton County. Including the cattle business that is also a part of Parnell Inc., it employs about 80 people. “We began our growth phase in the late-90s,” Joseph Parnell said. He said after he graduated from college with a bachelor’s degree in business management, the family came together and decided to expand beyond the one crew it had. “We began ... changing things in a way that would work on a larger scale,” Joseph Parnell said. He said this can be challenging for a family business to navigate.

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Branches are cut from logs with this machine before being loaded onto the truck.

“We’ve been fortunate, we all understand how bad we need each other,” Joseph Parnell said. “Everybody plays their own pivotal role in what we do.” Just as the Parnells have been in the industry for generations, multiple employees will come from the same families. “I have one family right now I have employed three generations of,” Parnell said. “Their granddad just recently retired from us.” Lane Collins is the grandson of this family and one of the youngest employees. He started working right after high school. As a child, Collins could be seen on job sites with his father. Just like the Parnell men had as children, Collins would watch his father work from the truck. Collins operates the vehicle that transports cut trees in the forest to the loading site. Employees Nick Jones and Jerry Cox also joined the industry

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because of family ties. As a child, Jones enjoyed driving a tractor. Now, he enjoys driving the log trucks because he has been around the industry all his life. The job gives him a chance to be outside. Cox’s father had worked in the industry also. “It gets in your blood,” Cox, a loader operator with the company, said. “You love doing it.” Jones, a driver for Parnell Inc. for almost seven years, said his work day usually starts at around 5 a.m. with multiple loads to mills in Prattville or Maplesville. Timing is important because drivers are federally required to take a 30-minute break after six hours of work and before completing eight hours. A typical shift is 10 to 11 hours a day. A lot of this could be waiting for other parts of the process to be complete. In his position, Cox loads logs onto the truck. Technology in the truck helps keep each load the weight it is supposed to be

and balanced. Loads are also secured in place before leaving the job site. An enjoyment of being outdoors and having a mechanical mind are also traits common for employees. Many of the employees at Parnell Inc. are trained on each piece of field equipment to be able to fill in where needed. Although the job is year round, all of the equipment has climate controls. A decline in the housing industry in 2008 was a rough time for the company, but Joseph Parnell said the company has now gotten back to where it was then. During that difficult year, the company turned to selling wood to a company that made wood pellets for burning — it’s used instead of coal in some places because wood is considered to be carbon neutral. “It allowed us to keep our people employed, which was the most important thing to us,” Joseph Parnell said. “... It was one of those God things.” Joseph Parnell attributes the longevity of the company to “the grace of God” and work ethic. Most of the timber being grown in the area today is loblolly pine. Joseph Parnell said trees are planted close together to keep branches from growing outward, which increases the quality of the lumber. Thinning removes about 50% of the trees on a given plot of land. Once the remaining trees have grown to the point there is not enough sun light or nutrients to go around, the section of land will be thinned again. “All of this takes place over about a 30-year period from the time that we plant to the time that we go in and do our final harvest, then do site prep and replant,” Joseph Parnell said. A primary market for the company is the nearby West Fraser Maplesville mill. West Frasier turns the cut trees into boards used in house framing. Parnell Inc. also supplies wood for International Paper, Georgia Pacific, Boise Cascade in Thorsby and lumber company Kykenkee in Vance. Boise Cascade produces an engineered wood product. Parnell said the product “competes with steel for strength and integrity over large areas.” Helping the community is important to these industries. Enfinger said the plant donates to the Maplesville Toys for Kids every year. In 2019, the plant donated 1 ton of copy paper to Maplesville High School. Enfinger said the plant also helps in other ways when approached. Many of the Parnell Inc. employees have been with the company more than 10 years. Joseph Parnell said the company is more like a family. He said employees are there for each there for each other in the good and bad times.

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Originally from South Carolina, Jimmie Hardee has called Chilton County home for the past several years. (Contributed)

ADDICTED TO

GOD

Jimmie Hardee found his way after a life of temptation STORY AND PHOTOS BY ANTHONY RICHARDS Jimmie Hardee has fought his share of personal battles during his life, but he eventually found consistency and his calling as a man of God, loving husband and father. Many people have come to know Hardee as a member of the Chilton County Commission and someone who is not afraid to speak his mind if it means helping people better their lives. His roller coaster journey began as a child growing up in Langley, South Carolina. “It was a very poverty-stricken part of South Carolina with most people working in the cotton mill,” Hardee said. He was one of nine children and his biological father died when Hardee was 8 years old after serving in the U.S. Navy. “He was a man’s man and a God-fearing man,” Hardee said. Shortly after his biological father’s passing, Hardee was intro-

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Jimmie Hardee took part in this past year’s Real Men Wear Pink fundraiser hosted by the American Cancer Society.

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Jimmie Hardee has made it a point to dedicate his life to serving others as both a Chilton County Commissioner and a chaplain.

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— Jimmie Hardee duced to alcohol for the first time. “My stepfather was an alcoholic, and he had a history of trouble with alcohol,” Hardee said. “There was times when he would come home and take his anger out on his children, but mostly his step-children.” “I came home from school one time and everything in our house was gone, because he had sold everything,” Hardee said. “I remember times when we would pick up in the middle of the night and mom would take us to Colorado or California just to get us away from it.” “I really had a resentment against my mother for not leaving my stepfather, so at the age of 14, I left home,” Hardee said. Once he left home, drugs became a part of Hardee’s life along with the alcoholic ways he had already been used to being around. “I never realized I was an addict, I was just partying,” Hardee said. “When you’re not taught things that will help you in life, you just go into survival mode.” After spending time as a roofer in Minnesota, he moved with the business to Clanton and has been living in the county ever since. Despite moving throughout the nation, Hardee’s addictions continued to follow him wherever he went. “I was hanging around people that were not men of integrity,” Hardee said. “I’ve learned during my recovery that if we as parents don’t invest in our children, the alcoholics and drug addicts will.” Hardee admitted that he “shamefully” became a meth addict and continued to be one for 15 years. He began getting in trouble with the law on several occasions, much of it easily traced back to his addictive lifestyle. “Addiction will make you selfish,” Hardee said. “It makes you not care about anyone around you, not even your family.” During a stint in the county jail is when he began to realize that he had hit rock bottom. That is also when he met current Sheriff John Shearon, who was

