Lagniappe: March 6 - 12, 2019

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- MARCH 12, 2019

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

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BAY BRIEFS

Mobile Housing Board names Michael Pierce acting director.

COMMENTARY

Help Lagniappe be a better newspaper. Rob Holbert explains how you can in “Damn the Torpedoes.”

BUSINESS

The Brickwell, a 21,586-square-foot, mixed-use two-story apartment and retail development at 670 Springhill Ave. in Mobile’s Central Business District, recently opened for business.

CUISINE

Cook Out, in the former PDQ space near the University of South Alabama campus, offers fast, trashy food — with sublime shakes and sides.

COVER

Wrongly convicted of a triple murder and imprisoned for 27 years, Michael Pardue’s life was complicated but the love of his wife, Becky, was constant.

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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

Mobile Arts Council has named the 2019 Arty Award recipients, to be featured at a March 28 ceremony.

SHELLEY PIAZZA Advertising Sales Executive shelley@lagniappemobile.com

MUSIC

STAN ANDERSON Distribution Manager delivery@lagniappemobile.com JACKIE CRUTHIRDS Office Manager legals@lagniappemobile.com CONTRIBUTORS: J. Mark Bryant, Donald S. Connery, Asia Frey, Brian Holbert, Randy Kennedy, Jo Anne McKnight, John Mullen, Jordan Parker, Jeff Poor, Ron Sivak ON THE COVER: PARDUES/PHOTO SUBMITTED BY DONALD S. CONNERY LAGNIAPPE HD Periodicals Permit #17660 (Volume 4, Issue 23) 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.

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WEEKLY

MARCH 6, 2019

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LAGNIAPPE

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Country star Luke Combs’ March 9 show at The Amphitheater may be sold out, but you can learn to be a concert photographer for the night in David Bergman’s “Shoot from the Pit” workshop.

FILM

Melissa McCarthy and Richard E. Grant give Oscarworthy performances in “Can You Ever Forgive Me?”

SPORTS

The University of South Alabama’s Emilie Berge recently set the Sun Belt Conference Indoor Championship pentathlon record for the Jaguars.

STYLE

Lifelines Counseling Services aims to help individuals and their families break their dependency on food stamps.

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BAYBRIEF | MOBILE

Musical chairs

MHB CONTINUES TO DEAL WITH CHANGES

BY DALE LIESCH

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he Mobile Housing Board of Composition in that time. missioners (MHB) is one step closer to Dwayne Vaughn resigned in early 2017. In naming a new, permanent executive di- June of that year, the board named George Lee rector after approving two agenda items Byers as executive director, then reversed that at a special meeting Wednesday, Feb. 27. decision in August after issues in the vetting With a pair of unanimous 3-0 votes, the process. board made the provisional appointment of The board then hired Akinola Popoola, who Michael Pierce as executive director and autho- had been a candidate when Byers was hired. rized acting Executive Director Kathi Bryant Popoola came on board in December 2017. A to forward Pierce’s necessary paperwork to the series of financial and other issues soured the Mobile County Personnel Board in order for board on Popoola and he was fired in Septemhim to be considered a candidate for the job. ber 2018 after less than a year on the job.

MHB Chairman Norman Hill said at the Among other things, Popoola shared blame meeting that another potential candidate had for the authority losing about $485,000 from an not been interested in the position, which led email phishing scheme targeting former MHB the board to go with Pierce. Pierce, once apChief Financial Officer Lori Shackelford. proved as a candidate by the Personnel Board, Pierce is currently secretary of the Mobile would serve in an interim capacity while other Airport Authority (MAA) and also serves as names are compiled as part of a list of permaexecutive director of the MLK Avenue Redenent candidates. velopment Corp. It’s unclear whether he will “He is highly respected,” MHB Chairman be able to continue in all of those positions.

Norman Hill said. “He has the character and Mayor Sandy Stimpson has the appointing integrity needed to lead power over both the MAA this organization.” board and the housing Multiple sources board. familiar with the inner Gant, the newest MHB workings of MHB said member, is also chairman they believe Pierce will of the Mobile Planning THE MOBILE HOUSING eventually become the Commission as of its Feb. BOARD OF COMMISSIONpermanent executive 21 meeting. Stimpson director. appoints members to that ERS (MHB) IS ONE STEP New Commissioner commission as well.

CLOSER TO NAMING A NEW, Carlos Gant voted with As MLK Avenue Commissioner Joyce executive director, Pierce PERMANENT EXECUTIVE Freeman and Hill to aphas experience dealing DIRECTOR AFTER APPROVprove the appointment. with the U.S. Department Commissioner Tyrone of Housing and Urban ING TWO AGENDA ITEMS Fenderson Jr. was not Development (HUD), present at the meeting something that could benAT A SPECIAL MEETING and Commissioner Brie efit him in his MHB role.

WEDNESDAY, FEB. 27.

Zarzour confirmed to LaAccording to the MAA gniappe last week that she bio, Pierce has invested has resigned her seat. more than $10 million in “I’m grateful for the opportunity to serve HUD funds to help construct 126 affordable and wish the Mobile Housing Board the very homes in Mobile. best,” Zarzour wrote in an email message.

Pierce was a football standout at Murphy Zarzour’s resignation follows a meeting in High School and Tulane University, according which Hill was voted in as chairman over her. to biographical information on the MAA webAt the meeting Fenderson abstained from the site. He joined the National Football League’s vote, allowing Freeman and Hill to vote in the Philadelphia Eagles as a free agent in 1990, but new chairman 2-1. was hampered by a lingering knee injury and Zarzour’s announcement also comes some never played at the highest level. two weeks after former MHB Chairwoman Pierce is expected to take over during a moKimberly Pettway served in that capacity for ment of transition for the agency. Not only is the last time. In a statement, Pettway said she the board currently experiencing high turnover, decided to leave the board to better deal with but many of the executive positions within the the death of her father. agency are unfilled. It is unclear how much Before leaving her post, Pettway helped longer that will be the case. push through the approval of an interim deputy In addition, the agency is still working director position. The contract, approved by the through a reorganization prompted by the reboard, between San Diego-based Nan McKay working of its nonprofit arm, Mobile Develop& Associates will not exceed $165,000. ment Enterprises. The board and agency will If approved as a candidate by the Personnel also direct future redevelopments currently Board, Pierce will be the third person to serve in the works for the former Roger Williams as executive director since January 2017 and Homes complex as well as the R.V. Taylor and the fourth person the board has named to the Thomas James complexes.

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BAYBRIEF | LAW ENFORCEMENT

Force multiplier

FEDERAL AGENTS, LOCAL COPS TARGETING ‘HIGH-CRIME’ AREAS

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BY JASON JOHNSON

olice say Dave Ivory Jenkins injured one of the officers who pulled him over in Whistler last month as he was trying to flee the scene, but FBI Special Agent Arthur Paul isn’t an average beat cop, and Jenkins is now facing charges for assaulting a federal agent.

According to a recent affidavit filed in his case, Jenkins was asked to step out of his vehicle after officers claimed to smell marijuana during a Feb. 10 traffic stop. He then allegedly drove away with Paul and another officer holding onto the side of the vehicle in an attempt to stop it.

Paul was transported to the hospital and treated for a head injury that wasn’t life-threatening. After a brief chase, Jenkins abandoned the vehicle and successfully fled on foot, though he voluntarily turned himself in to police three days later and remains in custody.

Jenkins’ arrest is one of several the FBI attributes to a new initiative called the Violence and Gun Reduction and Interdiction Program (VGRIP), which for months now has put federal agents like Arthur Paul out in the streets with local police patrolling high-crime areas.

As its name suggests, the intention of VGRIP is to prevent violent crime before it happens by focusing on repeat offenders as well as those who distribute narcotics and use illegal firearms.

The program is said to leverage information shared by local law enforcement agencies to target areas known for drug activity, violent crime, gang activity and individuals carrying stolen firearms or guns they aren’t able to possess legally due to prior felony convictions.

According to Special Agent Mike Harrison, who supervises the Mobile Division’s violent crimes unit, VGRIP uses a “high-impact” approach — meaning the targeted areas have seen an increased law enforcement presence and agents are having more contact with everyday citizens.

VGRIP has also made use of traditional law enforcement tactics such as undercover drug purchases, tips from the public, vehicle checkpoints and increased video surveillance in areas that, for the most part, have not been identified publicly. Despite the increased police activity, Harrison said the response from most communities impacted by the operation has been generally positive.

Prichard is the only area in which the FBI has acknowledged operating VGRIP units. That operation began last summer in conjunction with the Prichard Police Department and with the blessing of city leaders. Since then, other cities — including Chickasaw, Mobile, Saraland and Foley — have joined the program.

“To the law-abiding majority, we’re here to work with you. We want to safeguard your neighborhoods,” Harrison said. “To those that would carry an illegal firearm or commit a violent crime, our message is very simple: ‘We’re going to find you and we’re going to work with the United States Attorney’s Office to prosecute you and send you to federal prison.’”

One of the ways VGRIP works is through traffic enforcement in identified “high-crime” areas.

By putting FBI agents on the roads with local police, the agency is able to address any potential federal violations as soon as they are discovered, instead of being brought in after the fact.

U.S. Attorney Richard Moore’s office routinely prosecutes cases that originated with local police investigations, but Harrison said having agents on the ground can have a more immediate impact and

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help ensure the appropriate offenses are handled in federal court.

“We’re there with them when these violations are discovered,” Harrison said. “If an officer makes a traffic stop and finds an illegal firearm or narcotics, our agents and investigators are right there with them and the decision can be made to take a case to the federal level right then.”

According to Harrison, after only a few months the impact of VGRIP has been significant.

What he called “high-impact” operations have been taking place since the beginning of January, and during that time the FBI has seen 58 arrests and two federal indictments and recovered 29 illegal or stolen weapons. One of those, Harrison said, was a “ghost gun” with no traceable serial number.

Harrison said there are about a dozen or so other cases that have been or soon will be presented to federal grand juries.

Local law enforcement officials often tout these kinds of partnerships with the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s office, and for some it’s also a way to avoid obstacles that exist in the state system.

Last month, Mobile County District Attorney Ashley Rich and Mobile Police Chief Lawrence Battiste both said they are happy to turn over as many cases to federal prosecutors as they’re are willing to accept — especially those involving repeat offenders — because federal sentences tend to be lengthier. Rich said this is especially true for such charges as being a felon in possession of a firearm.

There’s also no parole in federal prison. According to Rich, the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles grants three days’ credit for every one day served by a state inmate, except for those convicted of a class A felony that resulted in physical injury.

“When these cases go to the grand jury, we identify those where the punishment might be stiffer in the federal system, and we ask the U.S. Attorney’s office to take those cases. Some they take, and some they do not,” Rich said. “Our goal is the maximum amount of time incarcerated.”

Since January, federal prosecutors have announced 64 cases where defendants have been sentenced for being a felon in possession of a firearm. Most originated with a local police investigation and could have been charged with a similar offense in state court.

Lagniappe reached out to Moore’s office seeking comment for this report, but did not receive a response as of this publication’s deadline.

However, earlier this year Moore said his office “prosecutes more gun cases per capita than any place in America and we will continue to do so.”

Similar to Rich, Battiste said having a working relationship with the federal agencies that have presence in Mobile — including the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Department of Homeland security — is a huge asset for the Mobile Police Department (MPD).

He said representatives from many of those agencies meet weekly with MPD to discuss ongoing cases and how they might overlap with work the agencies are performing.

“This is of the most aggressive districts when it comes to dealing with crime on the federal level, and with our partnerships and collaboration, we’ve done really good with solving crimes,” Battiste said. “We’re trying to do a better job preventing some of the crime occurring in our community.”

BAYBRIEF | MOBILE

Bugging out GULF COAST TERMINIX CUSTOMERS SEE MAJOR SPIKE IN TERMITE BOND RATES

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BY JASON JOHNSON

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t seems illegal for a longstanding customer with absolutely zero past claims history who receives the annual bond renewal to see a 400-to-500 percent increase,” Amy of Mobile posted on consumeraffairs. com Feb. 20. “This is widespread in the Mobile, AL area.

Buyer BEWARE!” Amy is not alone.

Dozens of similar posts have popped up on various consumer reporting websites over the past few weeks as some customers along the Gulf Coast have been notified that renewing their annual termite bonds through Terminix will come with a significant price increase.

The increases have varied in size from customer to customer, but some locals have reported annual payments jumping from $300 and $400 to as high as $1,400 in a single year. Others have claimed increases of up to 600 percent after years paying a much lower annual rate.

Reached by Lagniappe via email, a Terminix spokesperson said the increases are the result of customers being offered a more “comprehensive service” due to an increase in the number of Formosan termites — an invasive and particularly aggressive species of termite.

While a single individual doesn’t consume more wood than a native subterranean termite, Formosan termite colonies typically have larger population sizes and can cause more structural damage to homes in a shorter period of time. In letters sent to local bondholders, Terminix has previously said the climate in the Mobile area creates ideal conditions for the bugs.

“Many of our customers in the region are being given

the option to switch to this more comprehensive service, which combines our two strongest termite treatments,” a Terminix spokesperson said. “It is indeed a more expensive service, and we realize our customers will need time to make this decision.”

However, in response to the company’s justification for the bond increases, some attorneys who specialize in termite litigation cases are crying foul.

Tom Campbell has handled termite lawsuits for customers and bondholders in multiple states, including several involving Terminix. Recently, he’s claimed publicly that the rate spike could be an effort to drive away customers whose homes could be a liability for the company.

“Terminix knows its customers’ homes have an extraordinarily high chance of massive hidden termite damage because it failed to previously provide its termite prevention service,” Campbell wrote. “Our law firm represents dozens of families and businesses where the injury Terminix caused to their home or place of work is many hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

More specifically, Campbell alleged recent cases he’s handled showed that Terminix performed “incomplete initial inspections” and failed to replace worn-off chemical barriers that had previously been installed — leaving some homes with inadequate protection for years.

He told Lagniappe the “wrongdoing is directed by the CEO, not local managers and employees.”

In a recent blog post, Campbell said his firm has settled around half a dozen cases with Terminix over the

past six months that resulted in significant settlements.

A $1.6 million verdict against the company was also awarded by a jury in Biloxi last December. The plaintiffs in that case claimed Terminix failed to disclose significant termite repairs it had previously performed on a home they purchased in a pre-inspection report it prepared.

According to state court records, seven lawsuits have been filed against Terminix in Mobile County since 2018, including one that settled out of court in less than a month last fall. There are currently seven active lawsuits against the company in Baldwin County as well.

It’s worth noting that Campbell makes a living suing companies like Terminix and could stand to benefit from a rush of customers challenging their bond renewal rates in court. However, he’s been encouraging customers in Alabama to reach out to regulatory authorities.

Instead of ditching Terminix or agreeing to a new bond rate, Campbell said residents concerned over recent the increases should contact the Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries (ADAI) as well as Attorney General Steve Marshall’s office.

According to Campbell, residents should ask ADAI to investigate whether the termite treatment services they received from Terminix are incomplete or have worn off. If so, he said, customers have a right to insist Terminix provide the services specified in the original contract.

A consumer complaint form can be found at both agencies’ respective websites — agi.alabama.gov for the Department of Agriculture and ago. alabama.gov for the Attorney General’s office. Links to both forms are also available at lagniappemobile.com.

It appears several local residents have already filed similar complaints.

“Currently, we are handling numerous calls and complaints relating to Terminix’s notice to their existing termite customers regarding the increase in the cost for subterranean termite services,” Joe Debrow, program director for professional and regulatory services at ADAI, said. “It is our policy that we do not comment on whether we may or may not investigate a particular matter, and we do not comment on the results of our investigative findings until the time our case has been completed, finalized or dismissed.”

Similarly, spokesperson Mike Lewis said the Attorney General’s office has received similar complaints and is “communicating with [Terminix] about consumers’ concerns.” Lewis said that was the only information the AG’s office could provide on the subject at this time, though.

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BAYBRIEF | POLITICS

Pump it up GOV. KAY IVEY UNVEILS INCREASED GAS TAX BILL

BY GABRIEL TYNES

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ate last week, Gov. Kay Ivey unveiled the “Rebuild Alabama” bill, a $300 million plan to fund infrastructure improvements by increasing the state gas tax by 10 cents per gallon.

If passed by the Legislature, the state’s existing 18cent tax will increase to 24 cents on Oct. 1, 26 cents one year later and 28 cents by 2021. Using an average fuel efficiency of 22 gallons per mile and 12,000 miles driven per year, Ivey claims the increase will cost the average Alabamian $55 annually.

The bill, written by House Rep. Bill Poole, also stipulates how the proceeds may be spent, and provides for added accountability over the Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT).

One of those stipulations provides for up to $10.2 million per year to be diverted to the Alabama State Port Authority to pay its portion of an estimated $400 million project to deepen and widen the shipping channel. If funded, 75 percent of that project will be paid for with federal dollars, but the gas tax will be used to service as much as $150 million in related bond indebtedness through 2035.

Local leaders have long suggested the project will benefit business and industry across the state, and recently have coordinated an effort to curry favor for the plan with legislators statewide. The perception is legislators who oppose the tax altogether, plus those from rural areas who may not see as much of a local return, would possibly move to block a bill that does not include equitable investment in their districts.

On Thursday, the Coastal Alabama Partnership hosted about 65 members of the Legislature at its Regional Economic Summit in Mobile to promote the plan. Literature was distributed highlighting the port’s support of 153,278

jobs statewide, $568 million in tax revenue and $25.1 billion in economic value, representing 12 percent of the state’s gross domestic product. Afterward, the lawmakers boarded the Perdido Queen for a cruise around the Mobile River.

House Majority Leader Nathaniel Ledbetter said he was pleased with the summit.

“To see [the port] firsthand, I think it’s positive … what we’ve seen today is pretty impressive,” he said, noting his native Dekalb County is the state’s leading producer of poultry and already heavily relies upon the port for international exports.

“Of course, the automotive industry has become strong in my part of the state, and to see what is happening with these roll-on/roll-off facilities the manufacturers are using I think could be huge … so it certainly can be a partnership the whole state can benefit from.”

Ledbetter said his district suffers from “severe” road neglect, where school bus drivers opted to take more than 30,000 miles in detours last year rather than cross defective bridges.

“It’s a safety issue when you have to keep a kid on a bus for an extended period of time just to go around bad roads and bridges,” he said. “Everybody sees a need, it’s just a question of how we get there. I feel good about [the bill] and doing something positive for the state and investing in the next generation.”

State Sen. Clyde Chambliss was similarly impressed by the port’s facilities and said he understands the benefits of additional investment, but admitted his constituents have mixed feelings about the possibility of paying more at the gas pump.

“They don’t want to pay more taxes, I don’t want to pay

more taxes, but if you look at it from an objective point of view, we paid 6.5 percent of our income in state taxes in 2011 and now it’s down to 4.5 percent of our income, so there are times when we have to adjust rates, especially on something like the gas tax, which is not a percentage and does not grow over time,” he said. By Saturday, Chambliss had issued a statement indicating he would sponsor the bill.

“I explain that the gas tax has remained stable in revenue dollars, but the buying power has gone down because of the increase in construction costs … what we could buy in 1992 when we last [raised the gas tax], we can only buy about 60 percent with the same funds today,” his statement reads.

Chambliss said a priority transportation project in his district is widening portions of U.S. Route 82 between Prattville and Tuscaloosa, currently a twolane road linking the state capital to its “flagship” university. There, traffic and accidents have increased significantly over the years, he said, causing many preventable injuries and deaths.

“The average Alabamian will only pay about $55 extra per year with this gas tax, and that’s a small price to pay for such a real safety issue to me,” Chambliss said.

Others were more reserved. While acknowledging his District 54 has major infrastructure problems, Freshman House Rep. Neil Rafferty expressed hesitation about committing to the port funding.

“With the proposed gas tax, my main concern is making sure my constituents — Jefferson County and the city of Birmingham — get what they need,” he said. “For us, it’s roads, roads, roads — plus money for public transit — and we have a lot of potholes that need to be patched.”

Meanwhile, Lt. Gov. Will Ainsworth was also on board — not just the Perdido Queen, but with Ivey’s infrastructure plan.

“This is Alabama’s port, it’s not just Mobile’s,” he said. “[This project] is critical for not only continuing to grow the local economy, but the entire state.”

Ainsworth said a key part of the legislation will be the reform of the Joint Transportation Committee to add oversight and accountability over ALDOT. “If the tax passes, people need to know how the money is being spent … in an efficient way and also in a need-based way instead of based on politics,” he said.

The bill would send 66.6 percent of the proceeds to the state, 25 percent to counties and 8.3 percent to municipalities. The bill accompanies this article on lagniappemobile.com.

Rumor circulated among those in attendance that Gov. Ivey may table the gas tax bill for a special session, where it would only require a simple majority to pass rather than the three-fifths necessary during a regular session. The session began Tuesday, but as of Monday, Ivey had not substantiated those rumors.

BAYBRIEF | COURTS

Freedom of information LAGNIAPPE SUES BCSO FOR RECORDS IN FATAL ROADSIDE SHOOTING

BY JASON JOHNSON

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agniappe has filed a lawsuit against the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office (BCSO) seeking the release of records produced during the investigation into a fatal 2017 officer-involved shooting.

Earlier this month, the agency denied an Open Records Act request seeking written and electronic records related to the death of Jonathan Victor. A Louisiana resident, Victor was fatally shot by a BCSO deputy on May 12, 2017, following a single-vehicle accident along Interstate 10.

The shooting was investigated by the Baldwin County Major Crimes Unit, which comprises representatives from several agencies in the area, including the BCSO. Yet, Sheriff Huey “Hoss” Mack has previously said his personnel recused themselves from that particular investigation.

Sgt. Matt Hunady, the officer who shot and killed Victor, was cleared of any wrongdoing after a Baldwin County grand jury determined his use of lethal force was justified given the circumstances.

Specifically, Lagniappe is seeking “all of the records related to the shooting of Jonathan Victor on May 12, 2017, including but not limited to dash cam, body cam, and third-party video; the audio from any 911 calls or radio communications; photographs from the scene; autopsy records; and communications such as emails, text messages, and other forms of messaging.”

Lagniappe Co-Publisher Rob Holbert said the paper

feels it is important news organizations and the public have the opportunity to view all of the footage available because it is still unclear how the situation escalated from Victor being involved in an automobile accident to the point where he was shot. Lagniappe believes the requested records are public and should be released, as the criminal investigation into Victor’s death has concluded.

“We believe there is a First Amendment right for newspapers to fulfill their duty as public watchdogs when it comes to reviewing investigative records once the investigation is complete. Unfortunately, Alabama has continued to clamp down on the release of police reports, body camera footage and other records in direct opposition to the concept of transparency,” Holbert said. “Such records are withheld or made partially available based upon what appear to be arbitrary decision-making processes not in step with state open records laws. We think it is important to fight for total transparency, especially in a situation such as this where law enforcement records could possibly offer a more definitive narrative of what led to an unarmed man being shot.”

