OPINION: TRUMP AND KITTENS, PAGE 4.
TUESDAY
THE
ABC STORE CLOSES
Dadeville store to reopen in new spot, page 5.
ONE OF THE STATE’S BEST
Lighting the way for Alexander City & Lake Martin since 1892 February 23, 2016
Vol. 124, No. 38
ACMS wrestling team shines at state, see page 12.
www.alexcityoutlook.com
City’s audit of golf course funds still not complete By MITCH SNEED Editor
An audit that Alexander City officials hope will shed light on the issue of checks that were written to the city’s Lakewinds Golf Course but never cleared the banks is not complete.
Alexander City Mayor Charles Shaw said Monday afternoon that a forensic audit into what financial practices at the golf course as well as how funds are handled at city hall is ongoing, despite earlier indications that the audit should have been done late last week. The issue was raised by resident
Wendell Scroggins at a council meeting on Jan. 25, alleging that a number of checks that patrons had written for goods and services at Lakewinds seemed to have been lost in the process, never clearing the patrons’ bank. Alexander City Parks and Recreation See AUDIT • Page 3
Severe weather in today’s forecast
Pittsburgh ink wizard comes to Alex City as guest artist
Holding on pancakes
Meteorologists say storms, hail and tornadoes are all possible as front rolls in By DAVID GRANGER Staff Writer
Last week’s severe weather awareness week appears to have taken place just in the nick of time in Alabama as much of the state is poised for an encounter with the potential for a variety of severe weather beginning Tuesday afternoon. “Looks like Alexander City is at the northern fringe of the area that’s looking at a significant risk for severe weather,” said Gerald Satterwhite, a meteorologist with the Birmingham office of the National Weather Service. “I would expect that your area would see the bulk of any severe weather arriving there around 9 p.m. Tuesday night and lasting perhaps until very near 4 a.m. in the morning.” According to the threat map released by the NWS, the area for significant risk
Cliff Williams / The Outlook
P Pittsburgh tattoo artist Allie Oxenblood works oon a piece for a client at Alexander City’s Excelssior Ink Friday. Oxeblood was in town last week aas a guest artist at the local shop.
By CLIFF WILLIAMS Staff Writer
Were you lucky enough to get a tattoo at Excelsior Ink in Alexander City last week by guest artist Allie Oxenblood? If not, no need to worry she will be back. “I most definitely will be back,” Oxenblood said. “I have been doing all sorts of fun custom pieces. I have some pieces that I started that I need to finish and besides – I kinda like it here. The weather is great. It was eight degrees when I left Pittsburgh. Everyone says hi – we don’t do that where I am from, you do that and people think you are about to mug them.” Oxenblood made her first trip Alabama last week to visit and work in the tattoo shop owned by Faelan Wilson. “It has been a blast having her here,” Wilson said. “This is one of the best weeks since I have been open because it is not all on me. I am have not been stressed at all. She will be back.” The two tattoo artists met when Wilson worked at the same shop as Oxenblood in Pittsburgh a couple years ago. “I did a guest spot in Pittsburgh two years ago and she was working at the same shop,” Wilson said. “We kinda hit it off and have stayed in contact.” How does a visiting tattoo artist See TATTOO • Page 3
Cliff Williams / The Outlook
The Alexander City Kiwanis Club held its annual Pancake Breakfast Saturday at BRHS. The club uses proceeds from the fundraiser to fund its projects, many of which occur at Alexander City Schools. The BRHS Key Club helped with breakfast by cooking up pancakes, plating breakfasts and getting plates to customers. Benjamin Russell 10th-grader Amelia Blakely, above, flips pancakes on the griddle in the school’s cafeteria Saturday. Right, Xavier Patterson,8, of Alexander City pours a refill of milk. Bottom, BRHS senior Aubrey Forbus, center, helps plate pancakes.
See WEATHER • Page 3
Today’s
Weather
67 54 High
Low
Lake Martin
Lake Levels
482.76 Reported on 02/22/16 @ 3 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 USPS Permit # 013-080
8
162 boats converge on Lake Martin for Alabama Bass Trail tourney By CLIFF WILLIAMS Staff Writer
One would have thought that, with rising water temperatures, the fishing would have been good for the first stop of the South Division Alabama Bass Trail this past Saturday. Finding fish was not the problem, but finding quality was for many anglers. Winners Caiden Sinclair and Ethan Flack depended on Sinclair’s local knowledge of Lake Martin and his recent success from the Bassmaster College Series stop here just a couple weekends ago.
“Two weeks ago we fished the college tournament and saw some quality but just could not get them in the boat,” Sinclair said. “Today we went back to our creek and stuck to what we knew and it paid off.” Sinclair found that square-billed crankbaits worked two weeks ago and again Saturday. “We were throwing some shallow crankbaits and fishing slow,” Sinclair said. “ We didn’t catch that much, just quality, maybe 11 or 12.” Flack credits Sinclair for the team’s success and being able to take home the $10,000 first
Cliff Williams / The Outlook
Anglers wait for blast off Saturday morning at Wind Creek State Park as over 160 boats took a shot at a $10,000 first prize in the Alabama Bass Trail.
prize. “It has a lot to with him (Sinclair),” Flack
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.”
said. “A lot of people were doing the same thing, it was just work-
ing in the creek we were in.” See FISHING • Page 3
1720 Dadeville Road • Alexander City, AL
Call Spencer or Dax Today!
256.234.5331
DOWN PAYMENTS
As Low
As...........
500
$
MONTHLY PAYMENTS As Low
250
$
As........... *Upon Kerley Motors Approval