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a detective with the Chilton County Sheriff ’s Office at the time. “At our first meeting, he was in orange, and I was sitting behind a desk as an investigator with the Sheriff ’s Office,” Shearon said. Hardee sat in jail and refused to give back a lady’s truck he had in his shop in Verbena because he claimed she owed him money, even after Shearon had talked to him about it. Hardee stated that Shearon went on to say “I don’t know you, but I know this, and you need Jesus. You can be the problem or the solution, and right now you are Chilton County’s problem.” Those are words that still resonate in Hardee’s mind to this day. “I went back to my cell and sat in jail for 30 days without a bond for no reason,” Hardee said. “But there was a reason, because I know now that the Lord was trying to get my attention. I picked up my Bible after two weeks of knowing I wasn’t going to get out. I started reading everyday from Genesis to Revelations, and the next day after I finished Revelations I got a bond.” After getting out of jail, Hardee had his first “face-to-face” with the Lord. “I was lying in the bed and asked the Lord why I can’t quit doing drugs,” Hardee said. “He spoke to me clearly and said ‘I give you the willpower, but I can’t make you use it. The choice is yours.’ I got up, went to the restroom and looked in the mirror, and it was as if he was standing there with me, and from that point on I was done with drugs.” Hardee started going regularly to church and began the

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process of re-building his life brick by brick. “He’s the first one that took Jesus with him outside of booking,” Shearon said. “He got his life back with the Lord.” Although the relationship did not start on the best of terms, Hardee now calls Shearon his friend and credits him for helping steer his life in the right direction. “Now, we’re more like brothers, because at holidays I’m at his house or he’s at mine,” Shearon said. His wife Tammy continued to believe that he would one day find the light even after the pair separated two times prior. Having these people in his life is viewed as a blessing by Hardee, and one of the main reasons why he was able to re-discover his life’s path. “It can be easy to cast people off, but he tries to help others when they’re down just like we did for him,” Shearon said. “People need somebody to believe in them, and he wants to return that favor. We want people to change what they’re doing and be a productive member of society, and I think he’s done that and proven that.” He now uses his life as an example for others dealing with addiction that it is never too late to correct those previous mistakes. Hardee has made it a point to dedicate his life to serving others as both a Chilton County Commissioner and a chaplain. He continues to vote with his past in mind when he opposes any business looking to get an alcohol license from the state. “I have struggled for years not forgiving myself, and I don’t forget about my past,” Hardee said. “My goal in life is to serve, and I want to do my part.”

Members of the staff at Neighborhood Grill.

FULL OF

FLAVOR AND PRIDE

Neighborhood Grill grows with community in mind STORY AND PHOTOS BY ANTHONY RICHARDS Neighborhood Grill has only been around for five years, but it has already established deep roots within the community. For about four of those five years, it has called its current location, at the corner of U.S. 31 and Alabama 22 in Clanton, home. Owner Jason Lea discovered early on in life that the restaurant business was something he was interested in exploring. “My second job in high school was at a pizzeria,” Lea said. “I was 18 [years old], and I’ve pretty much been in the restaurant business ever since.”

He ended up working his way through management for a corporate sit-down chain restaurant in Hoover. While he was working in Hoover he met his wife, who was from Clanton, and moved to town shortly after getting married. “Just before we got married, I had opened a catering business up in Birmingham in 2012,” Lea said. “That was my main source of income.” Once they made the move to Clanton, Lea began searching for a kitchen to continue his catering business out of. Instead, he stumbled across a restaurant next to Associated Foods. “We really wanted to do only catering,” Lea said. “My plan

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The Chilton County Hall of Fame highlights athletes and celebrities from the county.

was to just offer lunch service Monday through Friday so that the kitchen would be available to cater in the evenings and on weekends.” However, one of the things that Lea has learned during his years in the restaurant world is that plans can change in a hurry, and one has to be willing to adapt. “It just so happened that the demand for the restaurant actually began to do better than the demand for catering,” Lea said. “As I backed off from catering in Birmingham to take care of the restaurant here, we expanded our hours and menu.” Suddenly, they had outgrown the 1,200 square-foot building they had moved into and were on the lookout for a larger spot just two years later. “I am goal-oriented, but I still don’t look really far into the future,” Lea said. “I take it as it comes and let my plans evolve. God and the community had different plans.” Although they still do some catering in Birmingham, Lea stated it is no longer his target. That role has shifted fully to pleasing the people of Chilton County. “Clanton and Chilton County in general have been really good to me and my family,” Lea said. “They have supported us from the beginning, and I’m very grateful for that.” There is a certain vibe of county pride when one walks through the doors into Neighborhood Grill, from the “Chilton County Hall of Fame,” which highlights athletes and celebrities from the county, to athletic jerseys from every local high school team framed and hanging on the walls. “One of the thoughts for the concept for Neighborhood Grill was to really be a place that the local neighborhood would be proud of,” Lea

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said. “The kind of place where folks can come in, and they’re going to see people that they know and have a good time.” In many ways, it is like eating in a museum, where bits of county history can be on display anywhere you look. Another aspect of the restaurant that has evolved over time is the menu. “I really enjoy doing a little bit more fun stuff,” Lea said. “With anything that I do, I focus on using good ingredients and making it taste good,” One dish that has had a place on the menu from the beginning has been chicken alfredo.

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A lot of prep work is required prior to Neighborhood Grill opening its doors each day.

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What foods do the community not have “Best of the Best” certifiaccess to? That is the common question Lea cates line the asks himself when contemplating menu wall next to options. the entrance Bringing in high-end fish is a example of of Neighboran answer to that question. hood Grill. “We’re trying to get to where the community doesn’t have to drive out of town to get these types of foods,” Lea said. “We have regulars that come in probably three or four times a week. I want to be able to offer them a variety so that they can get something different and try out new things.” Even with the expansive menu, there are certain items that are favorites among the hungry public. Some of these favorites include the alfredo pasta and the Chilton chicken. Lea is currently looking into the prospects of opening a second location and building on the popularity. “I have a lot of motivation to expand and grow, mostly because I want to provide careers and opportunities for the people that are here,” Lea said. “A large amount of our 60 employees use this job to pay their bills and feed their families.” Kitchen manager Roger Mariano has been working with Lea since his catering-only days, and he continues to be a valuable part of the restaurant staff. “He’s been with me from the very beginning and really helped me get the restaurant going,” Lea said. John Hillin has been a manager at Neighborhood Grill for three years. “I came here from Nashville and not knowing what Clanton

had in store for me,” Hillin said. “It has been a real blessing.” As the staff and the business continue to grow, it can be an interesting balancing act for managers, such as Hillin. “The biggest thing when you’re staffing is to make sure you mirror after your community,” Hillin said. “As a staff grows, the personalities grow with it.” A major feedback Hillin receives from guests is that the staff genuinely cares about the people they are serving. “It’s our job to know our regulars and make that personal relationship with them,” Hillin said. “Once the doors stop opening, that’s a problem.”

