Saban’s contract extended through 2025
Weekend The Outlook
Lighting the way for Alexander City & Lake Martin since 1892
SPORTS, PAGE 10
July 28-29, 2018 Vol. 126, No. 149 www.alexcityoutlook.com 75¢
Is Alex City surviving 20 years later? Small business serves as way for city to recover By CLIFF WILLIAMS Staff Writer
One of the responsibilities of the Alexander City Chamber of Commerce is to recruit retail businesses. In the last 17 months the chamber has taken on another job, creating a business incubator to help launch small businesses. Chamber President Ed Collari has headed up the chamber since 2016 and came up with
Twenty years ago, Russell Corp. CEO Jack Ward announced some major changes for the company, which was Alex City’s largest employer at the time.
idea of the Lake Martin Innovation Center as a way to help entrepreneurs and small businesses get a start in the area. “We knew from the beginning that launching a business incubator and coworking space could be a challenging concept for a rural community,” Collari said. “But we also recognized a need here locally for providing support and resources for entrepreneurs and
July 1998 edition / The Outlook
See RECOVER • Page 3
PICKING UP THE PIECES Most of the old Russell campus has been reduced to rubble or grass fields. Cliff Williams / The Outlook
SPORTS | PAGE 10
REBELS WRAP IT UP Reeltown hosts OTA to conclude summer
LOCAL | PAGE 9
COUNTY SCHOOLS Board approves new hires, transfers, resignations
Company founded in Alex City has been reduced to rubble
OBITUARIES | 2 OPINION | 4 EVENTS | 5
By CLIFF WILLIAMS Staff Writer
RELIGION | 6
Today’s
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490.46 Reported on 07/27/18 @ 5 p.m.
LACEY HOWELL 256.307.2443
laceyshowell@gmail.com 5295 Highway 280, Alex City, AL
6
54708
90050
USPS Permit # 013-080
8
ussell Corp. was the lifeblood of Alexander City. Its operations once employed nearly 18,000 worldwide at its height, including 7,200 in Alexander City.
In July 1998, 96 years after its founding, new Russell Corp. CEO Jack Ward announced major changes for the area’s largest employer at the time. The changes included shifting much of the work offshore. Ward and others at the time were hopeful the changes at Russell would not be a setback to the community as it hoped to keep many of See RUBBLE • Page 9
City recouping many of the lost Russell jobs By CLIFF WILLIAMS Staff Writer
As the announcements started of Russell’s downsizing in 1998, many thought the city would become a ghost town, but the area is slowly rebounding – though not quick enough to some. “We had a whole week with national media in here,” Lake
Martin Economic Development Alliance (LMEDA) Director Don McClellan said of the announcement 20 years ago. “They all thought we would dry up and blow away.” McClellan was mayor of Alexander City at time and has worked with the team at LMEDA since to recruit industry and jobs to the area. See RECOUPING • Page 3
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They all thought we would dry up and blow away.” — Don McClellan LMEDA director
Cliff Williams / The Outlook
SL Alabama plant manager Jack Coltrain explains the process of making headlights and taillights to visitors. SL Alabama is one of the businesses that has come to Alexander City since 1998.
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