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December 26-27, 2015 • Vol. 123 • No. 258 • www.alexcityoutlook.com
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Benefit features classic band Sweet Young’uns headline Camp ASCCA event Dec. 31
Sweet Success
By CLIFF WILLIAMS Staff Writer
If you are looking for a little fun New Year’s Eve, there is no reason to travel. The Sweet Young’uns are playing here in Alexander City. “We always have a New Year’s Eve function and were already planning one,” Tim Funderburk of the Alexander City Elks Lodge said. “Then Ron Howard with the Sweet Young’uns came to us with the idea of doing a charity event together and we have been working on it since.” The Sweet Young’uns have been together since 1966 and according to Funderburk one of their first shows was here in Alexander City. “We are happy that they are celebrating the New Year and their Fifty Year Celebration here,” Funderburk said. “It means a lot.” Camp ASCCA’s Dana Rickman says the camp is happy with the celebration that will benefit them. “It’s great,” Rickman said. “The Alexander City Elks Lodge and the Alabama Elks have always been great supporters of Camp ASCCA. They not only provide funds for camperships but they also volunteer their time at camp too.” Rickman says that in addition to the Sweet Young’uns, there are several other things going on at the Elks Lodge New Year’s Eve. “Dr. Sam will DJ starting at 6 p.m., with the doors opening at 5:30 p.m.,” Rickman said. “The Sweet Young’uns will start at 8 p.m. and finish up at 12:15 a.m. The Elks are cooking a pancake breakfast, and there will be a See BAND • Page 2
A longtime syrup making tradition lives on By CLIFF WILLIAMS Staff Writer
Since the 1950s, syrup making has been a tradition on the Finley Family farm in Camp Hill. Saturday was no different. “You gonna quit now?” Camp Hill’s Charles Heard asked Kenneth Lewis, “It’s just gettin’ good.” “Yea, I gotta go,” Lewis said. “We are having a family get together.” “Make sure and take you a couple bottles,” Alfred Finley said. Heard was referring to fire duty as they helped maintain the fire at the cane syrup cooking and Finley was trying to pay for Lewis’ help. “It’s a community thing,” Heard said. “Two, even three folks can’t make syrup. It is the same as a hawg killing. It kinda takes a community to do it. Everybody just comes
together. If they be doing it with two, they sure ‘nough be gettin’ down. Once it starts, somebody has got to be there all they time.” Such is the fall tradition of cooking syrup. The art is passed down from generation to generation. “You are just born into it,” Finley said. “My folks have been here since 1956. I came in 1966 and got into syrup making when I was about six. Around here, they (parents) just told you what to do. I learned from just being around it.” Finley, who will soon be 50, heads up the syrup making on the Finley farm. Heard has been around syrup making even longer. “My daddy moved down here in 1951,” Heard said. “I was one and half at the time. I have been around syrup making since I was four. My daddy used to See SYRUP • Page 3
Cliff Williams / The Outlook
(Top) Alfred Finley of Camp Hill monitors the frog eyes in the copper pan as he makes cane syrup in Camp Hill Saturday. (Above Kenneth Lewis of Camp Hill adds wood to the fire to keep the cane juice boiling.
Experts give advice for those who celebrate too hard on New Year’s Eve By MIA OSBOURN Staff Writer
The holiday season is fast coming to a close with New Year’s Eve. For many, New Year’s is a chance to cut loose after the stress of the holiday season. That means lots of drinking, which leads to lots of hangovers. So if you open your bleary eyes on January 1 to a future that
looks a little too bright, use this handy guide to help you choose the hangover cure that will give you the best bang for your buck. To help us recover smarter, not harder, we spoke with Dr. Robert Edwards, a family practice physician at Total Healthcare in Alexander City. Edwards explained that hangovers happen because the body can’t process the ethanol in
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alcohol. “It’s basically a poisoning,” said Edwards, “and you’ve got to get your liver to respond to that.” In response to what it feels is a toxin, your body tries to flush out the alcohol. This leads to dehydration and all the bad stuff that goes with it, including headaches, sore muscles, and exhaustion. The faster you replace your body’s stores of
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water and vitamins, the less time you spend curled up on the couch, staring bleary-eyed at Netflix and cursing the inventor of eggnog. The Outlook ran some of the most popular hangover cures by Dr. Edwards to see what he would recommend. Caffeine: The logic behind this one is simple. Being hung over makes you See CURE • Page 11
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