Lagniappe: February 6 - February 12, 2019

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WEEKLY

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LAGNIAPPE

F E B R U A RY 6 , 2 0 1 9 - F E B R U A RY 1 2 , 2 0 1 9 | w w w. l a g n i a p p e m o b i l e . c o m ASHLEY TRICE Co-publisher/Editor atrice@lagniappemobile.com ROB HOLBERT Co-publisher/Managing Editor rholbert@lagniappemobile.com GABRIEL TYNES Assistant Managing Editor gabe@lagniappemobile.com DALE LIESCH Reporter dale@lagniappemobile.com JASON JOHNSON Reporter jason@lagniappemobile.com

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BAY BRIEFS

A 30-year-old rape case is dismissed because of a lack of jurisdiction, leading to outrage.

COMMENTARY

Flooding a week ago demonstrates the dangers lurking in the Delta around Alabama Power’s ash pond.

BUSINESS

St. Paul’s unveils $8 million student commons facility.

CUISINE

KEVIN LEE Associate Editor/Arts Editor klee@lagniappemobile.com ANDY MACDONALD Cuisine Editor fatmansqueeze@comcast.net

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STEPHEN CENTANNI Music Editor scentanni@lagniappemobile.com STEPHANIE POE Copy Editor copy@lagniappemobile.com DANIEL ANDERSON Chief Photographer dan@danandersonphoto.com LAURA MATTEI Art Director www.laurarasmussen.com

The great chicken biscuit debate is over! Andy and krew settle this age-old argument the only way they know how — by eating too much.

COVER

Tax incentives programs have played a huge role in expanding statewide job growth.

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BROOKE O’DONNELL Advertising Sales Executive brooke@lagniappemobile.com BETH WOOLSEY Advertising Sales Executive bwilliams@lagniappemobile.com DAVID GRAYSON Advertising Sales Executive david@lagniappemobile.com SUZANNE SAWYER Advertising Sales Executive suzanne@lagniappemobile.com

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ARTS

Theatre 98’s version of “Streetcar” deserves more time on the stage.

MUSIC

STAN ANDERSON Distribution Manager delivery@lagniappemobile.com JACKIE CRUTHIRDS Office Manager legals@lagniappemobile.com CONTRIBUTORS: J. Mark Bryant, Asia Frey, Brian Holbert, Randy Kennedy, John Mullen, Jordan Parker, Jeff Poor, Catherine Rainey, Ken Robinson, Ron Sivak ON THE COVER: “HANDSHAKE DEA”L

BY LAURA MATTEI LAGNIAPPE HD Periodicals Permit #17660 (Volume 4, Issue 19) Copyright 2015 is published weekly, 52 issues a year, by Something Extra Publishing, Inc., 704 Government St., Mobile, AL 36604 (P.O. Box 3003 Mobile, AL 36652). Business and Editorial Offices: 704 Government St., Mobile, AL 36604 Accounting and Circulation Offices: 704 Government St., Mobile, AL 36602. Call 251-450-4466 to subscribe. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to P.O. Box 3003 Mobile, AL 36652 Editorial, advertising and production offices are located at 704 Government St., Mobile, AL 36602.

Mailing address is P.O. Box 3003 Mobile, AL 36652. Phone: 251-450-4466 Email: atrice@lagniappemobile.com LAGNIAPPE HD is printed at Walton Press. All rights reserved. Something Extra Publishing, Inc. Nothing may be reprinted. photocopied or in any way reproduced without the expressed permission of the publishers.

For Lagniappe home delivery visit

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Gurf Morlix is just getting better with age.

28 34 38 40 46 FILM

“Mid90’s” a deceptively rough love letter to teen friendship between boys.

MEDIA

Fox10 didn’t have to look far to find the new cohost for its morning show.

SPORTS

USA Men’s Soccer returns as a club team.

STYLE

There were MVP sightings galore last week — Mario Van Peebles that is. Boozie has the goods.

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GOING POSTAL Alabama the Eww-tiful Editor: Jeff Poor wrote in the Jan. 30 Lagniappe (Beltway Beat column) “the solution isn’t necessarily to pump federal dollars into Lowndes County for a sewer system. While that might help, a more permanent solution would be to figure out how to improve the county’s ailing economy.”

I find this to be an interesting proposition.

Fairhope is in one of the nation’s fastest-growing counties (Baldwin) in the U.S. When you look at the numbers, Fairhope beats the national average in every category. The average income of a Fairhope resident is $34,760; the average income of a resident somewhere in the U.S. is $28,555.

The median household in Fairhope earns $58,767; the U.S. average is $53,482. Recent job growth in the U.S. is at 1.6 percent; recent job growth in Fairhope is 1.8 percent.

So why, then, is it that Fairhope recently built an upgrade into the city’s wastewater treatment plant? Because sewage runs out of the manhole covers on Fairwood Boulevard.

In fairness, Lowndes County probably does not have as much rain as Fairhope does. After all, Fairhope is on the water’s edge. But can you imagine going down to the water and being told you can’t swim on the beach because the bay is too polluted? That is nuts.

Just in Fairhope, we could have Jet Ski rentals, parasailing and so on. Instead, there is so little aquatic activity. No one wants diarrhea, or to be throwing up, or to contract hookworm. I am willing to bet the demand for hotels and bedand-breakfast establishments would go up if the water was kept clean for folks to swim in. Just think of all of the hours of fun kids could have.

If Fairhope can’t fix the sewage problem, what makes the average reader or Jeff Poor think a better economy will fix Lowndes County?

Better yet, if Jeff’s parents lived in a dilapidated trailer in Lowndes County, he’d want us to fix his parents’ sewage problem as well. People should not live in such filth. We can and should do better for Alabamians.

I do not have much hope for Alabama with Gov. Kay Ivey. Mobile asked for funding for an Amtrak station here. She said a train station was not worth it. Well, what is proper sanitation worth? When the United Nations prints out a blistering report and says we should do something for these folks, well darn it, let’s get to work.

Dale Hall, Fairhope

God saw the wine, and it was good Rob: I loved your article dealing with health inspections (“Inspectile Dysfunction,” Jan. 23).

As a civil and environmental engineer who has worked in Mobile County for many years and Alabama since 1971, you are really on to something here.

When I first saw your headline, I thought, “Oh, federal inspectors during the government shutdown,” but nope, this problem exists right here in Mobile. I have known Dr. Bernard Eichold and his father for 40 years; they have a home near my winery. They are great folks with a touchy responsibility. They do have issues and the politics of Mobile County does not help.

Your article helps the public understand what they have to deal with it. I work and fight with the Alabama Department of Public Health daily, and staffing is a serious matter. I work to protect the guilty defendants’ rights.

Abuse of power needs checks and balances at

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all levels. If the establishment serves adult beverages, watch out for an inspector without lipstick and a bouffant hairdo; fundamentalist religions gravitate to employment that is structured and has power to punish the wicked.

When your two largest construction jobs in Mobile are Dauphin Way and Cottage Hill Baptist churches, go figure. Truth is the Bible says have a little wine for thy stomach’s sake, that 12 percent alcohol will kill most of the pathogens that will make you ill in bad food. Don’t believe me? Check incidents of food poisoning on cruise ships and you’ll find the guests that had wine with dinner did not get sick, or as sick, as the non-alcohol crowd.

The Creator knew what He was doing when He made a yeast organism to convert sugar to alcohol and alcohol to acetic acid — both sterile and antibacterial — and it was free all over the world for all God’s children, until Prohibition and such organizations as the Alabama ABC Board and [the Alabama Department of Public Health] decided to intervene with licenses, taxes and inspectors.

My suggestion when dining in Mobile: Go order an adult beverage before, during and after the meal. It’s affordable health insurance and good for the soul.

Jim Eddins, Perdido Vineyards

Veterans crisis line always staffed Editor: Approximately 230,000 veterans live in the Gulf Coast Veterans Health Care System three-state catchment area (south Mississippi, south Alabama and the Florida Panhandle). Of

those, 104,000 are enrolled for care at VA, with about 71,000 actively receiving VA care. Suicide prevention experts claim that of the 20 veterans a day who are committing suicide, 14 of them are not getting their care from VA. We need your help. The Veterans Crisis Line initiative “Be There for Veterans” gives everyone in the community the tools and resources to use to help a veteran in crisis.

The chance is that at some point in your life, you may interact with a veteran that is in crisis. Will you be able to assist?

You don’t need to have special training to support the veterans in your life, and we can all do something to help a veteran who is going through a difficult time. Even seemingly small actions can have a huge impact.

Showing your support can be as simple as sending a veteran a text message — inviting someone over to catch up or sharing a positive thought are both great ways to communicate that you care.

Educate yourself on how to be a resource in a veteran’s life if they are thinking about suicide. They might show signs of isolation, anger, a loss of hope or just having a hard time reconnecting with the community after leaving the service.

The Suicide Prevention Coordinators for the Gulf Coast Veterans Health Care System are Lynn Worley, 228-523-4288, and Carrie Musselwhite, 850-912-2310.

For veterans and loved ones in crisis, you can call 1-800-273-8255 and press 1 for the Veterans Crisis Line.

Bryan C. Matthews, Gulf Coast Veterans Health Care System

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BAYBRIEF | COURTS

Scot-free JUDGE DISMISSES 30-YEAR-OLD RAPE CASE OVER LACK OF JURISDICTION

BY JASON JOHNSON

A

Photo | Provided

loophole in state law led Mobile County Presiding Judge John Lockett to dismiss a 30-yearold rape case against against a man indicted in December after DNA evidence linked him to the sexual assault of a 3-year-old girl in 1989.

As Lagniappe reported at the time, Timothy Robinson, 47, was arrested Dec. 7 and charged with the crime. He was indicted after a backlogged sexual assault kit that sat in storage for decades was retested against current DNA databases using funds from a recent federal grant.

Robinson was arrested while registering as a sex offender at the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) due to an unrelated prior conviction for sexually abusing an 8-year-old girl in 2011. He was released early from a 10-year prison sentence associated with that crime last October.

However, the new case prosecutors were building against Robinson came to a sudden halt last week after it was dismissed by Lockett, who said the Mobile County Circuit Court would have “no jurisdiction” over Robinson because the alleged offense occurred when he was 17.

According to court filings, there was at least some confusion over Robinson’s age at the time of the alleged offense. Prosecutors even requested copies of his birth certificate, but ultimately, all parties agreed he would have been 17 when the rape was committed.

“At the time of the alleged offense in 1989, the Alabama Juvenile Justice Act was in effect,” Lockett’s dismissal order reads. “That Act provided that the juvenile court had original and exclusive jurisdiction over any offense involving a child who is under 18.”

Over the past 30 years, the state of Alabama has

Timothy Robinson was indicted for a 30-year-old rape, but the case was dismissed over lack of jurisdiction.

passed and amended laws in an attempt to address similar cases involving juvenile crimes that are not adjudicated until the defendants become adults, but none of those were in effect in 1989.

That’s a crucial factor in Robinson’s case because crimes have to be tried under the laws in effect at the time they occurred. Assistant District Attorney Tandice Hogan, who was prosecuting Robinson’s case, said the law in 1989 allowed some defendants a “get out of jail free card.”

“Basically, back then, if you did something when you were 17 and didn’t get caught until you were 21, there was no jurisdiction for either court,” Hogan said. “All he had to do was wait to turn a certain age and now we can’t

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do anything to hold him accountable for the crime he committed. He raped this 3-year-old girl and went on to sexually assault another little girl.”

Today, the law allows juvenile courts to maintain jurisdiction over defendants of any age for crimes committed when they were a minor, if the offense — like rape — has no statute of limitations. The amendment wasn’t passed until 2008, though, and does not apply retroactively.

Hogan told Lagniappe she was upset about the decision, but said she believes Lockett “did what he had to do” and was “constrained” by the current laws on the books. However, she believes the law should be amended so cases like Robinson’s do not occur in the future.

“It needs to be made where the law can be applied retroactively to address the advances in DNA technology we’re seeing,” Hogan said. “All over the country rape kits are being tested with new technically, and I think this is probably going to come up more than just here in Mobile.”

Hogan suggested there may have been a different outcome if the victim’s family were more cooperative. In one of her briefs, Hogan wrote the family “did not cooperate in the investigation in 1989” and [the victim] was “not independently able to facilitate the investigation due to her age.”

Court records indicate Robinson was staying with his grandmother at the time of the alleged crime, and the victim was being watched by her aunt at the same location. Hogan said Robinson wasn’t related to the victim but they were known to each other.

Yet police had no suspect at the time even though, according to Hogan, the victim told her family about the assault almost immediately. In one brief, Hogan wrote that, while pointing at Robinson, the victim said to her family: “He put his big tee tee on my little tee tee.”

“When discovered this DNA evidence and the detectives re-interviewed the victim’s family in 2017, they said ‘We knew who it was the whole time,’” Hogan said. “Apparently, they confronted him but never turned him over the police. In a perfect world, maybe they would have.”

Robinson’s attorney, Matthew Peterson, claimed other individuals were identified as suspects by the victim and her family at the time. However, he said the case never made it far enough to warrant further investigation because it was dismissed on procedural grounds.

Jail records indicate Robinson was released from Mobile County Metro Jail on Feb. 4. He’d been in custody since his arrest in December. However, due to previous convictions, Robinson must continue to register as a sex offender locally. According to the MCSO, his address is listed as 2701 Demetropolis Road in Mobile, in the general vicinity of Luan Park, Mims Park, Dodge Elementary School, Shepard Elementary School and St. Dominic School.

BAYBRIEF | PRICHARD

‘High on the hog’ PRICHARD WATER BOARD DIRECTOR DEFENDS QUESTIONABLE EXPENSES

BY DALE LIESCH

E

xecutives with the Prichard Water Works and Sewer Board spent hundreds of dollars on “working lunches,” a Yeti brand cooler and voice-activated garbage cans, according to records obtained

by Lagniappe.

Credit card receipts and requisition forms going back as far as last October confirm purchases made by Director Nia Bradley and others for what she later claimed were a litany of reasons.

Among the more interesting purchases is $420 spent on two garbage cans with “voice and motion control,” according to a receipt from Simplehuman.

Bradley defended the purchase as a way to help improve the look of the utility’s offices. She said the aesthetics of the office weren’t “up to par.”

“We should look like the company we are striving to be,” she said. “If you come in there now … everything is modernized.”

Another interesting purchase was found in a receipt for a Michael Strahan brand “midweight parka” purchased on the JCPenney website for $49.99. Bradley said this and a number of other clothing purchases, including four blazers for $420, were for various staff members.

Bradley also paid to have the items embroidered with the PWWSB logo, she said.

Also at issue for some customers are expenses for “working lunches.” Among the receipts obtained by Lagniappe are four from various Mobile restaurants.

There was an $85 charge at Half Shell Oyster Bar on Oct. 31 and a $91.17 charge made at Outback Steakhouse on Nov. 7. A Nov. 14 receipt shows a charge of $34.54 at

Dickey’s Barbecue Pit. A Nov. 15 receipt shows a total of $75 spent at Felix’s Fish Camp.

Russell Heidelberg, a board member, said there is no reason why members of the PWWSB should be going out for lunch, but Bradley disagreed. She said staff members will sometimes conduct lunch meetings with vendors and are not allowed to have vendors pay for those lunches.

Bradley added the lunches do not happen often and are not part of a regular schedule.

Other purchases raising eyebrows with some customers is the $384.99 spent at Academy Sports + Outdoors in Mobile on Nov. 23 for a Yeti Tundra 65 cooler. There was also a Nov. 28 receipt for a Dell Laptop and various equipment from Best Buy for $1,095.

Bradley said every purchase made on the credit card serves a business purpose.

Beverly Bunch, another board member, said she did not approve any of the listed credit card expenses.

“I have not seen a bank statement in over a year and I have not received an invite to lunch,” she said.

Heidelberg said he, too, had not approved any of the credit card charges and accused the other board members of hiding financial statements from him.

Board Chairman Nathaniel Inge confirmed the board signs off on all smaller credit card charges through Ayanna Payton, the board’s secretary and treasurer. But Inge also said the amount requiring board approval depends on the hierarchy.

According to information on the board’s requisition sheet, the signature limit is $5,000 for water and sewer operations managers and $1,000 for supervisors. The

board raised the limits to the current levels at a Nov. 9, 2015, meeting.

Prichard resident and PWWSB customer Katie Davis said the board should focus more on reducing monthly bills than treating themselves to lunch or buying expensive garbage cans for the office.

“The’re living high on the hog on our dime,” Davis said. “Prichard is so poor for them to be doing us like this. Just keep all this stuff and give us a break on our water bills.”

Davis said she and her husband pay about $120 per month for water.

Bradley said the minimum charge for a water and sewer bill is $42.10. She said the board is continuing an effort to lower prices and currently conducting a feasibility study to see if it’s more economical for the system to drill its own wells or continue to purchase water from the Mobile Area Water and Sewer System.

Prichard City Councilwoman Severia Campbell Morris, who campaigned on a promise to lower water rates, said she has heard from constituents that PWWSB is running more smoothly under Bradley’s leadership.

“People can see a major change in the system,” she said. “They are happier than they were before.”

Morris specifically mentioned an improvement in customer service. She also took credit for appointing three new board members, but the City Council must approve all appointments with a majority vote.

Inge commended Bradley on her work for the board. Although she was hired as a contractor, Bradley has since been officially hired through the Mobile County Personnel Board. Inge said the hands-off approach by the majority of the board has led to disagreements between members.

“The function of the board is not to guide the utility, it is to hire competent individuals like [Bradley] and allow her to do her job,” he said. “Some want to be involved more heavily than they should.”

Bradley said the system and the board are trying to improve visibility and transparency throughout the community. They have purchased a vacuum truck and camera truck, and have started an education campaign aimed at preventing customers from pouring grease down household drains.

The board has also initiated its first-ever health fair for employees where flu shots were given.

Board member John Johnson said he was recently at a career fair handing out literature and speaking to people about what the system does.

“I’m a newcomer to the board and a grassroots resident of Prichard,” Johnson said. “I’m seeing a big difference. The board is more transparent and out in the community.”

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BAYBRIEF | COURTS

Walk of shame

ALLEGED COP KILLER PLEADS NOT GUILTY, DEFENSE QUESTIONS USE OF VICTIM’S HANDCUFFS

BY JASON JOHNSON

I

n an unusual gesture, the man accused of killing Mobile Police Officer Sean Tuder was led into court for his arraignment Monday restrained with a pair of handcuffs engraved with the officer’s last name.

Marco Perez, 19, is accused of shooting and killing Tuder after the two had a confrontation at the Peach Place Inn apartment complex Jan. 20. Perez had been on the run from multiple warrants at the time and police say Tuder was investigating a tip regarding his whereabouts.

Appearing with court-appointed attorneys Dennis Knizley and Jason Darley, Perez pleaded not guilty to a single charge of capital murder, though he has yet to be arraigned on several other lesser offenses and an unrelated gun charge in federal court.

A preliminary hearing in Perez’s murder case has been scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 12, at 3:30 p.m.

Even for such a high-profile crime, the initial arraignment would have been fairly procedural were it not for the handcuffs Perez was restrained with in the courtroom.

Knizley told Circuit Judge Ben Brooks he wanted to ensure the court record reflected Perez was placed into handcuffs bearing the name of the man he’s accused of killing. Knizley has worked as a defense attorney in Mobile for decades and told Lagniappe he’s never seen a similar incident.

“It’s quite unusual, and it’s not necessary,” Knizley told reporters after the hearing. “Let’s just treat everyone like you would anyone else accused of an offense.”

Knizley also noted that before the arraignment, a TV news station reported on the plan to make Perez wear the handcuffs, which are believed to be Tuder’s own. He said the plan could be relevant if the defense requests a change of venue for the trial due to the amount of local media coverage Tuder’s death and Perez’s prosecution have received.

Mobile County District Attorney Ashley Rich, who is prosecuting the case along with Assistant DA Jennifer Wright, said her office had nothing to do with the selection of handcuffs and did not take a firm position on whether they should continue to be used as the trial moves forward.

Asked about the appearance of impartiality, Rich told reporters “everything in these proceedings will be fair,” adding that prosecutors would ensure Perez’s rights were respected and upheld. It doesn’t appear Rich had any prior knowledge of the plan to use Tuder’s handcuffs.

Perez’s attorneys said they would soon be filing a motion asking the judge to prevent the cuffs from being used, which could force the state to take a position on whether the display is appropriate.

Lori Myles, spokesperson for the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office, confirmed to Lagniappe that Tuder’s handcuffs were inscribed with his name and placed on Perez at the Mobile County Metro Jail, but said it was done at the request of the Mobile Police Department (MPD).

According to Myles, MPD had the cuffs engraved and later provided them to jail staff, which had originally agreed to ensure Perez was brought into the courtroom wearing them throughout proceedings. After Monday’s hearing, she said that was no longer the case.

The handcuffs were returned to MPD later that day.

Calls and emails to MPD’s leadership about the decision have so far gone unanswered, though it appears some senior members of the department were aware of the plan.

While she denied having any involvement in the use of the engraved handcuffs, Rich rejected Knizley’s suggestion that they might somehow affect media coverage or wind up as a factor if the court were to consider a change of venue in the future. She said raising the issue at the hearing drew more media attention to the handcuffs than would

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have been given otherwise.

In response, Knizley said he only mentioned it so there would be record of the handcuffs’ use.

“Whether someone thinks it’s fair or not, that’s up to the person forming the opinion. We’re not making that judgment,” Knizley said. “We’re only preserving the record as to how it may impact my client legally because that’s the only way the court gets to know about that and the only way any appellate court would get to know about it in the future.”

Aside from the handcuffs, not much new information about the incident was revealed at the arraignment Monday.

Police previously said they expected Perez to plead not guilty. Rich said her office has still not decided whether it will seek the death penalty against Perez.

However, she did address lingering questions about other persons possibly being charged in connection to Tuder’s death.

As Lagniappe has reported, Perez had been on the run from local authori-

IN AN UNUSUAL GESTURE, THE MAN ACCUSED OF KILLING MOBILE POLICE OFFICER SEAN TUDER WAS LED INTO COURT FOR HIS ARRAIGNMENT MONDAY RESTRAINED WITH A PAIR OF HANDCUFFS ENGRAVED WITH THE OFFICER’S LAST NAME.” ties for several days leading up to Tuder’s death, and he and his mother have already been charged for falsely reporting to police that Perez had been kidnapped and possibly killed during that time.

Surveillance video has also been released from a residence near a home Perez was known to frequent showing him and a younger male narrowly escaping police just days before the fatal confrontation with Tuder. Police have also said Perez was visiting someone at the Peach Place Inn at the time, but have declined to say who.

“Just hanging out with somebody doesn’t result in criminal charges,” Rich said. “We certainly are looking at all the facts and circumstances surrounding the people that were with Perez leading up to the incident, but just because you’re hanging out with someone doesn’t mean that you can be charged for hindering an investigation or harboring a fugitive.”

BAYBRIEF | GUNS

Easy pickins

LOCAL LEADERS STILL CONCERNED GUNS NOT BEING SECURELY STORED

BY JASON JOHNSON

E

fforts encouraging residents to store firearms securely have had disappointing results, as Mobile has continued to see hundreds of guns stolen from vehicles, including many that were unlocked and unattended.

The Mobile Police Department (MPD) first warned the public about a rash of burglaries targeting handguns kept in vehicles more than a year ago. At the time, Chief Lawrence Battiste described many of the most prolific culprits as teenagers “pulling on door handles” at night.

According to MPD, 1,158 guns were stolen from vehicles in Mobile in 2017, most of which were never recovered. Since then, police say those have only increased.

