COMMUNITY COLUMNISTS INSIDE
THE
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Lighting the way for Alexander City & Lake Martin since 1892 August 19, 2015 Vol. 123, No. 165 www.alexcityoutlook.com
By Mitch Sneed Outlook Editor
The overall weather pattern won’t change much through tomorrow; mostly cloudy with occasional showers and thunderstorms. Severe weather is not expected, but heavy downpours are a good possibility from time to time in the tropical air over Alabama. The sky will stay generally cloudy, and the high tomorrow will be in the 80s. – ABC 33/40’s James Spann
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Seniors tips lead to drug bust
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A drug bust by the Tallapoosa County Narcotics Task Force Tuesday resulted in four arrests and the seizure of drugs, cash and a gun. Members of the task force and personnel from Alexander City Special Response Group, Tallapoosa County Sheriff’s Department and Alexander City Housing Authority executed a search warrant at a residence on Carolyn Road in Alexander City.
In a search of the residence, investigators seized 40 grams of marijuana, 4 grams of Spice (synthetic marijuana), $555 in cash and a Emmanuel Kelly handgun. Sgt. Fred White of the task force said that the drug raid was a result of controlled buys and public outcry from what residents believed was high drug
Marcus Kelly
Travis S. Russell
traffic in their area. “In that particular area, there are a lot of elderly residents and they became concerned due to a lot of activity on what is a dead
Holley’s Home Furniture celebrates 55 years
LOCAL NEWS
end street,” White said. “There are no better eyes in the community and for law enforcement than the eyes of elderly Leola K. Towers residents. They know who lives there, every car that belongs there and the ones that don’t.” Arrested in the bust were: • Travis Sentrell Russell, See BUST, Page A2
Lake levels await license By Betsy Iler
TPI Magazine Editor
Williams elected to statewide leadership role Recently, at the Alabama ACTE (Association of Career and Technical Education) Conference in Birmingham, Horseshoe Bend’s Felicia Williams was elected as the AATFACS (Alabama Association Teachers of Family and Consumer Science) Section President. Williams will serve in this position from July 2015-July 2017. She will also serve on the Alabama ACTE Board representing family and consumer sciences teachers in Alabama. Williams is the family and consumer science teacher/FCCLA Adviser at Horseshoe Bend School in New Site. She is the wife of David Williams of Alexander City and the daughter of Jimmy and Elizabeth Huett of New Site.
Dial returns special session paycheck State Sen. Gerald Dial, R-Lineville, returned his paycheck for the recent special session of the Alabama Legislature, saying he believes he and other legislators should not be paid during the special session and that he felt the Legislature didn’t do its job of passing a budget for state agencies. Dial turned his $937 check over to State Treasurer Young Boozer last week. Through a regular session that began in February and a special session that ended last week, the Legislature has failed to pass a General Fund budget.
Lake Martin
Lake Levels
488.57 Reported on 8/18/15 @ 4 p.m.
Linda Shaffer, REALTOR® C: 256.794.4641 • W: 256.329.5253 shaffer@lakemartin.net 5295 Highway 280, Alexander City, AL
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54708 90050 USPS Permit # 013-080
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By Carmen Rogers
I
for The Outlook
t was January of 1960 when Austin Holley purchased an interest in a business called Home Furniture, in Alexander City. From there, Holley worked until he purchased the business, became sole owner and changed the name to Holley’s Home Furniture in 1977. Holley began working long before 1960. Holley went to work straight out of high school in 1949 in the furniture business. “I finished high school in Rockford, finished April 23 and August I started selling furniture. I was 17 years old,” Holley said. After working for Hillman Forbus at Forbus Furniture, Holley served in the Army for two years. “I sold furniture for three years,” Holley said. “Then the army got me for two [years]. I came out of the army and I started selling furniture again.” When it came to selling furniture, Holley was
a real go-getter. In the 1950s and 60s, Holley would load furniture on to a truck and go find a buyer. “They don’t have them now, but I ran what whaa they called a road route for several years,” said Holley. s v se Austin’s son Ralph, who now A handles the day-to-day operahann ha tions tiio of the store, explained his father’s method. faat “Every morning he loaded that th ha truck with a rug, a dinette suite su or a sofa,” Ralph said. “He took to it out and what ever the customer wanted, they bought cu off o the truck” What set the store apart then th and now is the in-house financing option. Austin f Holley would go out and colH lect payments the same way he made lect pay ym his sales, using the road route. Ralph said customers still come in and thank him for his father’s way of doing business. See FURNITURE, Page A7
Holley’s Home Furnishings started from modest beginnings 55 years ago with Austin Holley running ‘road routes’ in his overalls. Today, the store has a fine showroom and his son Ralph is now at the helm. Through the years, customer service has been the trademark of the business.
While the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has not yet issued an operating license allowing a fall extension of Lake Martin’s summer pool, Alabama Power Company’s manager of reservoir management Tuesday said that hard-won aspect of the relicensing application probably wouldn’t have been an issue this year. “There have been scattered showers, but conditions have been relatively dry this year. In fact, we’ve kicked in the drought plan,” said Alan Peeples. “Conditions are dry, and we’re seeing that on all of our lakes. That’s why you see the little bit lower water level. We are down about 9/10 of a foot.” The power company has not initiated the annual drawdown ahead of schedule, Peeples said, but the lower water level is an indication of use for hydropower generation coupled with dry conditions. See LAKE, Page A6
Camp Hill’s town finances called into question by councilmember By Cliff Williams Outlook Staff Writer
Finances are on the minds of many in Camp Hill especially since the IRS seized funds when they froze the town’s accounts. “I want to figure out why our income is down between $150,000 and $160,000 since February,” Council member Anthony Pogue said at Monday’s meeting. Members of the council wanted to know if the town had credit cards. Town staff said that the only credit card the town has is from Walmart. The issue of finances came up after the council started to look over bills from the parks and recreation depart-
ment. It was discussed that the department did not have the funds in its budget to cover the bills and that in order to pay the bills the general fund would half to cover what the department did not have. The issue will likely come up again when the council’s finance committee scheduled a meeting for Aug. 24 at 10 a.m. to discuss financial reports for the town’s departments. Mayor Danny Evans said that the town was able to pay its bills and pay its employees. “Yes, we are able to pay things,” Evans said after the meeting. “The IRS thing hurt but we are doing okay.” See FINANCES, Page A6
Mitch Sneed / The Outlook
Another wet weather day Tuesday was a day of intermittent showers in Alexander City with almost a quarter inch of rain falling around 1 p.m. There trees down in some parts of the city and more rain is expected today.
256-329-1313 Free Consultations 217 Madison Street, Alexander City, AL “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.”