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What is the greatest accomplishment of your generation? “I would say car safety features, baby car seats and seat belt law. When I was growing up in the 70’s, I remember as a kid my little brother literally sat in a ‘pumpkin seat’ type car seat with no straps and he could crawl out of it. Also, I remember seat belts were only lap belts if you even wore one. Think of all the lives that have been saved in a fatality type car accidents.” — Shannon Wyatt

“Internet. I don’t know where we would be without the internet at this point.” — Shannon Hamilton

“Putting a man on the moon.” — Peggy Hall

“I think probably the biggest one has been the changes in communication. I’m a (1945) model, so we had radio. We didn’t have television. Telephone was a very interesting thing with party lines and operators. It all had to be hardwired. That is all history. Today we can get television from California in Alabama. What that has done, we are able to disseminate information fast. However, just because it is available doesn’t mean it’s true. The intentional spread of disinformation is a problem now.” — Bob Sanders

“The increased awareness and focus on security since the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The nation coming together was a positive that spurred from the tragic situation that took place.” — Jason Lea

“We have had a lot of things happen that changed my attitude towards life. When my people were first brought to Oklahoma, they were put on a parcel of land. They were given 160 acres to do whatever they wanted to it. They became attached to it. Indians become attached to their land. It becomes a part of them. What was amazing during the Dust Bowl when everyone was leaving because the land was parched, everyone left except the Indians. They stayed because they had become attached to it.” — Wilson Spottedbird “One with the Earth”

“After World War II when we came along, it was a time of great growth. People were positive. I don’t think people are as positive today in the United States, and I think we’re more divided. Back then everyone pulled together. My mother was a Rosie the Riveter. Women who had never worked out of the home assumed men’s roles. My mother did all that. I think that changed a lot. They held the fort down while the men were gone to war. I don’t believe women today when they say they don’t have job opportunities or they say there’s gender discrimination. I’m sorry, but the door is unlimited for women nowadays. If you want to work, you can work. It’s out there.” — Judy Spottedbird

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“Since World War II, we have made substantial progress, and the progress I know (most) about is in medicine. The fact that we wiped out smallpox in the United States. We totally wiped it out. We have developed vaccinations for measles and mumps and whooping cough. Children used to die by the hundreds of those diseases. Our generation has done enough scientifically that we have overcome those terrible diseases that used to affect so many children.” — Lucille Collins

“The U.S. hockey team’s victory over the Soviet Union at the 1980 Winter Olympics. I have rarely watched hockey since then, but I knew it was a monumental moment when watching it at the time.” — Russell Ricks

“I think it would have to be the advancements in technology that provide endless amounts of information. What used to be done by a room full of computers can now be done by our phones that fit in the palm of our hand.” — Renee Green

“(I) grew up on a small farm in North Alabama. We grew cotton and corn. We grew up in the generation where we were still using mules. In fact, I can recall the first tractor we got to farm with. When we were young, we didn’t have running water we drank form a well. There have been a lot, a lot of changes ... you look at how are country has been blessed, everything has just developed and grown. Back when we were growing up, it was very rare for anyone to get the opportunity to go on to college ... just to be able to have an education and to have opportunities in life ... seeing how affluent people are now compared to what they were. But we have also moved backwards in a lot of ways in our perspective on God, country and the values that we used to hold so dear, but have abandoned.” — Steve Wilson

What will be the greatest accomplishment of your generation? The advancement of online education to the point where the role of teachers will be drastically different. — Jemison student Morgan Smitherman

A cure for cancer. — Jemison student Taylor Lane

Further understanding of special education processes and the teaching of autistic students. — Jemison student Mckenzie Cleckley

Less guns laws. — Jemison student Carson Brown

“The rapture would change everybody’s life.” — Jemison student Colin Tillery

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Verbena’s Nathaniel Morris looks for running room during the team’s 2019 contest.

DEALING WITH A BAD BREAK

Verbena’s Nathaniel Morris comes back stronger after injury STORY BY J.R. TIDWELL PHOTOS BY J.R. TIDWELL AND CONTRIBUTED Nathaniel Morris is a perfect embodiment of Verbena High School football in 2019. He’s young, only a freshman, and he’s small, but he’s fast. Above all, he’s tough. Even under mounting odds, the young man refuses to give up. Morris and Verbena have proven they are determined by finishing the 2019 season. After all, the Red Devils spent much of the summer months wondering if they would even have a team, and Morris spent the winter of 2018 wondering if he would ever play the game he loved again. Despite a somewhat storied history in the sport of football, by late 2018 the Red Devils were under a multi-year losing streak. Verbena entered the final game of the season winless, just like they had done the year before. VHS had not defeated an opponent on the gridiron since 2016. The final game of 2018 was a home game against county rival Isabella. The Mustangs won the contest 47-6, but the final outcome took a back seat to how those in attendance are likely to remember from that cold night in early November.

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The game had progressed to the second half, and Isabella was up big. Morris, only an eighth grader at the time, was in for Verbena on defense. The young man said he had a bad feeling one play, and he was supposed to come out after it. However, he was not relieved by a teammate, so he stayed in the game. “I just felt like something bad was going to happen,” Morris said. Unfortunately, he was completely right. “I missed a tackle, and I went to plant my foot to try to make the tackle again,” Morris said. “My defensive lineman fell on my leg, and it snapped in half. I think one of Isabella’s players pushed my teammate down, and he kind of flew into my leg.” Morris said he was not sure just how bad he was hurt at the time of the impact. “At first, I thought it was just a sprain or something or I popped it,” he said. “When I went to get up, everyone was yelling at me to stop and sit down. I picked up my leg and looked at it, and yeah, it was broke.” The impact had broken both bones in Morris’s right ankle. As he attempted to get up, he raised his leg into the air. A very audible gasp came pouring out of the Isabella bleachers,

Nathaniel Morris prepares for the snap during the Red Devils game against Isabella in 2019. The game came almost exactly a year after Morris was hurt during the previous contest against the Mustangs.

as Morris, both team’s players and fans came to understand the severity of what had just occurred. There was Morris, lying down on the field. He was facing the Verbena sideline, but his right foot was pointed towards the end zone. A few members of Isabella’s coaching staff were the first to make it out to Morris as players from both teams spread apart to give them room. He was much closer to the visitor’s side of the field. Shortly thereafter, members of the local fire department began to filter in and surround Morris in order to help stabilize

him. In that moment, the game was forgotten. The score on the board no longer mattered. It was no longer Verbena versus Isabella. The only thing going through anyone’s mind was helping or praying for this unfortunate kid lying injured on the grass. A short time later Nathaniel’s father Daniel made his way from the Verbena stands out onto the field. He clapped his hands in frustration over his injured son, saying “my boy’s hurt. Get him up, let’s go.” “When I walked up, it looked like they weren’t doing anything

