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Lighting the way for Alexander City & Lake Martin since 1892 August 12, 2015 Vol. 123, No. 160 www.alexcityoutlook.com
WORKHORSE BACK Martin ready to carry Rebels to state title, Page B1.
Ruling seals fate of Pleasure Point By Betsy Iler
TPI Magazine Editor
Fewer than 30 mobile homes and other structures remain at Lake Martin’s Pleasure Point Park and Marina, and a spokesman for Alabama Power Company Tuesday afternoon said the owners of the structures have until September 14 to remove them. The power company has hired a licensed environmental contracting company to conduct
the cleanup effort after Circuit Judge Steven R. Perryman on July 8 issued a summary judgment in favor of Alabama Power. Perryman denied motions for additional discovery and injunctive relief filed on behalf of homeowners in the suit, finding that additional discovery would not change the ruling. “The environmental contractors we have hired are taking the lead in the cleanup and See RULING, Page A6
Kenneth Boone / The Outlook
While many of the structures at Pleasure Point have been cleared, a July 8 ruling means that any stragglers must be gone by Sept. 14.
Details of new hiking trail emerge
County schools work towards facilities plan
Outlook Staff Writer
Commissioner sought to help with Capital Improvement Plan
The area between Kent and Martin Dam will soon be home to a new hiking trail featuring the world’s longest pedestrian suspension bridge. Jimmy Lanier of the Cherokee Ridge Alpine Trail Association talked Monday night to the Red Hill Community Club about the plans for the trail, which will run the length of the old Lake Martin Railroad bed from Tucker Road near Kent to below Martin Dam. The Lake Martin Railroad was used during the building of Martin Dam to transport materials for the construction of the dam from Kent to Cherokee Bluff, the site of the dam. “In 1923, Alabama Power Co. built the railroad,” Lanier said. “They started building it in early 1923 and it was finished in December. It was six miles long and included seven trestle bridges and a cattle gap. We figured out there was approximately 1.4 million board feet of lumber used in those bridges and the gap.” The construction of what would become Martin Dam – dedicated to honor Alabama
With the new 1-cent sales tax on the minds of all in Tallapoosa County, the Tallapoosa County Board of Education is working to bring a county commissioner into its Capital Improvement Plan Committee so that the commission is more aware of what is going on at the schools. “I think it is only right and proper to invite one of the commissioners to sit on this committee since they passed the 1-cent sales tax,” Tallapoosa County Schools superintendent Joe Windle told the board at Monday’s meeting. “It will become an issue at some point in the future and I think it is an important part of what we want to do. I think it will head off questions the commission might have. The capital improvement committee is really needed as it helps us direct how funds will be spent over the next five years especially when it comes to facilities.” The board reappointed board member Michael Carter to the committee. Windle asked the board to approve the placement of maintenance supervisor Dwayne Johnson on the salary matrix as a supervisor with less than nine years experience. “When we hired him, we gave him five years experience based on what he
By David Granger
See TRAIL, Page A7
By Cliff Williams Outlook Staff Writer
Mitch Sneed / The Outlook
Students and parents walk into Jim Pearson School on Monday’s opening day of classes. School attendance numbers are down slightly in the city and up in the county.
NUMBERS GAME Preliminary attendance stats show mixed results By David Granger
day of school compared to last year’s official enrollment of 3,084. “That number always goes up,” Cooper Very early enrollment numbers show said. “You have those that are, for whatevTallapoosa County Schools numbers up er reason, just not yet enrolled and you’ll slightly and Alexander City Schools’ numhave some moving into the area that aren’t bers slightly down. aware when school starts.” However, officials with both systems Cooper noted that both Jim Pearson expect those numbers to increase by the and Stephens elementary schools are ADM (average daily measurement date, already showing increases while Radney when enrollments are officially measured) Elementary, Alexander City Middle rolls around three weeks after Labor Day. School and Benjamin Russell High School Alexander City Schools Superintendent enrollments are currently down. Darrell Cooper said attendance in the Alex Tallapoosa County Schools City system totaled 3,047 on today’s first See SCHOOLS, Page A7 Outlook Staff Writer
See PLANNING, Page A6
Grant makes new courthouse x-ray machine possible By Mitch Sneed Outlook Editor
Mitch Sneed / The Outlook
Jerome Braden, left, and Sam Harris, right, look on as Sheriff Jimmy Abbett, center, puts the new Tallapoosa County Courthouse x-ray machine through a check.
Visitors to the Tallapoosa County Courthouse can enjoy a new level of security thanks to a Homeland Security grant that funded a new x-ray machine at the main entrance to the building. Tallapoosa County Sheriff Jimmy Abbett said that the $29,900 grant allowed them to replace an aging piece of equipment that they wouldn’t have been able to replace otherwise. “The previous machine had outlived its usefulness,” Abbett said. “I
mean our guys did the best they could with it, but this new machine gives a whole new level of detail that we just did not get with the other equipment.” The machine comes with a display screen that gives a vivid image of the items that are placed on the belt and run through the scanner. This is the first upgrade of equipment at the courthouse since it was mandated in 2006 that the Sheriff’s Department be responsible for security there. Abbett said that the See X-RAY, Page A7
Today’s
Weather
90 66 High
Low
Lake Martin
Lake Levels
488.81 Reported on 8/11/15 @ 4 p.m.
Linda Shaffer, REALTOR® C: 256.794.4641 • W: 256.329.5253 shaffer@lakemartin.net 5295 Highway 280, Alexander City, AL
6
54708 90050
8
USPS Permit # 013-080
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1546 Hwy. 280 Alexander City, AL (next to Home Depot)
Call Jamie Phillips 256.786.1374