OPINION: A FOCUS ON VITAL THINGS IS IMPORTANT
TUESDAY
THE NEED N EED A JJOB? OB? Find what you are looking for in classifieds, pages 6-7.
Lighting the way for Alexander City & Lake Martin since 1892 January 5, 2016
Vol. 124, No. 3
www.alexcityoutlook.com
FIVE NAMED TO ALL-STATE TEAMS. SPORTS, PAGE 10
As temperature drops, experts say be prepared checked,” said Hadaway. “You need to check and see how much you have and how old it is. With the temperature expected “After a period of time your to bottom out only in the mid antifreeze will start breaking 20s tonight and Wednesday down and the freezing point can night, a lot of people might go up to as much as 30 degrees.” think they’re safe to wait on Hadaway added that to fully checking their antifreeze until prepare for an Alabama winter is the weather gets colder. pretty simple. That’s not necessarily so, says “Really all that you need to Mike Hadaway of Alexander do is to have your antifreeze City’s S&S Tire Co. flushed out and add new,” “With it getting that cold, you Hadaway said. need to have your antifreeze
By DAVID GRANGER Staff Writer
Cliff Williams / The Outlook
Wayne Pate of S&S Tire Pros checks fluids of a car on Monday afternoon.
Winterizing your home: According to smarter.com, homeowners should wrap outdoor and basement pipes with heating tape to insulate and protect them from freezing and breaking. Insulating the warm water pipes in your basement also helps conserve warm water and energy. According to the site: • Adding weatherstripping to See WINTER • Page 3
PRICES PLUMMET AT THE PUMPS
City council OK’s severe weather sales tax holiday
Area gas prices fall to a seven-year low By MITCH SNEED Editor
Work session set, land sale appears to be off the table By MITCH SNEED Editor
Local shoppers will be able to take advantage of the Alabama 2016 Severe Weather Preparedness Sales Tax Holiday and a work session will be held next Tuesday to iron out some lingering budget issues. The Alexander City City Council voted 6-0 to again go along with most areas that will waive sales tax on items that residents could need in times of severe weather. Under the ordinance, the sales tax will be waived beginning at 12:01 a.m. on Friday, Feb. 26 and ending at 12 a.m. on Sunday, Feb. 28. It’s the fifth year that the state has offered the tax holiday and consumers can buy items from batteries, phone chargers, weather radios, tarps, artificial ice, first aid kits and flashlights. A full list of the items included can be found at revenue.alabama.gov/salestax/ See COUNCIL • Page 9
Cliff Williams / The Outlook
S Scotty Easterwood of Alexander City pumps gas at the Cherokee Qwik Stop Monday afternoon. The current fuel prices are the lowest since 2009. The decreasing price of crude oil has led to Americans saving aan average of $540 on gas this year.
Treadwell to compete in statewide Distinguished Young Woman program
The bright red, lighted sign outside of the Cherokee Qwik Stop now features a historic number. The sign showing the price of a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline shows $1.69 – a price that according to the website gasbuddy.com is the lowest the area has seen since Jan. 4, 2009. That’s good news for the wallets of area motorists. “I was paying $2.49 a gallon back in the summer and in 2014 it was $3.49,” construction contractor Mike Hill said as he filled up his pickup Monday morning. “I do work from here to Birmingham and as far south as Selma, so to be able to fill this thing up for less than $40 is nice.” The average price in Alexander City is $1.71, a See FUEL • Page 3
RMC’s first born of 2016
By DAVID GRANGER Staff Writer
If you shouted her given first name at Scout Treadwell, chances are she wouldn’t know you were talking to her. “I think I’ve been called Scout (after the character in Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird) since I was born,” Treadwell said. “I’ve never really been Marie Ann except on my driver’s license or my passport.” But by the end of the night on Saturday, Jan. 16, the Benjamin Russell senior hopes to be called Alabama’s Treadwell Distinguished Young Woman. Treadwell, the 2016 Tallapoosa County Distinguished Young Woman, will be among 52 high school senior girls from across Alabama in See TREADWELL • Page 3
Submitted / The Outlook
Today’s
Russell Medical Center rang in the New Year by welcoming infant GraceLynn Elizabeth Vaughan as the first baby born in 2016. GraceLynn is the daughter of Ernest Dege and Elizabeth Morgan Vaughan. Dr. Davis Sullivan delivered GraceLynn at 3:36 p.m. Jan. 1.. She weighed 7 pounds, 11 ounces and measured 20 ½ inches long. Each year local merchants donate items to celebrate the arrival of Baby New Year. Merchants contributing were: Cotney’s Jewelers, For Heaven’s Sake Christian Book Store, Grace’s Flowers, Jackson’s Drugstore, Lynn’s Hallmark, The Medicine Shoppe, Russell Medical Center Auxiliary, Wickles Pickles and Winn Dixie.
Weather
43 25 High
Low
Lake Martin
Lake Levels
488.22 Reported on 01/04/16 @ 6 p.m.
Linda Shaffer, REALTOR® C: 256.794.4641 • W: 256.329.5253 shaffer@lakemartin.net 5295 Highway 280, Alexander City, AL
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