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SUPER 12 Dadeville’s LB McClendon aims to be a force, Page 8.
Lighting the way for Alexander City & Lake Martin since 1892 August 3, 2016 Vol. 124, No. 155 www.alexcityoutlook.com
Encourage Entrepreneurs!
City workers come down with ‘Councilitis’ Mayor believes employee sickout was a ‘direct protest’ over finance director’s return By MITCH SNEED Editor
Mitch Sneed / The Outlook
Over 20 pounds of marijuana, numerous guns and over $12,000 in cash were seized as part of a recent drug bust by the Tallapoosa County Narcotics Task Force.
Task Force busts 13 in drug sweep
Alexander City Finance Director Sandra Machen showed up forwork at city hall Tuesday, but an estimated 37 city employees didn’t feel up to coming in less than 12 hours after a 3-3 vote by the city council returned the embattled finance director to her position. A flood of calls, texts and emails from employees claiming to be ill were received by department heads, the city clerk and the mayor’s office,
according to Fran Harvey, assistant to Mayor Charles Shaw. While some claimed to have a stomach virus, one employee who called in but asked that her name not be used called it “Councilitis.” Shaw said he feels the employees were making a statement. “I feel like that’s what this is – a direct protest against the council’s action from Monday night,” Shaw said. “It’s just hard to do anything right now. It’s a tough situation and I really don’t blame the employees.
Tyler among those urging Medicaid fix
By MITCH SNEED Editor
An initiative by the Tallapoosa County Narcotics Task Force that spanned six months has put 13 people behind bars, took enough marijuana off the streets to make an entire town’s eyes red and resulted in the confiscation of so many weapons that everyone in Tallapoosa County should breath a little easier. Dubbed ‘Operation Recoil’ the Tallapoosa County Narcotics Task Force, US Marshal Gulf Coast Fugitive Task Force, Camp Hill Police Department, Alexander City SRG Team, Tallassee Police Department, Alexander City Housing Authority, Notasulga Police Department and Tallapoosa County Sheriff’s Department executed two search warrants in the Camp Hill area Tuesday. In those two raids, the Task Force seized approximately 10 grams of crack, 16 grams of marijuana, a 9mm pistol and a 2002 Chevy Impala and took five suspects into custody. Tuesday’s arrests were the result of other arrests including a July 18 arrest that took in more than 20 pounds of marijuana. “The arrests we are announcing today come due to a lot of work including controlled buys, surveillance and information obtained in a series of other arrests,” said Sgt. Fred White of the Tallapoosa County Narcotics Task Force. “The largest seizure came on July 18 when we were able to act on some information and confiscate 22 pounds of marijuana from two subjects in a traffic stop on Highway 280 near Camp Hill.” Those two suspects were 39-year-old Byron Keith Greathouse of Opelika and Decondra See BUST • Page 6
Today’s
Weather
92 73 High
Lake Levels
489.09 Reported on 8/2/16 @ 10 a.m.
LACEY HOWELL 256.307.2443
laceyshowell@gmail.com 5295 Highway 280, Alex City, AL
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By DAVID GRANGER Staff Writer
David Granger / The Outlook
Alexander City physician Dr. Eric Tyler, above left, talks with Greg Brown, a senior vice president of East Alabama Medical Center prior to Tuesday’s briefing on the cuts of Medicaid physician’s reimbursements and their effects. Right, Tyler gives a briefing on how the lower reimbursements will affect services.
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OPELIKA – Dr. Eric Tyler cares about kids. Within minutes of meeting a reporter on Tuesday morning at a press conference on the state’s Medicaid funding crisis, he was talking, not about the subject at hand, but about the thousands of pages Alexander City children read during the Lake Martin Area United Way’s Summer Reading Program, a program Tyler’s practice, Pediatric Associates, sponsors, and to which he donates considerable personal time. However, it was both children and Medicaid that were on Tyler’s mind as he teamed with Dr. Kim Owens, a family–care physician from Valley, and Greg Nichols, a senior vice president at East Alabama Medical Center (EAMC), to make a plea for fully funding the state’s Medicaid program both in the upcoming special session of the Alabama Legislature and through a sustainable solution in the 2017 legislative session. “Since the departure of Russell Corp. from my community, over the last 17 years the demographic has changed immensely,” Tyler told the crowd gathered in the Employee See MEDICAID • Page 6
Water quality kiosk added at Children’s Library By MITCH SNEED Outlook Editor
Low
Lake Martin
This is how strongly they feel that they can’t work with them.” The result was an inconvenience for area residents. The doors at city hall remained locked until just after 8 a.m. Tuesday, as a large number of city employees who work there and in other departments did not report to work as scheduled. Employees who normally take payments for utilities and other fees as well as assorted other city personnel See STRIKE • Page 5
An interactive, educational kiosk has been added to the many educational tools at the Children’s Library in Alexander City. The touch screen allows children of all ages to navigate through multiple engaging activities related to water quality. The Alabama Clean Water Partnership, a statewide nonprofit organization focused on stormwater education, has teamed up with Mamie’s Place Children’s Library to place an educational computer kiosk programmed with fun, water-related educational games at the Library. The Water Cycle, Watersheds, Stormwater Pollution and Nutrient Enrichment are topics highlighted through kiosk games, meant to educate all ages. The kiosk explains that while every-
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3775 Hillabee Street • Alexander City, AL 35010 www.candtelectricllc.com
one loves a good rain, especially in the summer when heat and dry conditions abound, as rainwater runs across the ground it picks up and carries with it all sorts of pollutants. These pollutants get washed into the nearest ditch or stream, flowing to the nearest river or reservoir where we like to swim and fish, according to the presentation. Motor oil, fertilizer, loose soil, pesticides and pet waste are a few of the most common stormwater pollutants that wash untreated into Alabama waters. The solution to this problem is a challenge, but if every citizen does his or her part around their home and business we can minimize stormwater pollution and make a huge difference in water quality, local water officials said. “We are excited to partner with the Library,” said Sabrina Clark Wood, See KIOSK • Page 6
Submitted / The Outlook
Shelley Macon, Che Harris, Brooke Bailey and Jamie Foshee pose in front of the new touch screen kiosk that allows children of all ages to navigate through multiple engaging activities related to water quality.