THE SOUTHERN TORCH
/ THURSDAY AUGUST 6, 2015 / VOL. 1, NO. 11 / $1.00
COMMUNITY
BUSINESS
POLITICS
NACC TO HOST GRAMMY WINNER, COUNTRY MUSIC HALL OF FAMER > PAGE 3
A LOOK BACK AT 10 WEEKS OF ‘TORCH TREAT OF THE WEEK’ > PAGE 5
FORT PAYNE CITY COUNCIL ANNOUNCSES NEW HIRES TUESDAY > PAGE 7
Local tips lead to three arrests Instant digital prints are available at
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Anthony Wayne Thomas
Marsha Seale
James Arsenault
FORT PAYNE— Sheriff Jimmy Harris reports that on August 3rd the DeKalb County Drug Task Force Agent and Alabama State Fire Marshals went to a residence on County Road 127 Fort Payne to investigate reports of suspected drug activity at that residence. Once Drug Task Force Agents arrived they encountered Anthony Wayne Thomas and found him to have on his person a large quantity of methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia. Thomas stated to agents that he
lived at the address. The homeowner of the residence Marsha Seale arrived and Agents got consent to search the residence. During the search, agents found digital scales, and other drug paraphernalia relating to drug distribution and drug use. Four firearms were also found along with a chainsaw reported to be stolen. Anthony Wayne Thomas, 33 of Fort Payne was arrested and charged with Unlawful Possession on a Controlled Substance with the Intent to Distribute,
Unlawful Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, and Felon in Possession of a Firearm. Marsha Seale, 40 of Fort Payne was arrested and charged with Unlawful Possession of Controlled Substance, Unlawful Possession of Marijuana 2nd and Unlawful Possession of Drug Paraphernalia and other charges are pending. On an unrelated case on August 3rd, two vehicles, a 1995 Jeep Wrangler and a 2001 Kawasaki Motorcycle were reported stolen from Chattanooga,
Rainsville City Council’s stopped by “Thin Red Line“
TN on July 28, 2015. DeKalb County Deputies and Investigators got an anonymous tip about the location of the two stolen vehicles taken from Chattanooga. The Deputies and Investigators went to the residence on County Road 281 in the Dogtown area and recovered the two stolen vehicles. James Arsenault, 24 of Fort Payne was arrested and charged with Receiving Stolen Property. Sheriff Harris states “We want to encourage everyone to continue to call or email your tips to our website w w w. dekalbcountysheriff.org. These tips that we received led us to the stolen vehicles and drugs in these two different locations. All of the tips we receive are confidential and they lead us to hundreds of arrests a year. Without your eyes and ears this would not be possible.” THIS WEEK IN COMMUNITY
NACC to host Grammy Winner, Country Music hours from 43 to 40 per week. we maintain required staffing several weeks and was Hall of Famer at Music Graham also proposed using of two people, we still have to required by federal and state on the Mountain
By Joseph M. Morgan joseph@southerntorch.com
RAINSVILLE—The Rainsville City Council met Monday night to continue a discussion from the previous meeting about scaling back fire department hours and personnel. Councilman Joey Graham’s proposal was met by strong enough opposition from the handful of fire department personnel in attendance at the July 20 meeting that the council decided to adjourn for further discussion before taking the matter to a vote. RFD showed up at the council meeting in full force Monday night to voice their disapproval of Graham’s plan to reorganize the department to work shorter shifts, including reducing RFD Chief Thomas Ridgeway’s work
part-time firefighters and volunteers to shore up the gaps created by the reduction in the length of shifts. He said his purpose was to reduce the amount of overtime paid by the city to RFD personnel. Rainsville Mayor Nick Jones strongly voiced his disagreement with the proposal to decrease the number of hours and personnel currently serving the city of Rainsville as full-time firefighters. “If you’re talking about taking the chief and putting him in a 40-hr admin position, that only expands the payroll,” Rainsville Mayor Nick Jones said. “We’ve got a chief that does admin and field missions. So, we’re actually getting a two-for-one deal. If you take him out of a shift, and
have an additional person. That silly idea of filling half the shift with part-time firefighters on a permanent basis, that’s ridiculous. You just heard him (RFD Chief Thomas Ridgeway) say that. It’s insane...If you truly want to eliminate overtime, you don’t need to cut hours. We need a swingman. You need to hire another fireman.” Ridgeway and his fellow firefighters voiced fierce opposition to Graham’s proposal. Ridgeway explained that the increase in overtime was unavoidable. Due to unforeseen circumstances that caused staffing shortages, including one fireman being called to serve our military, the department had been short three full-time firefighters for
law to cover the shifts even if that meant accruing some overtime hours. Ridgeway protested that he and his staff had worked diligently to cut overtime, saying without such efforts the amount of overtime would have been exponentially higher. Capt. Jason Brannon said Graham’s proposal to cut Ridgeway’s hours would also cause more overtime problems. “The chief works a weekend shift like everybody else,” Brannon said. “If you cut him to a 40-hour week, we’ll have to call someone in to cover his shift.” Ridgeway repeated the mayor’s view that the only solution to the problem was hiring more personnel to story continues on p.2
One of the most exciting events of the year is coming up… Page 3
THIS WEEK IN BUSINESS
A look back at 10 weeks of the ‘Torch Treat of the Week’ Page 5
THIS WEEK IN SPORTS
Sylvania Quarterback club hosts Wingfest Sylvania High School Quarterback Club will be hosting the 1st annual WingFest… Page 7
THIS WEEK IN POLITICS
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The Fort Payne City Council met Tuesday… Page 7
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