There were 1,195 guns reported stolen throughout the city in 2018, and as of the end of January, only 97 of those had been recovered by law enforcement. It’s unclear how many of those came from unlocked cars, but an MPD spokesperson told Lagniappe “about 80 percent of all guns taken during vehicle burglaries are taken from unlocked vehicles.”

In addition to that, Battiste said MPD has also noticed a trend of gun owners not documenting the serial numbers of their weapons.

He said some people are used to looking on the weapon to remember the number, but that does little good when a firearm is stolen.

“The data says we recovered less than 100, but I know we’ve received far more,” Battiste said. “But because there was not a serial number attached when the person initially reported the burglary of a residence or vehicle, there’s no way to match a gun to a particular owner.”

Data collected by MPD indicates that, of 1,195 guns reported stolen last year, 652 of the victims — more than half — didn’t know the serial number of their weapon. Battiste said that does more than hurt MPD’s recovery stats.

In most cases, he said, it means those owners will likely never see their firearm again, but it can also affect what charges can be brought against a suspect when police recover a gun believed to be stolen.

“When we don’t have a serial number, in many cases we’re only able to charge the offender with a misdemeanor — something like no pistol permit,” Battiste added. “If we can identify that it’s a stolen weapon and where it was stolen from, we can charge things like receiving stolen property, theft or burglary and maybe take some of these guys off the street for a longer period of time.”

Discussions about properly securing weapons were recently reignited after it was revealed that the gun used to shoot and kill MPD Officer Sean Tuder on Jan. 20 had been stolen from a unlocked vehicle just days before.

Since then, the conversation has once again turned to how local and state leaders might help curb the pattern, but there are differing opinions about whether the government should get involved in legislating personal responsibility. There also are impediments in the state law.

During a Mobile City Council meeting last week, Mayor Sandy Stimpson emphasized that “we have a right to carry pistols and to have them in our cars,” but he once again implored

Mobilians that do choose carry a handgun in their vehicle to “lock it up.”

“I think this is one of the things we can all do to support our policemen and women,” Stimpson said. “When a gun gets stolen, you can rest assured it’s going to end up somewhere, and more likely than not it’s going to end up at a crime scene.”

Councilors have also discussed the possibility of penalizing gun owners who leave weapons in unsecured locations if those weapons are stolen and used in a crime. However, the city doesn’t have the authority to do much in that area on its own.

“As bad as we would like to pass a law controlling guns, only the state [Legislature] can pass a law pertaining to guns and ammunition. There is absolutely nothing we can do,” Councilman Fred Richardson said. “It’s a lot of things we want to do. It’s a lot of things we believe we could do to curb violence, as it relates to guns, but our hands are tied.”

Not all of his colleagues shared Richardson’s zeal for passing “a law controlling guns,” but while there wasn’t a clear consensus on a solution, the councilors seemed to agree that the prevalence of unsecured weapons is a problem that should be examined going forward.

Councilman John Williams said he wouldn’t support anything limiting gun rights or telling residents how to transport or control weapons.

Instead, he said, the focus should be on “being a responsible gun owner” and what to do once a person is “found not to be responsible.”

“It’s a very serious responsibility to have a secured weapon, if you choose to carry, but if you lose it, there should be immediate actions required,” Williams said. “If those actions aren’t taken, there ought to be consequences, and if your weapon is used to commit a crime there ought to be some kind of a shared action.”

Councilman C.J. Small, who has previously spoken in favor of a state law that would require gun owners to secure their weapons or face a penalty, said he believes there should be a “heavy” fine for individuals who leave their guns in unsecured locations such as unlocked cars.

Small urged the council to consider a resolution asking the Mobile County delegation to take up the issue in Alabama’s upcoming legislative session, but no such resolution has actually been approved.

Any legislation restricting the rights of gun owners could also prove to be a tough sell in what Richardson described as “a gun-carrying state.”

What’s more, even some of those who are most concerned about Mobile’s problem with stolen guns aren’t convinced that fining the victims of theft is the best option to fix it. Battiste said he still believes asking residents to take responsibility on their own is the best path forward.

“A lot of people have been helpful in this process and complied with what we’ve asked them to do,” he said. “Some have said we should charge people who leave their cars unlocked with guns inside, but all that’s going to do is make people stop reporting that they’ve had a weapon stolen. Then we have a false sense of security about the number guns that are on the street.”

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BAYBRIEF | BALDWIN COUNTY

Bully bully

SUPERINTENDENT: BALDWIN TIRED OF BAD-GUY IMAGE IN SPLIT TALKS

B

BY JOHN MULLEN

aldwin County Superintendent Eddie Tyler says he’s tired of the county being portrayed as the bad guy in the split negotiations with the Gulf Shores school board.

“Everybody sees us as the bully, as the bad people on the block,” Tyler said. “You know something? Maybe it’s time that we start acting a little bit like a bully and really bad but in a professional way.”

At question is did Gulf Shores want to retain the principals at Gulf Shores High School and Gulf Shores Middle School for the new system?

Well, yes and no.

According to Tyler, the Gulf Shores negotiation team told the state superintendent they didn’t want them.

“We sat in Montgomery with [State Superintendent] Dr. [Eric] Mackey right before Christmas,” Tyler said. “Gulf Shores and their attorneys on one side and myself and some of our folks on the other side. The conversation of principals came up. Dr. Mackey said, ‘What about contract principals? … What do you want to do?’ … Gulf Shores said, ‘They can have the principals.’ I said, ‘We’ll take them.’”

Gulf Shores School Board President Kevin Corcoran said his team may have said that in the meeting but there is much more to it.

“At no point in time did we ever express that we were not interested in these principals,” Corcoran said.

The ensuing principal flap has turned out to be the most bitter rift in what’s been a contentious separation negotiation between Baldwin County and Gulf Shores as the city becomes the first in the county to break away.

On Jan. 28, Gulf Shores had a specially called school board meeting because Tyler was set to meet with parents in Orange Beach about the new county school coming to that town the following day, Jan. 29. He was poised to introduce Cindy Veazey and Kyle McCartney as the first principals of Orange Beach High School and Orange Beach Middle School. But on the night before the Orange Beach meeting and after the Gulf Shores special meeting, Tyler recalled getting two phone calls about 15 minutes apart from Veazey and McCartney telling him they were taking the Gulf Shores positions.

“I can’t tell you how disappointed I was when I got calls last night,” Tyler said. “There is no excuse for what is going on.”

Veazey was the principal in Gulf Shores at the high school and McCartney was at the middle school until Feb. 1. The Baldwin County School Board had appointed Veazey and McCartney to the Orange Beach posts in a Jan. 17 meeting, the same meeting where the board refused to sign Mackey’s final decree on the separation. It’s likely headed to court.

Being contract employees unlike tenured teachers, principals can be transferred at the discretion of the school board. Despite reporting he had 81 applications for the Orange Beach positions, Tyler recommended transferring Veazey and McCartney — neither of whom applied — to Orange Beach effective Feb. 1.

Corcoran said Gulf Shores didn’t want the principals by continuing their current contracts with Baldwin County. Gulf Shores wanted to negotiate their own new contracts if Veazey and Kyle McCartney turned out to be the top candidates for those jobs.

BAYBRIEF | ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

First priority

CAP HOPING TO BUILD SUPPORT FOR SHIPPING CHANNEL EXPANSION

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BY JOHN MULLEN

hen Wiley Blankenship gives officials from around the state a tour of the Alabama State Docks in Mobile, he never fails to see a look of surprise in the guests’ eyes.

“You know when you go to show somebody something and you’re hoping they grasp everything they’re saying?” Blankenship said. “And the lightbulb comes on so they can help you sell it?”

He recently had that experience with Lt. Gov. Will Ainsworth when he took a tour of the state docks in Mobile.

“Let me tell you, the lightbulb came on quickly with him,” Blankenship said. “He said ‘This is incredible. I never knew.’”

Blankenship, president and CEO of the Coastal Alabama Partnership, hopes to get that reaction a lot from legislators as he works to secure matching funds to dredge and widen the shipping channel to make way for bigger ships and more traffic.

“The state Legislature has to come up with money to match dollars for the federal match,” Blankenship said. “Alabama’s portion, a 25 percent match, is about $140 million to $150 million. We have to have it as a region, and that’s why CAP is doing this.”

CAP’s effort is hoping to convince lawmakers to make some provision from a new gas tax — provided one is passed in the upcoming legislative session — toward funding the match money. All told it’s about a $600 million project, and if the match is met a federal grant will cover

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75 percent.

“Who knows if they are going to fund this as part of the infrastructure investment that they are talking about?” Blankenship said. “We don’t know but we know it’s got to be funded. We don’t want to be paying. The dredging won’t happen without the 75 percent federal match.

You’ve got to have it. We’re just being cautious and we’re trying to be strategic about doing this.”

He said work on the channel would further expand the capacity of the docks and allow for more traffic in and out, and that the channel needs to be deeper to accommodate bigger ships.

“Right now, you can only get one ship in and you’re four hours waiting to get one ship clear through the channel before you can bring another one out or another one in,” Blankenship said. “If we don’t widen it as part of that it’s going to put us at an economic disadvantage of being able to be globally competitive like we’ve been.”

The challenge, Blankenship said, is convincing lawmakers this is needed for the entire state, not just Mobile and Baldwin counties. To that end, 60 legislators are coming for a two-day visit to look over the port and several businesses along the waterfront, including Airbus.

“If you’re asking them to vote to create $140 million to $150 million, there’s probably going to be a lot of questions,” he said. “We’ve just got to impress upon them ‘this is your port, this is how it affects different parts of Alabama’ and a $22 billion to $23 billion economic impact to the state and about 26,000 jobs.”

BAYBRIEF | MOBILE

Special counsel REPORT FINDS MERIT IN PUBLIC WORKS COMPLAINTS

BY DALE LIESCH

C

ity trash department employees’ claims of mistreatment by a supervisor some described as a “bully” appear to have merit, according to a report released last week by Special Counsel Patrick Sims.

Sims, an attorney specializing in labor law, presented the 19-page report to members of a Mobile City Council investigative committee chaired by Councilman C.J. Small.

Sims interviewed some 35 current and former trash department employees who described mistreatment from a supervisor named Jeff Deese. In the report, Deese’s management style is described as “demoralizing” and “arrogant,” and notes he is said to treat employees like children.

Employees noted a change in Deese’s demeanor when he was made a supervisor in 2015, the report claims.

“When Mr, Deese was a coworker, though he had a short temper at times, he was easy to work with, but he ‘changed 180 (degrees)’ when he became the supervisor,” the report stated. “This change was immediate and he became harsh and hostile in his management from day one.”

For his part, Deese denies the allegations, the report states. When reached about the report, the city did not immediately make Deese available for comment for this story.

The report states Deese hadn’t considered a supervisor position, but the abuses and waste he saw in the department led him to conclude “the work (or non-work) habits in the department were the equivalent of stealing city money.

“So he changed his mind and applied for the Supervisor II position in 2015,” the report states. “When he was appointed he began immediately to try to correct widespread bad practices.”

As an example of mistreatment, Sims said a supervisor was caught on tape last May 24 getting into a verbal

altercation with a driver named Joe Williamson, whom Sims described as “soft spoken.” Williamson filed a related grievance with the department that was eventually denied. An appeal to the Mobile County Personnel Board could not be granted, Sims said.

Sims told councilors supervisors have been known to write up employees in the department for frivolous issues.

In one instance, Sims said employees were written up for throwing a retirement party for a departing colleague.

In addition to the concerns over supervision, Sims said several employees didn’t trust the administration’s incentive program, telling councilors they felt like it was a “trick.”

“They see it as a way to hold out a lollipop,” Sims said. “They see it as a trick to cheat them out of money.”

Employees feel like the incentive levels are unattainable and they will “never qualify for it,” Sims said.

However, he added that he didn’t investigate the incentive plan and can’t comment on its merits. Also at issue for employees of the department is an alleged inability to advance. Workers in the department can only move up one classification, Sims said.

“One very important thing that hit me immediately is that pay is in a very tight range,” he said.

Sims’ report has resulted in at least one employee advocate to ask for the removal of both Deese and Interim Public Works Director John Peavy.

Wesley Young, president of the city’s public workers’ advocacy group, told a gaggle of reporters both Deese and Peavy should be removed from their positions in light of the report.

“I hope [Mayor Sandy Stimpson] looks at the report for what it is,” Young said. “I hope the employees get a raise and I hope he puts the incentive pay plan in the gutter.”

Meanwhile, Sims said he found no evidence of racial bias, despite Deese being white and the vast majority of employees being black. Most of the employees he interviewed did not think the mistreatment was based upon race or ethnicity. The report also uncovered a possible administration plan to privatize the trash department, Small said.

Included in the report was a letter from Peavy to Stimpson mentioning privatization. Small read aloud an excerpt from the letter during the meeting.

Sims told Small that when asked about the letter, Peavy said his thoughts on privatization had changed and he no longer thought it was cost effective.

Councilors pointed to the decrease in the number of employees in the department over the last several years as further proof the administration was plotting to privatize the service. In 2012, 50 employees worked in the department. That number decreased to 40 in 2015 and further dropped to 28 last year, Small pointed out. The District 3 representative also pointed to the

CITY TRASH DEPARTMENT EMPLOYEES’ CLAIMS OF MISTREATMENT BY A SUPERVISOR SOME DESCRIBED AS A ‘BULLY’ APPEAR TO HAVE MERIT, ACCORDING TO A REPORT RELEASED LAST WEEK BY SPECIAL COUNSEL PATRICK SIMS.” decrease as a possible reason for delays in trash pickup over the summer.

In a statement following the meeting, city spokeswoman Laura Byrne denied there were any plans to privatize the department.

“While the administration is always seeking creative solutions to improve services, there are no plans at this time to privatize the trash department,” she wrote.

This is a slight departure from administration comments this summer that “all options are on the table.” As for the other aspects of the report, Byrne wrote the administration would “need to review the report.”

However, she confirmed that before the report’s release, “the administration began implementing additional training for supervisors in the public works department.”

Asked about any suggestions he had to fix the issues within the department, Sims suggested management training for supervisors and giving employees a better explanation of the incentive program.

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COMMENTARY | DAMN THE TORPEDOES

Tick, tick, ticking in the Delta ROB HOLBERT/MANAGING EDITOR/RHOLBERT@LAGNIAPPEMOBILE.COM

RIGHT NOW ALABAMA POWER PLANS TO DRAIN AND PUSH DIRT OVER A 597-ACRE POND CONTAINING 21 MILLION TONS OF COAL ASH — AND LEAVE IT SITTING 200 FEET FROM THE MOBILE RIVER. ”

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forbidden. Nearby Gulf fish might likely be off limits too. And how many people would be sick from exposure, either while just living life or working to clean up the mess?

We’ve seen enough to know many companies don’t do the right thing unless they’re forced to. Alabama Power absolutely falls into that category. The only reason they won’t remove that ash pit is because it would put a small dent in their very fat bottom line. A bottom line that comes from all of us buying their electricity — mostly with no other option.

I have to think there must be some people working at Alabama Power who would sleep better at night if those tons of coal ash were moved to a safer location.

Surely they know you can’t spread it on bread and eat it, or whatever other idiotic thing someone is bound to say once there is a spill. Surely they know their company has made jillions of dollars over the decades selling electricity — and electric appliances!!! — to the people of southwest Alabama, so spending a little of that money to protect their customers from environmental disaster is just good business.

This is the time when our governor and other state leaders should step up and tell Alabama Power that just capping these poison pits isn’t going to be good enough. But the power of fat Alabama Power campaign donations probably renders that concept a dream.

Still, we have to try. Call or email your state representatives and the governor’s office and let them know if you’re not willing to let Alabama Power half-ass its way out of cleaning up their environmental mess.

Or just resign yourselves to worrying every time it rains hard.

THEGADFLY

coal ash — and leave it sitting 200 feet from the Mobile River. That’s the very river that runs through the heart of downtown Mobile and empties into Mobile Bay, which then empties into the Gulf of Mexico. In other words, it’s a short trip for all that coal ash to destroy our world.

We’ve been writing about this threat for a couple of years now, and the environmental group Mobile Baykeeper has done a tremendous job of calling attention to what could easily be a disaster of generational proportions.

Just last week Baykeeper released photos of flooding around Alabama Power’s Plant Barry that should send a chill up the spine of anyone living downstream.

January’s rains — certainly nothing Biblical by our rainsoaked standards — flooded the Mobile-Tensaw Delta around Barry’s ash pond, filling the adjacent woods and pushing flood currents 15 feet up the side of the pond’s 25-foot levee. That’s rushing floodwater against an earthen dam. Often that’s a horrible combination.

When Plant Barry was placed more or less in the middle of “America’s Amazon,” it was no doubt to take advantage of the plentiful water and relative scarcity of humans nearby. Over the years they’ve pounded tons and tons of coal ash — the toxic remnants of burned coal — into this unlined pit practically on the water’s edge. Calling it an “unlined pit” is really putting lipstick on a pig.

It’s just a hole in the ground. No lining. Nothing to keep arsenic and other toxins from leaching into the groundwater. In fact, Alabama Power was fined just last year for “unpermitted release of ash pond pollutants related to Plant Barry ….” So it already leaks.

After horrific coal ash spills around the country, many

power companies realized their own dangers — fiscally if not environmentally — and have moved to excavate ash pits and haul the contents to lined landfills away from water. In a letter to the Army Corp of Engineers in March 2016, it seemed Alabama Power was on its way to doing likewise. In the letter the company clearly tells the Corps it intends to move the coal ash from Plant Barry, stating the pond would be “cleaned out and closed following strict guidelines” established by the EPA. They changed their minds in November of that year following the presidential election.

I don’t want to get lost in a bunch of Republican/Democrat garbage here. Why they changed their minds isn’t nearly as relevant as the fact that they’re now determined to do the bare minimum by just draining and covering this massive environmental time bomb. I’m left with the mental image of some Alabama Power worker using a shovel to pat down the last bit of dirt on top of 21 tons of coal ash, brushing his hands together and saying, “There, that ought to hold ‘er!”

It’s rather hard to trust that Alabama Power has our best interests at heart here.

Their money lines the pockets of so many state politicians it seems unbelievable they would ever face any real scrutiny from Montgomery. And simple logic tells us burying poison in the ground — especially in a swampy area — will lead to it finding its way into the water table and, eventually, into nearby tributaries.

That’s IF the earthen dam doesn’t just break one stormy day.

Think about what it would be like 10 years after a spill at Plant Barry. Fishing in the Delta and the Bay would probably be

Cartoon/Laura Mattei

L

ast August, the 30th member of a 900-person workforce tasked with the cleanup of the 2008 TVA Kingston Fossil Fuel Power Plant coal ash spill died of an ailment believed to be linked to his two years of exposure to arsenic, radium and other toxins in the ash.

At least 200 others are currently sick or dying from similar ailments believed to be part of that cleanup work.

They’re suing their employer, Jacobs Engineering, the company that sent them out to work with little protection and told them the coal ash was so safe they could eat a pound of it a day without ill effects. You have to wonder who tested that theory.

That’s what’s happening a decade after 525 million gallons of wet coal ash flooded more than 3,000 acres of nearby land and spilled into the Tennessee River after a retaining wall at the Kingston plant failed. The Kingston spill is the biggest coal ash spill in U.S. history, and hopefully will remain so. But the potential for one much, much larger looms just 30 miles north of Mobile, and Alabama Power is determined to make sure it hangs like a sword of Damocles over the southwest end of this state for decades to come.

Right now Alabama Power plans to drain and push dirt over a 597-acre pond containing 21 million tons of

PRICHARD WATER BOARD SPENDS $420 ON VOICE ACTIVATED WASTEBASKETS IN ORDER TO “MODERNIZE” THE OFFICE.

COMMENTARY | THE HIDDEN AGENDA

Got enemies?

You need Mr. Whiskers ASHLEY TRICE/EDITOR/ASHLEYTOLAND@LAGNIAPPEMOBILE.COM

Photo | Depositphotos.com

Have an enemies list? For just $3 a poop you can name a cat excrement after them.

L

ast week I received a press release that made me strongly consider forever leaving the toxic waste pit the internet can often be.

It read, “Just wanted to share our new service that allows you to name a fresh [pile of cat poop] after someone who deserves that type of attention. https://instagram.com/catpoopnaming/ “[Three dollars] will allow you to name a fresh CatPoop after your person of choice. We will send that special someone an email with a picture of the [cat poop] they are named after with a special message explaining this honor you have bestowed upon them.

“You can also upgrade your purchase with our Instagram shout out add-on for $5 total. We will post the cat poop image on our Instagram page for 24 hours and tag the person you have named it after. Buyers can remain anonymous or we can include their name in the email and post.

“The majority of proceeds go to buy cat litter, food and daily care for the 4+ cats who donate their time and effort to this poop service. An annual donation of 3% of the proceeds will be made to the ASPCA to help fight animal cruelty and homelessness.”

We get lots of very strange and/or even downright ridiculous press releases from all over the world for a variety of very strange products or services, but this one might just be the craziest I have ever received.

And I just have so many questions. The first one being, “Is this the first sign of the apocalypse?” Perhaps.

But then there are so many more ....

This is presumably a worldwide service since it is Instagram-based. And they only have four cats providing these poops which are promised to be “fresh?” It has admittedly been a while since I owned an indoor cat and had firsthand knowledge of the amount of “production” each cat would be capable of, but that seems like a lot to ask of each kitty. I mean, are they gorging them with food so they can provide enough specimens for their customers?

Also, is the cat poop guaranteed to be free from litter? I just don’t think your arch nemesis would be nearly as insulted if the “gift” came

encrusted in Tidy Cat. Just takes a little of the punch out of it, you know?

Does each poop come with a certificate of authenticity from Fluffy, Mr. Whiskers, Tabby and Pumpkin? I really do not want a recycled photo of one sample Fluffy produced a year ago.

Nothing but the best for my sworn enemies! And that’s fresh, steaming, one-of-a-kind cat poop delivered fresh to their inboxes!

Although the cats are doing most of the dirty work here, so to speak, coming up with a name for this poop would be challenging as well.

What’s in a poop name? Would cat poop by any other name smell as disgusting?

I mean, the obvious choice would be to just name it the name of your enemy. Here, Doug, here’s a fresh pile of Doug for you. I hope you eat Doug and die, Doug.

But that seems a little too simplistic. Maybe it should be something that reminds the person of the reason you hate them. Hey Jill, please enjoy this piece of “you stole my husband from me and my kids, you adulterous skank” poop. This was specially made just for you by Pumpkin, who let’s just say hasn’t met a Tom cat she didn’t like!

But that is a little wordy.

We do live in the South, so maybe a double name would be the way to go. Ann Stool, Mary Diarrhea or John Toxoplasmosis would all be good choices. Especially for frenemies who you may just want to give a little good-natured Ann Stool to.

Maybe a name isn’t even necessary. Maybe mysterious, unnamed poo makes a bigger statement.

At first, I thought this idea was absurd. The dumbest thing I have ever heard. But in a weird way, I am warming to it.

In this highly toxic social media world we now live in, where we judge people so quickly and so harshly — even people we don’t know — by typing a visceral and vicious reaction in 280 characters in an instant, it’s kind of nice to have to slow down and really think about being a real turd to someone by sending them a turd.

Maybe they are on to something here. I think they are going to need a few more cats, though.

Meow!

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COMMENTARY | THE GRIOT’S CORNER

‘Spirit of Our Ancestors’ festival debuts Feb. 9

BY KEN ROBINSON/CONTRIBUTING WRITER

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nderstanding from whence we came has taken on new meaning today. The advancements in DNA technology has led to a growing interest by many to know and understand, in greater detail, their family history. People across the U.S. are putting much effort and energy into finding out their own origins story.

