OPINION: ‘Life is not a sprint, it’s a marathon.’
SPORTS:
INSIDE:
A look back at April 2011 tornadoes.
Baseball season ends, Nolen calls it a career. Page 12.
THE RECORD Serving the Dadeville & Lake Martin area since 1897
WWW.THEDADEVILLERECORD.COM
VOL. 119, NO. 17
THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016
AREA SHOWED ITS RESILIENCE IN 2011 By MITCH SNEED Editor
Five years ago, the Lake Martin Community was waking up to incredible devastation caused by a tornado that ripped through a path from just north of Wetumpka, through the heart of Elmore and Tallapoosa counties. Dadeville experienced tremendous loss of property and loss of life.
As the anniversary of that day was commemorated in various ways, Tallapoosa County Sheriff Jimmy Abbett was hit on two fronts. His department received 839 calls for help in a four-hour period, while his own Dadeville neighborhood took on extensive damage as a result of the EF 4 twister. “When you are actually hit in two ways like that, it extends the things you
are dealing with,” Abbett said. “Just the amount of damage that resulted meant that there was no way that it could be handled quickly. “So we were looking at an extended amount of time. But over those three weeks we had 30 different agencies in here and no telling how many volunteers who responded to help get the area back to some degree of normalcy.” Abbett said that response and the
Camp Hill meets to discuss finance issues
Grand opening for new Dollar General Saturday STAFF REPORT TPI Staff
Dollar General will celebrate the opening of its new location at 8273 County Road 34 in Dadeville on Saturday, April 30 at 8 a.m. with free prizes and special deals. Dollar General will offer Dadeville residents a convenient new place to shop for everyday essentials at low prices, according to a release from the company. See OPENING • Page 3
See TORNADO • Page 3
Board votes to close Councill
By CLIFF WILLIAMS Staff Writer
Camp Hill’s financial problems are reaching a head. Council members expressed their frustrations in a financial committee meeting followed by a special called meeting to pay the town’s bills Wednesday afternoon. “We are broke,” Anthony Pogue said. “We will not last through the summer.” “This is giving me a headache,” Ezelle Smith said. The committee meeting came about at Monday’s council meeting when council members could not vote to approve payment of bills due to a lack of funds. The committee looked at losses of income from utilities and courts. “We are not making near the money now that we do in the winter because of gas,” Pogue said. “In the past, that profit helped get us through the summer months.” The mild winter affected income. “Winter was not cold this year,” Pogue said. See CAMP HILL • Page 5
spirit with which the residents and the people attacked the devastation was a reminder of how incredible the people of this community can be. “You never want to say that you were lucky, especially with all the damage and loss of life,” Abbett said. “But because of the timing many of the lake homes were not occupied full-time. I
By DAVID GRANGER Staff Writer
Cliff Williams / The Record
Dadeville Elementary School fourth grader Nigeria Greer practices her struck at a kayak lesson at Wednesday’s Water Festival at Wind Creek State Park. Below, area fourth graders take a look at a Carp at Wednesday’s Water Festival at Wind Creek State Park.
SPLASH AROUND Students get hands wet at Tallapoosa Water Festival
By DAVID GRANGER Staff Writer
The poster that volunteer Vicki Campbell was using to illustrate the water cycle at the 2016 Tallapoosa County Water Festival didn’t show anything like the water that Dadeville Elementary School fourth-grader Cortlin Morgan was looking out upon as Campbell talked. So Morgan asked where the water in Lake Martin came from. Told the lake was man-made, Morgan was See WATER • Page 5
There was no joy on the faces of the members of the Tallapoosa County School Board when it came time to vote on the single question on its agenda Friday afternoon. “With a heavy heart, so moved,” said board member Michael Carter in moving to accept Superintendent Joe Windle’s recommendation to close Councill Middle School at the end of the current school year and move sixthgrade students to Dadeville Elementary School and seventh- and eighth-grade students to Dadeville High School beginning in the 2016-17 school year. “With a heavy, heavy heart, I second,” said board member Matilda Woodyard-Hamilton. The board then voted unanimously to accept Windle’s recommendation. “It’s never pleasant when you’re looking at the possibility of closing one of your school locations,” said Windle at the meeting’s outset. “This is not a pleasant task that we have to consider today, not a pleasant recommendation to be made whether for or against.” As he had in two public meetings on the potential closure of the 62-yearold facility, Windle again laid out the relevant facts: dwindling student population, static tax revenues, the costs of maintaining the facility and the need to act to meet the state’s requirement that the board achieve and See COUNCILL • Page 3
County-wide cleanup a huge success By Cliff Williams Staff Writer
Saturday’s County Wide Clean up was a huge success. The Tallapoosa County Commission provided dumpsters across the county to allow citizens to dispose of larger items and volunteers took to the roads to help pick up trash disposed of on roadways. “I think it was huge success,” Lake Martin Resource Association’s John Thompson said. “Every dumpster but two were overflowing.” In all, nearly 200 volunteers picked up more than 330 bags of trash from roadsides throughout the county. Grills, cabinets, toys and more could be found out dumpsters as residents empCliff Williams / The Record tied their storage areas. John Howell, left, Kim Dunn and Carla Culligan pick up trash along County See CLEANUP • Page 5 Road 40 on Saturday’s County-wide Cleanup Day.
Little Lambs
& Ivy
DAY SCHOOL
“A STATE TATE LICENSED ICENSED LEARNING EARNING CENTER” 6:30a.m.. - 5:30p.m 6:30a.m 5:30p.m.. • Monday-Friday
Ŷ ® ¦ ¡ ထ ª ¡£
• Ages 6 weeks to 12 years • 2 to 5-year-old learning curriculum • Breakfast and lunch program • Trained and CPR certified teachers • After-school & summer fun programs
580 E. South Street • Dadeville, AL • 256-825-9415
Weather
80 60 High
Low
Lake Martin
Lake Levels
490.63 Reported on 04/27/16 @ 6 p.m.
LAKE AREA REALTY
“Selling
Rhonda Gaskins, Broker ® Lake Martin” Cell: (256) 749-3644 rhonda@lakearearealty.net 440 N. Broadnax Street Q Dadeville, AL
Starting Friday:
Junglebook 3D – PG Ratchet & Clank – PG The Huntsman: Winter’s War – PG-13