However, representatives for BCSO said the request couldn’t be granted based on an Alabama law which states in part, “law enforcement investigative reports, records, field notes, witness statements, and other investigative writings or recordings” are not considered public records but instead are “privileged communications protected from disclosure.”

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It’s worth noting BCSO allowed the media to view, record and rebroadcast some of the video footage captured the day Victor was killed, including a cellphone recording made by a nearby motorist and footage from Sgt. Hunady’s body camera, though it’s unclear if that footage was shown in its entirety.

Those videos were screened during a press conference on Oct. 16, 2017.

Audio from the incident captured officers giving Victor multiple verbal commands including “do not advance,” “stay right there” and “put it down.” In the video, Victor is seen holding something covered in some type of clothing while advancing toward officers. It was later determined to be a fanny pack.

THE SHOOTING WAS INVESTIGATED BY THE BALDWIN COUNTY MAJOR CRIMES UNIT, WHICH COMPRISES REPRESENTATIVES FROM SEVERAL AGENCIES IN THE AREA, INCLUDING THE BCSO. YET, SHERIFF HUEY “HOSS” MACK HAS PREVIOUSLY SAID HIS PERSONNEL RECUSED THEMSELVES FROM THAT PARTICULAR INVESTIGATION.” In the complaint filed Feb. 26, Lagniappe’s legal counsel maintains “that by failing to produce all of the responsive records,” BCSO and its employees violated the Alabama Open Records Act. Locally, Lagniappe is being represented by attorney David McDonald of the Kilborn, Roebuck & McDonald law firm, as well as Matt Topic and Merrick Wayne of the Chicago-based firm of Lovey and Lovey.

Reporters were looking into the case independently after being contacted by members of Victor’s family when Topic, who specializes in First Amendment issues, reached out to offer assistance with a records request in the same case. After that request was denied, Topic agreed to represent Lagniappe in this case, with McDonald as local counsel.

The case is set to go before Baldwin County Circuit Court Judge Scott Taylor and an initial pretrial conference is scheduled for May 21.

BAYBRIEF | COURTS

Death Row SUPREME COURT RULES FOR CONVICTED COP KILLER VERNON MADISON

BY GABRIEL TYNES

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onvicted Mobile cop killer Vernon Madison received a favorable ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court today, nearly 13 months after the court issued a stay of execution as the state was minutes from putting him to death.

Madison was convicted of the 1985 capital murder of Mobile Police Officer Julius Schulte during the investigation of a domestic dispute.

In an opinion written by Justice Elena Kagan, the court agreed in a 5-3 decision that Madison is protected under the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against cruel and usual punishment. Attorneys for Madison have argued he is incapacitated by dementia and no longer remembers the crime he committed, nor understands the sentence imposed by the state.

“The Eighth Amendment, this Court has held, prohibits the execution of a prisoner whose mental illness prevents him from ‘rational[ly] understanding’ why the State seeks to impose that punishment,” Kagan wrote.

“In this case, Vernon Madison argued that his memory loss and dementia entitled him to a stay of execution, but an Alabama court denied the relief. We now address two questions relating to the Eighth Amendment’s bar, disputed below but not in this Court.

“First, does the Eighth Amendment forbid execution whenever a prisoner shows that a mental disorder has left him without any memory of committing his crime? We (and, now, the parties) think not, because a person lacking such a memory may still be able to form a rational understanding of the reasons for his death sentence. Second, does the Eighth Amendment apply similarly to a prisoner suffering from dementia as to one experiencing psychotic delusions? We (and, now, the parties) think so, because either condition may — or, then again, may not — impede the requisite comprehension of his punishment.”

Joining Kagan in the decision were Chief Justice John Roberts and justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor.

Justice Samuel Alito filed a dissenting opinion joined by justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch, while Justice Brett Kavanaugh took no part in the consideration of the case.

While the decision effectively upholds Madison’s stay of execution, Kagan ordered a review by the state.

“The only issue left, on which the parties still disagree, is what those rulings mean for Madison’s own execution. We direct that issue to the state court for further consideration in light of this opinion.”

The Equal Justice Initiative (EJI), which worked on behalf of Madison along with the NAACP’s Legal Defense Fund, noted the order effectively returns the case to the state court “for renewed consideration of whether Mr. Madison can reach a ‘rational understanding’ of why the State wants to execute him.”

Further, “it barred the state court from relying on arguments or evidence tainted by legal error, including portions of the experts’ reports and testimony that ‘expressly reflect(s) an incorrect view of the relevance of delusions or memory’ as well as other evidence that ‘might have implicitly rested on those same misjudgments.’”

In each of his two previous criminal trials,

juries determined Madison shot Schulte twice in the head as the officer sat in his patrol car outside Madison’s girlfriend’s house, where Schulte was responding to a domestic dispute.

However, appellate courts overturned Madison’s convictions twice based on prosecutorial misconduct.

Noting it wasn’t the first time Madison’s execution has been stayed, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall’s office expressed confidence the sentence will eventually be carried out.

“Vernon Madison was convicted and sentenced to death for the 1985 murder of Mobile police officer Cpl. Julius Schulte, and he is competent to be executed for this heinous crime despite his claims that he cannot remember it,” Marshall said in a statement. “The U.S. Supreme Court has now held twice that the lack of memory is not alone sufficient to bar execution.

We expect that when the lower court revisits the matter on remand from the Supreme Court, it will once again find that Madison is competent to finally face the justice that he has so far evaded for nearly 34 years.”

Meanwhile, Alito wrote the majority decision “makes a mockery of our rules.” Alito claims Madison’s attorneys changed course from the question in their petition during oral arguments, essentially “tricking” the court into hearing a case that would have otherwise been dismissed.

“After persuading the Court to grant review of this question, counsel abruptly changed course,” Alito wrote. “Perhaps because he concluded (correctly) that petitioner was unlikely to prevail on the question raised in the petition, he conceded that the argument advanced in his petition was wrong, and he switched to an entirely different argument, namely, that the state court had rejected petitioner’s claim that he is incompetent to be executed because the court erroneously thought that dementia, as opposed to other mental conditions, cannot provide a basis for such a claim.

“This was not a question that the Court agreed to hear; indeed, there is no mention whatsoever of this argument in the petition — not even a hint. Nor is this question fairly included within those on which the Court granted review. On the contrary, it is an entirely discrete and independent question.”

In a tweet, the NAACP’s Legal Defense Fund called the decision a “monumental win” for the team, adding they will “continue to support” the case going forward.

The EJI issued its own statement Thursday morning ensuring “Madison is entitled to an assessment that recognizes dementia and other mental conditions as covered by Eighth Amendment’s ban against cruel and unusual punishment.”

“We are thrilled that today the Court recognized that people with dementia like Vernon Madison, who cannot orient to time and place, are protected from execution and cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment,” EJI attorney Bryan Stevenson said.

“Prisoners who become incompetent due to dementia and severe mental illness are vulnerable and should be shielded from abusive and cruel treatment. The Court’s opinion affirming the basic principle of a humane system of justice is a significant victory.”

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BAYBRIEF | FAIRHOPE

Ready to buy

FAIRHOPE LIKELY TO FINALIZE K-1 CENTER PURCHASE THIS WEEK

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BY JOHN MULLEN

ven though a grant to help purchase and renovate the former Fairhope K-1 Center fell through, the City Council is expected to vote to buy the property from the Baldwin County Board of Education during its March 7 meeting.

“It will be on Thursday night’s agenda to go ahead and fund the purchase of the K-1 property and the other two properties that we’re purchasing with it, the Nix Center and the Fairhoper Park across the street from the K-1 Center,” Council President Jack Burrell said. “All of those together are $2.5 million, and in addition to that we would agree to give $300,000 a year for five years to the schools through the EAC [Education Advisory Committee].”

Originally, the purchase agreement called for a closing date of Dec. 31, 2018, but the council wanted it moved into 2019.

“We had asked for an extension for March 31 to close on that property and we intend on doing just that,” Burrell said.

The city already has a yearly commitment to the Baldwin County Board of Education, Burrell said, so the $300,000 in annual installments is something Fairhope is already doing.

“Currently we’ve been giving $350,000, so I don’t feel like that’s new money,” Burrell said.

“That’s just continuing a commitment that we’ve had now for six years. I see it as a $2.5 million purchase, but technically it’s a $4 million purchase because we are committed to the $1.5 million over the five-year period.”

Originally, the city applied for a grant from the Economic Development Administration for $6.1 million to not only purchase the properties, but to make improvements to the K-1 building. If the grant was secured, the city’s match of the $6.1 million would have been about $1.22 million.

The terms of this particular grant would require that a nonprofit job creator — in this case Hatch Fairhope, a business incubator initiative of the Baldwin County Economic Development Alliance — be the building’s primary tenant.

“We thought we had a really good chance,” Burrell said. “We had somebody that was advising us on that grant and had been through many of these. It’s not the end of the world. How many times do municipalities apply for federal grants and you don’t get it? You don’t get every grant you apply for.”

When the grant was conceived, Burrell said, it was based on the work Hatch was doing and would continue to do in the expanded space.

Development of the building now through grants will depend on the focus of the grants that are available.

“We’re going to search for other grant opportunities and if we’re successful, it just depends on what the requirements are for that,” Burrell said.

“If we get a grant and it requires us to house arts or schools or whatever in there, then that will be the priority. Hatch was the priority under the Economic Development grant through which Hatch was a vehicle. If something else becomes that vehicle we’ll have to see what that looks like.”

BAYBRIEF | FAIRHOPE

Civil complaint

FAIRHOPE’S FORMER PUBLIC WORKS DIRECTOR SUES OVER TERMINATION

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BY GABRIEL TYNES

ormer Fairhope Public Works Director Jennifer Fidler has sued the the city and Mayor Karin Wilson, claiming in a sevencount civil complaint she was wrongfully terminated in April 2017 and subsequently harmed by her successor’s higher rate of pay and Wilson’s defamatory statements about her tenure.

The complaint outlines Fidler’s brief employment after Wilson took office in November 2016, including an incident in which the mayor allegedly took former Human Resources Director Pandora Heathcoe by the shoulders and shook her during a meeting with Fidler in late 2016.

Subsequently, Fidler alleges she was called into another meeting with Heathcoe and Wilson, along with Personnel Board Chair Lorenzo Howard, where Wilson “pressured” both Fidler and Heathcoe to either not speak about the incident to others or, in Heathcoe’s case, admit her own wrongdoing leading up to the “shaking incident.”

The next month, when Wilson allegedly informed Fidler she was going to be fired, Fidler claims she asked to be retained as city horticulturist until her scheduled retirement date on Jan. 1, 2018. Alleging minimal communication with Wilson after the request, Fidler said she subsequently took leave time and only learned she was fired after she filed a public records request to view her personnel file — which subsequently was found to contain a notice of termination effective the same day she requested the file.

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Afterward, Wilson’s public statements about Fidler’s termination amount to defamation, slander and libel, according to the complaint, while Fidler also claims breach of contract and violations of the Family and Medical Leave Act, tortious interference with a business contract or agreement, civil conspiracy and “failure to equally compensate” due to Wilson’s hiring of a successor at a rate of pay “in excess of the Plaintiff’s salary and benefits for the position described and maintained by the City on or about Feb. 24, 2017.”

“As a result of the defendant’s conduct, directly or by and through the defendant’s agents, employees, servants or designees, Ms. Fidler has lost income, benefits, both past and future, and has suffered severe mental and emotional distress and damage to her reputation,” the complaint states.

Fidler’s attorney is listed as Alyce Spruell of Rosen Harwood in Tuscaloosa. The full complaint accompanies this article on lagniappemobile.com.

Wilson, who has the statutory authority to hire and fire department heads and replaced at least four shortly after taking office, issued a brief statement on the complaint.

“Although I cannot comment on pending litigation, I will say I’m confident once all facts are known the city and I as mayor will be finally vindicated,” she said.

BAYBRIEF | MOBILE

Honoring those who’ve served ADMIRAL TOURS FACILITY FOR HOMELESS VETERANS DURING NAVY WEEK

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BY DALE LIESCH

homeless veterans facility in Mobile got the attention of a top naval officer during the recent Navy Week here in the Port City.

Rear Adm. Ron Fritzmeier, chief engineer of the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command, toured the Volunteers of America Southeast Eagle’s Landing facility as one of many local stops for Navy Week.

Fritzmeier was complimentary of the facility that provides temporary, transitional housing for up to 38 male veterans per year. He also acknowledged the challenge facing the country and the military when it comes to homeless veterans.

“You know it’s, in a sense, one of those tragedies that we have continued to get the medical technology to be able to take care of the needs of our military and veterans, but taking care of the wounds on the inside has always been harder,” he said in an interview following the tour.

The Navy, Fritzmeier said, exists to defend the homeland. He argued that it’s not just about geography, but also about values and a way of life.

“That’s what we exist to defend, and then you see the unfortunate consequences for many vets,” he said. “The struggles they have, frankly, sometimes it’s their own poor choices, but oftentimes there is a root and some experience they had — especially recently because of all the sustained conflicts we’ve had — that can be really, really hard to deal with. So, it’s great to see these communities of people who are now going, ‘we need to care

for these folks.’”

Fritzmeier touted the facility’s 80 percent success rate and said he was thrilled by the work it has done for the lives of veterans.

“They talked about some of the victories of the men they’ve been able to help and how they’ve been able to help them work through whatever kinds of issues they’ve had to help them find stable employment, affordable housing, acknowledging that not everybody turns the corner, but they were talking their numbers …,” he said.

“So, overall, I was like ‘oh my goodness, what an amazing facility.’”

Eagle’s Landing Program Director Deborah Murph said the nonprofit facility’s goal is to help homeless veterans transition into a job and affordable housing within two years.

“The goal is to help get veterans off the street and help find them safe, affordable housing,” she said. “We try to help them work on their goals ... .”

Every one of the facility’s 38 furnished studio apartments is currently full, Murph said. There is a waiting list, but she didn’t share how many veterans are currently on it. Residents can stay up to two years, but most are transitioned to housing of their own in about a year, on average, she said. The facility works to help them apply for benefits, as well as actively look for jobs while they’re there.

Services at the facility include case management, lifeskills training, job readiness, job placement assistance,

transportation and assistance with securing long-term, permanent housing.

The Moffett Road facility is funded in part through a per diem grant program from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and several benefactors.

“The VA works with us to help us provide case management services,” she said. “Our benefactors help us do what we do as well.”

For instance, she said the Jake Peavy Foundation, a nonprofit founded by the Mobile native and former Major League Baseball pitcher, helped the facility put in a garden, which is tended by the residents.

“They took us out to the garden that they said some of the residents manage, which was, again, I can’t remember ever seeing a real garden that was as clean and neat as this place,” Fritzmeier said. “It was just incredible.”

Like Fritzmeier, Murph acknowledged there is still a need for services like

THEY TALKED ABOUT SOME OF THE VICTORIES OF THE MEN THEY’VE BEEN ABLE TO HELP AND HOW THEY’VE BEEN ABLE TO HELP THEM WORK THROUGH WHATEVER KINDS OF ISSUES THEY’VE HAD TO HELP THEM FIND STABLE EMPLOYMENT, AFFORDABLE HOUSING, ACKNOWLEDGING THAT NOT EVERYBODY TURNS THE CORNER, BUT THEY WERE TALKING THEIR NUMBERS.” -REAR ADM. RON FRITZMEIER the ones Eagle’s Landing provides.

“I hope one day we’re not needed,” she said. “That would mean all veterans are housed.”

Eagle’s Landing takes donations of cash, cars, trucks, boats and even real estate. Those interested can volunteer as well. For more information on Eagle’s Landing, call 251-300-3500.

BAYBRIEF | MOBILE

Mindfulness MEDITATION CENTER TAKES CITY TO FEDERAL COURT OVER RELIGIOUS FREEDOM CONCERNS

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BY DALE LIESCH

he four-year dispute between the city and the owners of a proposed Buddhist meditation center near Dog River is slated for trial in federal court starting Tuesday, March 12.

An attorney representing Lar Nimityongskul and her family filed a complaint in U.S. District Court in Mobile claiming the city’s Planning Commission and City Council discriminated against their Buddhist faith and their constitutionally protected freedom of religion by denying approval of plans to build a meditation facility on property on Eloong Drive.

In an interview with Lagniappe, attorney John Lawler said that despite concerns over access and traffic, the main issues with the meditation center revolve around the religious practices hosted there.

“The underlying reason was Buddhism, I believe,” Lawler said.

As evidence of this, Lawler points to two Christian churches less than half a mile away from the almost seven-acre forested area the Nimityongskuls wanted to use for their facility.

One of the central issues in this case stems from whether or not the meditation center can be considered a church, or a religious facility. This question has been an important part of the debate going back to its inception, and even resulted in an attorney for the Planning Commission asking the Nimityongskuls for proof the facility could legally be considered a church.

Despite a letter from the Internal Revenue Service granting it nonprofit status as a charitable organization — a designation which, Lawler argues in the suit, is given to

many churches — and accompanying letters provided by several Buddhist leaders, Doug Anderson, the commission’s attorney, argued in an appeal hearing to the Mobile City Council that the center could not be considered a church. Lawler argued in the suit that it is not common for the Planning Commission to ask for proof of a church’s legal status.

If the center is considered a church or place of worship, it would be allowed within a residential area, like the Eloong Drive neighborhood where the property sits.

However, planning approval would be needed. Lawler said in that case the city would have to provide reasonable restrictions. He argued that not allowing the center infringes on the First Amendment.

“The city has got to pick the least restrictive means possible, by law,” Lawler said. “The city of Mobile has made accommodations for church after church after church. They made it work.”

During public hearings on the center, opponents cited traffic and access concerns along Eloong Drive, but Lawler said accommodations could have been made to address those concerns. He also argues in the suit that many of the access and traffic concerns are mitigated because the Nimityongskuls’ property is the first one off of Riverside Drive.

“Any impact to Eloong Drive would be minimal, as access to the property is the first along Eloong Drive, after turning from Riverside Drive,” the suit reads. “The other residences along Eloong Drive are located further along that road.”

The center is currently located in a shopping center

along Airport Boulevard, according to the suit, but that location near the bustling thoroughfare is not ideal for meditation practice, as vehicle noise can be heard from inside the center.

The Nimityongskuls had initially planned to move the center into a home on Airport Boulevard, which they bought in 2007. In 2009, the family sought to move the meditation center there, but the plan faced opposition from neighbors, according to the suit.

“Opposing residents cited religious reasons and fear of the Center ‘converting’ others to Buddhism as reasons for their opposition,” the suit reads.

Lawler, in the suit, argued that the Nimityongskuls are not interested in converting others to Buddhism through the meditation center and instead believe in the Buddhist teaching that anyone from any religion or background can find enlightenment through the practice.

The Nimityongskuls also considered using about 100 acres donated near University Boulevard as a site for the meditation center, but determined the property wasn’t suitable, according to the suit.

“After further investigation, the center found that the North University property was not suitable for construction,” the suit reads. “The installation of drainage, grading the site and fire hydrants made development of the property impracticable.”

In April 2015, the plaintiffs found the Eloong Drive property. The 6.7-acre parcel is “densely forested” and has a view of Dog River, according to the suit. It is “uniquely suited” for the center’s work.

“The Property is located approximately 1,000 feet away from The Church of the Nazarene, located on Riverside Drive,” the suit reads. “The Property is located a couple blocks away from the ‘South Bay Congregation,’ on Gill Road.”

While the property currently has a single-family home on it, the plaintiffs had planned to add another four-bedroom cottage, a bathroom facility and a 2,500-square-foot building to house the meditation center. The additional buildings would be allowed if the property is considered for use as a church, according to the suit.

While attorneys for the city did not return a call seeking comment for this story, in a response to the 2016 complaint the attorneys denied all the pertinent allegations made in the suit Lawler filed.

The trial is set for 9 a.m. on Tuesday, March 12, in courtroom 3B at the federal courthouse building. U.S. District Judge Terry F. Moorer will preside.

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COMMENTARY | DAMN THE TORPEDOES

Help Lagniappe be a better newspaper ROB HOLBERT/MANAGING EDITOR/RHOLBERT@LAGNIAPPEMOBILE.COM

BUT WE GOT LUCKY. AND WE WORKED HARD TO CONSTANTLY IMPROVE THIS PUBLICATION AND LIVE UP TO OUR DRIVING THEORY THAT IF LAGNIAPPE WAS FILLED WITH GREAT ARTICLES READERS AND ADVERTISERS WOULD COME.”

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delivered to your home through the U.S. mail. Call it a convenience charge, or insurance against living in a news desert. But we think it’s time to ask our readers to buy into having a newspaper.

When people pick up the print version of the paper, it gives us the readership numbers to help sell the ads that pay for what we do. Unfortunately, even though we routinely have 40,000 or more people online per month, it doesn’t translate financially.

Google and Facebook have snatched up the vast majority of the online money, which is another reason you’ll eventually see just about every publication erect a paywall.

I’d like to get you all chanting “Build that paywall!” in excitement before this column ends, but I realize it’s no fun having to register for anything online, even if it is only 21 cents per day. But realize if we can get enough of you doing this, it will mean more reporters covering more news and keeping you better informed. I don’t even think you can get a Jolly Rancher for 21 cents anymore, so this is pretty inexpensive.

One of the other reasons having our readers involved financially is it also helps us maintain editorial independence without fear of financial reprisals. In other words, if you guys are a big financial part of what we do, we don’t have to worry as much when an advertiser gets pissed we won’t write glowing stories about their favorite political candidate. Unfortunately that kind of thing does happen.

So hopefully many of you will find having access to everything we write, including web-only stories, worth spending that 21 cents a day. We would feel damn lucky if you would.

THEGADFLY

eaten alive by the monster they helped create. Classified advertising died, destroyed by Craigslist. Readers canceled subscriptions in favor of reading the same stories online for free, and display advertisers turned more and more frequently to the web.

But newspapers also couldn’t figure out a way to make the web pay the way print had. Now the return on all those stories and reporters typing away was pennies on the dollar, so they started laying people off, reducing coverage and generally becoming less and less important in their readers’ lives.

Mobile was one of the harder hit cities in the country because our daily’s ownership in New Jersey got mighty antsy about this new technology and pulled the trigger on a pretty massive change of focus. Suddenly cities like Birmingham, New Orleans, Portland, Mobile and many others no longer had daily newspapers. Readers and advertisers in those cities were told “exciting changes” were on the way, but they were only exciting if you enjoyed watching these papers wither and die.

Now the P-R is essentially a bureau of whatever’s left of the Birmingham News, and Lagniappe is out there grinding every day, working to be this area’s newspaper.