The origins story of those in Africatown has become a vital part of America’s story, witnessed by the response to the 2018 publication of “Barracoon: The Story of the Last ‘Black Cargo.’” The book has garnered a host of awards and accolades: New York Times bestseller, Time Magazine’s Best Nonfiction Book of 2018, Amazon’s Best History Book of 2018, Economist Magazine’s Book of the Year, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Best Southern Books of 2018 and many others.

“Barracoon” is based on the interview of one of Africatown’s founders, Cudjo (Kazoola) Lewis, by famed writer Zora Neale Hurston in the early 1930s during an extended visit with him. Then in his late 80s, Cudjo recounted his capture, time spent in a barracoon (a type of barracks) waiting to be sold, and how he and a little over 100 other Africans (from the current-day area of Benin, West Africa) endured the harrowing Middle Passage and arrival in America — 50 years after it had been made illegal to bring slaves into the U.S. Written in Cudjo’s vernacular, or the exact way he spoke, the book’s story is powerful. “Those who love us never leave us alone in our grief,” writes novelist Alice

Walker in the book’s foreword. “At the moment they show us our wound, they reveal they have the medicine.

‘Barracoon’ ... is a perfect example of this. I’m not sure there was ever a harder read than this.”

“Barracoon” is a story of intense pain and struggle, but also of courage and hope. The voice may be singular, but it tells the story of a people, a dispossessed group, stolen from their home, who found the strength to endure and carve out a small piece of Africa — of home — here in America.

It is that collective story that Jocelyn Davis, a descendant of one of those survivors and overcomers, wants to share with the community at large through the upcoming “Spirit of Our Ancestors” festival to be held Feb. 9 from noon to 4 p.m. at the Mobile County Training School gymnasium in Africatown.

Davis said that as a young person growing up, Africatown’s origins story was not one she was particularly proud of.

“Imagine if your history, your family’s origins story revolved around a bet or a dare,” she noted. Growing up, to her there was nothing special or profound to take pride in about being a descendant of one of the Clotilda survivors. However, as she grew and matured, her view began to change.

“With all that they went through ... they survived — they survived! Not only that, though, they bought their own land, built their own community and left us with so much to be

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proud of. It’s a legacy worth embracing and definitely worth telling.”

The “Spirit of Our Ancestors” festival will be a collective telling of the history of the founders of Africatown through their descendants. Men such as Charlie Lewis, from whom Davis descended and who was the brother of Cudjo. Men like Peter Lee, Orsa Keeby, Pollee Allen and Cudjo Lewis.

“What they did together was incredible,” Davis observed, and she wants to share their story and legacy with the community at large.

There will be a lot for the community to experience.

Two ceremonies will be performed, a “Bringing in the Elders” and a “Libations” ceremony. The latter will entail the ancient African custom of honoring one’s ancestors by calling out their names and pouring water onto the ground. Davis said each family represented will do so for their particular founding ancestor and tell a short story about them as well.

The former ceremony will be led by Deborah Ferguson, adjunct professor at the University of South Alabama honoring the elders of Africatown.

An African fashion show will be put on by Theola Bright, and African drumming will be performed by Wayne Curtis. The festival’s special guest speaker will be the award-winning scholar Dr. Natalie Robertson.

Dr. Robertson, an associate professor of history at Hampton University, and has taught and held research appointments at such distinguished institutions as the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art and the U.S. National Slavery Museum. She is author of “The Slave Ship Clotilda and the Making of AfricaTown, U.S.A.: Spirit of Our Ancestors.” Dr. Robertson’s extensive knowledge and research experience should make her talk an engaging and informative one, Davis observed, noting she is very excited about Robertson’s visit to Africatown.

There will also be a quilt display by Lorna Woods, and individual families will have displays highlighting their family history. Food during the festival will be catered by Griffin and Co. catering.

Davis and other Africatown descendants want to see their “Spirit of Our Ancestors” event become a yearly one.

She noted she is excited about the success of the book “Barracoon,” but she and others in Africatown want to give life and a voice to all those who survived and left her and other descendants with a such a rich story and legacy to tell. It is an effort and experience she hopes many in the greater Mobile community will want to share in as well.

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COMMENTARY | THE BELTWAY BEAT

The Washington Post’s double standard

BY JEFF POOR/COLUMNIST/JEFFREYPOOR@GMAIL.COM

R

oughly 685 miles separate The Washington Post’s main newsroom near Franklin Square in Washington, D.C., and Gadsden in northeast Alabama’s Etowah County.

It’s a long way (for those keeping score: 10 hours and six interstate highways by car), but it is the distance The Post’s Stephanie McCrummen, Beth Reinhard and Alice Crites had to travel in 2017 for their reporting on how then-Republican U.S. Senate hopeful Roy Moore pursued four women as teenagers while in his 30s.

The trio won the Pulitzer Prize for their reporting, which was likely the determining factor in the 2017 U.S. Senate special election, delivering Democrat Doug Jones the win.

Two different interstate highways, 199 miles and roughly three hours by car — that is the distance from The Post’s main newsroom to the Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, which is in the Tidewater region of Virginia, just adjacent to the District of Columbia.

That’s certainly not an insurmountable dis-

campaign in Alabama for a story that relied heavily on personal accounts of allegations?

Notably, The Post’s interest in the seedy allegations seemed to disappear post-Dec. 12, 2017, the day after Jones’ election. Why? Why would the Post go all-in on Roy Moore while at the same time allowing a similarly disqualifying story slip to through the cracks in its own backyard? How is it that the Post had time to find a school yearbook with Roy Moore’s signature it, but not the time to find one with a high-ranking Democratic candidate supposedly in racist garb?

The answer to that is pretty obvious: Roy Moore was a Republican. Ralph Northam was a Democrat. The Post wanted the Republican to lose.

It’s not a matter of journalists doing the Lord’s work for truth, justice and the American way. The Post sent a hit squad to Alabama to change the outcome of an election.

That’s not to say The Post violated a law.

Those reporters had every right to be in Alabama, digging up dirt on Moore.

But it is time to stop pretending The Washington Post maintains a high standard of HOW IS IT THAT THE POST FOUND unbiased credibility. There is a TIME TO FIND A SCHOOL YEARBOOK double standard when it comes to Republicans and Democrats.

WITH ROY MOORE’S SIGNATURE IT, BUT NOT During the 2006 Virginia THE TIME TO FIND ONE WITH A HIGH-RANKING U.S. Senate contest between George Allen and Jim Webb, DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE SUPPOSEDLY IN The Post dug deep into Allen’s RACIST GARB? THE ANSWER TO THAT IS past after his “Macaca” flub, which his political opponents PRETTY OBVIOUS … THE POST WANTED THE used against him to label him a racist.

REPUBLICAN TO LOSE. I get it: The Post is a national newspaper. The Roy tance for an enterprising news outlet looking to Moore-Doug Jones race was a national story. perform due diligence on the potential future Do you know what else is a national story? governor of a state where a sizable chunk of its When a news outlet (that isn’t The Washingreadership resides. Apparently, however, that ton Post) discovers a sitting governor might was too far for The Post to travel in 2017 to vet have once posed for photographs in blackface then-Virginia Democratic Party gubernatorial or a Klan robe (or at the very least found the nominee Ralph Northam. picture appropriate enough to include on his Northam beat his Republican opponent Ed yearbook page).

Gillespie that year by 233,444 votes, roughly a This is clear, undeniable evidence of a double 6 percent margin. standard, one of which impacted an election in What might have happened had The Post Alabama, and frankly, another in Virginia. made the trek down to Norfolk to peruse You might say, “Well, we know the media is Northam’s medical school yearbook during biased. Shouldn’t we move past that?” the 2017 gubernatorial election in Virginia, a As our politics go, we really can’t — at campaign which was underway around the same least not yet. A single media outlet, even if time as Alabama’s U.S. Senate special election? discredited as having a liberal bias, can still What might have happened if The Post sway an election. found the shocking photographs of the DemoWhat is the answer? Under the First Amendcratic candidate potentially in blackface or a ment of our Constitution, there’s not much any Klan robe a month before his election, just government institution can do about it, nor as it did with Moore’s accusers weeks before should it.

Alabama’s special election?

All we can do is draw attention to it, espeGov. Ed Gillespie might be leading the cially since it hit here right at home.

Commonwealth of Virginia instead of Gov. A team of reporters comes to Alabama Ralph Northam. from our nation’s capital to impact a campaign Maybe The Washington Post should have that was underway nearly the same time as tended to matters in its own neighborhood beone where, at best, a once-racially insensitive fore setting off on adventures in the Deep South. Democratic Party candidate was elected with That’s not to say Moore didn’t warrant no scrutiny. scrutiny during his bid for higher office. But The Post should put out fires in its own comwhy would The Post dedicate resources to a munity before starting new ones in Alabama.

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BUSINESS | THE REAL DEAL

St. Paul’s unveils $8 million student commons facility

BY RON SIVAK/COLUMNIST/BUSINESS@LAGNIAPPEMOBILE.COM

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ribbon-cutting and open house for the new student commons building at St. Paul’s Episcopal School, located at 161 Dogwood Lane in Mobile, was recently held at the school’s campus. The new site, which cost $8 million, will house a new student commons area, a new and expanded cafeteria, the innovations and technology lab, a writing center, the college counseling suite, a counseling suite, the admissions suite and meeting space for community events.

“The student commons campaign was the most ambitious schoolwide effort in St. Paul’s history,” Beth Tindle, St, Paul’s director of marketing and communications, said in a news release. “Based on assessments for our school, our immediate needs were to provide additional and upgraded facilities. Over the last several decades, St. Paul’s has largely focused our resources on enhancing our curriculum and retaining talented faculty. With this accomplishment we have shifted focus to faculty needs.”

• ABC Select Spirits, located at 6729 E. Spanish Fort Blvd. inside the Blakeley Square Shopping Center in Spanish Fort, has leased an additional 1,200 square feet of retail space, giving them 2,800 square feet dedicated toward remodeling efforts. Plans are in place to reopen in February. Matt Cummings with Cummings & Associates managed the transaction.

• CrowderGulf recently purchased two acres of land at Lot 6 inside Mobile Commerce Park. Plans are in place to relocate its office and warehouse facility space from Theodore later this year. CrowderGulf provides disaster recovery relief across the U.S., according to its website. Anna Gigicos Catranis of Roberts Brothers represented the buyers; Allan R. Cameron Jr. and John D. Peebles with NAI Mobile

worked for the sellers. Several lots are still available within the park. For inquiries contact Niki Coker with NAI Mobile.

• The Athlete’s Foot recently leased some 4,059 square feet of space inside the St. Stephens Square Shopping Center at 2312 St. Stephens Road in Mobile. Matt Cummings with Cummings & Associates handled the transaction.

• Florida-based Faux Paws has leased some 1,600 square feet of retail space at The Wharf in Orange Beach. The retailer, which offers gifts for pets and pet owners, will be located in Suite N-100 on Main Street and plans to open in the spring. The new store will be the third Faux Paws location, in addition to stores in St. Augustine and Myrtle Beach. Jeff Barnes, broker associate with Stirling Properties, handled the transaction and is the listing agent on the property.

• New local owner Saty Putcha reported 7 Hills Storage, located at 12010 Airport Blvd. near the intersection with Newman Road, is reopening early this month with upgraded security. The building encompasses 7,000 square feet with 50 rental units and sits on approximately one acre of property.

• Bookkeeping business Cox Harris Associates has leased some 500 square feet of office space at Azalea Office Park, located at 572 Azalea Road in Mobile. Matt Cummings with Cummings & Associates managed the transaction.

Spa at Beau Rivage recognized in ‘Top 100’

The Spa at Beau Rivage in Biloxi was recently recognized by Spas of America as one of its “Top 100 Spas,” ranked at 52 for 2018. The listing includes 73 spas from the U.S., 17 from Canada, four from Mexico and one each from the Bahamas, Brazil and Costa Rica.

Spas of America is a popular spa and wellness travel

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website that annually ranks the Top 100 Spas based on page views and consumer choices aggregated on its search engine.

“In 2018, we continued to see growth in the North American spa and wellness industry, with increased visits and revenue,” Spas of America President Craig Oliver said. “Spa and wellness consumers in the United States, Canada and Mexico understand wellness benefits their lives — by reducing stress, promoting relaxation and increasing well-being.”

The Spa and Salon at Beau Rivage, which employs 70, is located on the second floor of the hotel tower and encompasses some 20,000 square feet. It has 14 massage rooms, five facial treatment rooms, two pedicure rooms, five manicure stations, six stylist stations, a workout facility and separate vanity areas for men and women with steam, sauna and whirlpool amenities.

“Being recognized as one of North America’s favorite spas is a great achievement for Beau Rivage and the Mississippi Gulf Coast. It is an honor to be ranked among these many prestigious spas,” Beau Rivage Spa Director Sara Chatham said.

Named one of the “South’s Best Resorts” by Southern Living magazine, MGM Resorts International’s AAA Four Diamond beachfront resort features 1,740 guest rooms and suites, nine restaurants and an 85,000-square-foot gaming area, including Mississippi’s first sports book. The resort also has a 1,550-seat theater, shopping promenade and golf course.

Wilkins Miller announces staff additions

Wilkins Miller, LLC, with offices in both Mobile and Fairhope, recently announced additions to its staff. New hires at the locally owned accounting and advisory firm include Hayley Carlton, Patrick Fisher, Willa Lyle, Jerri Kissel and Blaine Baronet.

Carlton joined the firm as an administrative student worker in 2016. After receiving her bachelor’s degree in business administration with a concentration in marketing from the University of South Alabama, she joins the marketing team as a full-time marketing assistant.

Fisher also joined the firm as an administrative student worker in 2017, then became full time while earning an integrated bachelor’s and master’s degree in business administration from the University of Mobile. He joins the accounting staff, working primarily with the audit team.

Lyle and Kissel each bring more than 20 years of accounting experience to the team. They both join the accounting staff, working primarily with the tax team.

Baronet joined the firm in 2015 as an administrative student worker before transitioning to the Wilkins Miller Information Technology team full time as a help desk solutions provider.

Wilkins Miller specializes in financial reporting, tax, litigation, valuation, cost segregation, client accounting, business consulting and information technology consulting. More information about the firm can be found on its website.

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CUISINE | THE DISH

Chicken in a biscuit, let’s settle the score

BY ANDY MACDONALD/CUISINE EDITOR | FATMANSQUEEZE@COMCAST.NET

Photo | Dan Anderson

Lagniappe | In the battle of fast-food chicken biscuits, Chick-fil-A (right) and Bojangles (left) reign supreme over offerings from Hardee’s, McDonald’s, Burger King and Whataburger.

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’ve been wanting to do this for a few months. Talk about fast-food breakfast in my circles and the most arguments will be over which restaurant has the best chicken biscuit. It’s like any other argument where you feel you’re rooting for your team — your opinion is the most important, no other opinion matters, a “hop on my train or I’m taking my toys and going home” kind of argument. A staple of the South, we can celebrate two things at once: fluffy, buttery, scratch-made biscuits and fried chicken. It’s our signature breakfast sandwich.

Every fast-food chain serving breakfast sells their version, save a few. Sonic was the holdout, breakfast with no chicken biscuit. Surprisingly none of the Popeyes or Church’s Chicken franchises we visited sold breakfast, a crying shame since both specialize in biscuits and chicken. We didn’t include any nonfast-food establishments in our experiment, though I can say the worst chicken biscuit I ever had was not fast food, and the best was.

I won’t get into the worst, but I’ll tell you my favorite. A little place in Laurel, Mississippi, on Chantilly Street called

Vic’s has the best I’ve ever had, and I’ve had plenty from there. Once I nabbed one from their drive-thru and had the bright idea of asking them to dress it. That was the overall No. 1. Lettuce, tomato and mayonnaise on a chicken biscuit is an unmatched breakfast pleasure.

With no Vic’s here, my panel of judges would have to settle for what’s available. The panel included: Martin Cunningham, senior vice president of biscuit tasting and foraging; Rob Holbert, executive in charge of chicken breast; and myself, head of MacDonald Kitchen Laboratory in association with Lagniappe Test Kitchen. All three of us were responsible for gathering two biscuits from various restaurants for testing purposes only.

The restaurants included Burger King at 6403 Cottage Hill Road, McDonald’s at 5019 Cottage Hill Road, Chick-fil-A at 3244 Dauphin St., Bojangles at 3213 Dauphin St., Hardee’s at 565 Government St. and Whataburger at 2461 Government Blvd. We based our judging on biscuit, chicken, size, price and restaurant efficiency. It was a taxing venture which took a toll on our bodies. I still have no desire to return to any of these places.

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A lot of you will be surprised at the cost. The numbers here reflect a pair of biscuits at each place. Normally I would consider Chick-fil-A an expensive fast-food restaurant, but today they were the cheapest at $4.98. Hardee’s was a little more, at $5.50. McDonald’s and Whataburger both came in at $5.78 while Burger King was two dimes higher at $5.98. Bojangles was off the charts at a whopping $7.18, but don’t let that number fool you. The biscuit and the chicken were much larger than everyone else’s.

Taking that into account, being first place in size may be worth the cost. The second-largest was Hardee’s, without a doubt. Chickfil-A was third, and I should mention one of theirs was sort of a mutant, losing a point or two for inconsistency. Roughly the same size was Whataburger, followed by the smaller McDonald’s and even smaller Burger King. Odd that the second-to-most expensive was the smallest by a long shot. I would say one of the Bojangles was equal to both of the Burger Kings, and if not, then it was close to it.

Did your grandmother make homemade biscuits? That wasn’t really a thing around my house, but biscuits were a large part of my upbringing. I’ve made some crappy biscuits myself so I shouldn’t throw stones, but remember, I’m not in the business.

Out of these six we found the Burger King biscuit to be the absolute worst. Not one of us took a second bite. It was the second-worst biscuit I’ve ever had. McD’s casually missed the bottom rung, at least. Another surprise that day was Hardee’s. I remembered them as good biscuits. These were edible, but paled in comparison to the other three.

Around the Whataburger mark, Martin mentioned that it tasted like a homemade biscuit, not meaning it was necessarily a good thing or bad thing, just a thing. While Whataburger was good or at least good enough, the showdown was between Chick-fil-A and Bojangles.

Chick-fil-A has its fans, and I’m one of them. But Bojangles is growing on me. Despite the Chick-fil-A deformity we still had to edge them out over Bojangles. The two are dissimilar styles of biscuits, both excellent, and though for some unknown reason I was secretly rooting for Bojangles, I had to agree with my other judges that Chick-fil-A won this round.

For chicken there was a race to the bottom. No surprise that Burger King had a tiny piece of heart-shaped processed chicken that the cat wouldn’t even eat. Thinner than a pinky finger, this piece of trash belonged in the can. McDonald’s was still trashy, but reminded me of their chicken McNuggets. I may regret publicizing this, but I can go for some boot-shaped trashy McNuggets now and then. I’m not proud.

Whataburger had an unfair advantage over Hardee’s in that the honey butter they put on the chicken biscuit is delicious. I would eat it again. But again, the top two were heavily contested.

I love the peanut oil flavor of the Chick-fil-A chicken. The dark breading of pressure-fried chicken has a tangy flavor that keeps you returning. Bojangles, though, has a great chicken with a spicy finish that brings them to the top of this list.

Overall the trends remained close to the same for every category.

Chick-fil-A was the most expeditious and Burger King the slowest.

Bojangles and Chick-fil-A are definitely the top competitors, with Chick-fil-A squeaking out the win. Whataburger gets the bronze, Hardee’s misses the podium and takes fourth place. McDonald’s hangs on. Burger King was the smallest, second-most expensive, with a tasteless biscuit and processed chicken bested by elementary school cafeterias on bad days.

Consider the score settled.

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CUISINE | WORD OF MOUTH

Rotolo’s offers heart-shaped pies for Valentine’s Day

seen that name on the small-batch bacon available in stores and restaurants. It’s the same guy.

Owner William Stitt, aka Bill-E, opened the business years ago on Highway 181 (formerly known as County Road 27), and what began as a meager hot dog and hamburger joint exploded into a bustling restaurant with live music and a funky vibe. Unpretentious grub and cold libations make this a charming go-to.

Try the Mardi Gras Dog with a cold beer. And anything with bacon.

BY ANDY MACDONALD/CUISINE EDITOR

SWEETHEART SOUP Staying at home for our National Day of Companionship? Hoping cupid’s arrow stings you in the fanny in the comfort of your own home instead of one of our many fine restaurants? If there is any reason at all for you to celebrate by staying in, consider this soup as an appetizer or main course. It’s easy, relatively healthy and full of flavor.

Photo | Facebook

It’s still the same menu, building and atmosphere, but Old 27 Grill in Fairhope has been rebranded as Bill-E’s to match their signature brand of small-batch bacon.

L

adies, pay attention. They say the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, and for some men that means pizza.

Make this Valentine’s Day special for your sweetheart by forgoing the roses and candy and enjoying a heart-shaped pizza from Rotolo’s.

The Baton Rouge-based chain of pizzerias says the shape can be applied to any of its famous signature pizzas, or you may create your own with up to three regular toppings. The dough is made from scratch daily and the chefs craft their own sauces and cut the fresh veggies by hand, so don’t get the idea this is

some fly-by-night corporate assembly line. They also offer pasta, calzones, sandwiches, soups and salads.

Want the experience of a heart-shaped pizza but are planning on spending Valentine’s in a fancy restaurant? No problem.

Rotolo’s is running this special at all of its locations Feb. 8-14.

Our closest are in Saraland and Fairhope.

Old 27 Grill now Bill-E’s

It’s a simple case of rebranding as the Fairhope hotspot known as Old 27 Grill changes its name to Bill-E’s. Mobilians may have

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FOR SOUP: • ¼ cup European-style butter • 1 red bell pepper, sliced • 3 medium carrots, chopped • 1 medium white onion, chopped • 1 tablespoon olive oil • Salt and pepper • ½ cup chicken stock • ½ cup heavy cream FOR SHRIMP: • 1 tablespoon butter • 2 cloves garlic, peeled • 12-15 large shrimp, peeled and deveined • Creole seasoning In a heavy soup pot (4 quart, not too big for the immersion blender), melt ¼ cup butter and olive oil. Add veggies and cook until soft. Season with salt and pepper. Add stock and milk. Continue cooking over low heat and pulverize with an immersion blender or process in a blender.

In a small skillet, melt remaining butter and add garlic cloves whole. Cook until browned. Remove garlic and finely chop. Add shrimp and cook one minute per side. Add shrimp and garlic to soup pot, butter and all. Serve with fresh chopped parsley ... and love.

Recycle!

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COVER STORY

Commerce secretary: Tax incentive programs fuel statewide job growth

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BY GABRIEL TYNES/ ASSISTANT MANAGING EDITOR

S LAGNIAPPE WRITER JEFF POOR HIGH- manufacturing, construction, health care, information

lighted in his latest Beltway Beat column (“Help rural communities help themselves,” Jan. 30), Alabama’s “economic revival” since the decline of traditional manufacturing arguably was led by the 1993 announcement that Mercedes-Benz would build a $300 million assembly plant in Tuscaloosa County.

At the time, the automotive industry was a relatively insignificant element of the state’s economy, but since then other manufacturers — including Hyundai and Honda — followed suit with assembly lines of their own in Montgomery and Talladega counties. In January 2018, Toyota and Mazda announced they would build a joint $1.6 billion manufacturing plant in Huntsville, providing as many as 4,000 new jobs to an industry that currently employs nearly 60,000 people statewide.

Today, transportation equipment, including motor vehicles, is the state’s No. 1 export by a wide margin, accounting for $10.9 billion in 2017. But neither the automotive manufacturers nor the burgeoning aerospace industry were attracted to Alabama simply by an underserved workforce. Often, they were lured with millions of dollars’ worth of tax abatements and economic incentives. In recent years, lawmakers have also incentivized larger investors with job training and infrastructure improvements.