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Nathaniel Morris (12) and his younger brother Jacob (3) both play football for the Verbena Red Devils. Nathaniel was a freshman during the 2019 season, while Jacob was a seventh grader.

for him,” Daniel Morris said. “They were just staring at him, which upset me a little bit. For them to not have any first responders there, other than a fire truck upset me. The longer he laid there, and I saw him cry, the more it hurt me.” Someone from Isabella’s sideline yelled up at his team’s stands for a blanket. Several came pouring down from the Isabella faithful. Those working around Morris made him as warm as possible using the blankets between the cold air and the very real possi-

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bility of the young man going into shock. “What calmed me down the most was the staff from Isabella,” Daniel Morris said. “Every one of them came up to me and told me they were praying for him. They were shocked that he was just an eighth grader. They said anything they could do to help they would, and it calmed me down. The coaches were trying everything they could to call hospitals for me. I was very thankful for Isabella doing that. It touched my heart. I didn’t expect that. Isabella showed nothing but love, and to this day it hurts me a

“I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to

play the next year. When I got to the hospital, I was sitting there thinking I hope I get better for next year.” — Nathaniel Morris little bit to even talk about it. He’s my boy. He’s my life.” Firefighters were able to stabilize Morris and get him off the playing field after about 20 minutes. It took close to 45 minutes from the injury occurring to when an ambulance finally made it to the field. Nathaniel Morris said it felt like it took “two hours” to get out of there. “I was scared, and I wasn’t sure what was going on,” he said. “I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to play the next year. When I got to the hospital, I was sitting there thinking I hope I get better for next year.” Nathaniel was taken to Children’s hospital in Birmingham, where staff went to work. “They heavily sedated him to put him to sleep,” Daniel Morris said. “They snapped his leg back in place, and they ended up not needing pins and rods. They wanted to see how it would heal. They told him if he didn’t listen and do what they said, they might have to go back in and re-snap it and put pins and rods in.” Nathaniel spent the next 16 weeks with a cast on his ankle and his leg mostly elevated. “He did awesome,” Daniel Morris said. “We went home the second day. They put a cast on it and sent him home. They told us to elevate it and put no pressure on it at all. “The doctor said once it healed, it actually grows back stronger. He has calcium built up on there, and it’s as strong as it’s ever going to be. He has to wear an ankle brace. I won’t let him play without it. Through the grace of God, he is faster and stronger. He doesn’t seem to have any problems out of it.” After Nathaniel got the cast off, he was not forced to do any physical therapy. Instead, he was cleared medically and went straight to playing baseball for the Red Devils, as he had missed basketball season. “I had a brace on my right ankle,” Nathaniel said. “My first baseball game I wasn’t supposed to play. We were doing bad in right field, and I replaced the other guy. The first hit after I replaced him, I had a diving catch. “(My ankle) was holding me back at that point. It was hurting real bad, I just pushed through it. (The pain) finally went away after about four more weeks.” And so, Nathaniel Morris’s comeback was complete. “He came back strong, and the reason he did is he listened to what the doctor said,” Daniel Morris said. “He didn’t give up, that’s the main thing.” Fast forward to the summer before the 2019 football season, however, and no one was certain whether or not Verbena would field a football team that year. Going winless over multiple seasons left the Red Devils with low numbers on the roster, and most of what the team did have was very young. “After I wrecked my leg, coming back the next year not knowing if we were going to have a football team or not, we had to go through

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school and try to find some more players,” Nathaniel said. “We went to the seventh and eighth graders and found 12 of them. That’s how we started off the season.” Verbena found a new head coach in Josh Robinson and put together enough players to salvage the season. The Red Devils fielded a team made up of only a few seniors and other upperclassmen. The players were mostly middle schoolers. However, the young Verbena squad made it through the season in a difficult region, playing several teams that would go on to play in the state playoffs including eventual Class 1A champion Lanett. Given the state of the program, Daniel Morris was worried about his son returning to the field for the Red Devils. “For Verbena being so young, they don’t have a very good line, and it scares me every play,” he said. “(Nathaniel’s) not very big, but he’s fast. Every time he touches the ball it really scares me. But, he loves the game, and I’m proud of him whether he wins or loses. Verbena runs through his blood.” Nathaniel was determined to make it back. “What keeps me going through all this is my PawPaw, Johnny Morris,” Nathaniel said. “I used to look up to him, and he was always there for me. He died about eight years ago.” Nathaniel had a run in with his now healed ankle early in the Red Devils’ 2019 campaign. “At the beginning of this football season when we played Thorsby, I got hit real bad on (that ankle), and it messed it up again,” Nathaniel said. “Two weeks later it was fine, and I haven’t had any more trouble out of it.” Due to a region opponent failing to field a team in 2019, Verbena scheduled Ellwood Christian as its Week 2 opponent. Ellwood Christian was on an even longer losing streak than the Red Devils. Everyone surrounding the Verbena program knew going in that game would be the Red Devils’ best chance of notching a win for the first time in years. Things started off well for Verbena after kickoff, but everything appeared to fall apart quickly. “Coming into the game, I was scared because I knew it would be a tight game,” Nathaniel said. “The first drive we got down to the 3-yard line and I fumbled, causing a 97-yard touchdown. I stuck to it. I went in as quarterback and tied the game up.” Verbena would go on to win 22-8 and end its multi-year losing streak, with Morris and his younger brother Jacob playing their part in the victory. This time Verbena traveled to play Isabella, who ended up going undefeated in the regular season and making it to the third round of the state playoffs. “I wasn’t scared going into this game against Isabella,” Nathaniel said. “I was more worried about everyone else getting hurt, because some of them said they were worried about playing the best team in the county. I treated it like any other game.” Things went predictably for those who knew the two teams. Isabella went up 53-0 before the Red Devils finally found the end zone before time expired. The player that scored was none other than Nathaniel Morris, who put the only points of the game on the board for his team against the opponent he had gotten so terribly injured against the year before. With those six points, Morris’s comeback was well and truly complete. “It felt good, knowing that last year I broke my leg and came back against them and scored against a better team than they were last year,” he said. Robinson said after the Ellwood Christian game that Morris was one of the team’s best players and that he was a tough kid who wouldn’t quit. Morris has continued to prove that.

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Bob Sanders and Lucy Collins.