I tell you all this story — one most of you probably know — to explain some of the changes we will be making very soon that are designed to both improve our coverage of this area and also to make sure Lagniappe is financially secure enough to last another 17 years and

hopefully many more after that.

We announced last month we would soon be putting more effort into our coverage of Baldwin County by creating a Baldwin edition. That starts next week. Gabe Tynes is moving to our office in Daphne as bureau chief and will oversee our efforts to make sure Lagniappe is providing as much Baldwin news as possible each week. It’s not an entirely separate newspaper, though, as many seem to think.

Essentially we will be moving some of the Mobile-oriented news out of our front part of the paper and replacing it, and the cover, with stories generated from Baldwin.

Most of the regular features — cuisine, sports, arts, etc. — will appear in both versions, as will all advertising. Advertisers will still be reaching 80,000 people a week in print — and hopefully more.

All stories will appear on lagniappemobile.com, so you don’t have to miss out on anything. But that brings me to the subject of our website.

Any steady consumer of journalism has probably noticed by now that most newspapers are erecting paywalls at a breakneck pace. After years and years of trying to make it on clicks alone, the news business has realized it’s time to go back to the way things used to be when people expected to pay for their daily news.

Most of the nation’s biggest papers now have a paywall on their websites, as do lots and lots of small ones. We’ll be joining them in the next couple of weeks. Yes, the print version of Lagniappe will remain free, but we’re going to begin charging $1.50 a week for readers to access our website, and just $2 a week for web access and a paper

Cartoon/Laura Mattei

W

e’ve been damn lucky over these nearly 17 years now. Damn lucky to have so many dedicated readers and advertisers who believe in Lagniappe and who’ve helped this little newspaper swim upstream during a time when so many newspapers have sunk to the bottom.

Lagniappe started in the middle of a recession, coming in hot on the heels of a similarly sized publication that had burned bridges all over town, and faced a still-pretty-close-to-full-strength Press-Register. Plenty of folks said starting a newspaper in Mobile was a loser idea that would later in life provide nothing more than an amusing anecdote about bankruptcy.

But we got lucky. And we worked hard to constantly improve this publication and live up to our driving theory that if Lagniappe was filled with great articles readers and advertisers would come. And the paper grew from 5,000 copies every two weeks when we started, to 30,000 a week, where it now stands, making Lagniappe Alabama’s largest weekly newspaper.

Even as we grew, the newspaper world as a whole was heading the way of typewriters that were once an integral part of what they did. The internet hit hard and newspapers that had once thought it was cute to put all their work online for free now found themselves being

NEW BIKE PATHS ON BROAD STREET WILL MAKE IT EASIER FOR LIMEBIKE TO PEDAL OUT OF TOWN.

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COMMENTARY | THE HIDDEN AGENDA

Community Lenten goals ASHLEY TRICE/EDITOR/ASHLEYTOLAND@LAGNIAPPEMOBILE.COM

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ot. Rainy. Cold. It doesn’t matter what you throw at us during Mardi Gras, we are going to roll right on through it and good times will be had by the inhabitants of the Mother of the Mystics.

And they were. With record crowds on many nights, it was one of the best Carnival celebrations I can remember in recent years. But now, as we rake up the beads and put up the Mardi Gras decorations, it’s time for Lent. As such, many of us will give up — or at least attempt to — a bad habit or vice for 40 days.

Alcohol, sweets, caffeine and social media are always popular choices for individuals, but what if we gave up some things together as a community? There are definitely some things we need to do, not just for Lent but forever. And maybe Lent is just as good a time as any to start practicing better habits.

feel if your stolen gun was used to kill someone?

Owning a gun is a right, but it is also a huge responsibility. And this is something that is totally preventable. Gun owners, let’s get this number down as close to zero as possible!

There’s really no excuse!

Being trashy - stop!

Every year during Mardi Gras, I look at the streets after each parade and think, oh, what fun that was, but man, did we just make a big ol’ mess. Especially after a big rainstorm. Just looking at a crushed moonpie floating in a puddle with some broken beads makes me want to go get a tetanus shot immediately.

And a lot of these trinkets end up making their way into area waters. I am sure if you take a cruise down Three Mile Creek next week you will see Mardi Gras balls and beads on the banks.

There has been some discussion — more Leaving guns in cars — don’t do it! so in New Orleans than here — about possibly The Mobile Police Department (MPD) exchanging the plastic beads for biodegradable recently launched a campaign encouraging ones. I think that is definitely a discussion we residents to secure their firearms. According to should have at some point, but for our Lenten MPD, during 2017, 1,158 guns were stolen and goal, we all need to be less trashy in general. in 2018, 1,195 guns were taken. Eighty percent Of course, there are horrible morons with of these thefts came from unlocked vehicles, no upbringing who still throw trash out of their and Chief Lawrence Battiste said the likely cul- cars like the world is just one giant wastebasket. prits were teenagers “pulling on door handles” I really don’t think there is any hope for those at night. The vast majority of these weapons nasty folks. were never recovered. And they do not end up But there are many of us who are litterbugs in good places. The gun used to kill Officer and don’t even realize it. I know what you are Sean Tuder was stolen from an unlocked vehithinking: I would never litter, and I don’t need cle, just days prior to his death. And one of the you preaching at me, Ashley Trice. I know, I guns used in the Mardi Gras shooting between know. I didn’t think I was a litterbug either until two 17-year-olds this year was also stolen.

I realized I was one, unintentionally, but still It is mind-boggling to think so many gun one nonetheless. owners are leaving firearms in their unlocked If you are like me, you may clean out your vehicles that thieves, on average, can steal more car (mainly because your filthy children leave than three a day in a given year. Think about that! all kinds of trash in your backseat) and toss That is just unacceptable! We have to do better. said trash in the top of your city-issued garbage I know everyone can have a forgetful day, cart. If you have ever spent any time behind a but if you are going to leave something that can garbage truck, you will notice the trash that is be used to take someone’s life in the console of not bagged often does not make it into the truck, your Chevy, you don’t have the luxury of being especially on windy days, and — you guessed it able to just “forget.”

— it ends up on the streets, trashing up the city The Mobile City Council discussed apjust as much as it would have if you had thrown proaching state legislators about possibly creat- it out the window like an idiot. ing fines or penalties for gun owners who are So try to make sure everything in your cart not properly securing weapons, but Chief Batis bagged up so it doesn’t fly out. We probably tiste said he feared that would just cause people can’t do anything about the litterbugs who just not to report the theft and then law enforcement don’t give a you-know-what. Litter ordinances wouldn’t have an accurate estimate of how are just too hard for the city to really enforce. many guns are out on the street. And he’s prob- But if we all do our part to bag up our garbage ably correct in that assessment. and also try to pick up as much trash as we can But we shouldn’t have to have fines for whenever we are out and about, we can make something that we should be doing anyway. sure this beautiful city shines like she should.

Put it in the trunk of your car, keep it in your So, let’s lock up our guns and bag up our purse or a bag, take it inside or, at the very least, trash this Lenten season (and beyond) and set a reminder on your phone to make sure your maybe, just maybe, we can be the cleanest and vehicle is locked every night. safest city in America by 2020. It certainly Could you imagine just how awful you would doesn’t hurt to try.

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COMMENTARY | THE BELTWAY BEAT

Democrats’ self-awareness problem

BY JEFF POOR/COLUMNIST/JEFFREYPOOR@GMAIL.COM

D

“

o you think they realize how ridicufrom Michael Cohen? For most of us — lous their gestures look to people Democrat, Republican, liberal, conservative, watching on television?” libertarian, anarchist, etc. — the answer would I’ve been asking myself this a be “no.” Actually “heck no.” lot these days. Whenever Democrats make a Why would the average person, uncommitpublic pronouncement or symbolic gesture to ted to ideology or the political cult of personaldemonstrate their dissatisfaction with Donald ity, be swayed by anything Michael Cohen has Trump, their efforts often look awkward, short- to say? It’s not that he is a convicted felon. It’s sighted, even bizarre. that he just looks like a sleazebag.

Take last month’s State of the Union adYet, Democrats persisted. dress. Many female lawmakers in Congress The most glaring example of this optics wore white and sat together in the gallery to shortcoming from Democrats was Hillary show their solidarity against the president.

Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign. On On paper, that seems great. It shows unity. paper, Clinton was our girl: a former U.S. It’s a throwback to the Suffragettes. Those feSenator, former secretary of state and a former male members of Congress were very proud of first lady. Darn it, it was time to elect a woman this moment. But how did that look to the aver- president of the U.S.! And it seemed like most age American, tuning in because the annual pundits and establishment-dwellers were on address was the only thing on any channel? board with that message.

It had to be strange. Why are these women However, decades of public spotlight and sitting in their seats, scowling, and decked some troubling stumbles along the way — out in white while everyone else is cheering? including the Sept. 11, 2016, ceremony at Is this some weird Ground Zero in New throwback to the dysYork City — were too topian “Handmaid’s much for Clinton to Tale”? overcome. She lost, It’s hard to imagine and there are people the average SOTU who still don’t underWE LIVE IN A VERY SUPERFICIAL viewer (who likely stand it.

WORLD. FOR NOW, THAT IS AN is not as aware of Why? How? “It the current political had to be sexism!”

UNDENIABLE TRUTH REGARDLESS bickering) understood “Maybe it was the what these women Russians!” “It was OF WHAT WE’RE TOLD BY OUR were trying to convey. those damned racist In fact, it probably deplorables in flyover ELECTED OFFICIALS IN WASHINGmade that viewer country!” “It was the TON, OUR POP CULTURE CELEBthink, “What a bunch flawed Electoral Colof weirdos.” lege!”

RITIES IN HOLLYWOOD OR THE The same goes Clinton lost for a for the Democratic variety of reasons.

MARKETING GURUS ON MADISON Party’s response to The 2016 presidential Trump’s recent Oval AVENUE IN NEW YORK CITY. election has been Office address, in Monday morning which he announced quarterback ad nauhis plan to declare a seam at this point. But national emergency one of the elucidated and divert discretionary funding to begin conreasons had to do with how the public actustruction on a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border. ally saw Clinton. How Clinton and her stiff House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, attempts at mass appeal (when she clearly and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, viewed the masses as inferior) appeared to the D-New York, gave a stiff, poorly choreopublic. graphed presentation — with so much makeup Does that make it right? Is it justifiable? that even Madame Tussaud’s would reject them No, but that is how many people function. as too phony to pass for exhibits in their wax It’s a reality. Elections are still won and lost, museum — in response to Trump’s relatively be it for the right and wrong reasons. And a statesmanlike announcement. lot of people just didn’t see Hillary Clinton as Could this pair of stern and sullen, elderly a president, much less somebody they would Democrats actually change minds? It was like want to spend time with. the entire country had been called to the princiWe live in a very superficial world. For now, pal’s office for a scolding. that is an undeniable truth regardless of what The latest example came last week when we’re told by our elected officials in Washingformer Trump consigliere Michael Cohen ton, our pop culture celebrities in Hollywood testified on Capitol Hill before the Democrator the marketing gurus on Madison Avenue in controlled House Oversight Committee. Every New York City. television network joined the coverage, which That’s not to say that, over time, this won’t meant the hearing pre-empted daytime TV change and people will see things differently. favorites “The View,” “The Price Is Right,” But for now, Democrats can’t rely on what they “Days of Our Lives” and “General Hospital.” assume Americans should believe.

“This will show Trump! The American Once you try to impose beliefs on people, people will finally see what a reprobate their you start to lose people, especially in an indipresident is and demand action!” vidualistic society. And as we know, elections Ask yourself: Would you buy a used car are won by addition, not subtraction.

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BUSINESS | THE REAL DEAL

The Brickwell opens in Mobile’s Central Business District

BY RON SIVAK/COLUMNIST/BUSINESS@LAGNIAPPEMOBILE.COM

T

he Brickwell, a 21,586-square-foot, mixed-use two-story apartment and retail development located at 670 Springhill Ave., near the western gateway of Mobile’s burgeoning Central Business District, recently opened for business.

The site is situated directly behind the offices of Sam Winter & Co. and across the street from both Moe’s Original Bar B Que and OK Bicycle Shop eateries in downtown Mobile.

The development has seven 1,840-squarefoot, three-bedroom, three-bath units, piced at $350,000 each, and one 2,270-square-foot, threebedroom, three-bath space on the second floor, price to be determined. Total footprint on the residential side encompasses some 15,150 square feet. Sam Winter with Sam Winter & Co. is handing inquires for tenant space.

The open bay retail area, located on the bottom floor, encompasses 6,387 square feet and can be used as one parcel or rented in either 1,000- or 1,500-square-foot segments separately. Jeremy Milling with Milling Commercial Realty is handling inquiries on the commercial side.

“We came up with the name of the development from an archeological discovery, in the early 1990s, of a historic well on the property,” Winter said. “The development was formerly an upper Dauphin Street market and shopping center sometime in the 1800s. We thought the name ‘Brickwell’ for the property was appropriate, to reflect its history.”

More information about The Brickwell can be found on its website.

Business moves, transactions

• Providence Hospital, a part of Ascension,

recently held an open house in Mobile for its new hybrid operating room, which can convert from a cath lab to a surgical room, as needed. Providence is reportedly the first hospital in the Gulf Coast region to offer a hybrid operating room with a specialized high-definition 3D imaging system.

The room features the ARTIS pheno robotic imaging system. The technology reportedly allows 15 percent faster image resolution and four times higher definition than other systems, facilitating more accurate information during complex procedures.

“We are seeing a transition in medicine from open surgeries to more minimally invasive procedures that require new technology. Imaging is crucial to these procedures because it allows physicians to see in crystal-clear detail fine vascular structures, which is critical in placing stents or opening up arteries,” Rick Metzger, vice president of operations and surgical services at Providence Hospital, said.

Other patient benefits include: less stress on kidneys due to lower doses of radiation and IV contrast materials; reduced risk of infection through special coating on the device; and portability when more advanced intervention is required.

The new hybrid operating room, which is almost double the size of a traditional operating room, will allow physicians to perform a variety of vascular procedures, including arteriogram, angioplasty and complex endovascular stent procedures.

• Waterville USA, located at 906 Gulf Shores Parkway, has opened for the 2019 season with two new attractions. The first is Cyberville USA, a virtual reality center allowing patrons to put on a headset and use hand-controlled sensors for an interactive computer-generated experience in a

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simulated environment. The second, The Launch Pad, is a two-man trampoline experience with bungee apparatus.

According to Waterville USA President Joe Warrington, since its initial opening in 1986 the park has invested over $16 million in new and improved attractions. Current activities include Nascart Go-Carts, the Flowrider, a 36-hole miniature golf course, kiddie rides, an arcade room and two Escape Rooms.

Waterville USA’s water park opens May 18.

• Mobile-headquartered Beard Equipment Co. recently broke ground on a new facility at 4551 NW 44th Ave. in Ocala, Florida, situated on 10 acres. The addition of the 48,000-square-foot site will increase the company’s staff from 26 full-time employees to 35. Established in 1970 and family owned, Beard Equipment Co. has 10 locations in Mobile, Jacksonville, Pensacola, Freeport, Panama City, Tallahassee, Perry, Lake City, Palatka and now Ocala.

South Baldwin Chamber launches apprenticeship program The South Baldwin Chamber Gateway Initiative has launched its new Youth Apprenticeship (YA) program set for April 2019.

The program will be offered to high school students ages 15 to 18 and will allow them to partner with local businesses in the tourism and hospitality industries in Baldwin County. To date, 24 businesses have signed up to participate in the program and will offer students who qualify a paid apprenticeship.

“This youth apprenticeship program will truly provide opportunities for kids in the community to advance their careers and allow us to be a part

of their growth,” Shaul Zislin, founder of Hangout Hospitality Group, a family of restaurants in Gulf Shores, said.

The YA program will begin with a Signing Day event set for April 5 at The Lodge at Gulf State Park in Gulf Shores. Students will be transported from all Baldwin County high schools to participate in career development activities, culminating with offers to qualified students of paid employment and apprenticeship opportunities.

More information about the program can be found on the South Baldwin Chamber of Commerce website.

Spring Hill College’s Rev. Gregory Lucey SJ retires

Rev. Gregory F. Lucey SJ, chancellor of Spring Hill College (SHC) since 2015, has announced his plans to retire from full-time duties as chancellor, according to a news release. In the role, Lucey worked as mission and identity officer, was a member of the college cabinet and served as liaison to the board committee.

Lucey was SHC president from 1997 to 2009, and was involved in the renovation and/ or construction of the Marnie and John Burke Memorial Library, the Mary Lou and John Barter Student Center, the St. Joseph Chapel and new residence halls.

He was appointed chancellor in 2013, had an additional presidential appointment from 2013 to 2015 and re-assumed the chancellorship in 2015.

Lucey will remain on the SHC campus, working in various fundraising and public relations capacities.

“I deeply appreciate the opportunity to be able to serve with the people of Spring Hill College for most of 22 years,” he said.

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CUISINE | THE REVIEW

Cook Out — fast, trashy food, plus sublime shakes, sides

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

I

knew it wouldn’t take long for me to be put in a position where I had to break my diet. If you’re going to fall off the wagon, fall off hard, right? That’s what I did, but I did it for a good reason. Mobile anticipated Cook Out — a hot spot for college kids and fans of cheap food, located a spitting distance from the USA campus in the former PDQ — so heavily I felt ashamed to have left it alone for so long.

The place has sort of a cult following from the sorority girl and church youth group crowd. It’s fast paced and noisy, a young man’s game, if you will, with the most random menu from which I’ve ever ordered. Barbecue, burgers and shakes are the quick description, but a list of disjointed sides makes for an interesting read. For example, why would a place that doesn’t sell seafood have hush puppies? It’s weird enough to just work.

We had a full house that night, so I had to pick up takeout. I basically went across the menu looking to hit the high notes. If you go, prepare yourself. Know what you want beforehand. The line moves almost as fast as the employees talk, so don’t look like the geezer who can’t get with the program. You can order a la carte or by the tray (combo meal), which comes with two sides.

My family had researched online, tasking me with the dirty work of driving to University Boulevard, fighting the crowd and, most importantly, paying for it. Katie got first crack at the menu and went pretty Plain Jane with the regular Chicken Tray ($3.40) original style, meaning lettuce, tomato, mayonnaise and honey mustard. Her first response was that it was a real piece of chicken on a sweeter bun. The onion rings that came with it were a hit as we shared it all family style, but the cheddar bites were really the rage. A small portion of fried cheese curd can win the hearts of this family quickly.

Lucas was in a double dog daring mood. His Two Hot Dog Tray ($3.40) was, of course, a pair of chili dogs with cheese, cooked to the point of crispy ends, to his delight. To confuse his

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taste buds further, he opted for the cheese quesadilla, one that was lightly browned with jack cheese that Graham pursued more than his older brother. His second side was a corn dog. I’m not making this up — a sweet, brown corn dog like you may have had in elementary school.

I was eager to try a Burger Tray ($3.40) Cook Out Style ($0.95) with homemade chili, slaw, mustard and onion. I could see what Katie meant by saying the bun was sweet. The burger was just a normal, good cheeseburger with a little bit of chili and a disc of onion. I got the fries, which were good, and had to try

BARBECUE, BURGERS AND SHAKES ARE THE QUICK DESCRIPTION, BUT A LIST OF DISJOINTED SIDES MAKES FOR AN INTERESTING READ. FOR EXAMPLE, WHY WOULD A PLACE THAT DOESN’T SELL SEAFOOD HAVE HUSH PUPPIES? IT’S WEIRD ENOUGH TO JUST WORK.” the hush puppies. Oblong and uniformly pre-shaped, the simple, white-cornmeal pups were admittedly something I liked more than I thought I would.

Young Graham ordered the head scratcher. His Junior Burger Tray ($5.54) for some reason cost me more than the adult trays. Perhaps it was because his little burger was ordered with some premium sides. A small cup of chili was, of course, the hot dog variety, sans beans. The second side was favored by all of us — the bacon wrap was the best thing we’d had so far.

Strips of bacon wrapped in a small tortilla with lettuce, cheese and mayonnaise (sort of a BLC) had the kids fighting to split it.

In order to gauge Cook Out’s seriousness about heat, I ordered a Spicy Chicken Sandwich ($3.69). The breaded chicken breast wasn’t much on the front end, but had a stronger finish with a hint of heat. I’d love to see someone go a little over the top with a really spicy chicken, but I understand this place is for the masses. Don’t look for Nashville Hot Chicken here, but expect a little bite.

With these meals we got a couple of unsweet teas ($1.99 each) but then found the real reason Cook Out is so popular: the Fancy Shakes ($2.99 each) are solid gold. If this place has something to really brag about, the shakes are it. Chocolate Chip Mint tasted like Girl Scout cookies in a cup. I am a sucker for peach, and the Peach Cobbler shake was incredible.

This review may seem a bit ambiguous in places, so let me get down to the nuts and bolts of it all. I’d say the burgers, sandwiches and dogs are not quite as good as Whataburger or even Sonic, but we knew all along we were in this for a double dose of trashy food. That in mind, there are so many options, albeit rather strange ones, that you could have fun with here. It’s cheap and easy, fast and furious. The portions aren’t over the top, and I appreciate that. The milkshake menu is where their strength lies, and having a corn dog as a side item cracks me up. That’s a lot of food (and humor) for $33.28.

Don’t expect a single healthy thing here. You shouldn’t trust fast food restaurants with a salad, anyway. If you have a diet to break, I say give Cook Out a chance.

Cook Out 116 S. University Blvd.

Mobile, AL 36608 251-340-7458

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CUISINE | WORD OF MOUTH

Cereal Killer piques interest in Fairhope

BY ANDY MACDONALD/CUISINE EDITOR

I

f you’re looking for killer food, Fairhope may have what you need. Cereal Killer is the new spot at 85 N. Bancroft St., open for brunch hours Tuesday through Sunday with extra dinner hours Friday and Saturday.

Sandwiches that may put your life in jeopardy — such as the porchetta and pimiento cheesefilled Killer, a croque madame (croak!) and a breakfast banh mi — are augmented by mouthwatering truffle tots and coconut yogurt, to name a couple of sides.

Breakfast ramen, French toast and shrimp tacos sound almost as good as the Churro Bubble Waffle. Wash all of this down with a Mexican Coke or sodas from Big Jerk Soda Co. Sounds like a scary winner to me — I can’t wait to try this. Check them out on social media.

Maybe they’ll offer a discount if you wear a ski mask and bring your own rope.

The Fort brings container dining to Eastern Shore

Repurposed shipping containers are the hottest thing to happen to Spanish Fort since last summer’s sunshine. The Fort is a slew of eateries within the Spanish Fort Town Center next to the park. The colorful “buildings” bump up against a water feature and playground, and offer something for just about everyone.