The total incentive package to Mercedes-Benz in 1993 was $248 million, with about half coming from Montgomery. Last year, Toyota and Mazda agreed to $379 million in incentives. In 2015, Mercedes accepted another $100 million in local and state incentives to expand its plant, resulting in a cumulative investment of more than $5.8 billion in the state, according to the Alabama Department of Commerce.

Secretary of Commerce Greg Canfield said Monday Alabama’s incentives programs have evolved significantly since he took over the Department in 2011. Today, it closely mirrors those of other states competing for the same developments.

“Most of the incentives structure we created while I’ve been here,” Canfield said. “We wanted to create a more competitive yet sustainable approach to incentivizing economic development projects ... and restructure what historically had been a reliance on two primary incentives — tax abatements and borrowing funds in the bond market for making cash payments for economic development.”

Among the newer incentives are the Apprenticeship Tax Credit established in 2016. Available to employers with a Department of Labor-registered apprenticeship program in one of the five industry sectors (advance

technology, and transportation and logistics), eligible employers can claim a $1,000 credit for each apprentice employed for at least seven full months for up to five apprentices annually. In 2017, 25 programs qualified, resulting in $75,000 worth of credits and creating 75 jobs, according to the department.

The Growing Alabama Tax Credit established in 2016 is one of two incentives available through the Alabama Renewal Act. Its dual purpose is to “create new programs for the growth of business and industry in Alabama” and to “create the ‘Growing Alabama’ tax credit to address economic development needs.” According to the Commerce Department, it provides a source of funds for site preparation and public infrastructure of existing industrial sites where investors receive an income tax credit equal to their contributions.

Two projects qualified for the Growing Alabama Tax Credit in 2017, claiming in excess of $6.7 million and reporting the creation of 429 jobs; 2018 numbers are pending.

The other element of the Alabama Renewal Act was the Port Credit. It targets “new programs for the growth of business and industry in Alabama and creates tax credits for increased use of the state’s port facilities.” It’s a one-time income tax credit of “up to $50 per [20-foot equivalent unit], $3 per net ton of bulk cargo or $.04 per net kilogram of air cargo.” Additional credits are available for new facilities investing at least $20 million and creating at least 75 jobs.

While a dollar figure was not available, the department noted five applicants had been approved for the Port Credit through 2017, creating 573 direct jobs.

The Alabama Jobs Act, passed by the Legislature in 2015 and signed into law by then Gov. Robert Bentley, restructured the way incentives are offered to businesses and industries promising at least 25 new jobs in rural counties and 50 new jobs in urban counties. But it capped the credit at $850 million over 10 years. In only two years, after nearly $700 million of the credits had been awarded, Gov. Kay Ivey raised the cap to $300 million annually in one of her first acts after being sworn into office in 2017.

The Jobs Act is scheduled to sunset at the end of 2020.

While it won’t be a priority for the Legislature to address in its 2019 session beginning on Fat Tuesday, the Joint Legislative Advisory Committee on Economic Incentives meets twice annually to review its progress. During its latest meeting Jan. 28, Canfield provided a glowing report to the committee and this week recapped it for Lagniappe.

“Based on [its] track record, we’ve had good success,” Canfield said Monday. “[Since 2015], we’ve seen a total

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of $10.7 billion added to the payroll over 10 years generated from projects we’ve attracted and a 20-year payroll impact in the state [of] $25.1 billion.

We’ve had 118 projects under the Alabama Jobs Act … with a capital investment of $10.5 billion, creating just under 24,000 jobs.”

According to the legislation, eligible projects “must be revenue-positive for the state and the incentives offered cannot exceed or equal the tax liability of the project company.”

Canfield touts the Jobs Act as a “pay-as-you-go” program, providing a job creation incentive with an annual cash rebate of up to 3 percent of the previous year’s gross payroll, as well as an investment incentive of up to 1.5 percent of the qualified capital investment expenses for a qualifying project for up to 10 years. Additional provisions are available for employers seeking to expand or relocate to targeted rural counties (those with populations of fewer than 25,000 people) as well as those who hire veterans.

“The jobs credit is calculated based on new jobs created and the payroll impact into the state and the equivalent of an incentive that can be up to 3 percent of the new wages or payroll, and in a rural, targeted county we can go as high as 4 percent to try to attract more investment into rural Alabama,” Canfield said.

“The second element is the investment credit, that replaced an old incentive called the capital income tax credit that used to theoretically allow a company to recover 100 percent of their investment over a 20-year period of time,” he continued. “We did away with that and came up with the investment credit, which calculates differently in terms of how the income tax incentive can be applied. It can be applied against a company’s income tax liability, as well as a company’s utility taxes, but instead of recapturing 100 percent of that investment we allow recapturing 15 percent over 10 years.”

Canfield said the new framework has been “well received” by investors, calling it a “much more sustainable approach” which allows the state to reduce its reliance on borrowed funds.

Examples provided by the Department of Commerce suggest a “high local commitment” investment of $25 million in an eligible project receiving the full investment credit could save as much as 19 percent over 10 years by taking advantage of the Jobs Act, while a “low local commitment” investment, receiving partial investment credit, could save around 9 percent over 10 years.

Local use

In Mobile County, projects receiving benefits under the Jobs Act include the second final assembly line expansion currently underway at Airbus, which broke ground last month after being awarded $17 million in combined capital cost reimbursements and jobs credits by the state. When complete, the company promises as many as 400 jobs will be created. There’s also the new Walmart distribution center in Theodore, a $135 million capital investment which was awarded $4.5 million in credits under the Alabama Jobs Act. There, company officials promised 550 jobs with an average pay of $16.83 per hour.

David Rodgers, vice president of economic development for the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce, oversees business recruitment, expansion opportunities for existing industries, workforce development and international trade, and foreign direct investment for the chamber.

He said the area likely would not have been as attractive to those employers without the Jobs Act incentives.

“I came into this role in 2015, so the grunt work of that legislative push was done prior to when I got here, but I know all those organizations, all those entities got together to make sure we were competitive,” he said, nodding to the Commerce Department as well as the Economic Development Association of Alabama, Economic Development Partnership of Alabama (EDPA) and others.

“In all actuality we mirrored [these programs] after what other states were doing; this was nothing new. What we did is we went to all our competing states and picked off what we thought would make our case better,”

COVER STORY Rodgers said.

When evaluating a proposal, Rodgers and Canfield said, both the state and local municipalities often perform independent cost-benefit analyses, “that lets us show what the real impact these projects will have on our community,” Rodgers said.

“Incentives are a tough subject to discuss ... it’s out there in the public but you know it’s also necessary to play the game,” he continued. “It’s really about applying the limited amount of resources we have to make sure they go as far as they can. And that’s what we’ve done a very good job of … we’re very strategic about how we put our incentives toward these projects.

“If we’re updating a road, it’s a public road. And the good thing about that is it allows other sites to be developed, or if nothing else it allows more residential areas to be developed.”

Rodgers also noted that 88 percent of employees at the Walmart distribution center are residents of Mobile County.

Last week the chamber released its own 2018 annual report, which showed six economic development projects with a total of $533.9 million in capital investments last year, altogether promising 597 full-time jobs.

At the chamber’s annual meeting scheduled for Feb. 13, President and CEO Bill Sisson will “outline upcoming changes in the organization’s economic development activities, including the business retention and expansion program and launching a new foreign direct investment attraction strategy.”

Baldwin County Economic Development Alliance President and CEO Lee Lawson said today’s incentives don’t just target employers, but also employees and the community as a whole. He said with the exception of the UTC Aerospace expansion in Foley, Baldwin County has largely relied upon local incentives for recent developments. But one amenity has proven to be a huge draw for investors.

“AIDT — the state’s workforce training program — is not a true credit but an incentive where the state workforce training group trains their employees for them,” Lawson said.

“It’s great to say to employers ‘we can do your pre-employment screening, your training, your hiring …’ and multiple people will tell you that’s the state’s No. 1 incentive.”

Besides its maritime training center on the Causeway next to Austal USA, AIDT also has local facilities for aerospace at the Mobile Aeroplex at Brookley and another in Calvert supporting the AM/NS Steel and Outokumpu stainless steel manufacturing plants. A new AIDT facility in Huntsville was also part of the Toyota-Mazda incentive package.

Cost versus benefits

Criticism of the incentives and abatements is sporadic, but as the state struggles to find revenue for increased health care costs, road construction and repair, and schools and jails, among other things, some wonder whether program recipients should pay a greater share.

As recently as Feb. 4, Michael Farren and Tad DeHaven, a research fellow and research analyst, respectively, with the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, argued such companies as Europe-based Airbus build assembly plants in places like Alabama for political capital, not because they are cost effective or benefit U.S. communities.

“State and municipal subsidies for companies currying federal favor are a pure waste of taxpayer money,” they wrote in an opinion column published in The Hill. Noting “the combined state and local handouts for Airbus are the equivalent of 40 percent of a year’s worth of Alabama corporate income tax revenue,” Farren and DeHaven conclude “these wasted tax dollars mean other businesses and households pay higher taxes for politicians’ credit-claiming ribboncutting ceremonies, but there’s no additional benefit for the community.”

But Canfield offered this perspective: “Since [the Alabama Job Act’s] passage … we’ve seen a total of $10.7 billion in additional payroll over 10 years, with a 20-year return estimated at $25.1 billion. Of the 118 projects under the Jobs Act, there’s been a capital investment of $10.5 billion, creating just under 24,000 jobs. Compared to Alabama’s median hourly wage of $15.70, we attracted in 2018 projects paying an average of $26.98 per hour — a 71 percent increase.”

Canfield said along with improvements to infrastructure, there will also be a push to diversify industry and business in the state as well. He noted Amazon’s footprint in Mobile and Birmingham, along with Facebook and Google data centers in North Alabama, have already added more than 800 IT jobs to the state and hopefully will attract more.

“We have been focusing on innovation and entrepreneurial endeavors with the EDPA … to spur the growth of tech-driven entrepreneurial opportunities across the state,” he said. “The neat thing is if you believe in market forces — if we continue to be successful in attracting advanced manufacturers and tech companies and corporate operations — that market force in and of itself will help retain and help reduce that brain drain.

Our goal is to create enough opportunity in the state … across that whole spectrum in Alabama, so that all Alabamians have access to the type of job they are qualified for. But that’s a long-term goal right? It doesn’t happen overnight.”

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ART ARTIFICE

Theatre 98’s ‘Streetcar’ deserves more time

BY KEVIN LEE/ARTS EDITOR/KLEE@LAGNIAPPEMOBILE.COM

I

recently witnessed an impressive magic trick in Fairhope. Theatre 98 transformed a wintry, modern exurb into the balmy, Truman-era New Orleans during its current version of “A Streetcar Named Desire” and reminded everyone of the play’s Pulitzer-grabbing genius.

Some bow to William Faulkner as the king of Southern Gothic literary arts — maybe if you feel a sentence’s conclusion is a capital crime, sure — but for Artifice, Tennessee Williams seizes the crown. His work is more concise and efficient, yet still kicks away dirt from the pain and shame hastily buried in the human soul.

“Streetcar” might be the best of Williams’ lot. The social, cultural and psychological layers are dense, the play’s characters deceptively complex without a clearly defined protagonist in their number. All are tragically flawed and self-destructive.

For the uninitiated, hard times force Blanche DuBois to leave her ancestral Mississippi mansion and move in with sister Stella and her working-class husband, Stanley Kowalski, in a run-down New Orleans apartment. Stanley prowls the tiny flat exuding repulsion and attraction equally, always volatile and resentful of Blanche’s condescension and eccentricities.

It checks all the boxes for the best of Southern Gothic, not the least of which is its decadent Crescent City setting.

Class consciousness and pretension, sweat and alcohol, bigotry and flirtatious manipulation, suppressed homosexuality and suicide — it’s all there. The only thing missing is seersucker.

Theatre 98 plays to its advantages. Its small size — 98 seats — and theater-in-the-round setting trap the audience

MSO brings movie music to life

Africa,” the Harry Potter films, “Avatar,” “The Mission,” “Star Trek VIII — First Contact” and “The Adventures of Robin Hood.”

The Saturday show begins at 7:30 p.m. and the Sunday matinee at 2:30 p.m. Concertgoers can join their pre-concert talk, “TakeNote,” in Room 1927 adjacent to the Saenger entrance.

The lecture starts at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday and 1:30 p.m. on Sunday.

Tickets cost $15 to $80 and can be purchased at the MSO box office (257 Dauphin St.), by calling 251-432-2010 or online at mobilesymphony.org. Student tickets cost $10. Students in grades K-12 can attend Sunday performances free when accompanied by a paying adult through the MSO Big Red Ticket program sponsored by Alabama Power.

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IT CHECKS ALL THE BOXES FOR THE BEST OF SOUTHERN GOTHIC, NOT THE LEAST OF WHICH IS ITS DECADENT CRESCENT CITY SETTING. CLASS CONSCIOUSNESS AND PRETENSION, SWEAT AND ALCOHOL, BIGOTRY AND FLIRTATIOUS MANIPULATION, SUPPRESSED HOMOSEXUALITY AND SUICIDE — IT’S ALL THERE. THE ONLY THING MISSING IS SEERSUCKER.” (and shoes in some cases). I know community theaters have an understandable limitation of resources but it fiddled with my suspension of disbelief. Also, hairspray used to be film companies’ go-to for visible perspiration stains. When a character says he’s sweating through his shirt, let’s see it better.

The dysfunction is tangible and widespread here. If you’re looking for heroes, search elsewhere. If you want to see the parts of us we don’t like to admit to, then look no further.

The show runs through Feb. 17 and advance tickets are sold out. Theatre 98 suggests getting on standby. Artifice suggests an extended run.

Ultimate “insider” art at USA museum

The University of South Alabama (USA) Archaeology Museum (6052 USA Drive S., Mobile) will host the opening reception for “Art on the Inside,” an exhibit visiting in conjunction with Auburn University and USA’s Common Read/Common World program. The latter of that pair featured Bryan Stevenson’s “Just Mercy” as the year’s featured reading selection.

The traveling exhibit contains work produced by students who have taken pre-college art classes in Auburn University’s Alabama Prison Arts + Education Project. It contains drawings, photographs and poems.

The reception takes place Feb. 12, 5-7 p.m.

Light refreshments are provided and a guest speaker will make introductory comments.

Admission is free.

For more information, call 251-460-6106 or go to southalabama.edu/org/archaeology/museum.

Arts center seeks feedback on funding

The Azalea City Center for the Arts is ready to launch a capital funding campaign to build an updated, more fully functioning center for expanding needs, and would like input from the community before going further.

The center is distributing surveys to interested members of the public as part of the process. The questionnaire takes only 10 minutes to complete and should be turned in by Feb. 15.

If you would like to access and complete a survey, call 251-510-1808 or email azaleacity@ mindspring.com.

ARTSGALLERY

Hearing a film score in a darkened theater can be exciting, but you have to hear it live to understand its full potential. Mobile Symphony Orchestra (MSO) gives locals the chance to do that during their “Straight from the Soundtrack” concerts Saturday, Feb. 9 and Sunday, Feb. 10 at the Saenger Theatre (6 S. Joachim St., Mobile).

“Many of our revered classical scores come from the world of popular entertainment,” MSO Music Director Scott Speck said in a release.

“Over the past half-century, some of the greatest music has come from the art of film (and even from video games). Some of this music is every bit as complex and well-crafted as the opera music from a century earlier.”

The concert features music from “Out of

inside an apartment seething with emotional turmoil. Director Timothy Guy tosses action back and forth. Conflicts and outbursts occur in the laps of one row of seats, then across to another, then another.

The sets are apropos, worn and faded with the Faubourg Marigny’s je ne sais quoi. Sightlines keep nothing hidden.

Practical and decorative lighting are perfectly attuned.

Together with the interstitial music (which I had a ball identifying — Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong, Bessie Smith, Ethel Waters, Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker) the mood is dead-on.

Aside from its playwright, “Streetcar” is known for one gargantuan presence: Marlon Brando. In its initial 1947 Broadway run, his phenomenal performance catapulted him from an unknown into the theatrical heavens. When he recreated it in film, it only heightened his legend.

Those are intimidating shoes to fill, even seven decades later. Joe Fuselli shows a spine like a redwood to even try. It helps that he bears the physique for the part, matching Brando’s blue-collar brawler build with one more like a bodybuilder.

If Fuselli’s performance in the preview I saw had any drawback, it was early on when he didn’t seem quite brutish enough. You got the sense this was a nice guy trying to channel the worst parts of himself, looking for a volcano of danger and erotic malice. But as things grew more intense, Fuselli really came alive.

Sarah David’s Stella was a good match, especially since she and Fuselli are newlyweds. It made their attraction more realistic. When they tumbled into bed in feverish lust, I felt intrusive. Being only 10 feet away was part of it,

but the rest was something more authentic.

David’s Stella showed good chemistry with her sister as well, summoning irritation only siblings understand.

J.P. Sylvester was good as Stanley’s pal Harold “Mitch” Mitchell, his shy, nearly incompetent squiring of Blanche conveying suitable impotence. Sylvester’s voice and size are ideal.

The undoubted star of the show is Reagan McDowell as Blanche. Her instability, her judgments, everything about her emotional beats are exactly where they need to be. Though this is only her third production with Theatre 98, you would never know it. When she pulls from her emotive well, what flows forth is genuinely unnerving in the most exhilarating and terrifying ways.

If there’s a criticism about the show, it’s with costumes. The women’s wardrobe was wonderful but the men were dressed in obviously modern pants

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MUSIC

BY STEPHEN CENTANNI/MUSIC EDITOR/SCENTANNI@LAGNIAPPEMOBILE.COM

FEATURE

Gurf Morlix getting better with age BAND: GURF MORLIX ALBUM RELEASE PARTY FEATURING EARLY JAMES & THE LATEST DATE: FRIDAY, FEB. 8, WITH DOORS AT 7:30 P.M. VENUE: SATORI COFFEE HOUSE, 5460 OLD SHELL ROAD (MOBILE), SATORI-COFFEE.COM TICKETS: $5 SUGGESTED DONATION AT DOOR; FREE TO USA STUDENTS WITH ID

T

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Photo | Sarah Barker Huhn / Submitted

he University of South Alabama’s Waters or Slim Harpo.”

Independent Music Collective As far as the album’s subject matter, Morlix is (IMC) is helping a talented prohoping his listeners discover a relatable connection ducer/singer-songwriter celebrate buried within. These days, he has been focusing on the release of his 10th album. Gurf life as an ever-dwindling “precious commodity.”

Morlix will use the warm and cozy Many of these songs deal with the realization that environment of the Satori Coffee humans maintain a temporary existence, all meeting House to give Mobile a live introduction to his new the same conclusion. Even though this is typically studio album, “Impossible Blue.” a serious subject matter, Morlix’s musical arrangeBefore his performance at Satori, Morlix took the ments and lyrical delivery make these heavy topics stage in his hometown of Austin to road-test these delicious. Ultimately, he thinks these are some of the tracks in a more familiar environment. He said rebest songs he has ever written. However, he is more leasing songs for an audience’s reaction is an integral apt to attribute his personal satisfaction to his continpart of the songwriting process, a chance to see if the ued experience with composing songs. audience connects with a song on the same level as “I just think that I keep getting better,” said the songwriter.

Morlix. “At least, it seems that way to me. I think the “When do you know when albums get better every time a song is done?” Morlix asked. with the sounds and the songs.

“It’s when you play it in It’s just a feeling that I get that front of an audience and they I’m onto something, and I keep respond. The audience will let going with it.”

I JUST THINK THAT I KEEP you know if your songs are Satori Coffee House will any good. You gotta give the GETTING BETTER. AT LEAST, satisfy one aspect of the songsongs a chance to get in front writing Morlix craves. He will IT SEEMS THAT WAY TO of an audience, or you get in be able to deliver these songs front of them.”

ME. I THINK THE ALBUMS in an environment that will alKnown for his work with low him to receive a full meaGET BETTER EVERY TIME Lucinda Williams, Robert sure of audience reaction. His Earl Keen and Mary Gauthier, WITH THE SOUNDS AND THE time as a producer and hired Morlix has filled “Imposgun has taught him it is hard to SONGS. IT’S JUST A FEEL- make that musical connection sible Blue” with nine tracks that revive a mellow style of to the back or side of the stage.

ING THAT I GET THAT I’M countrified blues rock from the Morlix said he feels taking the ONTO SOMETHING, AND I same environment that gave front of the stage allows him to birth to J.J. Cale. Archaic blues make a special connection with KEEP GOING WITH IT. trips across the fretboard are his audience. brought into current times by a “When you’re up there and healthy serving of smooth rock it’s your songs and you’re talkgrooves shaped by the glory days of the Austin scene. ing to the audience and telling them who you are and This allows the music on this album to exist in its then talking to them after the show, if they want to own microcosm of genre. talk to you, that’s communication and community,” Morlix said he considers himself a singer-songMorlix said. “That’s really important, and I’ve come writer merely “informed” by the blues. to really love it.”

“Every album that I do has some bluesy stuff in Early James & the Latest will travel from Birit,” he explained. “I’m steeped in the blues, and all mingham to open for Morlix. This duo specializes the music I like is informed by the blues. Like, The in the sounds of the early 20th century. Frontman/ Beatles are informed by the blues; they don’t play songwriter James Mullis provides audiences with blues. Then I find that all the music that I don’t like, an old-fashioned mix of Tin Pan Alley ragtime there is no blues in it, like some of this pop stuff. I with traditional country and folk, unleashed with a hear stuff all the time that I don’t like, and I realize raw delivery. that they haven’t heard Robert Johnson or Muddy Even though the Birmingham music scene tends

Gurf Morlix will be featured at the University of South Alabama’s Independent Music Collective along with Birmingham duo Early James and The Latest. to be focused on indie rock, Mullis said, the overwhelming sense of community between the artists has allowed this project to flourish in the Iron City.

“If anything, it’s [Birmingham music scene] more inviting as opposed to an environment like Nashville, which is more cutthroat on one specific genre,” Mullis said. “With the Birmingham community, everyone plays different music here, and everyone is a fan of everyone. It’s a nice way to feel accepted. That’s probably the biggest difference. There’s so much diversity.”

Early James & the Latest have been celebrating the release of their self-titled EP. Besides its hypnotic tracks, the release accents this classic music with production aspects matching the sounds. For this endeavor, Mullis says the duo retreated to Sam Phillips Recording Studio in Memphis.

This journey began at iconic Birmingham venue The Nick. Mullis said bassist Jesse Phillips from St. Paul & the Broken Bones caught the band’s set. Afterwards, Phillips complimented the performance and suggested the band make the trip to Memphis. Once there, Mullis said, the studio’s equipment complemented the band’s sound.

“We were really lucky to do it at Sam Phillips and use all the tricks of the trade, from actual steel plate reverb to an echo chamber that Sam Phillips made that has no parallel surfaces with a speaker and a microphone. We were just fortunate to have that. I’m proud of how it came out. I guess that I just always wanted it to sound a little distorted and old,” Mullis said.

After opening for Morlix, Early James & the Latest will plan their full-length album. Mullis revealed the band has been looking at smaller labels to join, but he isn’t ready to provide those details just yet. He said he hopes the album can feature more instruments to help the band’s trademark sound to evolve. With this in mind, Early James & the Latest’s set at Satori might be a chance to catch the band before it requires a bigger setting.

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MUSIC BRIEFS

Hot jazz

BY STEPHEN CENTANNI/MUSIC EDITOR/SCENTANNI@LAGNIAPPEMOBILE.COM

Band: Ted Hefko & The Thousandaires Date: Saturday, Feb. 9, 8 p.m.

