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February 23, 2018 Vol. 126, No. 39 www.alexcityoutlook.com 75¢
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Leaders highlight Alex City’s progress
for Abby Love pours in from across globe for ailing local teen By MITCH SNEED Editor
I
t started with a simple idea from the mother of a child battling for her life against a debilitating disease that doctors say is in its final stages. Abby Brown is a 16-year-old Benjamin Russell student who was diagnosed with a rare terminal illness called Mitochondrial Disease after she began showing symptoms when she was just 9-months old. Mitochondrial diseases result from failures of the mitochondria, specialized compartments present in every cell of the See ABBY • Page 7
By MITCH SNEED Editor
Alexander City has made progress over the last year, there are plenty of exciting things ongoing and there are some big plans for the future. That’s the news delivered by seven leaders from the city and county at the Alexander City Chamber of Commerce’s State of the City event Thursday at the Betty Carol Graham Technology Center on the campus of Central Alabama Community College. Alexander City Mayor Jim Nabors recapped the items that he prioritized when he campaigned for the office and touched on the progress made on those things that citizens told him were important to them. He pointed to progress in Mitch Sneed / The Outlook straightening Alexander City Police out the city’s Chief Jay Turner finances. speaks to the crowd “We have had at Thursday’s State of a lot of people the City event. who have worked very hard to get our finances in order,” Nabors said. “We’ve had two audits completed and are working on the third at this time. We are getting close to being where we want to be on financial records and reporting of expenditures. It has taken longer than I would have liked, but it hasn’t been for lack of effort. I think we are well on our way to getting caught up and where we should be.” Another priority was cleaning of the former Russell Corp. complex and there has been tremendous progress there. The city purchased 17 acres there on the condition that it be cleaned up before the city paid. That approach See CITY • Page 3
“... If this is going to be her last birthday, I wanted to make it special.”
— Shawn Brown Abby’s mother
Letters sent from across the nation and overseas have flooded in for Abby Brown after a social media request for birthday cards to help brighten the birthday of the BRHS student who is suffering from Mitochondrial Disease. Right, Abby and her mother Shawn pose for a portrait before the ailing teen’s health began to decline.
Dadeville Kiwanis hears talk from Air University professor By DONALD CAMPBELL Staff Writer
Donald Campbell / The Outlook
Retired Air Force Colonel John Wayne Blumentritt shares his story of the rescue of six Icelandic sailors from a foundering tugboat in a severe winter storm, tying it in to the purpose of the National Security Strategy documents published on a regular basis by every president since Ronald Reagan.
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Retired Air Force Colonel John Wayne Blumentritt was the special guest speaker at Thursday’s meeting of the Dadeville Kiwanis Club, detailing a personal experience of his while serving as a helicopter pilot stationed in Iceland and tying it into the National Security Strategy documents recently published by President Donald Trump. Much of Blumentritt’s conversation revolved around the efforts to save the crew of an Icelandic
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tugboat he and other Air Force personnel made on Jan. 10, 1994. Not only did these efforts earn the Air Force helicopter crews involved the Mackay Trophy (awarded by the Air Force for the “most meritorious flight of the year”) and multiple honors from the people of Iceland, but helped heal more wounds from the Cold War and promoted the National Security Strategy by showcasing a more humanitarian image of the United States following the conflict. During a heavy winter storm in December 1993, See KIWANIS • Page 3
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