MAGIC AND MEDICINE

Collins, Sanders make quite the pair of cards STORY BY J.R. TIDWELL People who have spent any length of time in Chilton County have probably run into Dr. Lucille Collins and her husband Bob Sanders at some point. After all, Collins practiced medicine in Maplesville for 27 years, and Sanders has been a magician since he was a young teenager. While now married, the couple started life on opposite ends of the country. “I grew up on the shore of Lake Ontario,” Collins said. “I was born in Rochester, New York. My paternal grandfather’s farm ran to the shore of Lake Ontario. We lived right there on the lake. That is very cold. It was all farm country. The old orchard was terribly overgrown, and there were no animals on the farm anymore, because my grandfather died when he was quite young. His three boys, my father included, went elsewhere and found other jobs.” Sanders, on the other hand, was born in Montgomery. “Mom was from Montgomery,” he said. “She fell in love with a flyboy out of Maxwell Air Base. Mom was a singer and dancer before they got married. They ended up settling down in Mont-

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gomery.” Collins said one of the biggest memories she has of her time growing up in New York was how cold the weather was. “I remember waking up with snow six inches deep on my bed because it filtered through cracks in the wall,” she said. “It was so cold, it didn’t melt. I also remember, up the road from where we lived, there was a man named Mr. Ferguson who kept cows. One winter was so cold, the local deer hopped the fence and set up housekeeping in his pasture. We called it the deer pen, and we used to go down and pet the deer. That was perhaps one of the things that made me decide I wanted to be a veterinarian. We always had animals growing up.” Sanders also ended up being close to animals growing up, but for a completely different reason. “I always tell people the two greatest things my dad ever gave me were a stay-at-home mom, and when I was seven I had a horse,” he said. “I didn’t know a thing about horses, but I had a horse. We also had a cattle operation. I was the only boy, so I was raised as a cowboy. “I started working cattle early. Dairies were all over Alabama at the time, and they had no use for a bull calf. They would sell them to me for $6. Between (raising cattle) and a newspaper

route, I started paying income tax when I was 12.” Collins still keeps a variety animals to this day, but her early dreams of becoming a veterinarian never came true. “I got to seventh grade, and I was having trouble with some kind of math,” she said. “My teacher told me if I was having trouble with that math I would never be a veterinarian, and by golly, she was right. I never got to be one.” She did, however, go on to earn a college degree. “My folks moved to California in the early 60s,” Collins said. “I was in a troubled marriage at the time. I decided I should get out of it. I moved with my son to California, too. I decided I needed some education.” So she started working towards her first degree in philosophy at a community college while also working as a veterinarian assistant. She would go on to graduate from UCLA with a philosophy degree. She had started going to dance classes at age 11 and fell in love with ballet. Collins danced and did modeling work for several years while out in California. Far to the east was Sanders. On top of working as a cowboy, he played guitar. “At 13, Paramount put me to work playing guitar with movie stars and recording artists,” he said. “At 14, I spent a lot of time with my uncle, who was a rodeo producer. My uncle provided livestock for rodeos all over the country. I became a rodeo clown at 16.” Sanders said he met some “very interesting” people during his time playing music for Paramount. “When I started college at 18, I started a company called American Artist Enterprises because I knew everybody (in the business),” he said. “I bought and sold recording management and booking contracts on entertainers. This was around 1963. Being a young whippersnapper, I didn’t realize booking agencies didn’t ask shopping centers and malls to buy entertainment, so I did. I ended up with

A copy of the Mona Lisa painted by Lucy Collins hangs in the main office at Senior Connection.

542 malls and shopping centers that bought their entertainment from me. Malls were new.” After spending several years teaching, dancing, modeling and being a wife, Collins decided that she wanted to do something different with her life. She and some of her friends decided they

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During her time in the Dominican Republic Lucy Collins bought an injured vulture from a pair of local kids and nursed it back to health. would rather be doctors. “We all applied to medical school in the Dominican Republic,” she said. Once Collins finished her time there, she came back to the United States, took and passed her exams. “Then, I had to find a residency,” she said. “It took me a while. Finally, I found one in Selma. In the meantime, I was continuing my study of ballet, and I had worked as a model in California and a teacher in a modeling school. “I got on the plane and came to Alabama thinking, ‘Alabama, do I really want to do it this much?’ I got to the airport where my friends were going to pick me up. It was dark. Alabama smelled different. It was springtime, and it smelled very leafy, but I couldn’t see anything. “I woke up the next morning, I got dressed and I stepped out the door. I could see beef cattle in the fields, woods in the distance, pas-

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An example of one of Lucy Collin’s paintings.

“I always tell people the two greatest things

my dad ever gave me were a stay-at-home mom, and when I was seven, I had a horse.”

— Bob Sanders tures all around me and flowers. They were just growing all around me. I looked around and thought ‘oh my goodness, I’m home.’” Sanders finished college in three years, and after finishing up, he knew what he would be doing afterwards, at least for a while anyway. “If you were a boy, and you graduated college in the ’60s, you knew exactly who you were working for next,” he said. “I ended up in the Navy. I had to give up music. I had started doing magic as a rodeo clown to keep the audience busy when the animals misbehaved. So, I kept magic. I have only been doing it 58 years now commercially. I still perform, and I travel and teach other magicians and lecture.” Sanders worked malls, stage shows and conferences in magic. He still to this day works under the stage name “Magic by Sander,” a moniker given to him by a familiar name. “My magic stage name was given to me by a man named Roy Orbison,” he said. “He told me a mistake he made was he used his real name, and people could find him in the phone book. He told me to drop the ‘S’ off of Sanders to make it Sander, a first name. So, my stage name is ‘Magic by Sander.’ Through the years, I have had fabulous mentors. I have performed all kinds of places and done all kinds of things.” Sanders has also spent time as a college professor, he has started a chain of import stores and has even run for public office. Collins, who did remain in Selma for her residency, fell in love with Alabama. She said it is a lot like her home back in New York, but “much warmer.” After Collins got her residency, a man by the name of Dr. Overstreet took her under his wing and eventually told her about a position available at a clinic in Maplesville. Collins worked at one of two clinics in Maplesville and outlived them both. She bought the equipment off one and leased its building to practice out of for a while before eventually buying her own property and put-

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Lucy Collins stands beside a horse she painted.

ting her clinic there in 1999. She remained there practicing family medicine until she retired in September of 2019. The City of Maplesville held a retirement ceremony for Collins and another local community staple. Mayor W.C. Hayes said the city would certainly miss Dr. Collins and wished her all the best in her retirement. Collins said she stayed in Maplesville all those years because the position and place she found herself in suited her. “The people were salt of the earth types,” she said. “These were good, working people who needed a handy clinic. It suited what I wanted to do. It worked out very well. I was very handy. Repairs are my favorite thing to do so long as they

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weren’t over the top.” Now retired, Collins tends to her animals, paints and has recently taken up learning to play the violin. She helps out Bob with his magic, including keeping the doves he uses and occasionally taking part in the performance. Bob and Lucy can often be found at Senior Connection on Wednesdays. That is the day Lucy attends painting class. Bob can often be found during their visits wandering around cracking jokes. Both Bob and Lucy had previous spouses, but they are together now. Given their history, diverse experience and personalities, they make quite the pair.