Venue: The Bone and Barrel, 311 Fairhope Ave. (Fairhope), 251-990-0782 Tickets: Call for more info

Photo | Rick Moore | Ted Hefko and The Thousandaires

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he Bone and Barrel is bringing a spicy taste of the Big Easy to the Eastern Shore. When he was fresh out of high school, Ted Hefko decided to trade his agrarian surroundings in Wisconsin for the big-city bustle of New Orleans.

With jazz flowing through his veins, Hefko decided to immerse himself in New Orleans culture while attending the University of New Orleans. Afterward, he spent a decade as a hired gun, lending his saxophone in acts from New Orleans to the Big Apple. These days, he double-times between saxophone and guitar onstage with his backing band, The Thousandaires.

Hefko and his crew will fill The Bone and Barrel with cuts from their latest album, “Gas Station Guru.” With a vocal style somewhere between Harry Connick Jr. and Seth Walker, Hefko floats lyrics across New Orleans jazz grooves. However, he keeps things eclectic with tracks such as “Ride Me Down Easy,” which takes the album into classic Western sounds.

This show promises to keep spirits high with music shaped by the streets of New Orleans.

Broken hearts club Band: Last Call for Love & Alcohol Date: Thursday, Feb. 14, 1 a.m.

Venue: Hayley’s Bar, 278 Dauphin St. (Mobile), 251-433-4970 Tickets: Free Anyone who has spent a considerable amount of time in downtown Mobile has ended the night at least once at Hayley’s Bar. This staple Dauphin Street watering hole specializes in catering to a late night crowd, which sometimes lasts until sunrise. This Valentine’s Day, Hayley’s is giving the Azalea City one last drink and one last chance at finding love on Valentine’s Day with a set featuring the combined efforts of two of the Mobile music scene’s most talented artists.

Respected diva Symone French will use pure power and emotion to amplify the love and affection created by the holiday. Since parting ways with Infant Richard & the Delta Stones, French has remained in high demand. Her fans have been enjoying her performances with the Symone French Trio, Trouille Troupe and Jamell Richardson.

French will be backed by guitarist/singer-songwriter Lane Fisher. Fresh from a hiatus, Fisher has been spending time performing with Matthew Neese. His vocal and instrumental talents should be a fitting complement to French’s voice.

Feel the love Band: The Heartbreaker Ball Date: Thursday, Feb. 14, with doors at 7 p.m.

Venue: Cedar Street Social Club, 4 N. Cedar St. (Mobile), cedarstreetsocialclub.com Tickets: $15-$100 through Eventbrite Many search far and wide for a unique way to spend Valentine’s Day. This year, Cedar Street Social Club will give the public a new alternative to the typical flowers-card-and-candy combination — the Azalea City’s one-stop for the perfect Valentine’s Day experience. For those going solo, the general admission ticket will be a chance to find that special someone, while the “Better than Ruby Tuesday” ticket will give couples early access to the venue, two cocktails and light hors d’oeuvres.

A VIP ticket will grant access to a special area and includes an open bar. In addition to food and drinks, The Heartbreaker Ball will include musical entertainment that begins with a set from local country rockers The Red Clay Strays.

Brooks Hubbard III will be the event’s headliner. This Gulfport-based singer-songwriter will be crooning his way into the hearts of everyone. Hubbard is a jam-minded gentleman who uses his Southern rock and soul to evoke the spirit of such greats as John Bell (Widespread Panic) and Warren Haynes (Gov’t Mule).

Hubbard has collected a batch of choice cuts for his album “Sirius Face.” In addition to epic jams, Hubbard has a few slow numbers to spread the love among the Valentines in the crowd.

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AREAMUSIC LISTINGS | February 6 - February 12 Please send upcoming music to listings@ lagniappemobile.com

by MONDAY before Wednesday’s paper.

WED. FEB 6 Bluegill— Matt Neese Duo, 6p Boudreaux’s Cajun Grill— Ryan Balthrop, 6p Brickyard— Chad Davidson Band Callaghan’s— Phil & Foster Cockeyed Charlie’s— Music

by JJ Cortlandt’s Pizza Pub— Marcus Elizondo, 7:30p Felix’s— Tropic Flyer Flora-Bama— Al and Cathy 11a / Jason Bishop, 11a / Neil Dover, 3p / Rhonda Hart Duo, 7p / Tony Ray Thompson, 7p Listening Room— Eric Erdman, Will Thompson and Anthony Peebles Willie’s Place— Shannon Pierce and Friends, 6p

THURS. FEB 7 Bluegill— Stephen Sylvester, 6p Blues Tavern— Vickie Bailey Trio Boudreaux’s Cajun Grill— David Chastang, 6p Brickyard— Yellowhammer Callaghan’s— Phil Proctor Cockeyed Charlie’s— Music

by JJ Cortlandt’s Pizza Pub— Bryant Gilley, 7:30p Dauphins— Mark Pipas, 5p Felix’s— Grits N Pieces Flora-Bama— Gove Scrivenor, 11a / Not the Real Band, but the Real Deal (Mark Sherrill), 2p / Dueling Pianos, 4:30p / Don Schlitz, 6p / Justin Jeansonne Duo, 8:30p / Mason Henderson, 9p Listening Room— Ross Newell Manci’s— Laurie Ann Armour Our Place — Jason King of Last Call Rodeo

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Martin David Band, 6:30p Bluegill— Bust Duo, 6p / Lee Yankie, 6p Blues Tavern— LA South Brickyard— Mario Mena Band Callaghan’s— Red Clay Strays, 8p Cockeyed Charlie’s— Music

by Will the Chill Dauphin Street Blues Co— The Midnight Transaction Felix’s— Blind Dog Mike Flora-Bama— Lea Anne Creswell Duo, 2p / The Big Earl Show featuring Jack Robertson, 5:30p / Scott Koehn & Woody Pierce - Flip Flop Brothers, 6p / Justin Jeansonne Band, 10p / Spencer Maige Trio, 10:15p IP Casino (Studio A)— The O’Jays, 8p Listening Room— Chip Herrington Jazz5 LuLu’s— J.E.R.I., 5p Manci’s— Robert Sully Moe’s BBQ (Daphne) — Soulphonics, 7p Moe’s BBQ (Foley) — Three Bean Soup Moe’s BBQ (Mobile) — Robbie Sellers and Amanda Kolb, 6:30p Moe’s BBQ (Semmes) — Chad Parker Duo Stampede Saloon— Last Call Rodeo, 9p Traders— Texas Truck, 8p Willie’s Place— Ryan Balthrop, 9p

SAT. FEB 9 Big Beach Brewing— The Famous Nameless Bluegill— Fat Lincoln / Jimmy Lumpkin Blues Tavern— Albert & The Smokin’ Section Boudreaux’s Cajun Grill— Brickyard— Harrison McInnis Trio Callaghan’s— Cypress Creek Band Cockeyed Charlie’s— Music

by M Beazle Dauphins— Mark Pipas, 5p Felix’s— David Chastang Flora-Bama— Lucky Doggs, 1p / J Hawkins Duo, 2p / The Big Earl Show featuring Jack Robertson, 5:30p / Al and Cathy, 6p / Spencer Maige and the Reckless, 10p / Johnny Hayes Duo, 10:15p

Listening Room— Jimbo Mathus with Gal Holiday and the Honky Tonk Revue LuLu’s— Lee Yankie, 5p Manci’s— Yeah, Probably Whiskey Runners Saloon— Last Call Rodeo Willie’s Place— Brook Brown, 9p

SUN. FEB 10 Big Beach Brewing— Jim Pennell Bluegill— Ryan Balthrop / Ben Meininger & Friends Blues Tavern— John Hall Band Brickyard— Delta Smoke Dauphins— Roland Cobbs, 11a Felix’s— Leonard Houstin Flora-Bama— Songs of Rusty, 12:30p / Spencer Maige, 3p / Perdido Brothers, 4p / Alexa Burroughs, 7p / Tim Roberts, 8:30p Listening Room— Laurie Anne Armour, Nathan Evans Fox and Drew Nix Manci’s— Phil & Foster Our Place — Jason King of Last Call Rodeo

MON. FEB 11 Felix’s— Matt Bush Flora-Bama— Gove Scrivenor, 11a / Open Mic w/ Cathy Pace, 3p / Petty and Pace, 7p / Tony Ray Thompson, 7p LuLu’s— Brent Burns, 5p

TUES. FEB 12 Bluegill— Ty Taylor & Gram Rea Boudreaux’s Cajun Grill— Ryan Balthrop Brickyard— Delta Smoke Butch Cassidy’s— Chris Powell Callaghan’s— Hiss Golden Messenger Cockeyed Charlie’s— Music

by Jordan Felix’s— Stephen Sylvester Flora-Bama— Lea Anne Creswell Duo, 11a / T-Bone Montgomery, 3p / Justin Jeansonne, 7p / Kyle Wilson Duo, 7p

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FILMTHE REEL WORLD

The trick of being 13 in ‘Mid90s’

M

BY ASIA FREY/FILM CRITIC/AFREY@LAGNIAPPEMOBILE.COM

“

AREA THEATERS AMC MOBILE 16 785 Schillinger Road South Mobile, AL (251)639-1748 CRESCENT THEATER 208 Dauphin St Mobile, AL (251) 438-2005 REGAL MOBILE STADIUM 18 1250 Satchel Paige Drive Mobile, AL (844) 462-7342 AMC JUBILEE Square 12 6898 Highway 90 Daphne, AL (251) 626-5766

id90s” would make an excellent companion piece to “Eighth Grade,” as both are achingly realistic portrayals of sensitive youths in their 13th year. Actor Jonah Hill makes his directorial debut with “Mid90s,” a deceptively rough love letter to male friendship. Like the boys themselves, this movie only looks tough on the outside; it conceals a great deal of heart beneath a great deal of cursing.

An undersized young man named Sunny Suljic stars as Stevie, who I can only presume is a stand-in for a young Jonah Hill. I saw this because they even look alike, but mostly because this film is full of the kind of details that simply must be true. I feel certain that 13-year-old Jonah Hill sneaked into his older brother’s room and carefully wrote down the names of all his CDs. Suljic is raw and beautiful as a little boy exploring adulthood, and he has a certain flair that makes him more interesting than just a quiet nerd. When he earns some popularity, you can see why.

Growing increasingly isolated from

that older brother Ian (Lucas Hedges) and their single mom, Dabney (Katherine Waterston), Stevie walks into a skateboard shop one afternoon and feels his life snap into place. He immediately idolizes the various young men hanging around inside and, through a fellow closer to his age, Ruben, gets his foot in the door of their world.

Their camaraderie gives Stevie a boost of self confidence, and in some ways he flourishes under their influence. Skating gives him an outlet and the friendship he desperately craves. Ray, the leader, is a charismatic and intelligent guy, smarter and more sensitive than his pals. He is the only one who protests, all too briefly, when their youngest friends start drinking and taking drugs. The weakness of his protests is another of the films’ extremely believable touches.

As Stevie spends more time with his friends, he continues to negotiate that boundary between freedom and danger, and even his fairly ineffectual mother gets clued in that he is going too far.

His older brother, who seems like just a muscly jerk, very slowly reveals himself

as more, and their relationship is quietly profound. It is more subtly written than any other relationship in the film, but a rewarding one to watch.

Ray is also the best skater of the group, and throughout the film he grows more disenchanted with his best friend, who is wild and getting wilder, and goes by an unpublishable nickname. Things come to a head when Ray tries to host a skating event behind the shop in an effort to woo some sponsors for himself, and the situation deteriorates due to alcohol.

Just when you think this little movie is only going to be about skating and cursing, which is actually fine with me, Jonah Hill manages to raise the stakes, but does so in a natural and believable progression. Just watching Stevie’s little face would be almost enough to make a movie for my taste, but there ends up being just enough action, and the film really clinches the ending. It’s a perfectly punctuated moment in a nicely rambling misadventure. “Mid90s” finds the kind of balance its characters seek, growing up, but just a little.

“Mid90s” is currently available to rent.

NEXUS CINEMA DINING 7070 Bruns Dr. Mobile, AL (251) 776-6570 AMC CLASSIC WHARF 23151 Wharf Lane Orange Beach, AL (251) 981-4444 COBB PINNACLE 14 3780 Gulf Shores Pkwy Gulf Shores (251) 923-0785 EASTERN SHORE PREMIERE CINEMA 14 30500 State Hwy 181 Spanish Fort, AL (251) 626-0352 Information accurate at press time; please call theaters for showtimes.

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Photos | A24 / Warner Bros.

From left: In “Mid90s,” a 13-year-old spends his summer in Los Angeles navigating between a troubled home life and a crew of new friends he meets at a skate shop. In the next chapter of the “Lego Movie” series, it’s been five years since everything was awesome and the citizens are facing a huge new threat: Lego Duplo invaders from outer space, wrecking everything faster than they can rebuild.

NEW THIS WEEK THE LEGO MOVIE 2: THE SECOND PART

Emmet, Lucy, Batman and their friends must defend Bricksburg from LEGO DUPLO invaders from space. All listed multiplex theaters, Nexus Cinema Dining.

COLD PURSUIT

A vigilante (Liam Neeson, obviously) seeks cold-blooded justice against a psychotic drug lord and his sleazy henchmen. All listed multiplex theaters.

THE PRODIGY

Another entry in the possessed-child genre.

Regal Mobile Stadium 18, AMC Mobile 16

WHAT MEN WANT

A sports agent uses her ability to hear men’s thoughts to turn the tables on her rude colleagues, answering the question nobody asked. All listed multiplex theaters.

NOW PLAYING

All listed multiplex theaters, Nexus Cinema Dining.

STAN AND OLLIE DRAGON BALL SUPER: BROLY Crescent Theater, AMC Wharf 15 AMC Mobile 16 CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME? A DOG’S WAY HOME Regal Mobile Stadium 18, AMC Mobile 16, All listed multiplex theaters.

AMC Wharf 15 THE UPSIDE THE LEAST OF THESE: THE GRAHAM Nexus Cinema Dining, all listed multiplex STAINES STORY theaters.

AMC Mobile 16 VICE SERENITY All listed multiplex theaters.

All listed multiplex theaters, Nexus Cinema ESCAPE ROOM Dining.

AMC Mobile 16, Regal Mobile Stadium 18 GREEN BOOK MARY POPPINS RETURNS Regal Mobile Stadium 18, AMC Mobile All listed multiplex theaters.

16, AMC Classic Jubilee Square 12, AMC BUMBLEBEE Wharf 15 All listed multiplex theaters.

MISS BALA AQUAMAN Regal Mobile Stadium 18, AMC Mobile 16 All listed multiplex theaters.

THE KID WHO WOULD BE KING SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE All listed multiplex theaters.

All listed multiplex theaters.

ON THE BASIS OF SEX THE MULE AMC Classic Wharf 15 Regal Mobile Stadium 18 THE FAVOURITE RALPH BREAKS THE INTERNET Regal Mobile Stadium 18, AMC Mobile 16, All listed multiplex theaters.

AMC Classic Jubilee Square 12, AMC Wharf 15 A STAR IS BORN GLASS Regal Mobile Stadium 18

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CALENDAR OF EVENTS FEBRUARY 6, 2019 - FEBRUARY 12, 2019

GENERAL INTEREST African-American Read-In Monday through Thursday, Feb. 4-7, Mobile Public Library, Toulminville Branch.

Join special guests and community partners in celebrating black heritage in reading, poetry, storytelling and songs. Call 251-438-7075.

Winter Wednesdays at Bellingrath Wednesday, Feb. 6, 10:30-11:30 a.m., “Winter Garden Walk” — Join Bellingrath’s horticultural staff to learn about interesting winter blooms and ornamental vegetables.

Wednesday, Feb. 13, 10:30-11:30 a.m., “All about Camellias” with Seth Allen.

To register, call 251-459-8727 or email bellingrath@bellingrath.org.

Open House at The Academy Thursday, Feb. 7, 5:30-7:30 p.m. Parents of students in grades 9, 10 and 11 in Baldwin County high schools are invited to an open house offering students an opportunity to pursue career training in aviation, electrical and instrumentation, welding and millwright. The Academy at the Fairhope Airport is located at 8600-B, County Road 32, Fairhope.

be installed in the entry wall for the new splash pad coming soon to the park. Tiles cost $20, proceeds benefit the project.

Maker Day at DISL Saturday, Feb. 9, 10:30 a.m. at Dauphin Island Sea Lab. Families with young children are invited for exploring science, technology, engineering and math through stories and making projects together. Visit disl.org.

Alabama Authors Day Saturday, Feb. 9, 9 a.m. at Historic Blakeley Park. An annual showcase of Alabama authors. Special cruise to Bayou Canot, scene of the derailment of the Sunset Limited and the last documented importation of African slaves into the U.S. aboard the Clotilda. Tickets $25 for adults, $17 for kids 6-12. For reservations visit blakeleypark.com/events.

“Spirit of Our Ancestors” Saturday, Feb. 9, noon to 4 p.m. at Mobile County Training School Gymnasium, first annual “Spirit of Our Ancestors” festival bringing together descendants of slaves on the Clotilda. Contact Joycelyn Davis at joycelyn.davis@aol.com.

Fairhope History Lectures Thursday, Feb. 7, 6 p.m. at the Fairhope Public Library. “A History of the Longleaf Pine and Fire in Baldwin County and the Gulf Coast” by Patrick Waldrop.

Market at The Pillars Sunday, Feb. 10, noon. Shop local farmers, crafters and bakers; local food and live music. 1757 Government St., Mobile.

“Redemption Beyond My Past” Thursday, Feb. 7, 6:30 p.m. at Bernheim Hall at the Ben May Main Library in Mobile.

Documentary film screening of the life of Chris “Champ” Napier” of Prichard. Visit chrischampnapier.com.

Reading by Jamie Quatro Tuesday, Feb. 12, 5 p.m. in the USA Student Center Terrace Room. Reading by author Jamie Quatro. Reception and book signing to follow. Free and open to the public.

Lemonade Day — Coastal Alabama Kick-Off Party Wednesday, Feb. 7, 4-6 p.m. at LuLu’s in Gulf Shores. If you have a child in K-6 and want to teach them about owning their own business, visit lemonadeday.org/coastalalabama.

Educational Lecture Series Through Feb. 18, Gulf Shores Welcome Center (3459 Gulf Shores Parkway) offers free educational lectures. Lectures are approximately 60 minutes. For complete list, visit gulfshores.com.

Tea for $2 Thursday, Feb. 7, 2-3 p.m., Fairhope Museum of History. Guest speaker Michael Hutchinson, Civil War historian and gunner for the Grand Hotel’s afternoon firing of the cannon. Call 251-929-1471 or visit fairhopeal.gov.

Census jobs The U.S. Census Bureau is seeking temporary part-time workers to apply to conduct the 2020 Census in Southwest Alabama, including Mobile and Baldwin counties. Paid training, flexible hours and pay averaging $17 per hour. Apply at 2020census.gov/jobs or call 1-855-JOB2020.

Loda Artwalk Friday, Feb. 8, 6-9 p.m. in downtown Mobile. This month’s artwalk features works from the Visual Arts Achievement Program (VAAP) at the Mobile Arts Council, the movie “Dunkirk” in Cathedral Square, and other art and live music at many more participating galleries and venues, plus the LoDa Night Market in Bienville Square! Visit facebook.com/lodaartwalk Opening Day at Alligator Alley Friday, Feb. 8, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Visit gatoralleyfarm.com.

Hand Tile Project for Medal of Honor Park Saturday, Feb. 9, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Connie Hudson Regional Senior Center (3201 Hillcrest Road, Mobile). Bring your children to make handprint tiles, which will

“UsToo” Chapter Meeting First Tuesday of each month, 6-7:30 p.m at Infirmary Cancer Care. UsToo focuses on support, advocacy and education for those affected by prostate cancer. Visit ustoomobile.com Greenleaf Writers Group Third Saturday of each month at Semmes Library on Moffett Road, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

“Murder at the Mardi Gras Ball” Mobile Mystery Dinner, Friday, Feb. 8, and Saturday, Feb. 9, 7 p.m. at Renaissance Mobile Riverview Plaza Hotel. Advance reservations required; email Lisa.russell@ ernaissancemobile.com.

Valentine’s Day with Mobile Big Band Society

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Thursday, Feb. 14, 6:30 p.m. Catered dinner including beverages, spacious dance floor and reserved seating. Tickets available via eventbrite.com. Call 251-4328863 or 251-604-8381.

FUNDRAISERS

Alabama bicentennial murals Through Feb. 23 at Eastern Shore Art Center. Fairhope artist and historian Dean Mosher has created nine murals for the state’s bicentennial, two of which are being displayed for the very first time. Visit esartcenter.org.

“Love and Bowling” Eastern Shore Lanes will host “Love and Bowling Fundraiser” for Ozanam Charitable Pharmacy on Tuesday, Feb. 12, 6-9 p.m. at 10460 Eastern Shore Blvd., Spanish Fort. $35 for singles, $50 for couples, $22.50 for a team of four or more. Visit Ozanampharmacy.org or call 251-4324111, ext. 109, or 251-721-0458.

MUSEUMS

“All in for the Heart” Thursday, Feb. 14, 6:30 p.m. at The Pillars. Benefiting the Pediatric Congenital Heart Center at Children’s of Alabama.

Enjoy a date night of faux casino games, food, complimentary beer and wine, live music and receive $1,000 in “fun money” to play blackjack, craps and roulette.

Tickets available at give.childrensal.org/ allinforheart.

Thursdays at MMoA Every Thursday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., the Mobile Museum of Art offers free admission to all Mobile County residents.

No reservations necessary. MMoA is at 4850 Museum Drive. Call 251-208-5200.

“Many More Miles” For the 16th year, Baldwin Bone & Joint is hosting a community project to collect shoes for Wings of Life homeless outreach programs and for, the first year, Family Promise of Baldwin County. Gently used athletic shoes accepted through March 23. For more information and drop-off locations, visit baldwinboneandjoint.com.

ARTS Arts After Hours Wednesday, Feb. 6, 5:30 p.m. at Haint Blue Brewing Co. (806 Monroe St., Mobile).

Learn about the artistry involved in the revitalization of the Crystal Ice House.

Complimentary appetizers.

Baldwin Pops Concerts Thursday, Feb. 7, 7 p.m. John Allen Memorial Scholarship Concert at Orange Beach Event Center and Tuesday, Feb. 12 , 7 p.m. at Fairhope Civic Center. www. baldwinpops.com.

Watoto Children’s Choir Thursday Feb, 14, 7 p.m. at Living Word Christian Center International Ministries (1401 Government St., Mobile). The Watoto Children’s Choir will share their personal stories and perform music of Uganda. Free admittance. Visit lwccim.com or call 251471-2334.

Open auditions Local artists and authors are collaborating to make a film based on the novel “Beyond the Myst: Lost Years of King Arthur.”

Open auditions are Feb. 23 at the Copper Kettle Tea Bar in Foley, 2-5 p.m. All ages and backgrounds. For info email Shari Prestwood, wolf_kyn@yahoo.com.

“The Undersea Well” Jane Cassidy manipulates various technologies, such as speakers and projectors, and fuses light and sound to form meditative environments filled with visual music. Mobile Museum of Art; call 251-208-5200 or visit mobilemuseumofart. com.

“Parading through Time” Through April 20 at History Museum of Mobile. Join us this Carnival season as we roll through four centuries of Mardi Gras history with Mobile’s Carnival traditions, mystic societies and more. Visit historymuseumofmobile.com.