The list of restaurants include Breaker’s Coffee/Sno Biz, Bleus Burger, Deuce Coop, Dickey’s Barbecue Pit, Dragonfly Taco Bar, Happy Pizza, Soul Bowlz and the Tap Station.

There’s even a balcony above the bar! Plans for live entertainment are already underway.

Check them out while they’re brand-new

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and pretty. We will keep an eye on this, as I’m certain more will come. For more information visit spanishforttowncenter.com.

Chick-fil-A introduces cheese sauce in select locations

A questionably handsome young high schooler named Andy worked for three-and-ahalf years in the Sawmill Square Mall’s Chickfil-A, breading chicken, squeezing lemons and unsuccessfully flirting with the older high school girls who were just there for the nuggets and waffle fries. Back then the ladies loved dipping everything in that sweet, tangy Polynesian sauce. Decades later, things are on the verge of massive change.

The South’s favorite chicken sandwich chain is making waves by introducing a new cheese sauce. Perfect for dipping fries, nuggets or anything a young adult can imagine, the new cheese dip has been described on Twitter as “lifechanging” and “the best thing that has happened to me today.”

Participation in this offer depends on the individual store. If your favorite Chick-fil-A doesn’t carry the sauce, I would suggest you start pestering them. Sorry, ladies, the Polynesian is free, but the cheese may cost you a little over a buck.

Lent me a fish sandwich

Every year at this time, fast-food chains start pitching their new ideas for fish sandwiches. Let me know if you reel in a good one. The more obscure the better.

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COVER STORY

MIKE AND BECKY A love story and a struggle for justice like no other in history

N

BY DONALD S. CONNERY

strapped into Alabama’s “Yellow Mama” electric chair in 1973, he would have vanished from sight. into the future more than Mobile’s Michael (One of the many shocking revelations in the mounRene Pardue. tainous legal record is that his appointed attorney, in But it was not to be. league with the prosecutors, used the teenager’s ignorance The once famous “wrong man” was 63 on Friday, Feb. 15, when his heart gave out, just weeks after of the moratorium as leverage to get him to abandon his claims of innocence and accept imprisonment. A long preventive surgery, on his way to an afternoon of fishing time later, a judge declared the suspect’s representation with friends.

His pickup truck careened down the roadside before it “was worse than no representation at all.”)

Pardue’s second great stroke of good fortune came hit a tree on a narrow stretch of Dauphin Island Parkway. along 10 years later when Lebecca (Becky) Jean The explosion and fireball made the local evening news, Pouyadou, a smart and lovely woman running a T-shirt with no identification of the victim. business in Mobile, entered his life. He had sent her some Incredibly, little other notice was taken even though designs he sketched in his cell.

Pardue’s saga of injustice, like Alabama’s Scottsboro Becky, once a nomadic hippie but now back home Boys scandal of the 1930s, reached a national and interwith her mother, was the daughter of a naval officer. She national audience in the 1990s. The scale and complexiwas a volunteer at a rape crisis ties of his fight for freedom from center and would tear up at any hint undeserved incarceration were of injustice or mistreatment. unique in legal history.

Michael Pardue As for Mike, he was no longer His accomplishment in overMike swiping two old tires from a garage that didn’t fit his disabled car, then the scrawny, bewildered boy who powering the myth that he was a stealing an old truck and later hotwiring a more expensive Volkswagen when fought off predators by pretending confessed triple murderer at age A MAN OF GOOD HUthe truck got stuck in sand. to be the vicious serial killer he 17 stands out among the 2,382 acThe following morning, he learned the Saraland cops were looking for never was.

Becky was impressed on MOR, A KIND MAN, A counts of wrongful convictions curhim. Their message was, “No big deal. Just tell Mike we’d like him to stop her first prison visit by the strong, rently listed in the National Registry by.” He delivered himself to police headquarters to fess up to his follies. sandy-haired, soft-voiced, handGENTLE MAN, A WONof Exonerations, the Bible of the But the chief investigator, William Travis, a burly man in white boots with some man who seemed out of place.

DNA-fueled innocence movement DERFUL HUMAN BEING a reputation for wringing confessions out of suspects, true or false, was not So began a love story that of recent times. interested in his minor crimes. He was bent on extracting details of the boy’s belongs in a pantheon of great Like Jean Valjean of “Les WHO SUFFERED THE supposed shotgun rampage at the two gas stations, an easier task than hunting romances.

He feared telling her of Miserables,” Michael Pardue was a for the escaped convicts. his innocence of any major crime, WORST BUT DESERVED tragic hero.

After interrogations by tag teams of detectives from two counties over expecting not to be believed; she On the one hand, he endured four days, with attorneys kept at bay, Pardue succumbed to the marathon of THE BEST. searched for the truth on her own. a boyhood of abuse by an alcopsychological and physical brutality.

What she discovered did indeed holic father who shot and killed his Although no blood, fingerprints or other evidence connected him to the defy belief. mother. He was 16 when she died in murders, Mike confessed to everything the authorities demanded. Believing On May 21, 1973, the horrific his arms. Beginning a year later, the he would be executed if he failed to fully cooperate, he admitted responsibilnighttime shotgun slayings of two filling station attenteenager was robbed of a quarter century of his adult years ity for the decomposed corpse of a drug dealer found in the woods. It was a dants, Harvey Hodges and Ronald Ryder, led to media by a criminal justice system flying wildly off the tracks. possible homicide the cops were unable to solve. alarms that struck fear in the hearts of citizens of greater His imprisonment from 1973 to 2001 matched the 27 His subsequent trial was littered with a fake eyewitness account by girlMobile. Other headlines told of two criminals who had years of Nelson Mandela’s internment on South Africa’s friend Theresa (under threat of prosecution; she later recanted), other fabricaescaped from prison.

Robben Island. tions and what is known as “testilying” — false testimony by police. A dusty, Simultaneously, Michael Pardue was up to no good.

On the other hand, with the help of the love of his life With his mother dead, his father in prison and his younger cobwebbed, sawed-off shotgun shined up as the murder weapon was offered and volunteer attorneys, his seemingly endless barrage to the jurors. Their guilty verdict was reached in less than two hours. Shipped siblings in his grandmother’s home where he did not feel of scribbled pro se (inmate created) appeals to Alabama’s welcome, the virtual orphan, nicknamed “Monkey,” had off to a life sentence, Mike became the youngest inmate in Alabama’s most courts led eventually to an unprecedented achievement. dangerous lockups. taken to sleeping in the woods or in his $50 Chevrolet.

He overcame convictions for three homicides he did not When Becky Pouyadou became Mike’s champion, she changed her name It was, then, not too surprising that on the night of the commit and three convictions for escapes he did commit. killings he and an equally woeful 15-year-old girl named to Pardue during the long wait for permission to marry him in a Holman At the start of his encounters with the justice system, prison ceremony in 1988. Figuring it was impossible to undermine his Theresa Lanier went on a joyride to nowhere. Their Pardue was saved from execution only by good luck: the murder convictions, they pinned their hopes on his being paroled. Mike had round-trip drive from Saraland through Prichard and into U.S. Supreme Court’s temporary nationwide moratorium the Mobile Shipyard before returning to Saraland was become a model prisoner after the foolishness of brief, nonviolent escapes in his first five years of confinement. on the application of capital punishment. If he had been made possible by stupid acts of juvenile delinquency:

O ONE DESERVED A JOYFUL LIFE DEEP

Photo | Provided by author

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COVER STORY The first time, he rode off on a bicycle while outside the walls training bloodhounds to chase escapees. The second time, he took off from a city hospital after drinking gallons of water to stimulate appendicitis.

Pardue’s warden was so impressed by the couple — not to speak of Mike’s quiet nature, good manners, work ethic and jack-of-all-trades skills — that he repeatedly approved eight-hour passes, 14 in all, so that they could spend time at a Best Western motel less than a mile down the road from the walls and razor wires.

People magazine would later tell of Becky’s elaborate room decorations to produce a proper atmosphere. A New York Times article described the fresh sheets from home, the flowers, the good food and pretty pictures. Becky was quoted: “We would make love all day and laugh and cry and hold.”

On other occasions, she would drive her pickup truck with a mattress to a hidden place on the 8,200-acre prison ranch for a rendezvous with Mike, who was given free rein as a cowboy trustee.

Such extraordinary advantages ended on the day in 1987 he learned his chance for freedom had been squashed by a systemwide change in the parole rules that would also severely cut back his trustee privileges.

Furious and frustrated, he galloped his horse to the house of an assistant warden, helped himself to clothes, keys, a gun and a walkie-talkie, and drove away in the officer’s Corvette. He soon ran out of gas and traded the gun for fuel, after removing the bullets, at a filling station.

The news of an “armed and dangerous” triple murderer on the loose, according to police, was reported to the nation by Dan Rather on CBS. After reaching the shabby home of his dying father, with whom he had once shared a prison, in different cells, Mike quietly surrendered.

The episode solidified his reputation among officers of the law as a man who deserved no mercy.

For Becky, the consequences of his escape were “catastrophic.”

As she would write years later, “The Escambia County authorities did not just throw the book at him; they threw the whole law library.

For the nonviolent flight lasting less than two days, he was sentenced to: 1) a life sentence without parole for breaking into the home, a charge inflated to a ‘first-degree’ burglary because Michael took the gun, although it was clearly ‘loot’ and never intended to be used as a weapon; 2) a second life sentence for the theft of the officer’s car; and 3) 10 years for the escape. He had fled in such a way as to do no harm to any person, and to leave a trail so that no suspicion of abetting would be lodged against me. And for this he was sentenced to die in prison.”

Giving up was never considered. Vowing to find a legal way to live together in freedom, Mike and Becky took on the daunting mission of attacking his three murder convictions.

During the next decade she did detective work and deep research on the outside while he dug his way through a library of law books on the inside. Mobile attorneys as skilled as Barry Johnson and James Curenton took their appeals to courts at all state levels.

But state prosecutors never would admit that Pardue, for all the sins committed as a troubled teenager and as an escapee, was actually blameless of any major crime or act of violence.

There is no truthfully recorded instance of his doing serious harm to anyone at any time in his life.

They fought the Pardues every step of the way. They said the couple’s courtroom victories were due to “technicalities” and claims of constitutional violations. As happens all too often in high-profile miscarriages of justice in all states, protecting the system’s reputation became the highest priority. It was necessary to dismiss the thought that the actual shotgun killer or killers had been given a free pass.

The Pardues rode a roller coaster of emotions when the response of the state to the erasing of the guilty verdict of Mike’s original trial was to call for a new trial in 1995. Knowing juries are powerfully influenced by a confession, even if coerced and false, prosecutors introduced a long-buried and supremely misleading partial tape recording of the lengthy interrogation. Mike was found guilty again.

The result seemed devastating — until a higher court, appalled by the state’s mischief and misconduct, negated the verdict.

Meanwhile, a wave of publicity about Mike’s predicament reached far beyond Alabama.

Attention was paid in September 1995 when Becky Pardue and Barry Johnson were invited to speak at a “Convicting the Innocent” forum in Hartford, Connecticut. This was the first-ever national conference of experts on the phenomenon of false confessions. Becky would later mount an expensive “ENOUGH IS ENOUGH” billboard on a highway leading to Montgomery to wake up state officials.

A brilliant series of investigative reports

by Mike Wilson in the Mobile Press-Register came close to validating Pardue’s innocence. A sympathetic front-page article in The New York Times by Alabama writer Rick Bragg described Mike as “a neutral-looking man … his hair going gray,” who “speaks softly and moves carefully, the kind of man who can walk down a street without making dogs bark.”

Letters of protest from as far away as France, Germany and India rained down on Alabama’s governor, attorney general and other officials. They asked how the state could possi-

bly explain the absurdity that Pardue, no longer convicted of any major crime, must remain forever behind prison bars just for fleeing three times from the institutions where he did not belong in the first place.

The embarrassment of it all became too much. A deal was struck.

On Feb. 15, 2001, Pardue was quietly given his liberty in a back room of a rural courthouse as the state plucked its last ounce of flesh: his agreement to accept some months of probation and not inform the media of his liberty.

As an independent journalist with a history of investigating miscarriages of justice, I was there when Becky stood ready to embrace Mike and hand over the civilian clothing she had bought years ago. Instead, chaos struck as a gang of prison officers, claiming they needed to do “further processing,” swooped in. They put Mike in handcuffs. They drove him away from the courthouse at high speed. He would soon be placed in a cell on death row.

Becky and the Pardue lawyers gave chase.

My own speedometer hit 90 before we all reached the Holman prison. The media appeared. The commotion we caused led to a warning of imminent arrest if we did not get off the prison grounds. Hours later, Mike was released a second time — but only after frantic phoned appeals to higher-ups in Montgomery to end the farce.

Becky alone was allowed to drive in to pick up the inmate. No lawyers, no press. So at dusk the couple drove to the same Best Western where they had been special customers. Waiting to help them celebrate were family, friends, advocates and reporters. The cheering went on into the night. *

*

*

But, you may ask, what came next? What about their years of living together in freedom, fated to be no more than 18?

“Ecstasy” is defined in the dictionary as “an overwhelming feeling of great happiness or joyful excitement.” At the beginning and quite often to the end, Mike and Becky knew ecstasy in its purest form, time after time after time. Yet what became equally overwhelming were the calamities that struck them again and again and again.

In the late hours of freedom day, they arrived at Becky’s home on Riverside Drive, not far from Dauphin Island.

“A TV crew and van were there,” she remembers. “Fine. We hugged and kissed for the media and went inside. I immediately gave Mike two items — things he had not owned since 1973: a wallet filled with cash and a set of house and car keys. He was thrilled.”

She goes on: “Our living room was filled

with helium balloons, in the air and on the floor.

We played with them for weeks. Sitting on a futon, we fed each other our first free meal.

But it was odd, strange and scary because we expected the police to come knocking on our door at any moment. We would carry this fear around for months.

“We listened to the news coverage of our release. Every station but one, Channel 15, so very decent, played the worst portions of the ‘confession’ tape — which the courts had ruled illegal. The district attorney’s office, as we later learned, had hand-delivered the tape to them to smear Mike’s name and reputation.”

The couple was well aware a cloud of suspicion would sit over their heads forever.

Most people — unaware that false confessions account for a third of all wrongful convictions — tell themselves that “nobody could ever get me to admit to a crime I didn’t commit.”

There is little understanding that the psychological pressures and legal lies of police at work in an inquisition hothouse can be even more effective than the physical brutality of the once commonplace “third degree.”

Nonetheless, Mike and Becky, like school kids in the first days of summer vacation, rejoiced, reveled and basked in the new world now open to the ex-con.

“At Walmart,” she says, “Mike was shocked at the enormity of it all,” especially seeing real eggs and endless varieties of cheese and meats.

“We spent over $300, which blew him away.

Then he was startled that I got cash back from the credit card. He could not understand how or why we could buy so many groceries and get money back for them!”

Once the restrictions of Mike’s probation fell away, the two began honeymoon travels that took them to beaches and mountains and dreamlands across the nation. For a lark closer to home, they sometimes returned to their favorite room at the Best Western to relive the glory times of the 1980s. They checked in as Mr. & Mrs. Freeman.

Rehearsals and concerts of the Mobile Pops band became a big part of their lives. Becky, a clarinet player who had attended the University of Texas on a music scholarship, had been a founder of the band three decades earlier.

They wrote a book like no other: “FREEING THE INNOCENT. How We Did It. A Handbook for the Wrongfully Convicted.” The work offered invaluable advice for convicts in all states, guilty or innocent, on how to survive behind bars and how to challenge the justice system’s errors and misdeeds. Mike sternly advised against escapes, saying the consequences can be horrendous.

With attorney Jim Curenton, Mike filed a salvo of civil suits for compensation aimed at the long list of state officials, politicians and

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COVER STORY lawmen who had done him wrong. The task over a dozen years was mighty and mostly futile because, in Becky’s blunt words, “Police and prosecutors have absolute immunity; they can do anything they please and almost always there is no recourse against it.”

Even so, the state’s attorneys were obliged to resist the suits all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Left standing as precedent was the federal appellate court’s condemnation of the harsh and illegal methods used to force false admissions from the 17-year-old. The battle ended when the Pardues won a whopping settlement with the city of Saraland, the exact amount not to be disclosed under the agreement.

Though they were happiest when left alone, Mike and Becky did their best to handle visitors drawn to Mobile because of their celebrity.

Among them were journalists, a writer who would later do a book on the case in French and movie producers seeking rights to their life story. David Bushell, best known for “Sling Blade” in 1996 (starring Billy Bob Thornton), won the competition for the rights, but the film has been stalled because of financing.

A couple from Germany, big supporters who had written letters and signed petitions, made a trip across the ocean just to meet the Pardues.

Arriving on Sept. 11, 2001, they were “fairly disappointed,” Becky recalls, when their tour of Bellingrath Gardens and other wonders of greater Mobile had to be abandoned because Mike and Becky were glued to TV for its images of the collapsing Twin Towers.

A less demanding family wrote from India to say they had named their first daughter Becky so that she, too, could grow up to be strong, smart and committed to good works.

These good times were intermingled with sad and terrible events.

Mike’s younger siblings, both alcohol addicted, died. Becky’s mother, Florence Pouyadou, a gracious lady who had become Mike’s muchadored second mother, died in his arms.

Hurricane Katrina struck with Category 5 force in August 2005 while Mike and Becky were far from shore on a boat trip. Though they made it back to shore safely, they had to cope with the utter destruction of Florence’s home on the bay. She had left it to Becky; the couple had only recently moved in, and now had to deal with the massive task of reconstruction.

On the plus side, the post-Katrina cleanup in New Orleans opened the door to a full display of Michael Pardue’s mechanical and management abilities. He was soon a high earner at a construction company as he hired crews, operated heavy equipment and handled the logistics of the restoration of a destroyed loading facility where giant Corona Beer ships arrive in the U.S. from Mexico. He deployed more than a dozen 18-wheelers from his prior employer to haul large debris to dumping sites outside New Orleans.

Life was good for the Pardues until Mike was directed to oversee construction of a huge loading dock in Coatzacoalcos, Mexico. He sent most of his salary to Becky, who remained in Alabama, living in a FEMA trailer, to salvage what was left in their blown-down home and supervise its restoration.

Being by himself in a country where drinking is part of the culture proved disastrous. His seemingly innate alcoholism, kept at bay during his decades of confinement, now kicked in big time. His increasingly heavy drinking and bouts of depression seemed caused by post-traumatic stress disorder — combining the trauma both of his abusive childhood and the long imprisonment, when he only barely survived everyday violence while witnessing rape, crippling assaults and assassinations.

Now often out of control, fired from his job,

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blacking out and suicidal, Mike ended up in a series of expensive rehabilitation centers that drained the Pardue resources. Becky remembers the time in the winter of 2010 when she had to rush to rehab in northern Alabama “because Mike was dying. I truly believe he was. His eyes were bulging, he was blood-red in the face and he was sweating profusely.”

He did not die but did hit bottom numerous times in the years ahead. On one occasion, when he was home, he found a pistol in a drawer and fired a shot in a wall. Arrested for domestic violence, he was bailed out by Becky. Even though the charge was dismissed, state officials pounced. Mike was driven off to Brewton on the state’s claim that he had violated his probation.

It was a phony claim — his probation had ended long before — but it would be endorsed by a judge who sent him back to prison. Pardue’s situation was unique. Never before had the lead author of a how-to book on surviving behind bars been obliged, as a senior citizen in a mostly younger population of criminals, to follow his own advice.

A long, expensive and exhausting campaign in the courts to erase the mistake ended with Mike’s release after two-and-a-half years. Alabama justice did not apologize for bringing his total unjust time in confinement to 30 years.

But once released, Mike was still stalked by his seemingly unstoppable need to drink. Time after time, Becky had to resort to tough love — shape up or ship out! — before her heart would break and she would let him return from his latest bout with his addiction demons.

Strangely, his salvation began when he was so out-of-his-mind drunk and penniless that he stole items of no great value from a supposedly unoccupied house. He apologized when the homeowner appeared. He revealed his name. After his arrest, a district attorney asked a judge to impose a 99-year sentence. The judge commented, “Haven’t you done enough to this man?”

Mike was dispatched to the Center of Hope rehab center in Anniston. At first, he hated his year of being held in a heavily religious atmosphere, but the Bible studies clicked in. The once model prisoner, finding Jesus, now aimed at being a model ex-alcoholic. Once home again, his friends from AA meetings helped him as he helped other unfortunates.

His blessed successful months of freedom from addictions were interesting, he told me, because, “stopping smoking has been harder than stopping drinking.” Being happy again, he said and she said, was just great. Until ...

Chest pains hit Mike last month, on Feb. 8.

Stents were inserted. Afterward, Becky says, “He felt wonderful. We celebrated his birthday in grand style on the 12th. We celebrated Valentine’s Day on the 14th with cards, kisses and dancing in our living room. We held each other as we cried that night because it was the anniversary of Ma’s death. The next day, when he went fishing, I walked out on the back deck and waved him farewell. He flashed his lights as he always did, and waved. He drove away. I never saw him again.”

Her life shattered but her spirit braced for an unimaginable future, Lebecca Pardue remembers Michael Pardue as “a man of good humor, a kind man, a gentle man, a wonderful human being who suffered the worst but deserved the best.”

Donald S. Connery, a former foreign correspondent who reported the 1962 Cuban missile crisis from Moscow for Time, Life and NBC, is an investigator of miscarriages of justice. His books include “Guilty Until Proven Innocent” and “Convicting the Innocent.” His latest book-in-progress is on the Michael and Becky Pardue story.

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ART ARTIFICE

MAC announces Arty winners

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

T

he Mobile Arts Council (MAC) continued celebration into Lent with its list of 2019 Arty Award winners. The 11 recipients cut a wide swath through the Azalea City’s cultural scene, with nods to the venerable and fresh alike.

One honoree will pull double duty when Hosea London accepts both his award as Educator and the Lifetime Achievement award for the Excelsior Band. The Winter Haven, Florida, native moved to Mobile in 1976 and began a 25-year teaching career at Albert P. Brewer Center. He’s also been director of the Gulf Coast Ethnic and Heritage Jazz Festival’s Marcus Johnson Jazz Camp and of the Mobile Big Band Society’s Jazz Studio educational program.

London joined the Excelsior Band in 1976 to keep his trumpet chops in shape. When then-leader James Seals passed away, London assumed duties in 2002.

The Excelsior Band started in 1883, began marching in Mardi Gras the next year and became an intrinsic component of area culture. They are listed on the website for the Alabama State Council on the Arts, are in the Encyclopedia of Alabama and are included in the Mobile Carnival Museum. They were broadcast statewide on Catt Sirten’s “Live from Avalon” show on public television.

“We probably do 500 gigs a year — weddings, second lines, conventions, parades and things for the city. People don’t really know how much we play,” London told Lagniappe in 2017.