Teacher Shannon Wyatt reads a book with Susan while she holds some of the classroom buddies.

FOCUS ON 4 Preschool prepares future students

STORY BY JOYANNA LOVE PHOTOS BY KEITH MCCOY Hugs welcome visitors as soon as they step through the door. Fun music fills the room amid the sounds of childish chatter and clanging toys. This is Alabama First Class Pre-K. Where playing is learning, and learning is fun. The free time and structured lessons work together to build a foundation to help 4-year-olds in future classes. Verbena preschool teacher Shannon Wyatt said students will spend an hour per day in “free centers” — play and activities with little instruction. “A good bit of our time is free choice, free time,” Wyatt said. Instruction includes “hands-on, age appropriate” information and activities in short time spans. “Their attention span is very short,” Wyatt said.

Students are in class from 7:30 a.m. to 2:15 p.m. Just like any other public school classroom, teachers focus on ensuring students can comprehend and understand information outlined in the state education standards for the grade. “They need to be able to know the alphabet and the letter sounds, to be able to write their name, so the things that come before that is fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination,” Wyatt said. The free play time helps students build the motor skills needed for writing. Wyatt said the preschool class also works to establish a positive outlook toward school. Instead of written tests, whether a child is reaching the state standards level of comprehension is determined through teacher observation and documented. “We have a program we use called Gold Teaching Strategies, and we do daily documentation,” Wyatt said. “There are

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38 indicators the state wants shown.” According to information from the Alabama Department of Early Childhood Education 2019 reports, at least half of the students in the state who entered the program in Fall 2017 were “below developmental expectations.” However, by the end of the school year, nearly all were meeting or exceeding developmental expectations. The largest growth was shown in areas of math, cognition and social-emotional skills. “I definitely believe preschool and kindergarten can make or break a child because it lays the foundation,” Wyatt said. She said preschool teaches crucial social skills that will help children the rest of their lives such as working as a team, getting along with others and reading readiness. “What I love about the state’s program is that preschool historically has always been something that you had to pay for ... now we are leveling that playing field because its free,” Wyatt said. Chilton County Schools has expanded its Alabama First Class Pre-K offerings in the past two years, so now, every area of the county has at least one classroom. Participation in preschool is voluntary. Most schools, such as the Verbena Annex, have at least two. “There is definitely a need in this community,” Wyatt said. A First Class Pre-K coach meets with teachers once a month, and a monitor from the state reviews the preschool class budget on a regular basis. The school has already seen positive changes because of the classes. “Our kindergarteners this year that were in the program last year are already accustomed to the school setting, they know where everything is in the building,” Verbena Assistant Principal Jodie Lawley said. “It was an easier transition for them to go straight into kindergarten, whereas (for) our other students who didn’t attend the pre-K, it was a little bit more difficult of a transition.” She said preschool students already knew the SRO, school secretary and some of the teachers before starting kindergarten. Wyatt began her career in education teaching third grade, which

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State Senator

Cam Ward

Supports the Economic Development Efforts of Chilton County

she did for 20 years. She kept thinking that so many students were coming to school already behind. “With the change that happened with kindergarten about 15-20 years ago, they got rid of all the play time — it is very instruction based,” Wyatt said. “Third grade has always been the year to fix those reading problems because third grade is really the last year for a smaller classroom setting.” Her frustration led to applying to be a preschool teacher in order to help students at the beginning. She said she likes the First Class Pre-K because it follows best practices in education. A typical day for Wyatt’s class also includes two 30-minute times of play outside. Helping students through social and emotional issues is an ongoing activity as situations pop up throughout the day. “It’s breaking down: why are we fighting? We have to use our helping hands. We have to be kind,” Wyatt said. Singing is a major part of learning for the class, and one of Wyatt’s favorite parts, as well as “reading books for enjoyment.” Wyatt said she also enjoys taking aspects from a book and using it for other lessons, such as reading “The Three Little Pigs” and building a house. “We have buddies that teach us emotional skills,” Wyatt said. Each of the cute stuffed animals were made by Wyatt and focuses on a different emotion or skill. Students Susan and Azalea said the creatures were what they enjoyed at preschool. Buddies include: Benny the bear for good moods, Buddy the bunny for listening, Ruby the deer for watching eyes, Rosy the raccoon for helping hands, Humble the hedgehog to share and take turns and Fred the owl for keeping calm. Wyatt said switching to preschool has been “life changing.” Each class day follows a routine with similar activities being focused on the same time each day. “What makes children thrive is consistency, a routine every single

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day,” Wyatt said. In the classroom, this means a set time to study letters and numbers, group discussion and learning the week’s nursery rhyme, reading a book together, etc. “Oral language is so important for the kindergarten level,” Wyatt said. Just like in kindergarten and older classes, preschool teachers use a curriculum.

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Lawley said the first preschool class had been successful, so she applied for a second grant to establish another classroom. While each First Class Pre-K can have up to 18 students, Wyatt has 13 students this school year. Expanding preschool opportunities has been a focus for the state in recent years, making more funding available for school systems to apply for.

Coloring helps young hands develop the motor skills needed for writing.

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What do you like about preschool?

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“I like my teachers and my teacher’s buddies. I like to draw.” – Azalea

“The magnet tiles. I like to build houses too and build roads.” – Greyson

“Everything. Arts and crafts. I like painting.” – Kaleigh

“I love the dog Max and the fire engines.”* – Mason

“The magnet tiles to make a rocket ship with a(toy) bug in it.” – Ryan

“I like the animals.” – Susan

*The teacher explained this was from a field trip the class took.

Wilson Spottedbird speaks to the congregation at Through the Grace of God Ministres about how Christianity was brought to his people, the Kiowa.