SPORTS EVENTS/ACTIVITIES Yoga Brunch at Iron Hand Brewing Sunday, Feb. 10, 10 a.m. Join Sway Downtown Yoga Studio as they roll out the mats for Sunday Yoga Brunch. $10; participants receive 20 percent off food and nonalcoholic beverages. Iron Hand Brewing, 206 State St. (Mobile).

Pool Club Mitternight Park Pool Club (off University and Moffett in Mobile) is open Wednesdays, 6-8 p.m., for those seeking a wholesome place to play pool and bumper pool. Instructor Dwayne Rapp will be there to help any beginners. Call 251-463-7980 or 251-208-1610.

Tennis Club Laun Park Table Tennis Club (off Cottage Hill and Demetropolis in Mobile) is open Mondays and Tuesdays, 6-8 p.m., for all interested in playing table tennis. Coach Mike Ho is available to play or help with beginners. Call 251-463-7980 or 251-2081610.

Piyo Stretch/Tone Stott’s Studio (off Cottage Hill and N. Demetropolis in Mobile) is offering Piyo Stretch (relaxing Pilates and yoga), Piyo Tone (toning Pilates and yoga plus weights). Call 251-463-7980 or 251-2081610.

Bingo at Via Bingo every Tuesday and Thursday, 1-3 p.m. Open to the public. Via Health, Fitness, Enrichment Center, 1717 Dauphin St. in Mobile; 251-478-3311.

West Coast Swing in Fairhope Wednesdays at 7 p.m. at the American Legion Post 199 in Fairhope. Hosted by Pensacola Dance Society, it’s different every week and based on level of students present. Followed by a practice dance with Q&A time with the instructors. Call 850503-9978 for more information.

Adult skate night The second and fourth Sundays of each month, 8-10:30 p.m. at Dreamland Skate Center (5672 Three Notch Road, Mobile) with DJ Beaux, $5. Call 251-661-6997.

WORKSHOPS Google Workshop: Sharing your story through video Thursday, Feb. 7, 9-11 a.m. Learn about the power of YouTube video and how you can use video content to promote your business, improve marketing efforts and build a loyal audience. Workshop shop is free; registration is required and space is limited.

PUBLIC MEETINGS Baldwin County Commission: First and third Tuesday at 8:30 a.m., 322 Courthouse Square, Bay Minette. Work sessions are second and fourth Tuesday at 8:30 a.m. rotating between Bay Minette, the Foley Satellite Courthouse, the Fairhope Satellite Courthouse and the Baldwin County Central Annex Building in Robertsdale, baldwincountyal.gov.

Baldwin County Planning Commission: First Thursday at 6 p.m., 22251 Palmer St., Robertsdale, baldwincountyal.gov.

Bayou La Batre City Council: Second and fourth Thursday at 5:30 p.m., 13785 S. Wintzell Ave., cityofbayoulabatre.com.

Chickasaw City Council: Second and fourth Tuesday at 7 p.m., 224 N. Craft Highway, 251-452-6450.

Citronelle City Council: Second and fourth Thursday at 6:30 p.m., 19135 Main St., 251-866-7973.

Creola City Council: Second and fourth Thursday at 6 p.m., 190 Dead Lake Road, #A, 251-675-8142.

Daphne City Council: First and third Monday at 6:30 p.m., 1705 Main St. Work sessions second Monday of each month at 6:30 p.m., daphneal.com.

Dauphin Island Town Council: First and third Tuesdays at 7 p.m., 1011 Bienville Blvd., townofdauphinisland.org.

Elberta Town Council: Third Tuesday of each month at 6 p.m. in the town hall.

Workshop meeting on the second Tuesday, townofelberta.com.

Fairhope City Council: Second and fourth Monday at 6 p.m., 161 N. Section St. Work sessions held before each council meeting at 4:30 p.m., cofairhope.com.

Fairhope Planning Commission: First Monday at 5 p.m., 161 N. Section St. Visit cofairhope.com.

Foley City Council: First and third Monday at 5:30 p.m., 407 E. Laurel Ave. Work sessions begin at 4 p.m.; cityoffoley.org.

Gulf Shores City Council: Second and fourth Mondays at 4 p.m., 1905 W. First St., gulfshoresal.gov.

Mobile City Council: Tuesdays at

MARDI GRAS 2019 SATURDAY, FEB. 9

Dauphin Island People’s Parade, 1 p.m., Dauphin Island

FRIDAY, FEB. 15

Conde Cavaliers, 6:30 p.m., Route A

SATURDAY, FEB. 16

Order of the Rolling River, 2 p.m., Dauphin Island Parkway Bayport Parading Society, 2:30 p.m., Route A Mystic DJ Riders, 3 p.m., Route A Pharaoh’s Mystic Society, 6:30 p.m., Route A Conde Explorers, 7:30 p.m., Route A

THURSDAY, FEB. 21

Order of the Polka Dots, 6:30 p.m., Route A

FRIDAY, FEB. 22

Apollo’s Mystic Ladies, 6:30 p.m., Main Street, Daphne Order of the Inca, 6:30 p.m., Route A

SATURDAY, FEB. 23

Mobile Mystics, 2 p.m., Route A Mobile Mystical Revelers, 2:30 p.m., Route A Mystic Mutts of Revelry, 3 p.m., downtown Fairhope Mobile Mystical Friends, 3 p.m., Route A Maids of Mirth, 6 p.m., Route G Knights of Ecor Rouge, 6:30 p.m., downtown Fairhope Order of Butterfly Maidens, 7 p.m., Route A Krewe of Marry Mates, 7:30 p.m., Route A

Krewe de Sparta, noon, Saraland Floral Parade, noon, Route A Knights of Mobile, 12:30 p.m., Route A Mobile Mystical Ladies, 1 p.m., Route A Order of Angels, 1:30 p.m., Route A Fairhope Mullet Mates, 2 p.m., south of Point Clear on County Road 1 Mystics of Pleasure, 6 p.m., Orange Beach Mystics of Time, 6 p.m., Route H Coronation of Queen Ellen Boyd Douglas and King Felix III, 6:30 p.m., Mobile Convention Center

SUNDAY, MARCH 3, JOE CAIN DAY

Abba Temple Motorcade, noon, Route I Loyal Order of the Fire Truck, 2:29 p.m., Main Street, Daphne King Elexis Parade, 2 p.m., Route E Joe Cain, 2:30 p.m., Route A Joe Cain Marchers, 3 p.m., Route A OWA Mardi Gras Celebration — Parade, parties and celebration with Krewe du Cirque of Foley, 4-8 p.m. at OWA Le Krewe de Bienville, 5 p.m., Route A Krewe de Secondline, 5:30 p.m., Route A Coronation of MAMGA Queen and King Elexis, 7 p.m., Mobile Convention Center

MONDAY, MARCH 4

Order of LaShe’s, 6:30 p.m., Route A

Arrival of King Felix, 11 a.m, Cooper Riverside Park, Mobile King’s Parade and Floral Parade, noon, Route A MLK Business and Civic Organization, 3 p.m., Route D MLK Monday Mystics, 3:30 p.m., Route D Moon Pies on Main, kids and pet parade at 4 p.m., float parade at 6 p.m., The Wharf, Orange Beach Northside Merchants, 4 p.m., Route D Fairhope Mystic Magnolias, 6:45 p.m., downtown Fairhope Infant Mystics, 7 p.m., Route F Order of Doves, 7:30 p.m., Route F

THURSDAY, FEB. 28

TUESDAY, MARCH 5, MARDI GRAS DAY

SUNDAY, FEB. 24

Neptune’s Daughters, 6:30 p.m., Route A Order of Isis, 7 p.m., Route A

MONDAY, FEB. 25

Order of Venus, 6:30 p.m., Route A Order of Many Faces, 7 p.m., Route A

TUESDAY, FEB. 26

Mystic Stripers, 6:30 p.m., Route A

FRIDAY, MARCH 1

Mystical Order of Mirams, 6 p.m., Orange Beach Crewe of Columbus, 6:30 p.m., Route A Maids of Jubilee, 6:45 p.m., downtown Fairhope

SATURDAY, MARCH 2

Prichard Mardi Gras Association, 10 a.m., downtown Prichard Foley Mardi Gras Parade, 11 a.m., downtown Foley

Gulf Shores Mardi Gras Association, 10 a.m., Gulf Shores Order of Athena, 10:30 a.m., Route A Knights of Revelry, 12:30 p.m., Route A King Felix, 1 p.m., Route A Comic Cowboys, 1 p.m., Route A Mobile Area Mardi Gras Association, 2 p.m., Route B Orange Beach Mardi Gras Parade, 2 p.m., Orange Beach Order of Myths, 6 p.m., Route C

Fe b r u a r y 6 , 2 0 1 9 - Fe b r u a r y 1 2 , 2 0 1 9 | L AG N I A P P E | 37

MEDIA MEDIA FRENZY

Sayasane lands as new ‘Studio 10’ co-host

F

BY ROB HOLBERT/MANAGING EDITOR/RHOLBERT@LAGNIAPPEMOBILE.COM ox10 News announced Tuesday morning a local woman has been chosen as the the new co-host for its morning “Studio 10” show.

Chelsey Sayasane has joined Joe Emer in hosting the morning lifestyles program, fulfilling a dream spawned when she was interviewed on the show a few years ago. Sayasane grew up locally, attending Saraland High School, where she was class president. From there she attended the University of Mobile, which she represented as Miss UM. As part of her pageant platform, Sayasane founded a ministry called Coats of Many Colors, which donates coats to homeless across the area and the country. So far, Coats of Many Colors has donated more than 26,000 coats, Sayasane says.

After appearing on “Studio 10” to talk about Coats of Many Colors, Sayasane says she remembers telling her mother, “I can do something like that someday.”

Sayasane becomes the first full-time co-host for Emer since Chasity Byrd left the station this past August.

Exciting changes six years later An article released by the Poynter Institute last week took a hard look at the successes and failures of Advance Publications’ decision six years ago to drop publication of its daily newspapers to three days per week.

That decision hit Alabama particularly hard, drastically reducing publication days for the Mobile Press-Register, Huntsville Times and Birmingham News. Cities such as New Orleans and Portland, Oregon, also saw their dailies turned to thrice-weeklies as Advance set out on a digitally based strategy.

Poynter media and business analyst Rick Edmonds looked back at what’s happened over the ensuing years, interviewing some current Advance leaders in the process and getting their

rarely expressed take.

“We made mistakes, a lot of them,” Randy Siegel, president of Advance Local, told Edmonds, “but we are pleased with our progress and happy with where we are.”

Mark Lorando, editor of NOLA.com and The Times-Picayune in New Orleans, said the quick move toward digital put the kinds of protracted slow death being experienced in other newsrooms behind them and has allowed the paper and website to move on toward more substantive coverage. However, Edmonds points out the move also brought the Picayune a daily competitor, as the Baton Rouge Advocate launched a New Orleans product.

Edmonds points out that both print circulation and revenue for Advance papers are down significantly and track two to three points worse than the industry average — many losing half or more of their circulation. But digitally, Siegel said the company’s websites went from roughly 25 million visitors in 2012 to 55 million last year. Video had almost 2 billion views last year as well, and according to Nielsen Scarborough research, Advance has five of the top eight websites in terms of household penetration.

Despite Siegel’s sunny outlook, though, Edmonds found naysayers, although most wouldn’t go on the record. One former Advance executive described the switch to digital as a “disaster across the board.” Another critic said the formula simply won’t work in order to produce the revenue needed to support quality news gathering.

But others see Advance as simply being the first to make the jump that will become inevitable for other major chains.

Edmonds also mentioned Advance is tinkering with paywalls in some markets, which could indicate a move away from all-free websites — something happening across the country.

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THE NEW YORK TIMES CROSSWORD PUZZLE UNEMPLOYMENT LINES

BY RANDOLPH ROSS / EDITED BY WILL SHORTZ ACROSS 1 Google Calendar, e.g.

7 In addition 13 “Foundation” author 19 Hit 2009 movie set in the 22nd century 20 Cry of exasperation 21 When Hamlet dies 22 Unemployed salon worker?

25 Venusians, e.g., informally 26 In base 8 27 Bob ____, 1968 recordsetting long jumper 28 Foreign title that’s an anagram of its English equivalent 29 Unemployed nail polisher?

33 Most preferred 34 Coffee order 35 Jokester 36 Some TV drama settings, for short 37 Hot 38 Troublemaker since birth 41 Something paid to a hero 44 Cosby’s “I Spy” co-star 45 Jack-in-the-box part 46 Unemployed men’s clothier?

51 Wing it 54 Remote figure: Abbr.

55 Hydro-plant locale 56 Exam scored on a scale of 1 to 5, informally 57 Designer Geoffrey 58 “____ Live” (onetime cooking show) 61 ____ tear (sports injury) 62 Jay preceder 63 Unemployed educator?

68 Media inits. before One, Two or Four 71 Wall Street order 72 Question after “I’m back” 73 Fish in a tank 77 Rubber 79 Article in La Repubblica 81 Kitty 82 Port Authority posting: Abbr.

83 Unemployed loan officer?

88 Watchdog org. established

by Nixon 89 Salon supply 90 “No returns,” e.g.

91 “Extra! Extra!” shouter 94 Repeated word in a 1957 Harry Belafonte hit 95 Fan noise 96 Cote call 98 ____ spell 99 It’s kept in a pen 100 Unemployed rancher?

107 Capt.’s guess

16 Like Feburary 17 Advertise excessively 18 It’s the truth 21 Used as a role model 23 Part of S.O.P.: Abbr.

24 Beauty that’s seldom seen 30 Suffix with linguist 31 Okinawa port 32 “____ Rhythm” 37 Exec 38 Spill the beans 39 Second 40 Send in a different direction 42 Fast-food sandwiches introduced in 1985 DOWN 43 “Bingo!”

1 Tested the waters, say 2 Request for an online R.S.V.P. 44 They go down easily 47 “Brave New World” drug 3 Bluegrass instrument 48 Responded in court 4 ____.com, site with the category “Cellphones & tablets” 49 Dash gauge 50 AAA suggestion: Abbr.

5 One out?

52 It borders Ky. 6 Came before 53 You can page through them 7 ____ tea 59 Like “A Star Is Born,” 8 Sheriffs, marshals, etc. several times 9 “The Mary 60 A mean Amin Tyler Moore Show” character 61 Blackjack combo 10 Short snicker 64 Maven 11 Easy ____ 65 Locker-room shower?

12 President during the 66 Every which way Vietnam War 67 ____ center 13 Straddling 68 Hospital unit 14 Surgical tube 69 Two-masted sailing vessel 15 Suppositions 108 More balanced 109 Popular font 110 Airport near D.C. 111 Unemployed prestidigitator?

116 Efficient kind of shopping 117 Iconic 1950s-’70s female TV role played by a male 118 Achieve something by merit 119 Like the lion slain by Hercules 120 Be short with 121 Peanut-butter choice

70 Longtime host of “American Top 40” 74 Source of a Boston “curse” 75 Defaulter’s comeuppance 76 Every 24 hours 78 Normandy invasion town 79 Marie and Donny Osmond, e.g.

80 It borders Ida. 84 Find with difficulty 85 Hon 86 Not very much 87 Produces a revival of 92 Royal Charlotte’s father 93 Abbr. in many an office address 94 Failed, as a cellphone or car to its user 95 Estée Lauder competitor 97 “Evangeline” setting 100 Symbol of change 101 Young and Simon 102 Preceder of “Do I have to?”

103 Headgear for a knight 104 Padre’s hermana 105 Look for 106 Beethoven’s “Choral” Symphony 112 Suffix with expert 113 Code-cracking org.

114 Special gift 115 ____-Magnon

ANSWERS ON PAGE 42

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SPORTS UPON FURTHER REVIEW

Men’s soccer program returns to USA as club team

the movement to form a club team at the university.

“I left Mobile for awhile, but ended up coming back, getting married and started a family,” he said. “Once my son was older, I started coaching in the CYO [Catholic Youth Organization] leagues. I coached the group from the second grade through high school.”

Many of his players formed the core of the McGill-Toolen Catholic High School team that finished second in the state in 2016. Some of them ended up as students at USA, and they reached out to Brill for advice on forming a club team.

“I encouraged them to start a program,” he said. “Then one of the boys called me again and asked me about coaching. I didn’t think that would be the case, but the guys just want to play and not deal with the coaching.”

During the 2018 fall semester, the Student Government Association (SGA) was approached for support to start a club team. USA student Mohamed Amine Mahhou of Morocco wrote a constitution and submitted it to the SGA in January. After approval, it will take three semesters of building the club before the SGA will fund the program. Until then, USA’s intramural program will give the club team $300 per semester.

“I believe that re-establishing a men’s soccer club at South is a great opportunity to connect generations of the Jaguar community,” said Stephen Newhouse, USA’s competitive sports specialist. “Already in its infancy, the men’s soccer club has found a following from past and present supporters.

“We want the club to be a beacon of community for all South Alabama supporters in addition to giving the students an outlet to be leaders while spreading their love of soccer. This philosophy aligns with the rest of our club sports in our department and we are excited for the men’s soccer club team to take the pitch and represent Jaguars new and old.”

BY J. MARK BRYANT/SPORTS WRITER/SPORTS@LAGNIAPPEMOBILE.COM/TWITTER @GOULAGUY

Hungry for action

Photo | Submitted

Former USA soccer player Ron Brill (right) has been leading an effort to start a club team at the university, which hasn’t had a men’s soccer program since 1999.

I

t’s a date many soccer fans at the University of South Alabama (USA) will never forget. On Feb. 5, 1999, Director of Athletics Joe Gottfried announced the Jaguars were dropping the men’s varsity program.

It had nothing to do with the team’s success. USA was the defending Big South Conference champion. The Jaguars had previously won five straight Sun Belt Conference titles, from 1991 to 1995, before the league discontinued its schedule.

“Because of our financial concerns, gender equity and the stability of a long-range men’s soccer conference, we have made the decision to eliminate men’s soccer as one of our intercollegiate sports,” Gottfried said that day. “With gender equity and our NCAA peer review report, there is a need to provide moneys to improve the women’s sports as well as the existing sports.”

One individual who has not forgotten USA’s decision is Ron Brill. A New York native who attended high school in Florida, he came to Mobile and played soccer for the Jaguars from 1985 to 1989.

Brill remained involved with the local scene, having started the soccer program at Spring Hill College for men in 1992 and women in 1993. After playing for the Mobile Rev-

elers squad, he became a renowned youth soccer mentor.

“The Title IX legislation changed everything back then,” Brill said of the civil rights legislation that prohibited discrimination in all federally funded education programs.

“Not many schools had women’s soccer at the time. When Title IX came to be, it made sense to drop men’s programs and start women’s programs to balance scholarships.”

Since then the women’s team has definitely made its mark. They have won six Sun Belt championships and advanced to the NCAA Tournament five times.

“When we had soccer reunions, Joe Gottfried would come,” Brill said. “He was really supportive of the program. He wasn’t blamed for it. It is what it is.”

While Spring Hill and the University of Mobile have soccer for both genders, the lone NCAA Division I men’s program in the state is at UAB. In fact, the only Southeastern Conference schools that sponsor varsity teams for men are Kentucky and South Carolina, which must compete in Conference USA.

Club team taking shape

However, the chance of seeing a men’s team playing again at USA is fast becoming a possibility. Brill is part of

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Students’ response has been impressive, Brill said, with about 50 players turning out for the first practice session at the new USA intramural fields. No one interested in playing will be cut from the roster.

The current women’s stadium — known as The Cage — opened during Brill’s senior year at USA. He took one of his Spring Hill teams there, and has played on the pitch for a few alumni games.

He said the men’s club team mostly will play on the intramural fields, but there is always the chance a big game against club teams from Alabama or Auburn could take place at The Cage. Brill said women’s coach Richard Moodie has been very supportive in helping to get the men’s club program rolling.

“We will be training on a regular basis, getting the process started,” he said.

“We will be working on organizing and finding a system of play, and deciding which guys will be first team and which will continue development on the reserve squad.”

Since this is a club sport not supported by the athletic department, fundraising is underway. “We have gear to buy before we can play a match,” Brill said.

“The old South boys are excited about it and plan to help out.”

Brill said he is hoping to schedule for matches with Spring Hill and Mobile, and matches with AFC Mobile and Gulf Coast Rangers FC squads are a possibility. Brill said a marquee game with Alabama or Auburn, though, would make a splash in the local soccer community.

The team’s goal is to eventually join the National Intramural and Recreational Sports Association (NIRSA). South would play in Region 2, which includes teams from throughout the southern region.

During the next fall semester, USA will not be eligible for the NIRSA tournament and will only play provisional matches. In 2020, the team can compete regionally and will be eligible to earn its way into the nationals.

The one question that hasn’t yet been answered is whether this club team could eventually turn into a varsity sport once more.

“I would be very proud if that happened, but that is not what these guys are thinking about,” said Brill, who has started a Facebook page (WeAreSouthSoccer) to provide updates on the squad. “They just want to play soccer.”

SPORTS FROM BEHIND THE MIC

The questions are never as interesting as the answers

BY RANDY KENNEDY/CONTRIBUTING WRITER

T

here was so much to not like about Super Bowl LIII in Atlanta.

The game was devoid of any real drama. Adam Levine doing a strip tease while performing Maroon 5 songs at halftime mostly fell flat.

The commercials had some noticeable hits (the “100 years of football” produced for the NFL was two minutes of pure joy) even if the night mostly featured a bunch of advertising agencies trying too hard to be clever.

But the loudest jeers from the Super Bowl should be reserved for the way CBS Sports handled the postgame.

Specifically, the 26 seconds that sideline reporter Tracy Wolfson spent telling Tom Brady things he already knew before finally asking him a question.

If you missed it, here’s a play-by-play of the action beginning the moment the final second ticked off the clock and the Patriots won their sixth Super Bowl title and extend their incredible dynasty.

Brady knelt down on the final play to secure the 13-3 victory and was immediately swarmed by dozens of photographers, players and security personnel. What followed was bedlam as Wolfson tried to get the first postgame comments from Brady.

First, Jim Nantz threw it down to Wolfson, who said, “Thanks a lot, Jim, I am down here. No surprise. It is just insanity down here. I’m with Tom. He’s congratulating the other team.”

Brady hugged former teammate and current Los Angeles Ram Brandin Cooks. Then C.J. Anderson. Then his

own teammate, Julian Edelman, the Super Bowl MVP. Next came head coach Bill Belichick.

At this point Wolfson interjected, “I have him. I have him.”

But first came Brady’s embrace with Patriots owner Robert Kraft and the kiss on the lips heard around the world.

Next came a security person being heard saying, “Are you OK? Sit tight.”

Finally, Wolfson had her exclusive time with Brady.

She had had all week to prepare for this moment. She knew she had to endure all the chaos on the field immediately after the game before fans wanted to hear from Brady.

What question would be the perfect one in this situation? There are a few choices, and Wolfson chose one of those. But you wouldn’t have to be Walter Cronkite to come up with “how satisfying was this win?”

Still, it was fine.

What was not fine is that the preamble by Wolfson amid the madness took 26 seconds before Brady was allowed to say a word.

Here is a full transcript of her opening question: “Tom. Just congratulations. A tremendous effort by your defense but that one drive to put it away with your trusty guys of Rob Gronkowski and Julian Edelman and then Sony Michel punches it in to make the difference. Everyone is talking about this dynasty was declining. How satisfying after all the talk and this season was this one?”

Finally, Brady was allowed to give the answer we all expected and Wolfson escaped from the on-field scrum.

In less than five seconds Wolfson could have asked: “After this win, do you still feel like the underdog?”

“What makes this Super Bowl win different from the previous five?”

“Was it at all frustrating to win a Super Bowl while scoring only 13 points?”