Pinky/MM Bass will receive the Visual Artist award.

Initially known for her pinhole photography, the bay-area resident’s multidisciplinary body of work includes exhibits at the Asheville Art Museum, Atlanta’s High Museum of Art, Washington, D.C.’s National Museum of Women in

MTG turns to crowdsourcing

WE PROBABLY DO 500 GIGS A YEAR, WEDDINGS, SECOND LINES, CONVENTIONS, PARADES AND THINGS FOR THE CITY. PEOPLE DON’T REALLY KNOW HOW MUCH WE PLAY.” – EXCELSIOR BANDLEADER HOSEA LONDON this travesty should echo for years.

As in 2007 and 2014, no Patron award will be given this go-around.

This year’s physical awards are unique, commissioned pieces from Nappie Award-winning sculptor Chris Cumbie.

The ceremony takes place March 28, 5:30-9 p.m. at The Steeple (251 St. Francis St., Mobile). Tickets range from $35 to $55 and are available online at mobilearts.org.

Congratulations to the winners!

one of Bob Hope’s first films.

Chickasaw Civic Theatre (801 Iroquois As if staging a Broadway flop isn’t enough, St.) will stage the nonmusical about a musical the production of “Manhattan Holiday” March 15-24. featured the untimely deaths of three chorus Friday and Saturday curtain is 7:30 p.m.; women thanks to the “Stage-Door Slasher.”

Sunday matinee is 2 p.m.

When the killer musical’s creative team — proTickets cost $15.75, $12.50 for children/ ducer, writers, director, actors — convene at the Westchester estate of a wealthy “angel,” the students/military/seniors.

Call 251-457-8887 or visit cctshows.com. mystery deepens.

Comedy of murders at CCT

There’s a strange German maid whose identity seems shifty, a house riddled with secret doorways and hidden passageways, and a body count that starts anew. Great foundation for a comedy, eh?

Playwright John Bishop’s “The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940” draws inspiration for its mayhem from period pieces, including

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Artist talk at MMoA

Artist Christopher Nitsche will be the featured guest for a lunchtime event at the Mobile Museum of Art (MMoA) on March 15 at 11:30 a.m. Nitsche’s “Liminal Ship II’ is part of a special exhibition at MMoA (4850 Museum Drive) through December.

Nitsche uses the visual and metaphorical attributes of ships in exploration of the ship as vessel for memory objects. His MMoA work employs repurposed lumber gathered as debris from hurricanes Irma and Matthew.

The artist has had more than 70 solo and group shows across the U.S. and beyond its borders. He’s currently a professor of Foundation Studies at the Savannah College of Art and Design, teaching classes in design and sculpture.

Attendees are invited to bring a brown bag to the lunchtime art talk. Beverages will be provided.

Entrance is free for MMoA members. General admission applies for others.

Call 251-208-5200 or visit mobilemuseumofart.com.

ARTSGALLERY

Mobile Theatre Guild (14 N. Lafayette St.) has had a rough go lately. Standard building upkeep, operation costs and unexpected show cancellations have put the midtown mainstay in a crunch on the eve of its 70th anniversary season.

The community theater has launched a GoFundMe page aimed at collecting funds to keep the plucky playhouse on its feet. As of the early hours of Feb. 28, they had raised $1,260 toward their $5,000 goal.

Among the donations were those who gave in honor of others, like longtime patrons Nancy and Marion Hartley or the late Melanie Petithory.

To find the donation page, go to GoFundMe and search for “Mobile Theatre Guild.”

the Arts, the Philadelphia Museum of Art and New York City’s SPACE Gallery among others. She’s earned numerous awards over the decades, both nationally and internationally.

The Performing Artist, Individual award goes to violinist Enen Yu, Mobile Symphony Orchestra’s (MSO) co-concertmaster. She has served as concertmaster for the Mobile Opera Orchestra and Mobile Ballet Orchestra, as strings teacher and coach for MSO education programs, and as an adjunct member of the University of Mobile and University of South Alabama. Yu is a founder of the Horizon String Quartet, was once the youngest member of the Beijing Symphony Orchestra and has performed with conductors Zubin Mehta, David Robertson and Gerard Schwarz.

A new award for Performing Artist, Group will be given to Power Lines Poetry, a spoken-word troupe whose visibility has risen in the last few years. They can be found in such private-sector venues as The Blind Mule and Kazoola, to the Mobile Museum of Art and Alabama Contemporary Art Center.

The Art Soldier award will be presented to Sherrick Sandy, a resolute force in Mobile’s community theater scene for decades. For years, Sandy has tackled whatever needs attention — tech duty, props, you name it. She currently serves as board president for Mobile Theatre Guild.

The Organization award goes to the 56-year-old Mobile Chamber Music Society. The nonprofit brings stellar classical musicians to town with stunning regularity thanks to a corps of dedicated and selfless volunteers, overcoming its tiny budget.

The Mobile Public Library will be honored with the

Business award. A library’s essential role to a city’s culture is endemic but ours goes further. The library hosts such events as the Mobile Literary Festival and numerous dramatic and musical performances, along with film screenings.

The Design award goes to Mobile Fashion Week, a project founded nine years ago by Richard McGill in an attempt to keep homegrown talent from departing for standard centers of fashion. Their efforts not only highlight textile arts but their website cites $5,000 in annual donations to Camp Rap-A-Hope along with other charities.

A new entity, Central Arts Collective, will accept the Cultural Innovation award. The group space at midtown Mobile’s Central Presbyterian Church has met a growing need for studio space among area artists. Its website currently boasts 15 artists-in-residence and a slate of upcoming programs and workshops covering subjects such as photography and quilting.

The Literary Artist award will go to arts reporter Kevin Lee. The ire from

MUSIC

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

FEATURE

Learn to ‘Shoot from the Pit’ at Luke Combs show BAND: “SHOOT FROM THE PIT” PHOTOGRAPHY WORKSHOP DATE: SATURDAY, MARCH 9, 2 P.M. VENUE: THE AMPHITHEATER AT THE WHARF, 23101 CANAL ROAD (ORANGE BEACH), ALWHARF.COM TICKETS: VISIT SHOOTFROMTHEPIT.COM TO REGISTER (LIMITED SPACE)

I’ve known several amateur and professional photographers who have really gotten into live concert photography. What do you think it is about live concert photography that appeals to people?

You know, it really combines two passions that a lot of people have. I don’t have to tell you about the live concert experience and what a joy that is, and what an adrenaline rush it is to see your favorite artist. Even if it’s not an artist you’re a big fan of, that environment is so awesome. It’s big concerts and lots of lighting. The music is usually really loud, and you’re surrounded by a lot of people who share the same love for the music that you do. Photography is kind of similar. It’s something that a lot of people have gotten into, with the advent of digital photography. It’s opened the doors for more people to pursue their passions in ways that they couldn’t before, because the technology was out of reach.

In my life, that’s how it happened. I was a musician before I got into photography as a kid. I always loved the live music experience. Now, as a professional photographer, being able to combine those two things into one is just unlike anything else.

What made you want to create the “Shoot from the Pit” experience?

I’ve taught a number of workshops over the years, and I’ve been a working professional photographer for nearly 30 years. Over the past 5-10 years or so, I’ve done a lot more workshops and speaking gigs for other clients and companies that I represent as well. I really looked at the market and tried to figure

out what I could bring to the table and what I could do differently than what everybody else is doing.

There are plenty of workshops out there where you can learn studio lighting and apertures and shutter speeds. I’ve done those as well, but I’m more interested in experience-based workshops.

As a former sports photographer, I have friends who teach sports photography workshops. They take people out to football games, and you get to really experience what it’s like to be on the sidelines and to be literally on the frontlines of an event like that.

So, as somebody who has toured with bands for many, many years on and off, I know what a great joy that is to do. Also, I get emails from people all the time who say, “I wanna do what you do. I wanna shoot concerts and be in the photo pits. I go to shows and see photographers up there, and I wanna know what that feels like.”

This is a great way for me to teach people and give them an experience at the same time. This is, first, a learning experience. It’s really a photo workshop. It’s not so much about going to a concert. It’s more about learning photography.

We use the concert as a backdrop to this experience, and it takes it to a whole other level. You’re actually in the photo pit at the front of the stage and feel the sweat come off of the artists, maybe literally.

You’re right there with the fans in the front row. You have all-access to go around the arena and make pictures from places where most people can never go. It’s really something unique. There’s not many people who can actually bring that experience to everybody else.

Photo | Courtesy of David Bergman

W

hen country superstar Luke Combs returns to The Amphitheater at The Wharf for an already sold-out concert March 9, veteran photographer David Bergman will be on hand to capture the show’s visual magic.

With 30 years of experience, Bergman has photographed numerous musical acts, including Bon Jovi, Sarah McLachlan, Barenaked Ladies, Avril Lavigne and Gloria Estefan. Now he’s offering a select group of amateur and seasoned photographers the chance to learn his techniques in a concert setting. Bergman’s “Shoot from the Pit” experience is a crash course in live concert photography, including technique and etiquette, and climaxing with a session in the exclusive photo pit during that night’s concert.

Lagniappe spoke with Bergman for an inside look into what participants can expect.

David Bergman’s “Shoot from the Pit” concert photography workshop will teach amateur and more advanced photographers alike how to shoot like a professional at the upcoming sold-out Luke Combs show at The Wharf. photographer, you need to know how to act around those people and be professional and not get in people’s way. That also includes the security guards working in the arena. It also includes the fans. The show is happening because of the fans. None of us would be there if it wasn’t for the fans. Just because we have better access than the fans doesn’t mean that you should stand right in front of them and block their views. If they don’t have a good time, then there’s no reason for us to be there. I spend a lot of time teaching that part of concert photography.

What will the day be like for participants?

We start generally around 2 p.m. in most cities. I go and pick everybody up, and they get their passes. They have all-access passes for the days. Then, we have a room backstage where I teach a workshop. I have a projector, and I have a few hours of information that I’m going to overload people with.

I’ve had people who are just beginners, and I’ve had people who are much more experienced working professionals. Everybody learns something throughout the experience. I start at the beginning with the exposure triangle and all the basics of photography and work all the way up to advanced concert photography, including setting up remote cameras and how to work a smaller This workshop doesn’t only teach photo techshow that might need some flashes and dealing with different environments. I cover the whole niques, but it also teaches proper etiquette in the gamut over the first half of the day. photo pit. How important is proper etiquette in In addition, we take a tour of the venue and show people what to look for. When I get to a the photo pit? new venue, I’m scouting the venue throughout the day. I want to see where all the angles are Etiquette is huge when you’re working alongand what the place looks like and maybe something interesting or unique to that venue that I side a bunch of other photographers, especially in might want to make pictures of that evening when the crowd is there. We do that together. the concert environment. I spend the first half of Then, we take a peek at the tour buses. I bring everyone on my tour bus, and I give them a the workshop really talking a lot about how to act little insight into how the logistics work and how we go from city to city with 45 crew members not only during this particular workshop, but also and create this show in just a few hours every morning and then tear it down in a few hours if you’re shooting concerts in general and how that every night. Then we have dinner with the crew. works. You’re usually in very tight quarters with a Then, the main event starts. In most cities, there’s two opening acts, and we can photograph number of other photographers who may be working both of them. At the Alabama show, we’ll have two opening acts. That’s kind of a nice warmup, there as well.

Also, you’re around the band and the band’s crew and we get a good feel for the venue and how it actually feels to be in the pit.

Then, Luke comes on, and that’s the main event for us. He’s on for an hour and a half, and members. Those people are working. This is their we have the whole venue to ourselves to make pictures. The evening wraps up at 11 o’clock home. This is their work environment. Those of us who tour, we live on the road and live on tour buses. at night. At that time, the adrenaline is still flowing, and people’s heads are exploding with information.

We know each other very well, because we spend a So far, people have said that the experience has blown them away. That’s satisfying, knowlot of time together.

When somebody comes into that environment as a ing that people get a lot out of it.

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MUSIC BRIEFS

Singer-songwriter/novelist Josh Ritter

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

Band: Josh Ritter Date: Thursday, March 7, with doors at 7 p.m.

Venue: Laidlaw Performing Arts Center, 5751 USA S. Drive (Mobile), 251-460-6306 Tickets: Free

Photo by Laura Wilson/Courtesy of Josh Ritter

T

he University of South Alabama’s Independent Music Collective is collaborating with the Stokes Center for Creative Writing for a March 7 “songwriter keynote” featuring singersongwriter/novelist Josh Ritter.

Ritter’s versatile career has earned him respect in both the music and literary worlds. This performance will combine his talents for aural as well as literary composition with a live musical performance followed by a reading and short Q&A session.

Ritter released his self-titled debut album 20 years ago, with 13 tracks employing classic folk templates and clever lyrical work, and a vocal style somewhere between classic Bob Dylan and Robert Earl Keen. Nine albums followed, as well as the New York Times bestseller “Bright Passage,” which author Stephen King said “shines with a compressed lyricism that recalls Ray Bradbury in his prime.”

Ritter will sample tracks from his upcoming album “Fever Breaks,” produced by superstar Jason Isbell. “Old Black Magic,” the album’s first single, showcases Ritter’s musical evolution. With his trademark vocals intact, Ritter has merged alt. country and rock, with results that create anticipation for the complete album.

Cider Day returns Band: Cider Day feat. Steel City Jug Slammers Date: Sunday, March 10, 2 p.m.

Venue: Fairhope Brewing Co., 914 Nichols Ave. (Fairhope), fairhopebrewing.com Tickets: Free Cider Day returns to the Fairhope Brewing Co. March 10. In addition to the brewery’s usual lineup, 10 varieties of cider will be on offer, and the Steel City Jug Slammers will provide the afternoon’s soundtrack.

Through their music, Birmingham’s Steel City Jug Slammers will transport audiences to the early 20th century. Armed with everything from a fiddle to a washtub bass, this collective of musicians keep spirits high with their old-fashioned sounds, a musical concoction of ragtime, bluegrass and classic country that forces listeners to groove and sway.

Steel City Jug Slammers will entertain with cuts from their latest album, “Tall Tales,” which resonates with a bright sonic persona that should bring a smile to all cider lovers’ faces.

En route to SXSW, Artisanals visit OGD Band: The Artisanals Date: Sunday, March 10, 8 p.m.

Venue: Callaghan’s Irish Social Club, 916 Charleston St. (Mobile), callaghansirishsocialclub.com Tickets: Call 251-433-9374 With little over a week to recuperate from Mardi Gras and before St. Patrick’s Day hits, Callaghan’s will carry patrons through this limbo with a smooth Sunday evening featuring The Artisanals. Stopping in on their way to SXSW, this Charleston-based group will spend Sunday evening with Callaghan’s regulars.

The sitar-infused prologue to their self-titled debut album introduces the future of heartland rock, with each track demonstrating pure American rock grandeur. The innovation of this release is evidenced in its excellent production and an edge of alt. rock to keep things fresh.

“The Artisanals” flourishes through its earnest approach to arrangements and lyrical work, more evidence the Charleston scene continues to churn out great music.

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

by MONDAY before Wednesday’s paper.

WED. MAR 6 Bluegill— Matt Neese Duo Boudreaux’s Cajun Grill— Ryan Balthrop, 6p Cockeyed Charlie’s— Music

by Jordan Felix’s— Bobby Butchka Flora-Bama— Bat, 11a / Neil Dover, 2p / Bruce Smelley, 5:30p / Rhonda Hart Duo, 6p / Ja’ Rhythm, 10p / Justin Jeansonne Duo, 10:15p LuLu’s— Adam Holt, 5p

THURS. MAR 7 Bluegill— Jimmy Lumpkin Duo Bone and Barrel— The Funky Lampshades, 7p Boudreaux’s Cajun Grill— David Chastang, 6p Callaghan’s— Phil Proctor Dauphins— Mark Pipas, 5p Felix’s— J.E.R.I Flora-Bama— Dueling Pianos, 5:30p / Not the Real Band, But the Real Deal featuring Mark Sherrill, 6p / Mackenna and Brock, 10p / Davis Nix Duo, 10:15p LuLu’s— Sticky Too, 5p Original Oyster House — Jimmy Lee Hannaford Veets— Josh Newcom, 8p

& Woody Pierce as Flip Flop Brothers, 6p / Tim Roberts, 8p / Mackenna and Brock, 10p / Mario Mena Duo, 10:15p / Yeah, Probably, 10:30 Hard Rock (Center Bar) — The Mixed Nuts, 9p Hard Rock (Live) — Sister Hazel, 8p IP Casino (Studio A)— Styx, 8p LuLu’s— J.E.R.I., 5P Manci’s— Emily Stuckey & Gabe Willis Moe’s BBQ (Daphne) — Glass Joe, 7p Moe’s BBQ (Foley) — Adam Tyler Brown and Jonathan Puzan Moe’s BBQ (Mobile) — Doubleshot, 6:30p Original Oyster House — Brandon White Saenger— Black Jackets Symphony “Queen’s - A Night at the Opera

SAT. MAR 9

Big Beach Brewing— Chad Davidson Band, 5:30p Bluegill— Elise Taylor, 12p / Adam Holt Band, 6p Blues Tavern— Disciples of the Crow Bone and Barrel— Gypsy Spark, 8p Callaghan’s— The Prescriptions Dauphins— Mark Pipas, 5p Felix’s— Grits ’N Pieces Flora-Bama— Bruce Smelley, FRI. MAR 8 1p / Lauren Murphy and the Psychedelics, 1p / Hung Jury, 2p Beau Rivage— Keith Sweat, 8p / J Hawkins Trio, 2p / Brittany Big Beach Brewing— Yeah, Grimes, 5p / Sam Glass Duo, 5p / Probably, 7p Jo Jo Pres, 5:30p / Bruce Smelley, Bluegill— Lee Yankie, 12p / 6p / Smokey Otis & Chicago David Chastang, 6p Bob, 6p / Justin Jeansonne Duo, Blues Tavern— Johnny 8p / Yellowhammer, 10p / Josh Barbato & Lucky Doggs Newcom Duo, 10:15p / Davis Nix Bone and Barrel— A Brave Band, 10:30p New World, 8p Gambians Italian Grill Callaghan’s— Josh Ewing Trio (Fairhope)— Gene Murrell, Felix’s— Bust Trio 7:30p Flora-Bama— J Hawkins Duo, Hard Rock (Center Bar) — 1p / Lea Anne Creswell Duo, 2p / The Mixed Nuts, 9p The Big Earl Show featuring Jack IP Casino (Studio A)— Robertson, 5:30p / Davis Nix Band, Brandon Bennett’s Elvis My Way 6p / Greg Lyon, 6p / Scott Koehn LuLu’s— Request Line, 5p

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Manci’s— Red Clay Strays The Merry Widow— Wild Moccasins Waves DI— The Perry Wall Band, 8p The Wharf— Luke Combs

SUN. MAR 10 Big Beach Brewing— Brent Burns, 1:30p Bluegill— Matt Bush, 12p / Fortag, 6p Blues Tavern— John Hall Band Callaghan’s— The Artisanals Dauphins— Roland Cobbs, 11a Felix’s— Leonard Houstin Flora-Bama— David Chastang, 12p / Just a Little Rusty, 1:30p / Al and Cathy, 2p / Lee Yankie, 5p / Lucky Doggs, 6p / Mason Henderson, 6p / Perdido Brothers, 6p / Bruce Smelley feat/ Jo Jo Pres, 10p / Josh Newcom, 10:15p / Justin Jeansonne Band, 10:30p LuLu’s— Kyle Brady, 5p Manci’s— Harrison McInnis The Wharf— Zack Brown Band

MON. MAR 11 Felix’s— Bryant Gilley Flora-Bama— Gove Scrivenor, 2p / Zachary Diedrich, 5:30p / Open Mic w/ Cathy Pace, 6p / Red Clay Strays, 10p / Petty and Pace, 10:15p / Jerry Jacobs Band, 10:30p LuLu’s— Ronny Presley, 5p The Merry Widow— Favx

TUES. MAR 12 Bluegill— Ty Taylor & Gram Rea Boudreaux’s Cajun Grill— Ryan Balthrop, 6p Butch Cassidy’s— Chris Powell Felix’s— Bobby Butchka Flora-Bama— T-bone Montgomery, 2p / Mel Knapp, 5:30p / Perdido Brothers, 6p / Ja’ Rhythm, 10p / Justin Jeansonne Duo, 10:15p / Jerry Jacobs Band, 10:30p LuLu’s— Lefty Collins, 5p Original Oyster House — Phil Proctor

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McCarthy, Grant elevate FILMTHE REEL WORLD ‘Can You Ever Forgive Me?’

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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

elissa McCarthy is quietly stunning as author-turnedcriminal Lee Israel “Can You Ever Forgive Me?” Known for outrageous comedic characters in such films as “Bridesmaids,” McCarthy shows us a side we have never seen before — an acerbic, intelligent writer on the skids after earlier success as a New York Times bestselling biographer of people such as Katharine Hepburn and Estee Lauder.

McCarthy is a dynamic, sparkling actress, and it’s fascinating to see her shine in this role — not dulled at all, but completely redirected. Her character, Lee, is a painfully self-isolated alcoholic pining, in her own way, for her ex-girlfriend and caring only for her cat. The film’s real sparkle comes from the incomparable Richard E. Grant as Jack, a streetwise charmer equally devoted to alcohol. They become each other’s only friends. Jack flatly declaims all his friends are dead and is himself HIV-positive. This true story, set in Manhattan in 1991, has a richly developed background in the LGBTQ community.

Fired from a job as a proofreader and unable to get her agent (a scene-stealing Jane Curtin) to sell her book proposal on the life of Fanny Brice, Lee is forced to sell a personal letter Katharine Hepburn

wrote to her. She soon makes the odd, but in many ways natural, progression to generating more such correspondence to sell, forging letters from the kinds of writers and people she admires and feels connected to.

This is a fascinating avenue for her recently stunted creativity. By dreaming up new, fake words in the voice of kindred spirit Dorothy Parker, Lee Israel does not just find a way to make cash, she finds her own voice as well. The film presents wonderfully slippery positions on issues of identity, forgery, impersonation and creativity. Lee writes faithful biographies, but also entirely invents aspects of biographies. She eventually writes her own story and, through various fans, detractors and collectors, the importance of authenticity is particularly called into question, especially in the film’s perfect final moment.

In the world of “white collar” crime, literary letter forgery must rank somewhere below even more white collar crime, like “oatmeal-colored cardigan” crime. The personal stakes are certainly high, but as crimes go, this is mercifully unsensational. The details of Lee’s crimes, eventually abetted by Jack, are wonderfully satisfying, from her turning her television sideways to act as a light

table in order to trace Noel Coward’s signature, to the amazing moment when Lee orders stationery and the clerk assumes she herself is a woman named Dorothy Parker. Hers is a decidedly tweedy underworld, with crimes enacted in libraries and New York City bookstores.

