INSIDE TODAY State’s budget may be Bentley’s saving grace.
Authorities make arrest in Saturday’s shooting near casino.
Edgewood JV team falls short in state tourney.
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THE WETUMPKA HERALD Elmore County’s Oldest Newspaper - Established 1898
Wetumpka, AL 36092
50¢
WEDNESDAY • APRIL 13, 2016
THEWETUMPKAHERALD.COM
VOL. 118, NO.12
Holt takes win in District 1 runoff
CRATERFEST: ‘Biggest thing to hit Wetumpka since the meteor’ set for Saturday STAFF REPORT TPI Staff
Wetumpka’s Craterfest is just four days away, with activities set to begin bright and early Saturday morning at Gold Star Park. This year’s event will feature Georgia native and award-winning singer and songwriter Colt Ford as its headlining act. Other artists scheduled to perform include Colt Ford gospel singer Andrew McCarter, the classic and southern rock group Shades of Gray, country artist Bradley Roberson along with the Tyler Braden Band and southern rock artist Markus Fox. Events are set all day, from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Gold Star Park in See CRATER • Page 3
Corey Arwood / The Herald
Pat Jones, with her brother Ernest Johnson, and her three grandsons, Taylor, George, and Willis Watt Jones, stand under what was revealed as the new name of the Wetumpka Depot Players theater, in honor of her late husband Watt Jones Jr.
HONORABLE NAME
Depot Players name theater in honor of Watt By COREY ARWOOD Staff Writer
The Wetumpka Depot Players revealed the new name of their theater in a surprise unveiling ceremony held for the family, friends and fellow performers of Wetumpka resident and longtime Depot performer Watt Jones, Jr.
The Depot Players’ auditorium was named Watt Jones Jr. Theatre, and one by one at the ceremony, fellow actors, neighbors and a family pastor delivered outpourings of memories and reminiscences about the prominent community member. The Sunday event was standing See NAME • Page 3
Despite being awarded a new trial on appeal, Joey Alan Grizzell of Prattville again plead guilty to manslaughter.
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Kenny Holt emerged as the winner in a runoff for the District 1 Elmore County Commission seat after a sweeping win in the Republican Primary Runoff election Tuesday. Holt won by nearly 300 votes at 673 votes to his opposition, Shanna Chamblee’s 375. Elmore County Probate Judge and election official, John Enslen, announced the results around 8:30 p.m., and said out of the roughly 9,338 voters in District 1 a total of 1,048 voted for a turnout of 11.22 percent that saw Holt take the vote at 64 to Chamblee’s roughly 36 percent total. “I’m ecstatic, that my supporters did what they did and voted for me and had confidence in me,” said Holt, amid celebrating his victory.
By COREY ARWOOD Staff Writer
STAFF REPORT TPI Staff
334-567-7811 • Fax: 334-567-3284
By COREY ARWOOD Staff Writer
Commissioners OK event liquor license, bid for elevator work
Grizzell again pleads guilty in child’s death Despite being granted a new trial with a key piece of evident thrown out by an appeals court, a Prattville man facing charges in the death of an infant decided not to go through with a trial. Monday as prosecutors and defense teams were preparing for jury selection and a new trial, Joey Alan Grizzell, 30, surprised them all and again accepted a guilty plea. Just as he had before, Grizzell plead guilty to manslaughter See GUILTY • Page 12
Holt received roughly 64 percent of runoff votes against opponent
Corey Arwood / The Herald
Gerry Purcell was selected as executive director of the Wetumpka Area Chamber of Commerce, bringing a diverse background to the position.
Chamber names Purcell director By COREY ARWOOD Staff Writer
The Wetumpka Area Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors has named Gerry Purcell as its new executive director. It is Purcell’s first week on the job and he talked with The Herald, Tuesday in the Chamber’s new innovation center about his goals for the organization and the city, along with some of the strategies he planned to put to use to achieve them. Purcell relocated to the Wetumpka area two years ago after residing in the Atlanta area for nearly 20 years. He is a native of the city of Toccoa in the Northeast Georgia foothills.
“Moving here was a breath of fresh air,” said Purcell, who has lived in Wetumpka with his wife for about two years. He called his new role with the chamber perfect, and said it was a change from his past in the health care industry. “It’s a big change for me, but everything that I have been doing for my business career really fits well, I think, for what they were looking for,” he said. Purcell brings diverse experience to the executive director role. He knows first-hand how to run a successful business and has helped hundreds of businesses and non-profits over his career in the areas of business development, See CHAMBER • Page 12
CREATIVE PLAY Child Development Center
NOW ENROLLING! Ages 6 Weeks - 4 Years
Free enrollment until September 1, 2016 334-478-3608 Hours: Monday-Friday 7am-6pm 80 Red Eagle Drive, Wetumpka, AL 36092 | www.Creativeplayedc.tk
FREE ESTIMATES!
Hedging, Fall Cleanup, Leaf Removal, All Yard & Lawn Maintenance
(334) 309-4422 • (334) 580-7879
The Elmore County Commissioners considered a liquor license for a local park event, a bid on elevator renovations for the county courthouse and selling county vehicles online at Monday’s meeting. A tax-exempt liquor license application was approved for the Alabama Wildlife Federation and the Lake Martin Wild Game Cook-off 2016 at the Lake Martin Amphitheater in Eclectic on May 14. And a bid inquiry on a renovation project for the passenger elevators at the Elmore County Judicial Complex was accepted. “This is one of the elements from the Blue Print 2020 plan,” said Richie Beyer, county engineer with the Highway Department. According to Elmore County website, the Blueprint 2020 Plan is billed as an infrastructure modernization and renewal plan for the growing population See COMMISSION • Page 12