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The Outlook
Obituaries, page 2 Opinion, page 4 Calendar, page 5 Religion, page 6 Classifieds, page 7 Lighting the way for Alexander City & Lake Martin since 1892 Public records, page 10 Sports, page 11 February 3-4, 2018 Vol. 126, No. 25 www.alexcityoutlook.com 75¢
Council to consider gift of property
By MITCH SNEED Editor
A piece of land that will help Alexander City with a project designed to help pedestrians and beautify one of the city’s main gateways could become city property Monday night. The Alexander City City Council is scheduled to meet at 5:30 p.m. in the
upstairs courtroom of the city’s Public Safety Building at One Court Square and a resolution to accept property adjacent to Lee Street from Russell Brands, LLC. is on the agenda. “The resolution is to accept a donation of the land from Russell Brands,” City Clerk Amanda Thomas said. “It’s right of way along Lee Street that is near what was No. 5 on the Russell
Campus and adjacent to the property that was recently purchased by the city.” Information that supports the council agenda shows that the property consists of a about a third of an acre. The reason the property is needed is it allows for a continuous parcel for the planned Lee Street Streetscape Project. The property, if approved by the
council, would not cost the city anything. Another item that could be of interest to residents is a request to approve an alcohol license application for retail beer and table wine for Lake Martin Pizza Company, which opened last month downtown in the Broad Street Plaza. See COUNCIL • Page 3
Russell Library to offer digital magazines
Daycare bill passes, moves to Senate By DONALD CAMPBELL Staff Writer
Before the 2018 session of the Alabama House of Representatives began, Rep. Pebblin Warren (D-Tuskegee) pre-filed a bill to bring certain standards to daycare facilities across the state that claim religious exemption from being licensed by being affiliated with a church. Thursday, the House passed Warren’s bill, moving it on to the Alabama Senate. Earlier in the week, the bill was unanimously approved in the Committee on Children and Senior Advocacy, which brought the legislation to the House floor. After the bill had been revised some in committee, part of the revisions included cleaning up redundant language, Rep. Allen Farley (R-McCalla) proposed one final amendment to the bill, which also reworded one section of the legislation. In the original bill, one subsection read, “A child care facility that receives state or federal funds, is operating for profit, or has at least one child who receives a child care subsidy from the department is not exempt from licensure See DAYCARE • Page 9
By DONALD CAMPBELL Staff Writer
The Adelia M. Russell Library was proud to announce earlier this week that the library had recently secured a partnership with Recorded Books to provide a new service to library patrons, RBdigital. With this service, members will be able to read some of the most popular magazines on their computers and handheld devices. Patrons will be able to See MAGAZINES • Page 2
Cliff Williams / The Outlook
While the BASS Elites are not allowed on the water until Monday, teams competing in Alabama BASS Nation Highschool Qualifier come in Friday after a day of practice. The high schoolers blast off from Wind Creek State Park around 6 a.m with weigh ins starting at 2 p.m.
Elite Series kicks off on Lake Martin this week days allotted for practice on Lake Martin before the Elite Series begins Thursday. Not only will Lake Martin become host of one of the biggest fishing tournaments in the country, it’ll also bring exponential benefits to Alex City. “What’s interesting is a lot of times See BASSMASTER • Page 3
By LIZI ARBOGAST Sports Editor
For the next week, expect to see a lot of new faces around Alexander City, as the Bassmaster Elite Series opens on Lake Martin on Thursday. Fishing for a $100,000 grand prize, 110 anglers will officially arrive in Alex City on Sunday and have three
Alabama pre-K named best funded in country By DONALD CAMPBELL Staff Writer
The Alabama pre-K program was recently recognized as being the best funded state pre-K program in the United States, according to the National Institute for Early Education Research. The institute examined statewide pre-K programs all across the country, and found that Alabama not only had a well-funded program, but also was growing its enrollment steadily and was one of five states to meet the previous quality standards used by NIEER, joined by Mississippi, North Carolina, Rhode Island and See PRE-K • Page 9
Alex City Fire Department gets donation of pet rescue kits By MITCH SNEED Editor
A male German Shepherd named Adler who captured the hearts of local residents after he was revived by firefighters on Jan. 3 after being pulled from a house fire is home and on the mend. Thanks to a donation from a California-based non-profit group, the brave folks who fought to save him will now have better equipment to make similar rescues easier if the situation ever arises again. Air For Paws donated 15 pet oxygen mask kits to the Alexander City Fire
Department last week, enough to have one of the special resuscitation kits on virtually every rig the department operates. “We are so thankful to have these,” ACFD’s Todd Sassano said. “We were fortunate with Adler that we had enough people there to spend the time to get a tube in and intubate him. That may not always be the case. After that day, we started looking around to see what was out there and the cost associated with them. “Not too long ago we worked a call with the folks at Kowaliga Volunteer Fire See KITS • Page 2
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laceyshowell@gmail.com 5295 Highway 280, Alex City, AL
Mitch Sneed / The Outlook
Alexander City Fire Department’s Todd Sassano shows off the 15 pet oxygen mask kits that California-based non-profit group Air For Paws donated to the department.
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