Based on Lee Israel’s actual memoir, “Can You Ever Forgive Me?” feels emotionally and historically authentic throughout. The relationship between Lee and Jack is refreshingly unflinching and their connection is unsentimental, halting, often self-serving and, therefore, incredibly realistic. Although Jack basically survives on being likable, Grant still manages to make this character so much more than just a sassy sidekick.

There is profound pathos and regret in both lead performances, but also an incredible degree of self-acceptance. The many award nominations for Melissa McCarthy and Richard E. Grant, including for Oscars, are richly deserved. The actors themselves and the characters they play explore so many aspects of creation, and there is so much here to think about, long after the film ends. May this film lead to more dramatic roles for McCarthy, and a full-blown Richard E. Grant renaissance.

“Can You Ever Forgive me?” 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: fox Searchlight/Marvel Studios

Melissa McCarthy shines in “Can You Ever Forgive Me?” and Brie Larson hits theaters this week in “Captain Marvel.”

NEW THIS WEEK CAPTAIN MARVEL

Set in the 1990s, this story follows Carol Danvers (Brie Larson) as she becomes one of the universe’s most powerful heroes when Earth is caught in the middle of a galactic war between two alien races. All listed multiplex theaters, Crescent Theater.

RUN THE RACE

Reeling from his mother’s death and his father’s abandonment, Zach, an All-State athlete, finds glory on the football field, working to earn a college scholarship and the brothers’ ticket out of town. AMC Mobile 16, AMC Wharf, Cobb Pinnacle 14

THEY SHALL NOT GROW OLD

Peter Jackson restored and colorized vast amounts of World War I footage to create this documentary. AMC Wharf 15

NOW PLAYING

TYLER PERRY’S A MADEA FAMILY FUNERAL All listed multiplex theaters.

FIGHTING WITH MY FAMILY All listed multiplex theaters.

GRETA All listed multiplex theaters.

HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON: THE HIDDEN WORLD All listed multiplex theater, Nexus Cinema Dining.

ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL All listed multiplex theaters, Nexus Cinema Dining.

HAPPY DEATH DAY 2 U All listed multiplex theaters.

ISN’T IT ROMANTIC All listed multiplex theaters.

COLD PURSUIT All listed multiplex theaters.

THE PRODIGY All listed multiplex theaters.

THE LEGO MOVIE 2: THE SECOND PART All listed multiplex theaters, Nexus Cinema

Dining.

WHAT MEN WANT All listed multiplex theaters.

GREEN BOOK Regal Mobile Stadium 18, AMC Mobile 16, AMC Classic Jubilee Square 12, AMC Wharf 15, Nexus Cinema Dining THE FAVOURITE Regal Mobile Stadium 18, AMC Mobile 16, AMC Classic Jubilee Square 12, AMC Wharf 15 GLASS All listed multiplex theaters.

AQUAMAN All listed multiplex theaters.

SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE All listed multiplex theaters.

BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY Regal Mobile Stadium 18, AMC Mobile 16, AMC Wharf 15 A STAR IS BORN Regal Mobile Stadium 18, AMC Mobile 16, AMC Wharf 15 THE WIFE Regal Mobile Stadium 18, AMC Mobile 16, AMC Wharf 15

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

GENERAL INTEREST BarKing Grand Opening Thursday, March 7, 4 p.m. at BarKing Optical (9 Dauphin St., Suite101, Mobile).

Visit barking optical.com or call 251-4381153.

Tea for $2 Thursday, March 7, 2-3 p.m., Fairhope Museum of History. Jo Ann Broadus, longtime director of Dogwood Trail Program, on Dogwood Trail Maids Court in Baldwin County and its importance to young members of the community. Call 251-929-1471 or visit fairhopeal.gov.

litterfreemardigras and visit the event page at bit.ly/PostMardiGrasCleanup.

Azalea Bloom Out During the month of March, enjoy the blooms of 250,000 azaleas throughout the 65-acre estate at Bellingrath Gardens.

Check the “Azalea Watch” page on bellingrath.org for regular updates. Daily, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Fairhope History Lectures Thursday, March 7, 6 p.m. Fairhope Public Library. “The Story of Clay in Fairhope” by Zach Sierke.

Free breast cancer screenings Saturday, March 9, starting at 8 a.m., Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority South Eastern Regional Conference mobile mammography unit will offer free breast cancer screenings at the Arthur J. Outlaw Convention Center. To schedule, visit assuredimaging.com/AKA or call 888-2336121. For more information, email Joan Dangerfield at joan083@centurytel.net.

Preserving the Indian Trade Canal Saturday, March 9, 10 a.m. Foley Public Library. Baldwin County Genealogical Society hosts avocation archaeologist Harry A. King, who will discuss the excavations and exploration of the Indian Trade Canal. Free to the public.

Baby expo at USACW Sunday, March 10, 2-4 p.m. at USA Children’s & Women’s Hospital. Baby expo is free and family-friendly. Door prizes, exhibitors, guided hospital tours and meet the care teams. Call 251-471-7262 or email beautifulbeginningsbabyexpo@gmail.com.

OBA Festival of Art March 9-10, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, more than 100 artists plus music, live art demos and food trucks. Free admission. Public parking at Orange Beach Sportsplex with $5 shuttle all-day service.

Afternoon of stars at main library Sunday, March 10, 3 p.m. at the Ben May Main Library. Members of the cast of Mobile Opera’s production of Puccini’s “Il Tabarro” will perform musical selections.

Admission is free. Call 251-432-6772 or visit mobileopera.org.

“Little Mermaid” Tea Saturday, March 9, 2-4 p.m., BraggMitchell Mansion. Tea, treats and appearance by Mobile Ballet’s “Little Mermaid” dancers. Seating limited. Tickets $12. Contact Brown Paper Tickets or 251471-6364 for ticket information.

Post-Mardi Gras Cleanup on One Mile Creek Saturday, March 9, 9 a.m. to noon at 498 Marion St., Mobile. Join Mobile Baykeeper and see firsthand the amount of Mardi Gras litter that pollutes local waterways.

Learn more at mobilebaykeeper.org/

Glen Will’s “Forgotten Alabama” Tuesday, March 12, 3:30 p.m. at Moorer/Spring Hill Library. Author and photographer Glenn Wills, who has made a career of documenting Alabama’s past, will give a presentation of his work and books “Forgotten Alabama” and “More Forgotten Alabama.” Call 251-494-2298.

Christus Lecture Series Presented by The Rev. Dr. Kara N. Slade.

“The Fullness of Time: Jesus Christ, Science and Modernity,” Thursday, March 14, Byrne Memorial Hall, 7 p.m.;

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and “Political Theology, Progress and Temporality,” Friday, March 15, Byrne Memorial Hall, 10:15 a.m.

Lupus Support Group Meeting Every third Saturday of the month, 2-4 p.m. Providence Hospital Moorer Conference Room #1. Sponsored by Hats & Heels Inc. Visit hatsandhealsinc.org.

Heart & Soul Book Club Meeting Every fourth Saturday, 4-5:30 p.m. at Mobile West Regional Library. Contact Cassandra at heartandsoulbookclub@ gmail.com.

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.

FUNDRAISERS Spring tea at the Bragg Friday, March 15, 2-5 p.m., Bragg-Mitchell Mansion. Treats, tea and an informal look at the home. Proceeds benefit its ongoing restoration and operation.

Call 251-471-6364; purchase tickets at brownpapertickets.com/event/4055488.

Seating is limited.

Touch a Truck Saturday, March 16, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Hank Aaron Stadium. Family-friendly event offering children a hands-on opportunity to explore a variety of trucks and meet the people who build, protect and serve our community. $20 per car admission.

Presented by Caribe Resort and FOX10.

Benefits pediatric cancer research at USA Health Mitchell Cancer Institute and Adoption Rocks. Visit usahealthsystem. com/events/touch-a-truck.

“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 Free concert by Josh Ritter Thursday, March 7, 7:30 p.m., Laidlaw Performing Arts Center. Josh Ritter has released nine full-length studio albums and is author of the New York Times bestseller, “Bright’s Passage,” a novel set in Appalachia after WWI. Email Nathan Poole at njpoole@southalabama.edu.

“Pressing Matters” at UM “Pressing Matters” by artist Jessica Smith will be on display Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Martin Gallery, University of Mobile campus.

Contact Phillip Counselman, chair of the Department of Art, at 251-442-2283 or pcounselman@umobile.edu.

“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.

MUSEUMS Maurice Sendak Memorial Exhibition Mobile’s Ben May Main Library is hosting a retrospective of original works by Maurice Sendak, best known for his 1963 children’s classic, “Where the Wild Things Are.” Through Monday, March 25. Call 251494-2298 or visit mobilepubliclibrary.org.

“Parading through Time” Roll through four centuries of Mardi Gras

history with Mobile’s Carnival traditions, mystic societies and more. Through April 20, History Museum of Mobile. Visit historymuseumofmobile.com.

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. 4850 Museum Drive, Mobile. Call 251-208-5200.

SPORTS EVENTS/ACTIVITIES Funky Monkey 5K & Fun Run Saturday, March 9, 8 a.m., USA Moulton Bell Tower. Stick around to feast on Mobile’s Biggest Banana Split by Cammie’s Old Dutch Ice Cream Shop. Register online at bit.ly/FM5k2019.

Gulf Coast Classic March 11-28 at Gulf Shores Sportsplex.

Baseball and softball teams participate in tournaments. Visit GulfShore.com/Sports or call 1-800-745-SAND. Pool Club Mitternight Park Pool Club (off University and Moffett in Mobile) is open Wednesdays, 6-8 p.m., for those interested in playing pool and bumper pool. Instructor available.

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 available. Call 251-463-7980 or 251-2081610.

Piyo Stretch/Tone Stott’s Studio (off Cottage Hill and North Demetropolis in Mobile) offers Piyo Stretch (relaxing Pilates and yoga) and Piyo Tone (toning Pilates and yoga plus weights). Call 251-463-7980 or 251-208-1610.

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., American Legion Post 199 in Fairhope. Hosted by Pensacola Dance Society. Call 850-503-9978.

Adult skate night 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.

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 Government Plaza, 205 Government St. Pre-council meeting at 9 a.m.; council meeting at 10:30 a.m., cityofmobile.org.

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SPORTS UPON FURTHER REVIEW

Berge leads list of stellar efforts for USA track squad

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

set the previous school record of 5,122 in the heptathlon, as the McGill-Toolen graduate took first place in the long jump (6.72m, 22-00.75) and pole vault (4.50m, 14-09.00).

• Fluker has been named the SBC Women’s Indoor Field Athlete of the Week twice this season. Her second honor came after an 18.50-meter (60-08.50) toss at Samford’s Bulldog Invite that was the third-best weight throw mark in Jaguar history. She also finished second in the shot put event (15.15m, 49-08.50).

• Ellis turned in an impressive effort at the Jaguar Invitational in Birmingham, setting a school record in the triple jump (15.5m, 50-10.25).

Mobile hosts new event

Photo by Jimmy Mitchell/Courtesy of USA Athletics

West Mobile County Park and Medal of Honor Park will host the new Black American division of the World Sports League this weekend. Presented by the Mobile Sports Authority, this adult slow-pitch softball event will feature 65 men’s and women’s teams competing for a spot in the world championship, set for August in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

The tournament begins Friday at Medal of Honor Park with a home run derby and two all-star games. Teams will be chosen at random to compete.

On Saturday, the teams will be divided across both West Mobile County Park and Medal of Honor Park. Games will run from 8 a.m. until midnight on Saturday, and 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday.

Conservation Advisory Board meets

USA’s Emilie Berge recently set the Sun Belt Conference Indoor Championship pentathlon record for the Jaguars.

T

he NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships will take place this weekend at the CrossPlex Athletic Facility in Birmingham. Someone hoping to bring a trophy back down Interstate 65 will be the University of South Alabama’s Emilie Berge.

The 6-foot junior from Norway is coming off an impressive effort at the Sun Belt Conference (SBC) Indoor Championship at the same Birmingham location. She surpassed the previous pentathlon record set in 2012 by former Jaguar Lindsay Schwartz.

Berge’s 4,079 points included a first-place finish in the long jump (5.82 meters, 19-01.25 feet). She had three personal-best performances and finished second in the 800-meter run (2:22.91), shot put (12.26m, 40-02.75) and high jump (1.77m, 5-09.75). The high jump mark ranks third in the USA record books.

For the entire meet, Berge contributed 28 of her team’s 69 points. She also had a first-place finish in the long jump (6.03m, 19-09.50) and a second-place finish in the high jump (1.76m, 5-09.25). She earned all-conference honors in both events.

“Emilie is such a hardworking student-athlete,” head coach Pal Brueske told Lagniappe. “She is very driven.

She just keeps getting better and better.”

As a sophomore, Berge finished 19th in the NCAA Outdoor Division I Championships heptathlon with a total

of 5,314 points. As a freshman, she won the heptathlon in the SBC Outdoor meet and the pentathlon at the SBC Indoor finals.

Also coming through for the Jaguars was Autavia Fluker, who won the shot put with a throw of 15.27 meters (50-01.25 feet). Michaela Preachuk earned second-team all-SBC recognition with her weight throw effort of 8.39 meters (60-04 feet).

For the men, freshman Graham Collins set a USA record in the heptathlon (5,166 points to earn third-team allconference honors) by finishing first in pole vault (4.60m, 15-01.00) and second in the 1,000-meter run (2:48.93).

Sophomore Christian Ellis broke his own Jaguar record in the triple jump (15.54m, 51-00).

“We had some positives this week that we can build on for outdoors,” Brueske said after the meet. “Berge’s performances were remarkable, especially when you consider she was just coming off the flu. Fluker and Michaela Preachuk stepped up in the throws. On the men’s side, our newcomers Collins and Ellis had a very solid meet, breaking their school records in the process.”

• Berge and Collins were named the SBC Indoor Field Athletes of the Week following their performances at the LSU Bayou Bengal Invitational. Berge won the pentathlon with 3,970 points, finishing first in the high jump (1.73m, 5-08.00) and long jump (5.71m, 18-09.00). Collins had

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The Alabama Conservation Advisory Board (CAB) will meet Saturday in Montgomery at the Alabama State Capitol Auditorium (600 Dexter Ave.). The CAB assists in formulating policies for the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, examines all rules and regulations, and makes recommendations for their change or amendment. This includes hunting seasons and bag limits.

Registration for those wishing to address the board will take place 8-8:30 a.m. The meeting will begin promptly at 9 a.m.

Local members on the CAB are Ben C. Stimpson Jr. of Mobile and Gary Wolfe of Fairhope. To learn more, visit outdooralabama.com.

College briefs

• The men’s basketball team at Stillman College has strong ties to Mobile.

The Tuscaloosa squad claimed a share of the Southern States Athletic Conference regular-season title with a 26-4 overall record while going 18-4 in league play. The Tigers are No. 5 in the NAIA Division I coaches’ poll, the highest ranking in school history.

Head coach is John Teasley, who has compiled a 53-9 record in his two seasons as Stillman’s head coach. The Mobile native was previously an assistant coach at Spring Hill College. Earlier this year, HoopDirt.com named him the NAIA Coach of the Week.

Local players on the team are freshman guard Derrick Finklea (LeFlore), junior guard Tamarco McDuffie (Murphy) and senior guard Anthony Bell (Blount). Serving as an assistant coach is Gerald (JJ) Watkins, also of LeFlore.

“I’m proud of our team and the way they’ve played all year,” Teasley said.

“They’ve worked hard and they deserve to go to the national tournament.”

• Spring Hill College (SHC) sophomore Katie Krout was named the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) Women’s Basketball Player of the Week. The 5-foot-11 forward posted a double-double in three games for the Badgers. She did so while matching or setting career highs in both rebounds and points scored twice.

During the week, Krout shot 55.8 percent (29-for-52) from the floor for a total of 66 points and grabbed 44 rebounds for an average of 22 points and 14.7 rebounds. She was also a perfect 8-for-8 at the free throw line. Krout’s performances helped SHC to a 2-1 record, including a 71-68 road win over Miles College and a 62-60 win over Central State University in the NCAA Division II Showcase game on ESPN3.

SPORTS FROM BEHIND THE MIC

Get ready for some new rules in college football

BY RANDY KENNEDY/CONTRIBUTING WRITER

T

he danger associated with football has some parents questioning whether they should let their sons participate, which is a direct threat to the sport’s long-term future.

But we have to give the much-criticized NCAA credit for at least trying to address the problem. The latest rules changes, to be implemented starting with the 2019 season, seem to be a move in the right direction.

In short, the NCAA Football Rules Committee has decided to make the penalty more severe for players who are guilty of targeting. But in an equally important move, the committee has also made it less likely that a player will be unjustly penalized for targeting. Both rule changes make perfect sense to me.

First, the more punitive part of the change. Any player who is called for targeting will still be disqualified for the remainder of that game. The change comes if the same player is called for targeting in a subsequent game. In that case, the player will not only be disqualified for that game but also the next game. This rule applies no matter when the penalty takes place during the game, which means an infraction on the first series of the game would effectively result in two games missed for the offending player.

The second part of the rule change is probably going to be cheered by most fans because it will reduce the number of players wrongly penalized and disqualified from playing time. Under the new rule, all targeting calls will still be reviewed by the replay official. But the per-

son in the booth is now being instructed to overturn the targeting call unless every element of the infraction can be identified. In other words, the rule is changing from guilty unless you can prove innocence, to innocent unless proven guilty.

Both of these alterations should make the game safer and more fair.

Most football fans have moved past the idea that vicious shots to the neck and head are good for the game and even a sustainable version of the sport. Long gone are the highlight shots of savage hits on defenseless players that appear to be designed to hurt and/or intimidate the opponent more than to make a tackle or break up a pass. Those hits, complete with musical accompaniment, were staples of the early NFL Films features.

Football is always going to be more than a contact sport. There is no way to completely legislate the violence out of the sport without stripping the game of its appeal. But both of these rules adjustments are steps in the right direction by the NCAA. The same is probably true for the new blindside block rule, though it is certain to cause some controversy. Starting this season, players will not be allowed to deliver a blindside block by attacking an opponent with forcible contact. In other words, if an offensive player wants to block an unsuspecting defender, he will only be allowed to gently get in his way, not deliver a vicious block.

A hard blindside block will now be a 15-yard penalty, even if it’s not targeting. Fans are going to have a hard

time accepting this rule. I can already hear fans screaming, “He hit him with his shoulder pad right in the chest! If that’s not a clean block then no block is legal.”

I understand the sentiment. But this rule is just one more step toward making the game safer and, as a result, more acceptable to the wider audience.

The rules committee is also changing how overtime is played, although this rule won’t impact more than a few games per season. The new rule acknowledges that after the fourth overtime period it’s time to get this over with, already.

So, starting with the fifth overtime period, teams will run alternating 2-point conversion plays. Once the fifth overtime is reached, no longer will

XFOOTBALL IS ALWAYS GOING TO BE MORE THAN A CONTACT SPORT. THERE IS NO WAY TO COMPLETELY LEGISLATE THE VIOLENCE OUT OF THE SPORT WITHOUT STRIPPING THE GAME OF ITS APPEAL. BUT BOTH OF THESE RULES ADJUSTMENTS ARE STEPS IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION BY THE NCAA.” teams begin possession at the 25-yard line. Just one play from the 3-yard line for each offense. Once one team scores and the other doesn’t, the game is over.

This rule will eliminate what we saw last year when LSU played at Texas A&M and exhausted players on both teams looked like they were simply trying to survive as they played into the seventh overtime of a game eventually won, 74-72, by the Aggies.

In the past four seasons, only seven Division I games have lasted longer than four overtimes. But fans watching every one of those agreed something needed to be done to fix this problem. Now there is a solution.

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.

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STYLE FEATURE

Lifelines program aims to help break dependency on food stamps

BY JORDAN PARKER

L

ifelines Counseling Services continues to expand its offerings across Mobile County and surrounding areas by partnering with the Alabama Department of Human Resources (DHR) to provide a new program, A-RESET– standing for Alabama Resources for Enrichment, Self-Sufficiency and Employability Training.

According to its website, Lifelines Counseling Services’ mission is to “help individuals and families live more productive lives through counseling, assistance, referrals and education.”

By calling the 211 line anyone is able to receive resources and information they need in order to help them get where they need to be, whether physically, mentally or financially.

Launched in August 2018, the A-RESET program is dedicated to providing resources in employment and training to individuals who receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, also known as food stamps. The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported that among the 264,399 households in District One (comprising a majority of Lifeline’s clients), 36,747 households receive SNAP benefits.

When someone calls the 211 line they are first asked a series of questions regarding different demographics, such as: How many people live in your household? What is your ZIP code? Do you receive SNAP benefits?

Those who do receive SNAP benefits and are interested in the program are asked if they will be interested in participating in the ARESET program.

“We help them plan and set goals, we complete what we call an IEP, which is an Individual Employment Plan, through a partnership with the DHR, human resources office in Mobile and Prichard,” explained Mary Howard, resources manager at Lifelines Counseling. “At this point in time it’s voluntary … it’s not mandatory.

They sign up on their own, and we navigate them through the process of employment to figure out what are the barriers and what do they need to do to become self-sufficient.”

Over the span of five months, from August through December, Lifelines received 33 consent forms in order to collaborate with DHR and created 20 IEPs for individuals. Although it may seem A-RESET has not gained much

traction on paper, the program is still in its beginning stages.

Sarah Bumgarner, marketing manager at Lifelines, said in order for the program to flourish they need to educate others about the resources they offer and how they can help.

Bumgarner points out “sometimes it’s just that we don’t know what we don’t know,” which is an aspect Lifelines focuses on by showing people what they need to know in order to better provide for themselves or their family.

By providing them with this guidance it is Lifelines’ hope to help individuals get off SNAP benefits or aid them in finding long-term solutions to whatever has prompted them to call.

“We help them overcome barriers, put them in contact with the right services to assist them, direct them toward training opportunities that may be just what they need to achieve their career goals,” Howard said.

For the past 12 years, Lifelines Counseling Services has facilitated 211 calls for the local United Way 211, which is sponsored by United Way Southwest Alabama.

“We have specific staff that are trained just to answer, and through that line it has opened up the ability to do other things,” Bumgarner said, explaining the plethora of resources and referrals Lifelines provides.

Along with the A-RESET initiative, Lifelines offers utility assistance, shelter/housing, food assistance, rent payment assistance and tax preparation assistance, among other things. The organization received more than 4,000 calls last year regarding these needs from individuals in Mobile, Washington, Clarke, Choctaw, Escambia, Baldwin, Conecuh and Monroe counties.

Another program Lifelines provides is Help Me Grow Alabama. By collaborating with 211 Connects Alabama, they aim to connect families with young and developing children to nearby health and developmental screening resources.