ONE WITH THE EARTH

Painting, faith inspire Wilson Spottedbird and his wife STORY BY J.R. TIDWELL PHOTOS CONTRIBUTED When Wilson Spottedbird, 71, was a young boy growing up on Kiowa lands in Oklahoma, his father and other tribe elders used to sing Kiowa hymns for hours. Spottedbird’s father used to have his son sit on the floor and listen to the hymns, which he saw as punishment at the time. Now, however, Spottedbird continues to sing those hymns that he picked as a youngster as part of his faith. Another major part of Spottedbird’s life is his painting, which he learned would be a great asset of his at an early age. In first grade, his teacher had the class take a figure eight and turn it into a fish as part of an assignment. “I put scales and fins on it,” Spottedbird said. “Then, I drew

a fish bowl around him. I drew water and bubbles coming out of his mouth. She (the teacher) never dreamed a student could come up with that in first grade. She told me I had talent.” Spottedbird first began making money off his artistic talent in the fifth grade. He decorated paper sacks into Halloween masks and sold them for a nickel apiece. Spottedbird, who said his Kiowa name means “one with the earth,” grew up in a large family that included six brothers and one sister. He said many of the families he knew growing up were large. Growing up on Kiowa land meant that many of his fellow tribe members were related in some way. “Every time I would find a girlfriend and would bring them home, my dad would say ‘the blood is too close,’” Spottedbird

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Judy and Wilson Spottedbird.

said. Eventually, Wilson met a woman named Judy who was not a member of the Kiowa tribe. She was a missionary from out of state who had come to the Kiowa tribe in Oklahoma. “I always thought it would be the Sioux (I would go to),” Judy said. “I had a very soft heart for the Sioux. They are a third-world country. The water isn’t decent to drink on their land.” However, she said God had other plans for her. “If you follow the Lord, you go where you’re led,” she said. While spreading the word to the Kiowa tribe, a mutual friend introduced Wilson and Judy, who is now 70. “Then our paths kept crossing,” she said. Wilson and Judy stayed in touch even during periods of time when one or both was off the Kiowa tribal land. “He told me one day ‘ look, I can’t pay my telephone bill,’” Judy said. “He kind of gave me an ultimatum, and we prayed about it. Later on, he asked me to marry him, and I said yes.” “I always tell people she came and captured me,” Wilson quipped. “He loves to say that, when it was really him who captured me,” Judy responded. Judy said that Wilson’s family did not originally accept her because she was not Native American. Once they realized they could not frighten her away and the love shared by the couple was genuine, they came to accept her. Wilson’s mother even gave Judy a name in Kiowa that means “beloved daughter-in-law.” The couple would go on to have five children and continue to practice their faith. Wilson’s faith became stronger when he found himself in a foxhole as part of the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War. “When I turned 18, I had to register with Selective Service, and I got drafted,” he said. He became a member of the 101st Airborne “Screaming Eagles,” so named after the unit’s insignia. Airborne units during World War II dropped out of planes under parachutes behind enemy lines. By Vietnam, this had shifted into teaching soldiers in the division to rappel down from helicopters onto the battlefield using long ropes. At one point during his time in Vietnam, Wilson promised God that if He saw fit to allow him to survive the war, he would never pick up a gun or commit violent acts against others again. When Wilson made it back home, he stayed true to his promise. “I even gave up hunting,” he said. “(The war) made me realize how precious life is.” Wilson received several decorations during his service, including a Bronze Star. After his time in the Army, Wilson was sent to college by the Kio-

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wa tribe in order to further his education. He was already the only member of his family to graduate from high school. “The Kiowa tribe said I had a talent and sent me to school at Oklahoma State,” Wilson said. He had continued drawing and painting even during the war. He drew portraits of three different people he met during the conflict. When he returned, he gave one of those pieces to a woman named Mrs. Hubbard, a lady who owned a grocery store near his childhood home. Wilson said Mrs. Hubbard kept all of his artwork all through grade school, and he gave the war-time portrait to her as a gift. “After I gave it to her, she entered in into a contest, and it won,” Wilson said. Word got around when it came to Wilson’s talent. “(The college) hired me to do a portrait of the dean,” he said. “I did his full face and did some of the great things in his life like a montage around him. They loved it. It’s still hanging in their library.”

He would even be contacted through an acquaintance from his time in the military later in life to paint Bob Hope’s face as a caricature on the side of the comedian’s USO tour plane. “They gave me a plaque for that that I still have,” Wilson said. During his time at Oklahoma State, Wilson studied to be an illustrator. “We had to do everything by hand back then,” he said. “We didn’t have computers.” He came in first in the state in a design competition featuring college students, but he failed to take home the top prize at the national level. “I didn’t think lettering was important, until then,” he said. “Now, I understand that letters speak and tell a story.” Fast forward to today, and much of Wilson’s work involves lettering. He has painted signs for many local businesses that incorporate the company’s name. He has also done other work like murals and silhouettes. Anyone that has spent any amount of time in Clanton has

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The mural painted on the side of MorLyn’s in Clanton was done by Wilson Spottedbird. seen his work. He did the mural on the side of MorLyn’s, the small peach statue off to the side of the restaurant at Peach Park, the desert scene on the outside of San Marcos and several paintings of people on the walls of Chilton County High School just to name a few. Judy has many photo albums that are full of photographs of Wilson’s work. It was fate that brought Wilson and Judy to Alabama from Oklahoma. Judy’s mother had two sisters that lived in Troy. Her husband wanted to move to the South and be near a lake. That was when one of Judy’s uncles told them about Lake Jordan, so they settled in Wetumpka. Eventually Judy’s stepfather was diagnosed with bone can-

cer, and her mother asked that Judy and Wilson move near Wetumpka as well to be closer to them. The couple decided to make the move, but Wilson was concerned with how people in the South would treat him as he moved to unfamiliar territory. He was used to dealing with prejudice against Native Americans in Oklahoma. Once, after he returned from Vietnam, Wilson got sick and went to the local VA for treatment. He said the hospital staff refused to treat him and told him to instead go to an Indian clinic down the road. “Wilson was scared to death saying they won’t like me down there (in Alabama),” Judy said. “I know how whites on Indian land treat Indians.” However, what the Spottedbirds found when they moved rang more true to Southern hospitality than prejudice. “The people here are so different,” Wilson said. While he is something along the lines of semi-retired now due to his age, Wilson still does design work for those who seek him out. In 2019, he and Judy attended service at Through the Grace of God Ministries in Clanton, where Wilson told the story of how two little missionary women brought Christianity to the Kiowa tribe many years ago. Wilson is also the patriarch of the Spottedbird family, many of whom still live back in Oklahoma. Between browsing the internet or riding around town, you never know where Wilson’s work might be seen.

207 6th Street, North

angie@angiemayfieldlaw.com

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Russell Ricks has returned to the bench as a varsity basketball head coach for the first time in 20 years.