The reason Wolfson didn’t choose any of those five-second options is a testament to a larger problem in the media. Wolfson, like most interviewers, felt the need to show off her own knowledge before letting the subject of the interview shine.

It’s the same affliction that affects Joe Scarborough and Sean Hannity when they’re talking about politics. At least with Scarborough or Hannity the case can be made that people are tuning in to hear them more than their guests.

The same is not true for Wolfson, and it certainly isn’t true for announcers doing play-by-play and color at live events. That was certainly true last Saturday night when Auburn hosted Alabama in an important basketball game for both teams.

The first 10 minutes of the game were competitive but mostly uneventful.

The entire second half was boring, as Auburn won by 21 after leading by 20 at the half.

But the final 10 minutes of the first half were thrilling basketball for Auburn fans. The Tigers went on one of those overwhelming bursts and played their best basketball of the season.

While all that was taking place, Beth Mowins and Jimmy Dykes decided it would be a good idea to bring Gus Malzahn to the broadcast table and reminisce about the good ole days in Arkansas when Dykes and Malzahn worked together and played on a beer-league softball team together.

Dykes suffered from the same misconception as Wolfson — that is, that anyone is tuning in to watch you star in the broadcast.

I would have preferred to watch Auburn’s incredible run on the court. And I certainly was more interested in hearing Brady’s answer than I was Wolfson’s excruciatingly long question.

Randy Kennedy writes a weekly column for Lagniappe and is co-host of “Sports Drive” every weekday from 3-6 p.m. on WNSP 105.5 FM, the country’s first all-sports FM station.

Fe b r u a r y 6 , 2 0 1 9 - Fe b r u a r y 1 2 , 2 0 1 9 | L AG N I A P P E | 41

STYLE HOROSCOPES ONE MORE WEEK ‘TIL MARDI GRAS AQUARIUS (1/20-2/18) — Left uninspired and somewhat worried after President Trump’s State of the Union speech, you’ll head to the hardware and outdoor stores to get fresh supplies for your bugout bag.

PISCES (2/19-3/20) — When sometime during the Super Bowl halftime show you suddenly realized what a tool you look like with your cliché tattoos, you invest in incremental laser-removal sessions.

ARIES (3/21- 4/19) — Hearing that the Alabama Attorney General’s Office has cleared a Hoover police officer in the shooting death of E.J. Bradford Jr., you enroll in an Alabama police academy so you can play real-life Fortnite.

TAURUS (4/20-5/20) — While even as a liberal you cringe at New York’s recent abortion legislation, you wish the law went further to legalize the abortion of adult white male conservative news commentators.

GEMINI (5/21-6/21) — Unconvinced by some bougie food writer’s opinion of fast-food chicken biscuits, you continue to fatten yourself weekly with Hardee’s made-from-scratch recipe, if only for convenience.

CANCER (6/22-7/22) — Still distraught over the revelation of 21 Savage’s true nationality, you will be more disturbed to discover recent DNA tests concluding Mister Rogers is, in fact, Canadian.

LEO (7/23-8/22) — You’re right at home this Chinese New Year — the Year of the Pig. Fatten yourself up and be the hero when Alabama Power’s coal ash dam breaks — you can plug the breach with your immense mass.

VIRGO (8/23-9/22) — Learning about the Prichard Water Board’s talking trash cans, you purchase a pair so you can program them with daily affirmations.

LIBRA (9/23-10/22) — Most recently disappointed by Liam Neeson’s inherent racism, it appears his very particular set of skills does not include acceptance and cultural sensitivity.

SCORPIO (10/23-11/21) — Tired of always being on the standby lists of soldout local theater productions, you recommend they combine forces and perform at the nearly always empty Ladd-Peebles Stadium.

SAGITTARIUS (11/22-12/21) ­­— In a show of freedom and solidarity, you’ll commandeer the biggest yacht at the Mobile Boat Show so you can motor down to South America and rescue dozens of suffering Venezuelans.

CAPRICORN (12/22-1/19) — Inspired

by Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam’s outing as a wearer of blackface, you make it a new mission to find and review the high school and collegiate yearbooks of Alabama’s entire legislative delegation.

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STYLE FEATURE

Mobile prepared to host Gulf Coast’s oldest, biggest boat show

BY CATHERINE RAINEY/CONTRIBUTING WRITER

A

gional guides and captains,” Miller said. “[They] can also fish in our live trout pond at the show and actually catch and release a fish back into the pond.” Various participants will have a chance to take home a free rod, reel and tackle box so they can practice what they learned and enjoy the fishing experience.

Obviously this show isn’t just for the kids.

“The Mobile Boat Show provides the best selection and representation of 2019 models of boats, motors and marine products, with hundreds of dealers and marine vendors from all over the United States,” Miller said.

This is the time “to see and experience all of the brands, as well as meet the manufacturers in one convenient setting,” she added. “Additionally, the show is a resource for anyone interested in putting in a boat lift, shopping for marine electronics and audio, having a custom tower built, learning about fishing, seeing the latest in tackle and fishing equipment, and many more products dedicated to boating and outdoor recreation.”

All vessels for fresh and salt water will be on show.

From kayaks to canoes to personal watercraft and even an electric boat, you can find something that meets your needs and budget.

“Experts say that the early boat shows are the very best time of the year to do so,” Miller explained. “In addition to more than 19 large boat dealers from Alabama, Mississippi and Florida, we have over 100 booth vendors selling a variety of marine-related items, apparel and more. We always have the best of all the new 2019 products in the market that can be seen for the first time at our show.”

Once you’ve chosen your trusty new vessel, if you’ve yet to find your sea legs or even if you’re a boating veter-

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Photo | Submitted

ll hands on deck! Avast, ye landlubbers! If you lived in the days of swashbuckling pirates, this cliché might be something you’d hear while on a wooden ship. Nowadays, you’re more likely to simply appreciate the sound of the waves and the call of the wildlife that live among the reeds. Not to mention the wind in your hair and the salt (or fresh) water in your face.

Getting the boating bug yet?

Journey on down to the annual Mobile Boat Show the weekend of Feb. 8-10. Not only will you be able to shop around for your very own seaworthy vessel, you can bring the whole family along for a fun-filled day of related workshops and activities.

“There are lots of entertaining and educational special events for families and kids,” said Melissa Miller, marketing director at Gulf Coast Shows. “The Alabama Marine Resources Department brings touch tanks filled with live species from our waters to let kids ‘touch and explore’ native marine life in a safe environment and answers the many questions they have.”

The expert staff from 5 Rivers Delta Center provide an unforgettable experience as they show off the brilliant diversity of our local ecosystems, from our rivers to estuaries to the marine environments that define the Gulf Coast.

But this boat show won’t just be representing aquatic animal life. Labrador retrievers will exhibit their diving talents in a game called “Fetch and Fish.” This event is sure to be a splashing good time as the dogs dive into a 60-foot-long long water-filled tank.

Additionally, children “can participate in [the] ‘Kids 101’ program and learn the basics of fishing, casting and water safety in a fun and interactive program hosted by re-

Besides showcasing hundreds of new boat models and marine accessories, the Mobile Boat Show also includes workshops and activities for the whole family. an, you’ll benefit from a lineup of experts who will speak on a variety of topics related to boating and fishing in this area. In the “Guides Corner,” you’ll meet local experts and charter captains who are available to offer their best advice, tips and even secrets that only seasoned old sea dogs could harbor.

In 1952, local businessman John Damrich and sportscaster Jack Drees established the first Boat Show, which continues to be the longest-running on the entire Gulf Coast, from Tampa to Texas. In 1957, they expanded into Biloxi with its own version of the event. The Boat Show was sold to a company owned by Dan Miller of Gulf Coast Shows in 1991 after the Damrich’s death.

The show took place each year at the Mobile Civic Center until the resurrection of the Mobile Convention Center, where it is currently held.

“The Mobile Boat Show continues to strive to grow boating and fishing and conservation in our area to preserve this opportunity for generations to come,” Miller said.

For more information on tickets and times, visit gulfcoastshows.com/mobile or call 251-478-7469.

STYLE BOOZIE

MVP sightings and Ghostbusters on Old Shell

BY BOOZIE BEER NUES/SOCIAL BUTTERFLY

MVP sightings

The very talented and handsome Mario Van Peebles was in town last week to kick off Black History Month with a series of charity events benefiting the Church of the Good Shepherd, the oldest black Episcopal church in the state. This was presented by Broussard’s Piano Gallery.

There was a black-tie gala at Heron Lakes on Thursday night, an event at the church on Friday night where they dedicated their new organ, and a premiere of Van Peebles’ new movie “Armed” at the Saenger on Saturday night.

There were also several Mario sightings around town. He made the rounds at Government Plaza and posed for photos with the mayor and members of the executive staff.

He also stopped in at T.P. Crockmier’s and had some of their yummy nachos, according to a Facebook post.

Such an awesome guy to do so much for this very special church!

Come back any time, Mario! Mobile loves you!

I’ll take Mobilians for $500, Alex

I like to think we have some pretty smart folks around here, and local CPA Karen Gieger proved me right. Gieger appeared on Jeopardy! last Friday night and though she didn’t win, she did Mobile proud. She also told a really cute story about how she met her husband online before the days of “You’ve Got Mail.”

But what I really want to know is what Alex talks about during

Mario Van Peebles was in town last week. He stopped by Government Plaza and said hello to Mayor Sandy Stimpson (right). And if there is something strange in your neighborhood, put a sign on your tree like these Midtowners did. the commercial breaks.

I’ll take “Give Me The Scoop on Trebek” for $500, Karen.

Waka’s Fireball birthday party

Photo Facebook and Boozie spy

The good times are about to get rolling officially, y’all. I just can’t wait. A late Mardi Gras means warmer weather, which means more people out at the parades, therefore more shenanigans for me to report on! I will have spies down at the Dauphin Island parade this weekend and there is always good scoop to be gathered from it. Tune back in next week!

But before we get to that, we have some other tastiness we need to consume. So grab a cracker and spread this gossip dip on thick and gobble it up!

Who ya gonna call?

This past Saturday, Jawakatema “Waka” Davenport hosted her own birthday party with a few of her friends, including Zamareyah Dawn and Champagne Munroe. Let’s just say lot of Fireball was consumed. And I mean, like, gallons.

And apparently Groundhog Day is a popular birthday to have because in addition to Waka celebrating her big day, there were at least three other birthday parties taking place.

All of the performers were awesome and everyone seemed to be having a great time. One of my spies said she would kill for Mizz Dawn’s figure and the really cute plaid outfit she was wearing.

The Bike Shop hosts its drag brunches the first Saturday and third Sunday of each month. They will have an extra-special one on Joe Cain Day. If you haven’t been to one yet, definitely make plans to attend.

I have seen some strange things around town lately. Some have been there for a while, others I am not so sure, but I am puzzled by them. There is a DeLorean on the Causeway, a giant elephant on a trailer on Fulton Street and a large bear that says “Berlin” in Spring Hill. I have always wondered what the story was with these things, and now there is another one on my list.

On Old Shell Road near Sage Avenue there is a house that has a sign attached to a tree with the “Ghostbusters” logo on top, that reads “The only ghost we want to meet is the Holy Ghost. Got Jesus???”

I’m with you, Old Shell Road folks. Because unlike Ray Parker Jr., I am afraid of ghosts! Dang it, now that song is stuck in my head. Apologies if it is now stuck in yours.

Well kids, that’s all I got this week. Just remember, whether rain or shine, dramatic or scandalous, or some plain ol’ Mario Van Peebles lovin’, I will be there. Ciao!

ANSWERS FROM PAGE 38 Fe b r u a r y 6 , 2 0 1 9 - Fe b r u a r y 1 2 , 2 0 1 9 | L AG N I A P P E | 45

LAGNIAPPE LEGALS | 251.450-4466 | legals@lagniappemobile.com FORECLOSURES POSTPONEMENT MORTGAGE FORECLOSURE SALE

NOTICE OF MUNICPAL LIEN FORECLOSURE SALE

The City of Mobile hereby gives Notice of a municipal lien foreclosure sale (Code of Ala. § 11-40-60 et. seq.) for the following parcel of real property commonly known as Default having been made in the payment of the indebt- 1953 Antoine Street, located within its municipal limits: edness secured by that certain mortgage executed by The Property is more specifically described as Lot 7, Mary Todd C. Ewbank and Sherry Ewbank, husband and wife, A. Antoine Property according to plat thereof recorded in originally in favor of Mortgage Electronic Registration Deed Book 141, page 36 of the records in the Office of the Systems, Inc., as nominee for Quicken Loans Inc., on the Judge of Probate of Mobile County, Alabama. The munici25th day of September, 2009, said mortgage recorded pal code lien being foreclosed is recorded in the records of in the Office of the Judge of Probate of Mobile County, the Office of the Mobile County Judge of Probate in Book Alabama, in Book 6590 Page 908; the undersigned Na- LR7613 and Page 859. The sale shall be made in front of tionstar Mortgage LLC dba Mr. Cooper, as Mortgagee/ the door of the Mobile County Courthouse (facing GovernTransferee, under and by virtue of the power of sale ment Street) at public outcry, to the highest bidder for contained in said mortgage, will sell at public outcry to cash, beginning at 10:00 A.M. on February 13, 2019, Ala. the highest bidder for cash, in front of the main entrance Code § 40-10-15. The minimum bid price for the sale of of the Courthouse at Mobile, Mobile County, Alabama, the property shall be the redemption amount. This amount on May 17, 2018, during the legal hours of sale, all of its includes the full amount of the municipal lien payoff and right, title, and interest in and to the following described the tax payoff amount.

The municipal lien payoff amount is: $3,742.36. real estate, situated in Mobile County, Alabama, to-wit: Commencing at the Southeast corner of Section 9, Town- The tax payoff amount is: $1,166.62. ship 6 South, Range 3 West; thence North 00 degrees Total minimum bid price is: $4,908.98.

32 minutes East along the East line of the said Section Payment of the winning bid shall be due immediately af9 and along the West line of Helen Glaze Drive, 450.0 ter the sale is conducted. The proceeds of the foreclosure feet to the point of beginning; thence continue North 00 sale shall be distributed in a manner consistent with Ala. degrees 32 minutes East and along said West right of Code § 11-40-68(c)(1)-(4). Upon deposit by the appropriway line of Helen Glaze Drive, 210.30 feet; thence run ate parties with the Court of the tax payoff amount, any North 89 degrees 34 minutes 50 seconds West, 420.06 and all rights of redemption accorded to the interested parfeet; thence run South 00 degrees 41 minutes 52 sec- ties under Title 40, Chapter 10 or Title 40, Chapter 51, are onds West 209.91 feet, thence run South 89 degrees 31 extinguished. From and after the moment of sale, the sale minutes 36 seconds East, 420.67 feet to a point on the shall be final and binding.

West right of way line of Helen Glaze Drive and the point Within 90 days following the date of the sale, the Court shall cause to be executed a deed to the real property of beginning.

Property street address for informational purposes: identified in the petition. Upon execution, the Court shall cause the deed to be recorded with the Office of the Judge 7620 Helen Glaze Dr, Theodore, AL 36582 of Probate.

THIS PROPERTY WILL BE SOLD ON AN “AS IS, WHERE IS” Lagniappe HD Jan. 23, 30, Feb. 6, 2019 BASIS, SUBJECT TO ANY EASEMENTS, ENCUMBRANCES, AND EXCEPTIONS REFLECTED IN THE MORTGAGE AND FORECLOSURE NOTICE THOSE CONTAINED IN THE RECORDS OF THE OFFICE OF THE JUDGE OF PROBATE OF THE COUNTY WHERE THE Default having been made by the herein referenced GrantABOVE-DESCRIBED PROPERTY IS SITUATED. THIS PROP- ee in the terms of that certain Vendor’s Lien Deed executed ERTY WILL BE SOLD WITHOUT WARRANTY OR RECOURSE, on September 17, 2012, by Cindi K. Lynn, as Grantee to EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED AS TO TITLE, USE AND/OR EN- Iras Development Company, Inc., a Alabama corporation, JOYMENT AND WILL BE SOLD SUBJECT TO THE RIGHT OF as Grantor which said Vendor’s Lien Deed was recorded REDEMPTION OF ALL PARTIES ENTITLED THERETO. in the Office of the Judge of Probate, Mobile County, Alabama law gives some persons who have an interest in Alabama, in Real Property Book 6942, Page 1069, and property the right to redeem the property under certain said vendor’s lien having been last assigned to The Avila circumstances. Programs may also exist that help per- Group, LLP, which assignment was recorded in the office sons avoid or delay the foreclosure process. An attorney of the Judge of Probate Mobile County Alabama in Real should be consulted to help you understand these rights Property Book 6956, Page 1087, and default continuing under said Vendor’s Lien Deed, by virtue of and pursuant and programs as a part of the foreclosure process.

This sale is made for the purpose of paying the indebted- to the power of sale contained in said Vendor’s Lien, the ness secured by said mortgage, as well as the expenses following described real property will be sold at public outcry, for cash, to the highest bidder, in front of the North of foreclosure.

The successful bidder must tender a non-refundable entrance of the Courthouse of said County, located at 205 deposit of Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00) in certi- Government Street, Mobile, Alabama 36644, during the fied funds made payable to Sirote & Permutt, P.C. at the legal hours of sale, on March 13, 2019. time and place of the sale. The balance of the purchase Lot 38, as per plat of TIMBERLAND, UNIT II as recorded in price must be paid in certified funds by noon the next Map Book 89, Page 60, Probate Court of Mobile County, business day at the Law Office of Sirote & Permutt, P.C. Alabama; at the address indicated below. Sirote & Permutt, P.C. Said sale is made for the purpose of paying said Vendor’s reserves the right to award the bid to the next highest Lien debt and costs of foreclosure. The Avilia Group, LLP bidder should the highest bidder fail to timely tender the Holder of said Vendor’s Lien WILLIAM B. JACKSON, II total amount due.

The Mortgagee/Transferee reserves the right to bid for STOKES & CLINTON, P.C. Attorneys for Lienholder and purchase the real estate and to credit its purchase Post Office Box 991801 price against the expenses of sale and the indebtedness Mobile, Alabama 36691 secured by the real estate. This sale is subject to post- (251) 460-2400 ponement or cancellation.

Lagniappe HD Feb. 6, 13, 20,2019 Nationstar Mortgage LLC dba Mr. Cooper, Mortgagee/ Transferee CIRCUIT COURT The above mortgage foreclosure sale has been postponed until 07/20/2018 during the legal hours of sale in front of the main entrance of the courthouse in the IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF City of Mobile, Mobile County, Alabama.

MOBILE COUNTY, ALABAMA The above mortgage foreclosure sale has been postCASE NO: CV-2019-900050.00 poned until 09/28/2018 during the legal hours of sale WILLIAM HENRY ROBINSON, JR., Plaintiff in front of the main entrance of the courthouse in the Vs. City of Mobile, Mobile County, Alabama.

The above mortgage foreclosure sale has been post- KEVIN QUINTON ROBINSON, NANCY LYNN ROBINSON, poned until 11/30/2018 during the legal hours of sale and her heirs or devisees if deceased, PHYLLIS ROBINSON GARDNER, and her heirs or in front of the main entrance of the courthouse in the devisees if deceased, City of Mobile, Mobile County, Alabama.

PAUL TREVOR ROBINSON, and his heirs or The above mortgage foreclosure sale has been post- devisees if deceased, Defendants. poned until 02/01/2019 during the legal hours of sale LEGAL NOTICE in front of the main entrance of the courthouse in the NOTICE to Defendants of a Complaint issued out of the City of Mobile, Mobile County, Alabama.

Circuit Court of The above mortgage foreclosure sale Mobile County, Alabama. William Henry Robinson, Jr., has been postponed until 03/29/2019 Plaintiff, by and through his Attorney William S. McFadduring the legal hours of sale in front den, in Circuit Civil Case Number: CV-2019-900050. of the main entrance of the courthouse NOTICE is hereby given that on January 04, 2019, the in the City of Mobile, Mobile County, above-named Plaintiff, filed this cause of action against Alabama. said Defendants Kevin Quinton Robinson, Nancy Lynn Rebecca Redmond Robinson, and her heirs or devisees if deceased, Phyllis SIROTE & PERMUTT, P.C. Robinson Gardner, and her heirs or devisees if deceased, P. O. Box 55727 and Paul Trevor Robinson, and his heirs or devisees if deBirmingham, AL 35255-5727 ceased, to obtain an Order Granting Sale for Division from Attorney for Mortgagee/Transferee said Court regarding the following described real property: www.sirote.com/foreclosures Beginning at a point on the South line of Andrews Street, (formerly known as Payne’s Lane), 597 feet West of the 413747 Southwest corner of Andrews Street and Craft Highway, Lagniappe HD Feb. 6, 2019

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thence West along the South line of Andrews Street 55 feet to a point, thence South 38 degrees 55 minutes East, a distance of 236.5 feet to a point, thence Eastwardly 25 feet to a point, thence Northwardly a distance of 266.5 feet, more or less, to a point of beginning.

Property address: 1855 Andrews Street, Mobile, AL 36617.

This notice is published pursuant to Section 35-6-20 et seq., and 35-6A-1 et seq., of the Code of Alabama, 1975.

Any persons claiming any future, contingent, reversionary, remainder or other interest therein must respond to the Complaint within 30 days after the date of the last publication of this notice, by serving a copy of your answer, either admitting or denying the allegations in said Complaint; to William S. McFadden, Attorney for Plaintiff, whose address is 718 Downtowner Blvd., Mobile, Alabama 36609, and failing to answer within said time, a default may be entered against you as determined by the court for the relief demanded by the Plaintiff. You must also file your Answer with the Mobile County, Alabama Circuit Court Clerk by such date. This publication shall be made in the Lagniappe Newspaper, published in Mobile County, Alabama, for four (4) consecutive weeks.

WITNESS my hand this the 24th day of January, 2019 /s/ JoJo Schwarzauer Attest: JoJoSchwarzauer Clerk of Circuit Court of Mobile County, Alabama William S. McFadden, Attorney for Plaintiff McFadden, Rouse & Bender, LLC 718 Downtowner Boulevard Mobile, AL 36609 (251) 342-9172 johnt@mrbattorneys.com Lagniappe HD Jan. 30, Feb. 6, 13, 20, 2019

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF MOBILE COUNTY, ALABAMA DOMESTIC RELATIONS DIVISION NOTICE OF DIVORCE ACTION CASE NO. DR-2018-901569.00 DARMINA ELENA CAMPBELL, PLAINTIFF VS. TYRONE CAMPBELL, DEFENDANT TYRONE CAMPBELL (Defendant), whose whereabouts is unknown, must answer the plaintiff’s Petition for Divorce and other relief by MARCH 28, 2019 or, thereafter, a Judgment by Default may be rendered against him/her in the above styled case. The defendant’s written answer must be filed with the Court and a copy mailed to the plaintiff’s attorney of record at the address provided below. Done this 15th day of January, 2019.

JoJo Schwarzauer, Circuit Clerk Attorney: Caitlin Smitherman P.O. Box 1986 Mobile, AL 36633 Telephone: (251) 433-6560 ext. 3414 Attorney for the plaintiff Lagniappe HD Feb. 6, 13, 20, 27, 2019

ADVERTISEMENT FOR BIDS LEGAL NOTICE – INVITATION TO BID LIGHTING AND SUPPLIES DAVIDSON HIGH SCHOOL AND AS NEEDED BASIS Sealed Proposals will be received by the Board of School Commissioners of Mobile County, AL at its offices located in the Purchasing Department, 1 Magnum Pass, Mobile, AL 36618 until the day of Monday, February 18, 2019 at 2:00 P.M., then publicly opened and read aloud. Bid forms and specifications can be found on the Mobile County School System’s website: mcpss.com or a copy can be picked up in the Purchasing Office, 1 Magnum Pass Mobile, AL 36618 from the hours of 8:00 A.M. - 4:00 P.M. Mon.-Fri. Should you have any questions, please call Melody Roh at (251) 221-4473.

