INSIDE
SPORTS
Historical society reopens after COVID shutdown Page A3
INSIDE
Horseshoe Bend run-rules Reeltown, extends winning streak Page B1
New Alex City arcade set to open in this summer
THE RECORD Page A9
Serving the Dadeville & Lake Martin area since 1897
WWW.THEDADEVILLERECORD.COM
VOL. 126, NO. 14
THURSDAY, APRIL 7, 2022
$1.00
AFTER THE STORM
Residents survey property damage, NWS crews on their way Survey crews from the National Weather Service were dispatched to the Wetumpka area and surveyed Elmore Lacey Funderburk, a resident of County Tuesday and more crews will be Neman Road in Elmore County, was dispatched Wednesday. home with her mother when the tornadoSix tornadoes likely touched down warned storm approached their home. Tuesday, one of those likely caused the “I saw it coming and knew we didn’t damage on Neman Road. have time to go nowhere,” said Funder“We were wanting to get out. I went burk outside the damaged home. “I saw through 2011, just not this close. The it. I told her ‘we got to go, we got to go.’ only thing it did in 2011 was take off We got to the hall and she went down and shingles.” I went down on top of her. I was trying to Trees were ripped from the ground in get to the closet but didn’t get there.” areas between Eclectic and Kent, some
damage was reported in Wetumpka as well. A mangled trampoline could be seen on the side of the road in Kent following the storm. The tornado-warned storm continued over into Tallapoosa County but dissipated just before crossing U.S. Highway 280 just south of Camp Hill. No significant damage has been reported in Tallapoosa County. No injuries have been reported as of 4 p.m. Tuesday. For the latest information, visit www. alexcityoutlook.com.
STAFF REPORT TPI Staff
Wake surfers beware, bill could prohibit activity By BESTY ILER violators also could lose Tallapoosa Publishers, Inc. vessel operating privileges for the remainder of the A wake surfing distance year. Permitted events would bill now under consideration be exempt from the law. in the Alabama legislature For the first year after the could be signed into law bill’s enactment, first-time before long. Senate Bill 281 violators would receive a passed the State Senate on written warning; second-time March 9 and its third and violators would be guilty of final reading in the State a Class B misdemeanor and House is pending. fined a minimum of $150. Sponsored by Sen. Garlan A number of similar Gudger (R-Dist. 4) and Sen. proximity bills, but with J.T. Waggoner (R-Dist.16), wider scope, presented in the bill would prohibit wake previous legislative sessions surfing, or operating a boat in have failed to pass, but this a manner that creates a wake bill has seemingly sailed intended to be surfed, on through both houses of the bodies of water that are less Alabama State Legislature than 400 feet wide or within with little opposition. It is 200 feet of any shoreline, the most specific and limited dock, pier, boathouse or other rendition that has been structure on any body of presented in that it is targeted water in the state, including at only wake surfers and Lake Martin. operators of boats creating Violators would be guilty wakes intended to be surfed. of a Class B misdemeanor Previous bills addressed the and fined $150 or more on size of the wakes from all the first offense. A second vessels and their proximity violation in the same calendar to shorelines and other year would carry a Class A recreational water activities. misdemeanor and a minimum See BILL, Page A2 fine of $250. Second time
CLIFF WILIAMS | THE RECORD
A home on Neman Road sustained damage in Tuesday’s storms. Family and friends helped cleanup and tarp the roof.
SOUTHERN HERITAGE Camp Hill fights to uplift Black communist legacy buried by racism and Red Scare
By SIRI HEDREEN Multimedia Reporter
I
n December 1932, a Camp Hill landlord wrote to The Dadeville Record seeking to spread the word about the "joke" of a letter he had received earlier that week, printed as follows: We the tenants and share croppers, living on your plantation, discussed among ourselves the miserable slave conditions and inhuman treatments that are being imposed upon us by you and the county administration. Whereas, we and our families toiled most faithfully on your plantation in order to live this winter without suffering from hunger, cold and the need of clothes and shelter, which are the needs of every single person living on your plantation. Whereas, we know full well, as well as yourself, that your method of demanding us to pay off back debts, knowing that it is impossible, is a direct and unjust action on your part to deprive us and our families of a living this winter, and this you do by contracting with the sheriffs and other county officials to attach our stock, crops, then force us to move out of the house to freeze. Whereas, we tenants and croppers, demand the cancellation of back debts and further demand no evictions. Resolved, we bitterly oppose any measure taken by you to take our crop, stock or farm implements, and to further terrorize us into frightful submission to worse terrific slave conditions by sending sheriffs to our homes, be it further Resolved, that we will discuss our further condi-
SIRI HEDREEN | THE RECORD
A pulverized copy of the July 23, 1931 Dadeville Spot-Cash, archived at the Tallapoosa County Courthouse, reports on the events in Camp Hill leading up to the dumping of Ralph Gray's body on the steps of the same courthouse.
tions and decide on a plan of action to see that our demands are carried out. Share Croppers Union, Local Number 1, Tallapoosa County “The author of this letter, regardless of how See HERITAGE, Page A7
Teenager dies following accident at Wind Creek State Park BY CLIFF WILLIAMS Staff Writer A 15 year old Calera boy died following an accident at Wind Creek State Park Friday night. Information is limited at this time, but according to the Shelby County Coroner’s office, Johnson Noble died from injuries sustained while riding an electric scooter. Alexander City fire chief Reese McAlister said the Alexander City Fire Department assisted in a call of a 15 year old with injuries at the park who was flown to UAB. “We are beyond devastated,” Johnson’s stepmother Amee Noble said on her Facebook page. “We lost an angel [Friday] night. Our son Johnson See ACCIDENT, Page A2
Weather
68 42 High
Low
Lake Martin
Lake Levels
489.68
Reported on 04/05/22 @ 6 p.m.
SIRI HEDREEN | THE RECORD
New Hope Missionary Baptist Church on County Road 89, southwest of Camp Hill, lies on the site of a violent standoff in 1931 when authorities, backed by an armed posse, raided a meeting of the Share Croppers Union.
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