In order to receive counseling or assistance, Lifelines reminds you to “keep calm, call 211,” and for emergencies dial 911.

If you would like to learn more about the programs and assistance Lifelines Counseling Services provides, visit lifelinesmobile.org. If you’re interested in donating or volunteering, you can reach Lifelines at 251-602-0909.

THE NEW YORK TIMES CROSSWORD PUZZLE EVERYTHING EVENS OUT IN THE END

BY ERIK AGARD / EDITED BY WILL SHORTZ ACROSS 1 Solo partner 10 Multidecker sandwich 14 Stack at Starbucks 18 Word that follows “standard” and means something nonstandard 19 Abundant 20 Nettie’s sister in “The Color Purple” 21 Likely inexpensive place to get one’s hair done 23 During the time that 24 Baton Rouge sch.

25 Auctioneer’s cry 26 Brownish tint 28 Final: Abbr.

29 En ____ (chess move) 33 Jolly time 35 Sports rival of Union College, for short 36 Chemistry unit: Abbr.

37 Wee devil 38 Cry like a baby 40 Tourist activity in northern Scandinavia 44 Backpack filler 46 “I dare you!”

48 Make a quick move 49 Chinese dynasty ended by Kublai Khan 50 It’s groovy 52 Get to the bottom of 55 Lockup, to Sherlock 57 Villain’s hideout 59 Source of call-ups, in baseball lingo 61 Prefix with culture 62 Virgil described its eruption in the “Aeneid” 63 “You got it, boss man!”

64 Posting that blows in the wind 67 Serenaded 71 Odyssey 72 Has little excitement for 77 Florentine : spinach :: lyonnaise : ____ 82 Curry go-with 83 To be abroad?

84 Allen Ginsberg, e.g.

88 Baby beavers 89 Bird akin to the nene?

90 Arab country expelled from the Arab League in 2011 91 Green, in a way 92 Word cried before and after “all” 94 Governing org. of soccer 96 Reaction of shock 98 Analytics fodder 99 Bottom-of-page design choice 103 Spanish muralist José María ____ 105 Actor Cariou 106 Place for a bouquet

107 Boston’s Mass ____ 108 Pb 110 Away from the wind 112 U.F.C. fighting style 113 Get Wired again, say 116 Hotel visit 118 ____-Magnon man 119 Scarecrow portrayer Ray 121 “How lucky was that?” … or a hint to the answers to the italicized clues 127 Seated yoga pose 128 Well-being 129 Seriously worry 130 What the Joneses may elicit 131 Tater 132 “Crazy Rich Asians” actress whose stage name puns on a bottled water brand

theories 16 Knocking out of place 17 End a lawsuit, say 20 Musical ____ 22 Speak indistinctly 23 Erase 27 One of South Africa’s capitals 29 Oink-filled pen 30 Don who won an Oscar for “Cocoon” 31 Converted splits 32 1400 34 Holiday marking the end of Ramadan 39 Feature of a Welsh accent 41 Winter Olympics host before Salt Lake City 42 Dreadfully slow 43 List in the credits 45 Wearers of striped shirts DOWN 47 Calendar column: Abbr.

1 Bank offerings, for short 51 Part of a trunk 2 Fashion line 53 Worker often found on 3 Fashion model Marcille hands and knees 4 Documents that name 54 Mini maker executors 56 Jargons 5 Tree resin used in fragrances 58 Bled 6 On the same wavelength 60 Not to be seen or heard by 7 A.F.L. partner children 8 Bullies 65 Tower construction material 9 Grate on 66 Men 10 Charging station for a 68 Infrequently smartphone 69 Howe nicknamed “Mr. 11 Rapper ____ Yachty Hockey” 12 Sci-fi saucers 70 Restrict with a string 13 Part of N.B. 72 Challenge for a stain 14 Hula dancer’s adornment remover 15 Subject of many conspiracy 73 Popular Japanese manga

series with a schoolgirl heroine 74 Counterpart of local channels 75 Beginning 76 Pranks, in a way, informally 78 Mini, for one 79 “How fancy!”

80 Like a tidied-up room, now 81 Bit of hair 85 Alternative to .net 86 Some Spanish babysitters 87 Art-studio prop 93 Alternatives to nets 95 HuffPo purchaser in 2011 97 Make easier to eat, as an infant’s food 99 Clumsily drop 100 Finished 101 Like a set of measuring cups, typically 102 “Later, luv!”

104 Mother ____ 109 Role in “Our Gang” or “Queen Sugar” 111 “To the Lighthouse” novelist 114 ____ milk 115 Swatting sound 117 “Jeez, that’s hot!”

120 Man 122 The Sun Devils, for short 123 “No, you shouldn’t have” 124 Opus ____ 125 Iniquity site 126 Springs for a vacation?

ANSWERS ON PAGE 40

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STYLE FEATURE

Satsuma Swamp Fest benefits local schools

BY JO ANNE MCKNIGHT

From left: Satsuma Mayor Tom Williams eats jambalaya with Michelle Ross. The Chestangs of McIntosh. Crafter

T

he seventh annual Satsuma Swamp Fest, sponsored

by Friends for Satsuma Schools, will take place Saturday, March 9, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the campus of Satsuma High School (1 Gator Drive, Satsuma). Swamp Fest is a day for fun, entertainment, food, arts and crafts, vendors, an antique car show and children’s inflatables and games. Admission is free.

Swamp Fest organizers say there will be plenty of entertainment to interest all ages. Lee Elementary School student Britain Fuller — “the little girl with the big voice” — will sing the national anthem. Music will be provided by The Chestangs (bluegrass and Southern gospel), Girls of Grace (gospel), Delta Men, Aaron Moss and the Satsuma High School Jazz Band.

Local dancers will perform on the outdoor stage, including

the Satsuma High School Dancing Gators and performers from Robinson’s School of Dance.

One of the biggest draws to the annual event is the Northside Cruisers Antique and Classic Auto Show, with some 120 entries.

There will be a silent auction and a raffle, with all proceeds benefiting Satsuma High School and Lee Elementary School.

Items on the auction block include: a print of Union Chapel; three official 1985 Iron Bowl Game Coins, numbered and in the original case; a gift bag from Lee Elementary School; and a framed 8-by-10-inch print of “The Kick” made famous in the 1985 Iron Bowl. (The painting isn’t numbered but is signed by Daniel Moore and Van Tiffin, the kicker depicted.) Attendees also can purchase an opportunity ticket to win a $300 Walmart

gift card.

The Women’s Resource Center, Disabled American Veterans and the Mobile County Sheriff’s Flotilla will host information booths and displays.

Festivalgoers can enjoy arts and crafts from talented and gifted artisans, including crocheted items, home decor, doll clothes and personalized watercolors. There will also be a bucking bull!

Food booths will contain a variety of options, including pulled-pork sandwiches, jambalaya, Conecuh sausage dogs, and packaged snacks and drinks.

For more information, call Shirley Presnall at 251-680-1311 or Sue Speights at 251-377-2747.

M a r c h 6 , 2 0 1 9 - M a r c h 1 2 , 2 0 1 9 | L AG N I A P P E | 39

STYLE HOROSCOPES LENTEN SACRIFICES

ANSWERS FROM PAGE 36

40 | L AG N I A P P E | M a r c h 6 , 2 0 1 9 - M a r c h 1 2 , 2 0 1 9

PISCES (2/19-3/20) — After a week in the doghouse with your significant other, you’ll attempt amends in the form of a chicken dinner. Dodging a flying wishbone, you’ll realize the feud is still active.

You’ll give up naming your flatulence for Lent.

ARIES (3/21-4/19) — To combat the evil forces of the hangover gods, you’ll decide to just keep drinking a little bit forever. The plan goes great until you show up drunk to a distant uncle’s funeral. For Lent, you’ll “give up” talking to family.

TAURUS (4/20-5/20) — Trying to entertain Mobile County’s children during their weeklong Mardi Gras break, you try to bring back the ‘90s toy fad Skip It®. After they’ve all sprained their ankles due to shoddy manufacturing of Nikes, you give up physical fitness for Lent.

GEMINI (5/21-6/21) — As an alternative to the governor’s controversial proposed increase in the gas tax, you propose to institute the nation’s first ass tax. As a health incentive, your plan would charge Alabamians 1 cent per inch of their ass per day. You give up p*ssy grabbing for Lent.

CANCER (6/22-7/22) — Easing back into the grind of work after a long weekend, you’ll begin to frequently daydream about your coming summer vacation.

You’ll give up intentionally unmatching socks for Lent.

LEO (7/23-8/22) — In an effort to pander to the most conservative Alabamians ahead of the 2020 elections, you file a bill during the legislative session to require schools to recite a daily Christian prayer using Jefferson Davis’ accent. You’ll give up live Instagrams from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for Lent.

VIRGO (8/23-9/22) — Inspired by their carefree attitude and entrepreneurial spirit, you’ll quit your career to become a Mardi Gras merchandise cart roller. What the customer doesn’t know is everything you offer for sale was picked up off the ground the night before. You’ll give up honesty for Lent.

LIBRA (9/23-10/22) — You’ll need to go to confession after screaming “Snap into a Slim Jim!” at a group of kids and pushing them out of the way in order to catch a plush “Macho Man Randy Savage” doll. You’ll give up cursing for Lent.

SCORPIO (10/23-11/21) — Deciding to redecorate your Christmas/Mardi Gras tree rather than disassemble it and store it for the next eight months, you repurpose it yet again as an early Memorial Day tree.

You give up recycling for Lent.

SAGITTARIUS (11/22-12/21) ­­— You’ll be in the market for a new couch after you dog tramples it with four muddy paws. After trying to measure your small midtown house’s door, you determine that getting a new dog would be easier. You’ll give up the aforementioned dog for Lent.

CAPRICORN (12/22-1/19) — Startled by a midnight knock at the door, you’ll soon realize you’ve been sleeping in a restaurant bathroom since Fat Tuesday evening. You’ll give up calling shallots “franken-garlic” for Lent.

AQUARIUS (1/20-2/18) — Nearly choking on a grape in the supermarket, you’ll be saved by a passerby. The man turns out to be a cop who needed the grape as evidence in your shoplifting case. You’ll give up petty theft for Lent.

STYLE BOOZIE

The good times rolled

BY BOOZIE BEER NUES/SOCIAL BUTTERFLY

W

ell we survived. Barely. Mardi Gras is hard y’all. Some of my spies are still unaccounted for. Some are accounted for but they had such a good time themselves, they couldn’t remember what they saw to report on it. Geez. It’s so hard to find good help these days!

Anyway, I do have some Mardi Gras craziness and other tasty treats for you. So let’s just get right to it!

Joe Cain marchers delighted as always, as the Wild Mauvillians, Dauphin Street Drunks, Skeleton Crew and more paraded down the streets of Mobile. The legendary Bob Grip served as the honorary Big Chief for the Wild Mauvillians. One of the coolest new groups spotted on the parade route were the Mystic Squirrels of Bienville, aka the SOBs. They carried signs saying how it was “nuts” that the city fined folks for feeding the squirrels. Another group dressed as the “amateur sketch” from the infamous WPMI Crichton Leprechaun viral news video got some You caught what?

The Saturday parades are always crowd favor- chuckles as well.

Despite the horrific weather, and parade-goers ites, especially the iconic Mystics of Time (MOT) and marchers getting absolutely soaked, it was a dragon floats. But this year my spies were more really fun day. I think sometimes the rainy-day impressed with the really strange things they parades actually end up being more fun. caught. One person who was at the floral parade We will have all of your Lundi Gras and Fat reported catching Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle birthday decorations. What the what? Are people Tuesday scoop in the next issue. just cleaning out their closets and junk drawers for throws now?

RIH Jamie?

But by far the strangest catch of the season One of my spies noticed a business on Sprinwas later that night at the MOT parade, when ghill Avenue with a very strange message on its one young man caught an autographed photo of marquee. It read, “RIH Jamie.” The spy wasn’t Verne Troyer, better known as Mini Me from the sure if they were just missing the “P” from their “Austin Powers” movies. Strangely, the autoletters or they were saying “Rest in Hell.” Or I graphed copy was made out to some dude named guess it could be heaven? Either way, it’s kind Jeremy. I guess Jeremy wanted to share the love of strange. with the crowd.

It rained buckets on Joe Cain Day, but that Well kids, that’s all I got this issue. Don’t stop didn’t stop some brave souls from heading down- drinking for Lent! I need you to keep misbehavtown. Police estimated the crowds to be a little ing! And just remember, whether rain or shine, over 5,000. Considering we were under a tornado dramatic or scandalous, or just some plain ol’ watch, that’s not too shabby.

Gras gossip. I will be there! Ciao!

F U T U R E S H O C K M a r c h 6 , 2 0 1 9 - M a r c h 1 2 , 2 0 1 9 | L AG N I A P P E | 41

LAGNIAPPE LEGALS | 251.450-4466 | legals@lagniappemobile.com FORECLOSURES FORECLOSURE NOTICE Default having been made in the payment of the indebtedness described in and secured by that certain mortgage executed by Marie Antionette Warmack, an unmarried woman, to Whitney National Bank, n/k/a Hancock Whitney Bank, dated December 12, 2000, and Recorded in Book 4911, Page 226 of the records in the Office of the Judge of Probate, Mobile County, Alabama, which said mortgage was modified by loan modification agreement dated December 30, 2014 and recorded in BK: LR7243, Page 1490 in said Probate Court records; notice is hereby given that the undersigned as mortgagee will under power of sale contained in said mortgage, sell at public outcry for cash to the highest bidder, during legal hours of sale on the March 19, 2019, at the front door entrance of the Courthouse of Mobile County, Alabama, 205 Government St., Mobile, AL 36602, the following described real property in the County of Mobile, State of Alabama, being the same property described in the above referred to mortgage: LOT 14, FIGURES WAY, AS RECORDED IN MAP BOOK 85, PAGE 116 OF THE RECORDS IN THE OFFICE OF THE JUDGE OF PROBATE, MOBILE COUNTY, ALABAMA ALABAMA LAW GIVES SOME PERSONS WHO HAVE AN INTEREST IN PROPERTY THE RIGHT TO REDEEM THE PROPERTY UNDER CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES. PROGRAMS MAY ALSO EXIST THAT HELP PERSONS AVOID OR DELAY THE FORECLOSURE PROCESS. AN ATTORNEY SHOULD BE CONSULTED TO HELP YOU UNDERSTAND THESE RIGHTS AND PROGRAMS AS A PART OF THE FORECLOSURE PROCESS. This property will be sold on an “as is, where is” basis, subject to any easements, encumbrances and exceptions reflected in the mortgage and those contained in the records of the office of the judge of the probate where the above-described property is situated. This property will be sold without warranty or recourse, expressed or implied as to title, use and/or enjoyment and will be sold subject to the right of redemption of all parties entitled thereto. Said sale is made for the purpose of paying the said indebtedness and the expenses incident to this sale, including a reasonable attorney’s fee. The sale will be conducted subject (1) to confirmation that the sale is not prohibited under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code and (2) to final confirmation and audit of the status of the loan with the mortgagee.

Hancock Whitney Bank Mortgagee William McFadden McFadden, Rouse & Bender, LLC 718 Downtowner Blvd.

Mobile, AL 36609 Lagniappe HD Feb. 27, March 6, 13, 2019

FORECLOSURE NOTICE Default having been made in the payment of the indebtedness described in and secured by that certain vendor’s lien contained in Vendor’s Lien Deed executed by Tyson Johnson and Annie Johnson, husband and wife, in favor of Gigi Winborn on the 19th day of September 2003, said deed recorded in Real Property Book 5464, Page 0888 and that certain Corrective Vendor’s Lien Deed to Gigi Winborn dated September 19, 2004. Said lien was transferred to Sixty St. Francis Street, Inc. dated September 23, 2004 recorded in Real Property Book 5664, page 1247. Said lien was transferred to James L. Perrien, M.D., P.C. Profit Sharing Plan, FBO James L. Perrien by various conveyances. Said lien was thereafter transferred to Citizens National Bank of Albion, Custodian for James L. Perrien, MD IRA, in that certain transfer recorded in Real Property Book 6972, page 1394. The undersigned under and by virtue of the power of sale contained in said deed, will sell at public outcry to the highest bidder for cash, in front of the main entrance of the Courthouse at Mobile, 205 Government Street, Mobile, Alabama 36602, on March 29, 2019 during the legal hours of sale, all of its right, title, and interest in and to the following described real estate, situated in Mobile County, Alabama, to wit: That certain lot of land described as bounded by a line beginning at the point on the West side of Davis Avenue sometimes called Stone Street 445 feet 6 inches Northwardly along the Avenue from St. Charles Street; thence running Southwardly along a line parallel with the distance about 110 feet 6 inches from the North side of the house said Sartori, 121 feet to the property of Dan Laws; thence Northwardly along the line between Satori and Laws, 57 feet 6 inches to a point; thence Northeastwardly, parallel with said North Line of said house 121 feet to a point on Davis Avenue and thence Southwardly along the West line of Davis Avenue 57 feet 6 inches to the place of beginning. Said property being bounded on the East by Davis Avenue, on the South by property now or formerly of McCormick, on the West by an alley and on the North by property now or formerly of Daniel E. Gaus.

THIS PROPERTY WILL BE SOLD ON AN “AS IS, WHERE IS” BASIS, SUBJECT TO ANY EASEMENTS, ENCUMBRANCES, AND EXCEPTIONS REFLECTED IN THE VENDOR’S LIEN AND THOSE CONTAINED IN THE RECORDS OF THE OFFICE OF THE JUDGE OF PROBATE OF THE COUNTY WHERE THE ABOVEDESCRIBED PROPERTY IS SITUATED. THIS PROPERTY WILL BE SOLD WITHOUT WARRANTY OR RECOURSE, EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED AS TO TITLE, USE AND/OR ENJOYMENT AND WILL BE SOLD SUBJECT TO THE RIGHT OF REDEMPTION OF ALL PARTIES ENTITLED THERETO.

Alabama law gives some persons who have an interest in property the right to redeem the property under certain circumstances. Programs may also exist that help persons avoid or delay the foreclosure process. An attorney should be consulted to help you understand these rights and programs as a part of the foreclosure process. This sale is made for the purpose of paying the indebtedness secured by said Vendor’s Lien as the expense of foreclosure. The Vendor reserves the right to bid for a purchase the real estate and to credit its purchase price against the expenses of sale and the indebtedness secured by the real estate. This sale is subject postponement or cancellation.

CITIZENS NATIONAL BANK OF ALBION, CUSTODIAN FOR JAMES L. PERRIEN, M.D., IRA VENDOR J. MICHAEL DRUHAN, ESQUIRE Druhan Tyler, LLC 1751 Old Shell Road, Suite B Mobile, Alabama 36604 Telephone: (251) 202-5529 Lagniappe HD Feb. 27, March 6, 13, 2019

CIRCUIT COURT IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF MOBILE COUNTY, ALABAMA CASE NO: CV-2019-900373.00 TIMOTHY RITZ, a/k/a TIM RITZ, Plaintiff Vs: LANDS DESCRIBED IN THIS COMPLAINT; ELIZABETH M. SHEPPARD and if Deceased, Her Heirs and Devisees, Defendants.

LEGAL NOTICE NOTICE to Defendants of a Complaint issued out of the Circuit Court of Mobile County, Alabama. Timothy Ritz, a/k/a Tim Ritz, by and through his Attorney John T. Bender, Civil Case Number: CV-2019-900373.00.

NOTICE is given that on February 07, 2019, the abovenamed Plaintiff, filed this cause of action against said Defendants, the lands described in the Complaint; Elizabeth M. Sheppard., and her heirs, or devisees, if deceased; A, B, and C, being all other persons claiming any present, future, contingent, remainder, reversion, or other interests in said lands to obtain an Order Granting the Plaintiffs quiet title in and to the following described real property: Parcel #: 023708270000005009.

Legal Description: COMG AT SE COR OF NE 1/4 OF SEC 27 T6S R3W RUN W 1044.37 FT TO PT TH RUN N 00 DEG 01 MIN E 15 FT TO PT TH W 568.97 FT TO POB TH CON W 95FT TO PT TH N 00 DEG 01 MIN E 480 FT TO PT TH E 95 FT TO PT TH S 00 DEG 01 MIN W 480 FT TO POB CONTG 1.047 ACRES M/L #SEC 27 T6S R3W #MP37 08 27 0 000.

This notice is published pursuant to Section 6-6-564 et seq., 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 John T. Bender, 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 Clerk of the Court 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 15th day of February, 2019. /s/ JoJo Schwarzauer Attest: JoJoSchwarzauer Clerk of Circuit Court of Mobile County, Alabama John T. Bender, Attorney for Plaintiff McFadden, Rouse & Bender, LLC 718 Downtowner Boulevard Mobile, AL 36609 (251) 342-9172 johnt@mrbattorneys.com Lagniappe HD Feb. 20, 27, March 6, 13, 2019

PROBATE NOTICE OF ADOPTION HEARING PROBATE COURT OF MOBILE COUNTY CASE NO. 2018-2212 To: Douglas Chaffee father of AWC, a minor.

Please take note that a petition for the adoption of the above named minor child who was born to Douglas Chaffee on or about the 2nd day of February, 2015, has been filed in said Court. Please be advised that if you intend to contest this adoption you must file a written response with the attorney for the petitioner(s) named below and with the Clerk of the Probate Court, P. O. Box 7, Mobile, AL 36601 as soon as possible but no later than thirty (30) days from the last day this notice is published.

Attorney for Petitioner(s): Ronald W. McBay 50 St. Emanuel St. Mobile, AL 36602 Lagniappe HD Feb. 20, 27, March 6, 13, 2019

42 | L AG N I A P P E | M a r c h 6 , 2 0 1 9 - M a r c h 1 2 , 2 0 1 9

NOTICE OF ADOPTION HEARING PROBATE COURT OF MOBILE COUNTY CASE NO. 2018 - 2213 To: Douglas Chaffee father of EGC, a minor.

Please take note that a petition for the adoption of the above named minor child who was born to Douglas Chaffee on or about the 16th day of January 2017, has been filed in said Court. Please be advised that if you intend to contest this adoption you must file a written response with the attorney for the petitioner(s) named below and with the Clerk of the Probate Court, P. O. Box 7, Mobile, AL 36601 as soon as possible but no later than thirty (30) days from the last day this notice is published.

Attorney for Petitioner(s): Ronald W. McBay 50 St. Emanuel St. Mobile, AL 36602 Lagniappe HD Feb. 20, 27, March 6, 13, 2019

NOTICE OF ADOPTION HEARING PROBATE COURT OF MOBILE COUNTY CASE NO. 2018-2212 To: Douglas Chaffee father of AWC, a minor.