BID ON: LIGHTING AND SUPPLIES BID #19-05 BID DATE: MONDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2019 @ 2:00 P.M. Lagniappe HD Feb. 6, 13, 2019

ADVERTISEMENT FOR BIDS Notice is hereby given that the University of South Alabama (Owner) will accept sealed Bids for the following Work: DEVELOPMENT & SERVICES BUILDING HVAC UPGRADES University of South Alabama Mobile, Alabama USA JOB #18-40 USA BID #8120701 Bids will be received and clocked in at 2:00 p.m. local time on Thursday, February 7, 2019, in Procurement Services on the Main Campus of the University of South Alabama. Bids will not be accepted after the time indicated herein and will be returned unopened. A cashier’s check or bid bond payable to the University of South Alabama in an amount not less than five (5) percent of the amount of the bid, but in no event more than $10,000 must accompany the bidder’s proposal. Bid Documents shall be available only through the USA Purchasing Office. Contact as follows: University of South Alabama Procurement Services

Technology & Research Park Bldg. III 650 Clinic Drive, Suite 1400 Mobile, AL 36688 PH# (251) 460-6151 FX# (251) 414-8291 (rbrown@southalabama.edu) Bids must be submitted on Proposal Forms furnished in the Bid Documents or copies thereof. The preceding is an abbreviated advertisement. The complete advertisement may be obtained from the location listed above. A Pre-Bid Conference will be held at 10:00 a.m. local time on Tuesday, January 29, 2019, in Room AD23 of the Administration Building. Those in attendance will include the Owner, Engineer, and Consultants. Contract bidders, subcontractors and suppliers are encouraged to attend. All questions concerning the Project should be submitted in writing to the Project Manager at the following: dkelley@southalabama.edu, 307 University Blvd., N., AD001, Mobile 36688.

Lagniappe HD Jan. 23, 30, Feb. 6, 2019

ADVERTISEMENT FOR BIDS Notice is hereby given that the University of South Alabama (Owner) will accept sealed Bids for the following work: COMMONS CLINIC PH-1 ROOFING PACKAGE University of South Alabama Mobile, Alabama USA JOB NO. 17-20B6 USA BID NO. 9012801 Bids will be received and clocked in 2:00 p.m. local time on Tuesday, February 19, 2019, in Procurement Services on the Main Campus of the University of South Alabama. Bids will not be accepted after the time indicated herein and will be returned unopened.

A cashier’s check or bid bond payable to the University of South Alabama in an amount not less than five (5) percent of the amount of the bid, but in no event more than $10,000 must accompany the bidder’s proposal.

Bid Documents shall be available only through the USA Purchasing Office. Contact as follows: University of South Alabama Procurement Services Technology & Research Park Bldg. III 650 Clinic Drive, Suite 1400 Mobile, AL 36688 PH# (251) 460-6151 FX# (251) 414-8291 (rbrown@southalabama.edu) Bids must be submitted on Proposal Forms furnished in the Bid Documents or copies thereof. The preceding is an abbreviated advertisement. The complete advertisement may be obtained from the location listed above.

A Pre-Bid Conference will be held at 10:00 a.m. local time on Tuesday, February 12, 2019, in Room AD23 of the Administration Building. Those in attendance will include the Owner, Engineer, and Consultants. Contract bidders, subcontractors and suppliers are encouraged to attend.

All questions concerning the Project should be submitted in writing to the Project Manager at the following: trentdavis@southalabama.edu, 307 University Blvd. N., AD001, Mobile, AL 36688 Lagniappe HD Jan. 30, Feb. 6, 13, 2019

PROBATE IN THE PROBATE COURT OF MOBILE COUNTY, ALABAMA NOTICE OF COURT PROCEEDING Case No. 2017-2461 IN THE MATTER OF THE CLIFTON THOMAS BUCHANAN REVOCABLE FAMILY TRUST A/K/A THE BUCHANAN FAMILY TRUST On to with the 1st day of April, 2019, at 1:30 p.m., in Courtroom No. 1, Third Floor, Mobile County Government Center Annex, 151 Government Street, Mobile, AL 36602, the Court will consider the Petition for Declaratory Relief as to Trust Assets Consisting of Lost Promissory Notes. A proceeding has been initiated in the Probate Court of Mobile County, Alabama concerning the ownership and/or the proper payee(s) of Promissory Notes executed by Support Our Troops, Inc. to The Buchanan Family Trust (also know as the Clifton Thomas Buchanan Revocable Family Trust dated January 6, 2000) (“Trust”) dated December 13, 2005 and October 16, 2006 (“Notes”). The due dates of the Notes have been extended, but the principal amounts of the Notes along with any accrued interest payable at this time have been paid on December 21, 2018, into an escrow account due to the loss of the original Notes. NOTICE is hereby given to all interested parties if you claim an interest or right in the Notes, then you will need to assert such rights or interests in the probate proceeding styled In the matter of The Buchanan Family Trust; Probate Court of Mobile County, Alabama; Case No. 2017-2461, within thirty (30) days of the last run date of this publication, or such interest or right will be lost and deemed waived. Don Davis, Judge of Probate.

Attorney: T. Julian Motes, Esq.

Sirote & Permutt, P.C. Post Office Drawer 2025 Mobile, Alabama 36652-2025 Ph. (251) 432-1671 jmotes@sirote.com

Lagniappe HD Jan. 30, Feb. 6, 13, 20, 2019

NOTICE OF ESTATE ADMINISTRATION PROBATE COURT OF MOBILE COUNTY, ALABAMA Estate of: OLGA MAE SEWER, Deceased Case No. 2018-2243 Take notice that Letters Testamentary have been granted to the below named party on the 16th day of January, 2019 by the Honorable Don Davis, Judge of Probate of Mobile County Probate Court, Alabama and that all parties having claims against said estate should file the same with the Probate Court of said county within the time allowed by law, or they will be barred. ANTHONY TYRONE SEWER as Executor under the last will and testament of OLGA MAE SEWER, Deceased.

Attorney of Record: HENDRIK S. SNOW Lagniappe HD Jan. 23, 30, Feb. 6, 2019

NOTICE OF ESTATE ADMINISTRATION PROBATE COURT OF MOBILE COUNTY, ALABAMA Estate of: JAMES ARTHUR MOONEY, Deceased Case No. 2019-0074 Take notice that Letters Testamentary have been granted to the below named party on the 15th day of January, 2019 by the Honorable Don Davis, Judge of Probate of Mobile County Probate Court, Alabama and that all parties having claims against said estate should file the same with the Probate Court of said county within the time allowed by law, or they will be barred. DAVID WAYNE MOONEY as Executor under the last will and testament of JAMES ARTHUR MOONEY, Deceased.

Attorney of Record: GLENN L. DAVIDSON Lagniappe HD Jan. 23, 30, Feb. 6, 2019

NOTICE OF ESTATE ADMINISTRATION PROBATE COURT OF MOBILE COUNTY, ALABAMA Estate of: OLLIE FRANCES OSWALT AMOS, Deceased Case No. 2019-0087 Take notice that Letters Testamentary have been granted to the below named party on the 16th day of January, 2019 by the Honorable Don Davis, Judge of Probate of Mobile County Probate Court, Alabama and that all parties having claims against said estate should file the same with the Probate Court of said county within the time allowed by law, or they will be barred. RALPH B. AMOS as Executor under the last will and testament of OLLIE FRANCES OSWALT AMOS, Deceased.

Attorney of Record: JOHN J. CROWLEY, JR. Lagniappe HD January 23, 30, Feb. 6, 2019

NOTICE OF ESTATE ADMINISTRATION PROBATE COURT OF MOBILE COUNTY, ALABAMA Estate of: JAMES R. PAYNE, Deceased Case No. 2019-0128 Take notice that Letters Testamentary have been granted to the below named party on the 29th day of January, 2019 by the Honorable Don Davis, Judge of Probate of Mobile County Probate Court, Alabama and that all parties having claims against said estate should file the same with the Probate Court of said county within the time allowed by law, or they will be barred. ANGELA K. PAYNE as Executrix under the last will and testament of JAMES R. PAYNE, Deceased.

Attorney of Record: ROBERT H. ROUSE, Esq. LESLIE G. WEEKS Lagniappe HD Feb. 6, 13, 20, 2019

NOTICE OF ESTATE ADMINISTRATION PROBATE COURT OF MOBILE COUNTY, ALABAMA Estate of: CLAIRE B. WILKERSON, Deceased Case No. 2019-0075 Take notice that Letters Testamentary have been granted to the below named party on the 31st day of January, 2019 by the Honorable Don Davis, Judge of Probate of Mobile County Probate Court, Alabama and that all parties having claims against said estate should file the same with the Probate Court of said county within the time allowed by law, or they will be barred. TERESA M. MILLER as Executrix under the last will and testament of CLAIRE B. WILKERSON, Deceased.

Attorney of Record: R. MARK KIRKPATRICK Lagniappe HD Feb. 6, 13, 20, 2019

LAGNIAPPE LEGALS | 251.450-4466 | legals@lagniappemobile.com NOTICE OF ESTATE ADMINISTRATION PROBATE COURT OF MOBILE COUNTY, ALABAMA Estate of: SABINA REDDING, Deceased Case No. 2018-2381 Take notice that Letters Testamentary have been granted to the below named party on the 31st day of January, 2019 by the Honorable Don Davis, Judge of Probate of Mobile County Probate Court, Alabama and that all parties having claims against said estate should file the same with the Probate Court of said county within the time allowed by law, or they will be barred. RONALD J. REDDING JR. as Executor under the last will and testament of SABINA REDDING, Deceased.

Attorney of Record: JOSHUA B. BOONE Lagniappe HD Feb. 6, 13, 20, 2019

PUBLIC NOTICE NOTICE OF ATTORNEY DISBARMENT Sydney Moxey Harrell, Jr. has been disbarred from the practice of law. Thomas Brian Walsh, Sr. has been appointed as Trustee by the Alabama State Bar to close Mr. Harrell’s practice. If you believe you have a pending legal matter with Mr. Harrell or wish to retrieve your file(s), please contact Mr. Walsh at (251) 433-8383 or (251) 654-1506 by February 28, 2019, or the files will be destroyed. You may also email Mr. Walsh at Tom@walshlawllc.com or Walshlaw40@gmail.com.

Lagniappe HD Feb. 6, 2019

NOTICE OF COMPLETION STATE OF ALABAMA COUNTY OF MOBILE In accordance with Chapter I, Title 39, Code of Alabama, 1975, NOTICE IS HEREBY given that Rob’t J. Baggett, Inc. has completed the contract for City of Mobile, Alabama Cruise Terminal – Fixed Gangway Stair Improvements, CT-009-19, 201 South Water Street, Mobile, Alabama 36602. All persons having any claim for labor, material or otherwise in connection with this project should immediately notify the Architectural Engineering Department, City of Mobile, P. O. Box 1827, Mobile, AL 36633-1827.

Rob’t J. Baggett, Inc. 759 Holcombe Avenue Mobile, AL 36606 Lagniappe HD Feb. 6, 2019

NOTICE OF COMPLETION STATE OF ALABAMA COUNTY OF MOBILE In accordance with Chapter 1, Title 39, Code of Alabama, 1975, NOTICE IS HEREBY given that Rob’t J. Baggett, Inc. has completed the contract for City of Mobile, Alabama Cruise Terminal – Parking Deck Repairs – Phase 2 (CT-004-19), 201 South Water Street, Mobile, Alabama 36602. All persons having any claims for labor, material or otherwise in connection with this project should immediately notify the Architectural Engineering Department, City of Mobile, PO Box 1827, Mobile, Alabama 36633-1827.

Rob’t J. Baggett, Inc. 759 Holcombe Avenue Mobile, AL 36606 Lagniappe HD Jan. 30, Feb. 6, 13, 20, 2019.

STATE OF ALABAMA COUNTY OF MOBILE Notice is hereby given that a bill as described in the synopsis below will be introduced in the 2019 Regular Session of the Legislature of Alabama and application for its passage and enactment will be made: A BILL TO BE ENTITLED AN ACT SYNOPSIS: Relating to the Town of Dauphin Island in Mobile County; to authorize the governing body of the municipality to establish three entertainment districts in areas zoned commercial within its corporate limits, one of which must have no fewer than two licensees holding a retail liquor license in that area, another in an area at times of special events as designated by the town council, and another on property owned by the Dauphin Island Property Owners Association; to define the licensed premises of the holder of a retail liquor license.

Lagniappe HD Jan. 23, 30, Feb. 6, 13, 2019

STATE OF ALABAMA COUNTY OF MOBILE Notice is hereby given that a bill as described in the synopsis below will be introduced in the 2019 Regular Session of the Legislature of Alabama and application for its passage and enactment will be made: A BILL TO BE ENTITLED AN ACT SYNOPSIS: Relating to Class 2 municipalities; to repeal Section 33-4-1 through 33-4-57, Code of Alabama 1975; to establish a State Pilotage Commission in a Class 2 municipality; to provide for licensing and regulations of Bar Pilots whose principal place of business is within a Class 2 municipality.

Lagniappe HD Feb. 6, 13, 20, 27, 2019

STORAGE AUCTIONS

NOTICE OF SALE

The following unclaimed vehicle(s) will be sold on March 15, 2019 - Time - 12pm, if not claimed - at 558 S Wilson In accordance with Alabama Law, notice is hereby given Ave., Mobile, AL 36610. that Magnolia Self Storage, 5010 Moffett Road Mobile, AL 1998 Isuzu Rodeo NOTICE OF SALE 36618 will conduct a public lien sale or dispose of the conNotice is hereby given pursuant to Alabama statute that tents of the following units to pay rent and other charges 4S2CK58W8W4334716 1997 Chevrolet GMT-400 the following due. Call 251-343-7867 with questions. The sale will be 1GCEC19R0VE123554 contents of Unit(s) listed below will be sold at a Public Lien held on Friday February 22, 2019 at 11:00 am.

Sale to Lagniappe HD Feb. 6, 13, 2019

satisfy lien claims by Grand Slam Storage LLC, located at Rebekah Dennis B-044

6420 Grelot Road Mobile, AL 36695 on Feb. 26th, 2019 The following unclaimed vehicle(s) will be sold on March 1701 Hillcrest Road Apt # 107 at 1:00 p.m.

15, 2019 - Time - 12pm, if not claimed - at 1015 E I-65 Mobile, AL 36695 Michael Taylor Unit # 532 5X5 Service Rd S., Mobile, AL 36606.

Furniture, Boxes, Misc.

1410 Darwood Dr. 2007 Nissan Titan Mobile, AL 36605 C-032 Cindy Gillespie 1N6BA07A67N214389 Large Gumbo Pot w/Strainer 728 Bellanger Street Lagniappe HD Feb. 6, 13, 2019 Boxes Harvey, LA 70058 Lagniappe HD Feb. 6, 13, 2019 Furniture, Boxes The following unclaimed vehicle(s) will be sold on March 15, 2019 - Time - 12pm, if not claimed - at 1055 Springhill NOTICE OF SALE C-048 Dana Foster-Allen Ave., Mobile, AL 36604.

6831 Ching Lynch Road Moffett Road Storage, Inc. located 3765 Moffett Rd. Mo2005 Mercury Marquis AL 36618 Mobile bile, AL 36618 will conduct a sale to satisfy lien charges.

2MEFM74W85X636131 Furniture, Boxes Auction will be held on Tuesday, 2-19-19 @ 10:00a.m.

2006 Chrysler Pacifica To be sold household items, 2A4GM48426R720572 C-092 Deidra Crum boxes, furniture, etc.

2004 Dodgr Ram 4532 Kings Mill Road The following unit(s) will be sold.

Eight Mile AL 36613 1D3HA18DX4J147995 Unit #C152 Furniture, Boxes, Misc.

Kendrick Sims 1996 Hyundai Sonata 2636 Wealthy St. KMHCF24F7TU515236 C-125 Kenya Hughes Mobile, AL 36617 Lagniappe HD Feb. 6, 13, 2019 P. O. Box 11131 Lagniappe HD Jan. 30, Feb. 6, 2019 Chickasaw AL 36671 The following unclaimed vehicle(s) will be sold on March Furniture, Bikes, TV, Misc.

15, 2019 - Time - 12pm, if not claimed - at 3025 Hwy 90 NOTICE OF SALE W., Mobile, AL 36606.

The following units will be sold or otherwise disposed of F-074 Natasha Edwards 2003 BMW 325I to pay rent and other charges per the Alabama Self Stor- 381 Dunbar Street WBAET37453NJ41447 age Lien Law at Rangeline Storage, 5821 Rangeline Road, Mobile, AL 36603 2004 BMW 545 Building 108, Theodore, AL, 36582, 251-443-8995, on or Furniture, Household Items WBANB33574B112049 after February 13, 2019 at 10:00 AM.

H-029 Joseph Thornton Lagniappe HD Feb. 6, 13, 2019 Phillip Leslie II 6655 Overlook Road 1251 South Ann St Mobile, AL 36618 The following unclaimed vehicle(s) will be sold on March Mobile, AL 36605 Household Goods, Furniture, Boxes, Misc.

15, 2019 - Time - 12pm, if not claimed - at 706 Holcombe UNIT 0194 Lagniappe HD Feb. 6, 13, 2019 Ave., Mobile, AL 36606.

Transmission, Tools, Mattress, Totes 2004 BMW 530I

WBANA73524B804696 ABANDONED VEHICLES Tammie Cameron Lagniappe HD Feb. 6, 13, 2019 2115 Barron Pl NOTICE OF SALE Mobile, AL 36605 UNIT 0120 The following unclaimed vehicle(s) will be sold on March The following unclaimed vehicle(s) will be sold on March Refrigerator, Furniture, Boxes, Clothes, Tools, Mattresses, 08, 2019 - Time - 12pm, if not claimed - at 1050 N Hickory 15, 2019 - Time - 12pm, if not claimed - at 109 Delisa Dr., Trunks Saraland, AL 36571.

St., Loxley, AL 36551.

2007 Infiniti G35 2002 Hyundai Elantra Stephanie M Shaw JNKBV61EX7M719748 KMHDN45D22U325486 10385x Army Rd Ext S Lot 2 Lagniappe HD Feb. 6, 13, 2019 Lagniappe HD Jan. 30, Feb. 6, 2019 Chunchula, AL 36521 UNIT 0020 Furniture, Totes, Household Goods, Washer, Dryer, Bicycles The following unclaimed vehicle(s) will be sold on March The following unclaimed vehicle(s) will be sold on March 08, 2019 - Time - 12pm, if not claimed - at 910 Beck Ave., 15, 2019 - Time - 12pm, if not claimed - at 62181 St Luke

Prichard, AL 36610.

Brandon M Clarke Church Rd., Stockton, AL 36579.

2502 Granada Ave 2002 Ford F350 2000 Toyota Sienna Mobile, AL 36693 1FTWW32F51EB30100 4T3ZF13C5YU225796 UNIT 0085 Lagniappe HD Jan. 30, Feb. 6, 2019 Lagniappe HD Feb. 6, 13, 2019 Artwork, Totes, Typewriter, Luggage Lagniappe HD Jan. 30, Feb. 6, 2019 The following unclaimed vehicle(s) will be sold on March The following unclaimed vehicle(s) will be sold on March 08, 2019 - Time - 12pm, if not claimed - at 7250 Theodore 15, 2019 - Time - 12pm, if not claimed - at 9710 Stone Rd., Dawes Rd., Theodore, AL 36582.

NOTICE OF SALE Semmes, AL 36575.

2009 Chevrolet Malibu 2003 GMC C4500 In accordance with Alabama Law, 1G1ZG57B69F134716 1GDE4E11X3F510044 notice is hereby given that A-Cool Self Lagniappe HD Jan. 30, Feb. 6, 2019 Storage located at 3310 Demetropolis Lagniappe HD Feb. 6, 13, 2019 Rd. Mobile, AL 36693 will conduct a The following unclaimed vehicle(s) will be sold on March public lien sale or dispose of the 08, 2019 - Time - 12pm, if not claimed - at 1452 California These abandon vehicles will be sold 03/14/2019 at 5781 contents of the following units to Three Notch Rd Mobile Al. 36619 at 9am if not redeemed St., Mobile, AL 36604. pay rent and or other charges due. before then 1997 Mercedes C230 The sale will be held on February 26 TOYO 4T1BF22K8VU922612 WDBHA23E5VA507625 @ 2:00pm.

NISS JN8AZ2NF3E9552120 2009 Honda Civic JEEP 1J4GL48K15W623645 1HGFA168X9L018027 #01121 Stephanie Porter TOYO 4T1BF1FK1EU758530 Lagniappe HD Jan. 30, Feb. 6, 2019 1711 Belfast St. CHEV 1GNDV23197D169155 Mobile, Al 36605 The following unclaimed vehicle(s) will be sold on March GMC 1GKDM19W11B516414 Household goods, Flat Screen, Boxes/Totes 08, 2019 - Time - 12pm, if not claimed - at 106 Martin MITS JA4MT31R12J066393 Luther King Dr., Prichard, AL 36610.

NISS 1N6AD0EV1AC418237 #02039 Nancy Breland 2006 Toyota Camry FORD 1FADP3F29EL139644 2915 North St. 4T1BE32K26U712338 Lagniappe HD Feb. 6, 13, 2019 Theodore, AL 36582 Lagniappe HD Jan. 30, Feb. 6, 2019 Household goods, TV’s, Furniture, Boxes/totes, Power tools #03509 Georgia Allen 36 Robbie Lane Saraland, AL 36571 Restaurant Equipment #05021 Kim Lewis 5336 Longridge Dr. N. Mobile, AL 36693 Household Goods, Furniture, Boxes/totes #5038 Sara Headly 3617 Gaddys Ct. Montgomery, AL 36108 Household Goods, Animal Crate #05055 Juanita Brown 1206 Anders Dr. Mobile, AL 36608 Household Goods, Furniture

Lagniappe HD Feb. 6, 13, 2019

The following unclaimed vehicle(s) will be sold on March 08, 2019 - Time - 12pm, if not claimed - at 7554 Windy Willow Loop, Foley, AL 36535.

2002 Mini Cooper WMWRC33462TC35776 Lagniappe HD Jan. 30, Feb. 6, 2019

The following unclaimed vehicle(s) will be sold on March 08, 2019 - Time - 12pm, if not claimed - at 7930 One Mile Rd., Irvington, AL 36544.

2003 Ford Expedition 1FMPU15L23LA94750 Lagniappe HD Jan. 30, Feb. 6, 2019

The following unclaimed vehicle(s) will be sold on March 15, 2019 - Time - 12pm, if not claimed - at 2565 Halls Mill Rd., Suite E., Mobile, AL 36606.

2013 Honda Civic 2HGFG3B51DH519500 Lagniappe HD Feb. 6, 13, 2019

NOTICE OF SALE

The following unclaimed vehicle will be sold on March 6, 2019 at 2459 Osage St. Mobile, AL 36617 2015 BMW WBA3B1C52FK140579 Lagniappe HD Feb. 6, 13, 2019

Deadline for legal advertising in Lagniappe HD is every Monday at 5 p.m. Lagniappe HD is distributed each Thursday.

Lagniappe HD offices are located at 704 Government St., Mobile, AL 36602 For more information or to place your ad call Jackie at 251-450-4466. Or email at legals@lagniappemobile.com

Fe b r u a r y 6 , 2 0 1 9 - Fe b r u a r y 1 2 , 2 0 1 9 | L AG N I A P P E | 47