ENURED AT THORSBY

Ricks’s passion for sports leads to career as teacher STORY AND PHOTOS BY ANTHONY RICHARDS Russell Ricks began teaching at Thorsby in the fall of 1990 and 30 years later he is one of the longest tenured faculty members at the school. Ricks would have never thought that he would have still been at the same school 30 years later after he was first hired. “Sometimes I can’t believe it,” Ricks said. Sports has always been a passion of Ricks’s since he was a child. Growing up, baseball became his favorite, and as any child, he dreamed of one day playing in the big league. He followed this path and attended Auburn University on a baseball scholarship and pitched for the Tigers. However, a pro-

fessional career was not in the cards. “I got to thinking of what I could do to stay in sports, and I thought ‘well, I’ll get into teaching and coaching,’” Ricks said. According to Ricks, the experience he had playing for his coach at Fayetteville High School in Talladega County had an influence on his decision to step into coaching himself. “Me and him were good friends,” Ricks said. The job search included Ricks calling the Chilton County Board of Education and asking if they had any openings, and they happened to have one at Thorsby. Ricks said he did not know much about Thorsby at the time he was hired. “I feel like this is home now,” Ricks said. “I’ve been here over

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Being a head coach means balancing a variety of personalities.

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Russell Ricks teaches proper technique for setting a screen.

half my life, and now when I go back home [Talladega County] I feel out of place.” His entire teaching career has been as a physical education teacher at Thorsby. He also coached during the first decade of his career before taking a 20-year break from being a head coach at the varsity level. “I had an offer to go into college coaching way back when, but I didn’t really want to do that at the time,” Ricks said. “I’ve been here ever since.” However, although he was not head coach of a varsity team during that stretch, he still managed to coach his son Jarrett in Little League and has spent time recently coaching Thorsby’s junior high football and basketball teams. His son’s graduation from high school a couple of years ago prompted him to re-explore the possibility of coaching school ball once again. “Here I am back into coaching,” Ricks said with a smile. “When my son graduated, that kind of kept me in the game.” He took over the Thorsby varsity basketball team after Tim Fortner’s retirement at the end of the 2018-2019 school year left a vacancy within the program. “I talked him into coaching again,” Thorsby athletic director Daryl Davis said. Although it has been years since Ricks coached his first basketball game, he has still maintained a similar philosophy. “We run a motion offense, where we screen and cut and play manto-man defense,” Ricks said. “I’m probably a little bit more of an oldschool [coach], but that’s what I believe in so that’s what I’m going to do.” Ricks has taught a variety of age groups over the years. He started

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(205) 280-8200 jeffersonstate.edu Jefferson State does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, disability, or age in its admissions, programs and activities in compliance with Title VI and VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Age Discrimination Act of 1975, Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

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“We run a motion offense, where we

screen and cut and play man-to-man defense. I’m probably a little bit more of an old-school [coach], but that’s what I believe in so that’s what I’m going to do.” — Russell Ricks teaching PE in high school before spending the last 20 years teaching PE to elementary students. According to Ricks, there was a certain transition that took place when he first made the move from high school to elementary students. “When I first got here, I was just a kid myself,” Ricks said. However, throughout all his years of teaching he said that he has seen more change in himself than he has his students. “You come in and you think you’ve got to be tough and so forth, but over the years I’ve mellowed out a lot,” Ricks said. “I’m definitely different than I was.” As with anything else in life, Ricks has modified his approach and over the years he has matured as a teacher. Rachel Argent currently teaches alongside Ricks, while Davis has both taught and coached with him as well. Prior to sharing in the profession both Argent and Davis were students of Ricks’ during their senior years at Thorsby in 1991. “You don’t see very many people who go into education who stay at one school their whole career,” Davis said. “That’s very rare. In fact, he may be the only I’ve ever known.” Another former student of Ricks’s, who he also coached in basketball, is Thorsby Principal Corey Clements. Davis has always admired Ricks’s drive to be the best he can. “It’s valuable to have a guy that is knowledgeable and still willing to help out any way he can even after 30 years,” Davis said. Davis said he has heard Ricks joking on more than one occasion over the years that “he will be here to turn the lights off when they shut the school down.” The relationship Ricks has with his varsity players is one that was established and built during his years as their elementary PE teacher. “He knows them, and they know him,” Davis said. The traits that make Ricks a good coach is also what makes him the type of teacher he is. “He goes with the flow, and is really good with the kids,” Argent said. “He is very good with the kindergarten/first grade age group, which can be among the hardest.” Argent believes that his patient attitude allows him to excel with the younger students. “There are a lot of things done on a whim,” Argent said. “Your whole day can change very quick. What you think was planned may not go well for the kids, and you’ve got to be willing to change it.” One thing that Ricks does not plan to change is the natural fit he seems to have at this point with the school and the Town of Thorsby.

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Thorsby head coach Russell Ricks instructs players during a basketball practice.

HOURS: MONDAY-FRIDAY 5:30 A.M. - 2:00 P.M. CLOSED SATURDAY SUNDAY 11:00 A.M. - 2:00 P.M.

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PROGRESS FOR THE NEXT GENERATIONÂ Improvements on the horizon for Chilton County Alabama Farm Center at Alfa Centennial Park A joint project between the Alabama Famers Federation/Alfa, local governments and other partners, this multi-structure facility will feature an exhibition hall, livestock arena, equestrian arena, several specialized barns for different types of animals and smaller multiuse buildings. This agricultural hub is envisioned to be a place for livestock shows, trade shows and other events. The influx of visitors to the county is expected to spur business growth at Interstate 65, Exit 212. 1 | Main Arena 169,583 sq. ft.

STEM programs in the Clanton and Jemison schools and at LeCroy Career Technical Center. In 2019, ways to offer similar programs for students attending the school systems K-12 schools were discussed. A $43,000 grant was received from the Institute of Science and Technology Acellus STEM-10 initiative to begin offering computer programming and robotics in third grade. The program will meet the new state requirement for computer programming instruction.

Science, Technology, Engineering and Improved traffic flow Two of Clanton’s exits off of InMath programs for K-12 schools Chilton County Schools has strong terstate 65 have been approved for

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improvements through the Heart of Alabama Rural Planning Organization. Widening the bridge at Exit 205 is expected to begin in 2020. The project is expected to cost $4.017 million and will be paid for with state and federal funding. Plans for Exit 208 include the addition of roundabouts with required signage at the intersection of the interstate on and off ramps with County Road 28. A roundabout keeps traffic going by having drivers merge into a circle and drive around a small loop until they reach the street they need. The project is estimated to cost $2.565 million and will be funded through state and federal funds. According to the state transportation improvement plan, construction on the project is set to begin in 2021. New leadership Elections in 2020 could see some new faces joining local governing bodies and other leadership positions.

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