Please take note that a petition for the adoption of the above named minor child who was born to Douglas Chaffee on or about the 2nd day of February, 2015, has been filed in said Court. Please be advised that if you intend to contest this adoption you must file a written response with the attorney for the petitioner(s) named below and with the Clerk of the Probate Court, P. O. Box 7, Mobile, AL 36601 as soon as possible but no later than thirty (30) days from the last day this notice is published.

Attorney for Petitioner(s): Ronald W. McBay 50 St. Emanuel St. Mobile, AL 36602 Lagniappe HD Feb. 20, 27, March 6, 13, 2019

NOTICE OF ESTATE ADMINISTRATION PROBATE COURT OF MOBILE COUNTY, ALABAMA Estate of: NAHRIAH JA’NEIL HUGHES Case No. 2019-0230 Take notice that Letters of Administration have been granted to the below named party on the 13th day of February, 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. GARRY M. TATE AS Administrator of the estate of NAHRIAH JA’NEIL HUGHES, deceased.

Attorney of Record: RUTH R. LICHTENFELD Esq. Lagniappe HD Feb. 20, 27, March 6, 2019

NOTICE OF ESTATE ADMINISTRATION PROBATE COURT OF MOBILE COUNTY, ALABAMA Estate of: MAYNORA NIGERIA HUGHES Case No. 2019-0231 Take notice that Letters of Administration have been granted to the below named party on the 13th day of February, 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. GARRY M. TATE as Administrator of the estate of MAYNORA NIGERIA HUGES, deceased.

Attorney of Record: RUTH R. LICHTENFELD Esq. Lagniappe HD Feb. 20, 27, March 6, 2019

NOTICE OF ESTATE ADMINISTRATION PROBATE COURT OF MOBILE COUNTY, ALABAMA Estate of: MARTIN S. MCGOWAN, JR., Deceased Case No. 2019-0233 Take notice that Letters of Administration have been granted to the below named party on the 13th day of February, 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. CAROL WEAVER as Executrix under the last will and testament of MARTIN S. MCGOWAN, JR., Deceased.

Attorney of Record: JOHN DAVID BRADY, JR. Lagniappe HD Feb. 20, 27, March 6, 2019

NOTICE OF ESTATE ADMINISTRATION PROBATE COURT OF MOBILE COUNTY, ALABAMA Estate of: MICHAEL ANTHONY ALLEN Case No. 2019-0229 Take notice that Letters of Administration have been granted to the below named party on the 13th day of February, 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. GARRY M. TATE as Administrator of the estate of MICHAEL ANTHONY ALLEN, deceased.

Attorney of Record: RUTH R. LICHTENFELD Esq. Lagniappe HD Feb. 20, 27, March 6, 2019

NOTICE OF ESTATE ADMINISTRATION PROBATE COURT OF MOBILE COUNTY, ALABAMA Estate of: WILLIAM S. CHAVERS, Deceased Case No. 2018-2440 Take notice that Letters Testamentary have been granted to the below named party on the 11th day of February, 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. WALTER GLADSTONE CHAVERS as Executor under the last will and testament of WILLIAM S. CHAVERS, Deceased.

Attorney of Record: THOMAS BOLLER Lagniappe HD Feb. 20, 27, March 6, 2019

NOTICE OF ESTATE ADMINISTRATION PROBATE COURT OF MOBILE COUNTY, ALABAMA Estate of: JUANITA R. WATSON NETTLES Case No. 2018-2043 Take notice that Letters of Administration have been granted to the below named party on the 7TH 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. DAPHNE NERISSI WATSON HAYWOOD as Administratrix of the estate of JUANITA R. WATSON NETTLES, deceased.

Attorney of Record: VANESSA ARNOLD SHOOTS, Esq. Lagniappe HD February 27, March 6, 13, 2019

NOTICE OF ESTATE ADMINISTRATION PROBATE COURT OF MOBILE COUNTY, ALABAMA Estate of: MARY L. THOMPSON Case No. 2016-1032 Take notice that Letters of Administration have been granted to the below named party on the 14th day of February, 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. JOHN D. RESTER as Administrator of the estate of MARY L. THOMPSON, deceased.

Attorney of Record: L.D. HOLT, ESQ. Lagniappe HD Feb. 27, March 6, 13, 2019

NOTICE OF ESTATE ADMINISTRATION PROBATE COURT OF MOBILE COUNTY, ALABAMA Estate of: AUGUSTA D. BRADLEY, Deceased Case No. 2019-0320 Take notice that Letters Testamentary have been granted to the below named party on the 21st day of February, 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. EVIE B. TAYLOR as Executrix under the last will and testament of AUGUSTA D. BRADLEY, Deceased.

Attorney of Record: PRO SE Lagniappe HD Feb. 27, March 6, 13, 2019

NOTICE OF ESTATE ADMINISTRATION PROBATE COURT OF MOBILE COUNTY, ALABAMA Estate of: ANNIE S. ROGERS, Deceased Case No. 2019-0328 Take notice that Letters Testamentary have been granted to the below named party on the 21st day of February, 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. FLOYD B. ROGERS JR. as Executor under the last will and testament of ANNIE S. ROGERS, Deceased.

Attorney of Record: PRO SE Lagniappe HD Feb. 27, March 6, 13, 2019

NOTICE OF ESTATE ADMINISTRATION PROBATE COURT OF MOBILE COUNTY, ALABAMA Estate of: GERTRUDE HARRIS STANLEY, Deceased Case No. 2018-2413 Take notice that Letters Testamentary have been granted to the below named party on the 17th day of December, 2018 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. WILLIE J. SCOTT as Executor under the last will and testament of GERTRUDE HARRIS STANLEY, Deceased.

Attorney of Record: VANESSA ARNOLD SHOOTS, Esq. Lagniappe HD Feb. 27, March 6, 13, 2019

NOTICE OF ESTATE ADMINISTRATION PROBATE COURT OF MOBILE COUNTY, ALABAMA Estate of: SAMUEL PATRICK DRINKARD Case No. 2019-0176 Take notice that Letters of Administration have been granted to the below named party on the 26th day of February, 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. JANA V. HOGGLE as Administratrix of the estate of SAMUEL PATRICK DRINKARD, deceased.

Attorney of Record: JOHN M. O’DOWD, Esq. Lagniappe HD March 6, 13, 20, 2019

NOTICE OF ESTATE ADMINISTRATION PROBATE COURT OF MOBILE COUNTY, ALABAMA Estate of: ROY COPPAGE Case No. 2018-1824 Take notice that Letters of Administration have been granted to the below named party on the 19th day of February, 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. JULIE JOHNSON as Administrator of the estate of ROY COPPAGE, deceased.

Attorney of Record: MATTHEW B. HALL, Esq. Lagniappe HD March 6, 13, 20, 2019

NOTICE OF ESTATE ADMINISTRATION PROBATE COURT OF MOBILE COUNTY, ALABAMA Estate of: NELL REE LANGLEY Case No. 2016-1962 Take notice that Letters of Administration have been granted to the below named party on the 26th day of February, 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. JERRY FOWLER as Administrator of the estate of NELL REE LANGLEY, deceased.

Attorney of Record: JOHN R. PARKER, Esq. Lagniappe HD March 6, 13, 20, 2019

ADVERTISEMENT FOR BIDS ADVERTISEMENT FOR BIDS Notice is hereby given that the University of South Alabama (Owner) will accept sealed Bids for the following Work: FOOTBALL STADIUM BROADCAST CABLING University of South Alabama Mobile, Alabama USA Bid #9020403 - Job #17-66I Provide the cabling, enclosures, equipment and installation for the Broadcast Cabling system for the new football stadium. The enclosures will be Contractor Supplied but Owner Installed.

Bids will be received from electrical General Contractors only and clocked in at 2:00PM local time on Tuesday, March 12, 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 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

LAGNIAPPE LEGALS | 251.450-4466 | legals@lagniappemobile.com 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 10:00AM local time on Thursday, February 28, 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 trenddavis@southalabama.edu, or 307 University Blvd, AD001, Mobile 36688.

Lagniappe HD Feb. 27, March 6, 2019

ADVERTISEMENT FOR BIDS Notice is hereby given that the University of South Alabama (Owner) will accept sealed Bids for the following work: PREFAB ALUMINUM TRELLIS FOR NEW ALUMNI BUILIDNG University of South Alabama Mobile, Alabama USA JOB NO. 14-50A USA BID NO. 9021801 Bids will be received and clocked in at 3:00 p.m. local time on March 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 9:00AM local time on March 7, 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:dstrain@ southalabama.edu, 307 University Blvd., N., AD001, Mobile 36688 Lagniappe HD Feb. 27, March 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: FOOTBALL STADIUM OVERHEAD ROLL-UP AND COUNTER SHUTTERS University of South Alabama Mobile, Alabama USA JOB NO. 17-66 USA BID NO. 9021802 Bids will be received and clocked in 2:00 p.m. local time on Tuesday, March 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.

All questions concerning the Project should be submitted in writing to the Project Manager at the following address: dgreer@southalabama.edu 307 University Blvd. N., AD001 Mobile, AL 36688 Lagniappe HD Feb. 27, March 6, 13, 2019

PUBLIC NOTICE

STORAGE AUCTIONS

NOTICE OF COMPLETION

NOTICE OF SALE

STATE OF ALABAMA COUNTY OF MOBILE In accordance with Chapter I, Title 39, Code of Alabama, 1975, NOTICE IS HEREBY given that T. Batchelor & Son, Inc. has completed the contract for Western Administrative Complex – S.W.A.T. – HVAC Replacement (MX-278-17), 4851 Museum Drive, Mobile, Alabama 36608. 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, P. O. Box 1827, Mobile, AL 36633-1827.

T. Batchelor & Son, Inc. 7570 Zeigler Blvd.

Mobile, AL 36608

Notice is hereby given, pursuant to Alabama Statutes, that the goods stored in units rented by occupants listed below will be sold to the highest bidder at a public auction online at www.storageauctions.com on March 28, 2019 at 10:00 am to satisfy liens claimed by STORAGEMAX MIDTOWN, together with all costs of sale.

Sheldon Inge Micheal Mitchell Marcelene Lewis & Rebecca Allen.

Any of the above goods may be withdrawn from sale by STORAGEMAX MIDTOWN at any time without prior notice.

PUBLIC SURPLUS PROPERTY AUCTION

NOTICE OF SALE

Surplus Property of Mobile County Health Department will be offered for auction on the website www.GovDeals.com beginning March 4th starting at 6:00AM until Monday March 18th at 4:00PM. This is a government auction website and you MUST be registered on the website in order to make a bid on any items, however you may view items up for auction without registering. The GovDeals.com website will contain detailed information including description and photos. There will be 4 vehicles up for auction. Vehicles may be inspected by APPOINTMENT ONLY: Wednesday, March 6th through Monday, March 18th from 8:00AM to 2:00PM. Contact the individual listed as the Asset Contact to schedule an appointment for inspection. All items up for auction by Mobile County Health Department are sold “AS IS, WHERE IS”. No refunds or exchanges. Mobile County Health Department reserves the right to reject any or all bids. Mobile County Health Department is currently selling surplus vehicles by online auction. For a list of the current items being sold, please visit our legal notices and bids section on Mobile County Health Department’s website at www.mchd.org Legal Notices & Bids. The items will be listed for bid on www.govdeals.com and search Mobile County Health Department.

In accordance with Alabama Law, notice is hereby given that Magnolia Self Storage, 5010 Moffett Road Mobile, AL 36618 will conduct a public lien sale or dispose of the contents of the following units to pay rent and other charges due. Call 251-343-7867 with questions. Please call the facility the day before sale to verify which units remain on this list. The sale will be held on Friday March 22, 2019 at 11:00 am.

Lagniappe HD March 6, 13, 20, 27, 2019

Lagniappe HD Feb. 27, March 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 Mobile County; to amend Section 2 and Section 7 of Act 87-663, 1987 Regular Session (Acts 1987, p. 1172); to further provide for the acceptance of certain unimproved roads and regulating the construction of certain other unimproved roads.

Lagniappe HD Feb. 13, 20, 27, March 6, 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; to provide that one district must have no fewer than two licensees holding a retail liquor license in that area and be located in an area zoned commercial, another district may be established in a commercial area at times when special events are held as designated by the town council, and another district may be established 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 Feb. 13, 20, 27, March 6, 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 Mobile County; to amend Act No. 80-621, H. 992 of the 1980 Regular Session (Acts 1980, p.

1062), as amended by Act No. 90-613, H. 86 of the 1990 Regular Session (Acts 1990, p. 1126), relating to authorizing, providing and regulating the office space and assistants to the legislative delegation in Mobile County, so as to provide further for the employees and operations of the Mobile County Legislative Delegation Office.

Lagniappe HD March 6, 13, 20, 27, 2019

Lagniappe HD March 6, 13, 2019

C-137 Jackie Gibbs 907 Murphy Avenue Prichard, AL 36610 Furniture, Boxes, Misc.

C-142 Edwina Walker P.O. Box 180101 Mobile, AL 36618 Boxes, Totes, Misc .

D-015 Pamela Leggett 3717 Dial Street Whistler, AL 36612 Misc. Items, Boxes D-016 Pamela Leggett 3717 Dial Street Whistler, AL 36612 Misc. Items, Boxes J-024 Frances Wilkes Smith 2514 Herman B Towner Street Eight Mile, AL 36618 Furniture, TV, Boxes

Lagniappe HD March 6, 13, 2019

ABANDONED VEHICLES NOTICE OF SALE The following unclaimed vehicle(s) will be sold on April 05, 2019 - Time - 12pm, if not claimed - at 250 Thompson Blvd., Chickasaw, AL 36611.

2015 Toyota Camry 4T4BF1FK6FR507106 2014 Kia Cadenza KNALN4D74E5135955

The following unclaimed vehicle(s) will be sold on April 05, 2019 - Time - 12pm, if not claimed - at 735 Dozier Place, Mobile, AL 36606.

2014 Ford Mustang 1ZVBP8AM7E5269429 Lagniappe HD Feb. 27, March 6, 2019

The following unclaimed vehicle(s) will be sold on April 05, 2019 - Time - 12pm, if not claimed - at 1712 East Harbor Dr., Mobile, AL 36605.

2004 GMC Sierra 2GTEC13T241369638 2007 Dodge Charger 2B3KA43R87H764810 Lagniappe HD Feb. 27, March 6, 2019

The following unclaimed vehicle(s) will be sold on April 05, 2019 - Time - 12pm, if not claimed - at 2205 Bankhead St., Mobile, AL 36606.

2015 Chrysler 200 1C3CCCAB7FN650353 Lagniappe HD Feb. 27, March 6, 2019

The following unclaimed vehicle(s) will be sold on April 12, 2019 - Time - 12pm, if not claimed - at 5703 Hwy 43, Satsuma, AL 36572.

2002 Ford Explorer 1FMYU60E62UC60304 Lagniappe HD March 6, 13, 2019

The following unclaimed vehicle(s) will be sold on April 12, 2019 - Time - 12pm, if not claimed - at 113 Peterson Rd., Prichard, AL 36610.

2014 Chrysler 200 1C3CCBBG2EN105874 2009 Chevrolet Silverado 3GCEK23MX9G158560

Lagniappe HD Feb. 27, March 6, 2019

The following unclaimed vehicle(s) will be sold on April 05, 2019 - Time - 12pm, if not claimed - at 7185 Old Shell Rd., Mobile, AL 36608.

2007 Honda Accord 3HGCM56427G711957 Lagniappe HD Feb. 27, March 6, 2019

Lagniappe HD March 6, 13, 2019

The following unclaimed vehicle(s) will be sold on April 12, 2019 - Time - 12pm, if not claimed - at 1050 N Hickory St., Loxley, AL 36551.

1996 Ford Explorer 1FMDU32P9TZA36864 2001 Ford Mustang 1FAFP404X1F116973 2002 Lincoln Navigator 5LMEU27R12LJ04047 1995 Chevrolet K1500 1GNFK16K4SJ305038 1998 Ford Explorer 1FMZU32X6WZC28432 Lagniappe HD March 6, 13, 2019

Lagniappe HD March 6, 13, 2019

The following unclaimed vehicle(s) will be sold on April 12, 2019 - Time - 12pm, if not claimed - at 7440 Old Military Rd., Theodore, AL 36582.

2011 Hyundai Sonata 5NPEB4AC6BH285065 Lagniappe HD March 6, 13, 2019

The following unclaimed vehicle(s) will be sold on April 12, 2019 - Time - 12pm, if not claimed - at 3757 Autumndale Dr., Mobile, AL 36618.

2007 Mercedes E350 WDBUF56X37B121720 Lagniappe HD March 6, 13, 2019

The following unclaimed vehicle(s) will be sold on April 12, 2019 - Time - 12pm, if not claimed - at 3271 Snow Rd., Semmes, AL 36575.

2006 Toyota Highlander JTEGD21A960150201 Lagniappe HD March 6, 13, 2019

The following unclaimed vehicle(s) will be sold on April 12, 2019 - Time - 12pm, if not claimed - at 608 Azalea Rd Apt P-1607, Mobile, AL 36609.

2008 Toyota Camry 4T1BE46K88U766942 Lagniappe HD March 6, 13, 2019

Lagniappe HD Feb. 27, March 6, 2019

The following unclaimed vehicle(s) will be sold on April 05, 2019 - Time - 12pm, if not claimed - at 3358 Sherringham Dr., Mobile, AL 36609.

2006 Hyundai Elantra KMHDN46D26U361084

The following unclaimed vehicle(s) will be sold on April 12, 2019 - Time - 12pm, if not claimed - at 2821 Government Blvd., Mobile, AL 36606.

2012 Chevrolet Silverado 1GCRKPE75CZ181502

The following unclaimed vehicle(s) will be sold on April 12, 2019 - Time - 12pm, if not claimed - at 8510 Brown Dr., Irvington, AL 36544.

2005 Chevrolet Silverado 1GCEC19X15Z170437

The following unclaimed vehicle(s) will be sold on April 12, 2019 - Time - 12pm, if not claimed - at 1467 Goldfinch Dr., Mobile, AL 36605.

1996 Chevrolet Caprice 1G1BL52P6TR191567

Lagniappe HD Feb. 27, March 6, 2019

Lagniappe HD March 6, 13, 2019

Lagniappe HD March 6, 13, 2019

The following unclaimed vehicle(s) will be sold on April 12, 2019 - Time - 12pm, if not claimed - at 2665 Government Blvd., Mobile, AL 36606.

2010 Volkswagen CC WVWMN7AN0AE563303

Lagniappe HD Feb. 27, March 6, 2019

The following unclaimed vehicle(s) will be sold on April 05, 2019 - Time - 12pm, if not claimed - at 1419 E I-65 Service Rd S., Mobile, AL 36606.

2005 Jaguar S-Type SAJWA01T35FN26659

Lagniappe HD March 6, 13, 2019

The following unclaimed vehicle(s) will be sold on April 12, 2019 - Time - 12pm, if not claimed - at 1213 Dauphin Island Parkway, Mobile, AL 36605.

2006 Pontiac Grand Prix 2G2WP552661283518

The following unclaimed vehicle(s) will be sold on April 12, 2019 - Time - 12pm, if not claimed - at 740 Lakeside Dr., Mobile, AL 36693.

2003 Infiniti FX35 JNRAS08U63X101741

The following unclaimed vehicle(s) will be sold on April 12, 2019 - Time - 12pm, if not claimed - at 5697 Pinewood Dr., Bon Secour, AL 36511.

2001 Dodge Dakota 1B7GL2AN91S214311

The following unclaimed vehicle(s) will be sold on April 05, 2019 - Time - 12pm, if not claimed - at 2821 Government Blvd., Mobile, AL 36606.

2007 Toyota Corolla 1NXBR32E37Z888461

Mobile, AL 36617.

1996 Chevrolet Caprice 1G1BL52P5TR121350

Lagniappe HD March 6, 13, 2019

Lagniappe HD March 6, 13, 2019

The following unclaimed vehicle(s) will be sold on April 12, 2019 - Time - 12pm, if not claimed - at 5110 Roswell Rd S., Mobile, AL 36619.

2012 Dodge Charger 2C3CDXBG5CH159430 Lagniappe HD March 6, 13, 2019

The following unclaimed vehicle(s) will be sold on April 12, 2019 - Time - 12pm, if not claimed - at 3917 Creekway Dr E., Mobile, AL 36605.

1996 Chevrolet Caprice/Impala 1G1BL52P1TR165040 Lagniappe HD March 6, 13, 2019

The following unclaimed vehicle(s) will be sold on April 12, 2019 - Time - 12pm, if not claimed - at 2007 W Mott Dr.,

Lagniappe HD March 6, 13, 2019

Lagniappe HD March 6, 13, 2019

The following unclaimed vehicle(s) will be sold on April 12, 2019 - Time - 12pm, if not claimed - at 2307C South US Hwy 31, Bay Minette, AL 36507.

1997 Chevrolet Blazer 1GNDT13W3V2251001 Lagniappe HD March 6, 13, 2019

The following unclaimed vehicle(s) will be sold on April 12, 2019 - Time - 12pm, if not claimed - at 3351 Dauphin Island Parkway, Mobile, AL 36605.

2009 Nissan Murano JN8AZ18U89W013200 2006 Toyota Highlander JTEGD21A360148749 2002 Ford Crown Vic 2FAFP73W221X121833 2008 Infiniti QX56 5N3AA08D48N913810 2009 Honda Accord 1HGCP26429A144656 Lagniappe HD March 6, 13, 2019

The following unclaimed vehicle(s) will be sold on April 12, 2019 - Time - 12pm, if not claimed - at 30864-A Bryars Lane, Spanish Fort, AL 36527.

2010 Ford F250 1FTSW2BY7AEA41106 Lagniappe HD March 6, 13, 2019

The following unclaimed vehicle(s) will be sold on April 12, 2019 - Time - 12pm, if not claimed - at 7365 Old Gulfcrest Rd., Citronelle, AL 36522.

2013 Chevrolet Cruze 1G1PE5SB4D7136259 2003 Lincoln LS 1LNHM87A43Y662220 Lagniappe HD March 6, 13, 2019

The following unclaimed vehicle(s) will be sold on April 12, 2019 - Time - 12pm, if not claimed - at 3626 St Stephens Rd., Mobile, AL 36612.

1985 Chevrolet C10 1GCDC14N0FF362226 Lagniappe HD March 6, 13, 2019

The following unclaimed vehicle(s) will be sold on April 12, 2019 - Time - 12pm, if not claimed - at 1408 Montlimar Dr., Mobile, AL 36609.

2014 Toyota Corolla 2T1BURHE6EC192104 Lagniappe HD March 6, 13, 2019

M a r c h 6 , 2 0 1 9 - M a r c h 1 2 , 2 0 1 9 | L AG N I A P P E | 43