INSIDE: Obituaries, page 2 Religion, page 6 Classifieds, page 7 Sports, page 10
Weekend OPINION, PAGE 4: THE GOOD, BAD AND UGLY OF THIS WEEK’S NEWS
The Outlook
Lighting the way for Alexander City & Lake Martin since 1892
April 1-2, 2017
Vol. 125, No. 65
www.alexcityoutlook.com
75¢
LOCAL, PAGE 2 Local students meet with the mayor
School tax fraud suspect indicted STAFF REPORT TPI Staff
A man believed to be responsible for stealing the identity of several Alexander City Schools employees and using the information to file fraudulent tax returns last year has been indicted on federal charges. A federal grand jury sitting in St. Louis returned a superseding indictment
Investigators work on preliminary report in plane crash
Thursday charging St. Louis resident Kevin Kunlay Williams, aka Kunlay Sodipo, for his role in a sophisticated stolen identity refund fraud scheme and other federal offenses. The indictment was announced Thursday by Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and Acting U.S. Attorney Carrie A. Costantin for the Eastern District of
Missouri. This indictment replaces the original indictment that came on Feb. 10 and adds additional charges. The indictment charges Williams, a Nigerian citizen, with mail fraud, aggravated identity theft, voter fraud, illegal reentry and being a felon in possession of a firearm. As investigators with the Alexander City Police Department probed the fraud last year, it learned that more than
Former Benjamin Russell baseball star Kendall Graveman will be the Opening Day starter on the mound for The Oakland A’s Monday.
See INDICTMENT • Page 3
ALEX CITY ACE Graveman named Opening Day start for Oakland A’s By MITCH SNEED Editor
Monday evening when the Oakland A’s open the regular season against the Los Angeles Angels, there will be an Alexander City ace on the bump wearing the green and gold. Former Benjamin Russell standout Kendall Graveman has been named the Opening Day starter by A’s skipper Bob Melvin. Melvin made the announcement shortly after the A’s learned that Sonny Gray would open the season on the disabled list. Melvin told MLB.com that Kendall Graveman was the obvious choice. “He’s up for it,” Melvin said in an interview with MLB,com. “I talked to him about it when Sonny went down and obviously he was concerned for his teammate but excited about the fact he was going to get his first Opening Day start. “He’s kind of on a mission to be one of those guys who pitches at the top of the rotation for many years to come.” A standout at Mississippi State where he helped lead the Bulldogs to the College World Series, Graveman was drafted in the eighth round (235th overall) by the Blue Jays in 2013. He spent the remainder of the year with the Single-A Blue Jays affiliate in Lansing, Michigan. There he went 1-3 with a 4.31 ERA in 10 starts with the Lugnuts. In 2014 Graveman was named a Baseball America Minor League Baseball First Team All-Star after combining for a 14-6 record and a 1.83 ERA in 27 starts with Single-A Lansing, Single-A Dunedin, Double-A New Hampshire and Triple-A Buffalo before making his Major League
By MITCH SNEED Editor
Federal officials who were called in to investigate the crash of a singleengine plane Tuesday near Dadeville said Thursday that it could be a year or more before an exact cause is determined. Keith Holloway of the National Transportation Safety Bureau said that investigators on the scene retrieved the wreckage, which was located in a remote area off Highway 280 in the Slaughter’s Crossing area, not far from Dadeville. The evidence has been moved to a secure location in Tennessee where work will begin of piecing together data that will lead them to a cause, Holloway said. “It’s a very detailed process,” Holloway said in a telephone interview Thursday. “There will be a preliminary report in about a week or so, but a final determination in a case like this can take from 12 to 18 months.” While all the investigation is not complete, online data flight info points to mechanical failure of some sort. Online flight information suggests that the flight began to veer off course, while losing speed and altitude quickly. See REPORT • Page 9
See GRAVEMAN • Page 9
File / The Outlook
Local physician speaks health and wellness to Kiwanis
Residents take one tank getaways to Wind Creek
Today’s
Weather
79 53 High
Low
By CLIFF WILLIAMS Staff Writer
By CLIFF WILLIAMS Staff Writer
Dadeville Kiwanians got a lesson in wellness from Dr. Jamie Evans. Evans moved to Dadeville last year and became the family practice physician at Russell Medical’s Medical Park Family Care in Dadeville. “Being healthy and staying well is so very important,” Evans said. “As physicians, we want to talk to you about COPD or diabetes or the right diet. It is possible to be healthy with disease.” Evans almost did not make it as a doctor. See KIWANIS • Page 3
100 Alexander City schools employees were victims of the tax-identity scheme. “We are definitely glad to see this person being brought to justice,” said Alexander City Police Department Det. Riley Foshee. “He caused a lot of people not only here, but across the Southeast, a lot of problems.” IRS officials said there may have been fraudulent returns filed in the
Cliff Williams / The Outlook
Dr. Jamie Evans with Medical Park Family Care in Dadeville speaks to the Dadeville Kiwanis Club about wellness.
With Alexander City Schools on spring break this week, some parents maybe looking for something to do with their children this weekend. Wind Creek State Park is minutes away and has campsites available. “Spring break is going well,” Wind Creek’s Will Martin said. “The city schools are out this week and some are here. We also have some families from See WIND CREEK • Page 3
Lake Martin
Lake Levels
488.82 Reported on 3/31/17 @ 5 p.m.
LACEY HOWELL 256.307.2443
laceyshowell@gmail.com 5295 Highway 280, Alex City, AL
6
54708 90050
8
USPS Permit # 013-080
256-329-1313 217 Madison Street, Alexander City, AL
FREE CONSULTATIONS
Evening & Weekend Appointments Available Upon Request
FIRMLY ROOTED IN LAKE MARTIN AND HERE TO STAY.
“We are a Debt Relief Agency. We help people file Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 under the Bankruptcy Code. Alabama State Bar requires the following in every attorney advertisement, “ No representation is made that the quality of legal services to be performed is greater than the quality of legal services performed by other lawyers.”