COMMUNITY COLUMNISTS INSIDE! THE
WEDNESDAY
Lighting the way for Alexander City & Lake Martin since 1892
SPORTS, PAGE 10
June 28, 2017 Vol. 125, No. 127 www.alexcityoutlook.com 75¢
Bishop set to compete for world arm wrestling title.
DAIRY QUEEN OPENS TODAY IN ALEX CITY Chance to score free Blizzards for a year and a new fast-food option likely to bring big crowds to long-awaited eatery
By MITCH SNEED Editor
Sod and shrubbery were being put down into the night Tuesday. Signs were still being mounted, while inside Alexander City’s new Dairy Queen crew members were having a trial run for some selected area residents including some firstresponders. But today at 10:30 a.m., the
Judge orders overhaul of prison mental health system
doors will open and the newest edition to the area’s fast-food scene will greet customers. To say a busy day is anticipated would be an understatement. The new DQ Grill & Chill, owned and operated by Dairy Queen’s largest franchisee, Fourteen Foods, is as eager to open the doors as customers are to have them opened, according to Will Connell, community marketing manager for Fourteen Foods.
“We are excited about coming to the Alexander City market,” Connell said. “It’s an incredible town with a lot of history and great people. Alexander City is a strong community and we’re proud to be able to bring new DQ memories to the area. “Everyone who remembers going to Dairy Queen has their own DQ story, and now families in the area will be able to make new memories
RiverKids hit the creek
Lake Martin
Lake Levels
490.47 Reported on 6/27/17 @ 7 p.m.
LACEY HOWELL 256.307.2443
laceyshowell@gmail.com 5295 Highway 280, Alex City, AL
Today’s
Weather
87 70 High
6
Low
54708 90050 USPS Permit # 013-080
8
See DQ • Page 9
School board elects officers, completes hires By DONALD CAMPBELL Staff Writer
STAFF REPORT TPI Staff
The United States District Court of Alabama, Middle District, ruled Tuesday that the Alabama Department of Corrections, known as ADOC, has failed to provide constitutionally adequate mental health care to prisoners with serious mental health needs, knowingly placing them at substantial risk of serious harm. In his ruling in Braggs v. Dunn, Senior United States District Judge Myron H. Thompson describes the mental health care See PRISONS • Page 6
while enjoying DQ classics like Dip Cones, Dilly Bars and Blizzards, along with several unique menu items you can’t get anywhere else.” The restaurant is located at the corner of Lee Street and U.S. Highway 280, just across from the Goo Goo Car Wash. Connell announced earlier that there will be a special promotion
Cliff Williams / The Outlook
RiverKids Kayaking Kampers practice their paddling skills before taking on Sandy Creek Tuesday morning. The camp continues today with two more sessions of children learning the ways of the water.
4-H Kayaking Kamp gets participants outdoors and active By CLIFF WILLIAMS Staff Writer
By all accounts the third annual 4-H RiverKids Kayaking Kamp was a hit. Rising Horseshoe Bend School fourthgrader Carissa Looser and her older sister Bransley are already planning their next
water-bound adventure. “They are already planning their next kayak trip,” said Brenda Pike, the girls’ grandmother. “They would sleep in one if they could.” That statement got Carissa to thinking. “We need to get a kayak where we can go See KAYAK • Page 11
The Alexander City Board of Education held elections during their Tuesday night meeting, determining who would serve as the board’s president and vice president for the upcoming school board year. David Sturdivant was elected as board president, while Michael Ransaw became the new vice president. During the personnel section of the superintendent’s report, the board approved the retirement of maintenance worker Terry Boleware, the resignation of Stephens Elementary School teacher Heather Thompson and Whitney White, who had been approved earlier in the summer as a new science teacher at Benjamin Russell High School, and the transfer of Alexander City In-School Suspension teacher Earl Banks to the same role Radney Elementary School. See SCHOOLS • Page 6
Local drivers see good news at the pump this July 4 STAFF REPORT TPI Staff
If you are planning a trip that requires a lot of driving this Independence Day weekend, you are in luck. Motorists taking to the road for the July 4 holiday weekend will be benefiting from the lowest Independence Day gas prices since 2005. In Tallapoosa County that means an average of $1.95 per gallon and a national average of $2.21 per gallon. Those numbers are well under the 10-year average of $3.14, according to fuel price tracking app GasBuddy. “I can live with $1.95,” Bonnie Waites said Tuesday as she filled up at Cherokee
Quick Stop. “We are going to Panama City Thursday and it will be nice not to have to pay so much to get there and back.” Average retail gasoline prices in the Montgomery area, which include Tallapoosa County, have fallen 4.9 cents per gallon in the past week, averaging $1.95 per gallon Sunday, according to GasBuddy’s daily survey of 205 gas outlets. This compares with the national average that has fallen 2.6 cents per gallon in the last week to $2.25 per gallon, according to gasoline price website GasBuddy.com. Mitch Sneed / The Outlook Including the change in gas prices in the Montgomery area A motorist fuels up her car at the Cherokee Quick Stop Tuesday as the electronic during the past week, prices price sign shows $1.95 per gallon. Drivers will fine the lowest July 4 gas prices in See FUEL • Page 9 12 years this long Independence Day weekend.
“PROVIDING QUALITY ELECTRICAL CONSTRUCTION SINCE 1961” FIRMLY ROOTED IN LAKE MARTIN AND HERE TO STAY.
Bill’s Electric ELECTRICAL CONTRACTORS
(256) 234-4555 1814 Airport Blvd • Alexander City, AL
ARMSTRONG-HOLLEY
PLUMBING
WE SPECIALIZE IN COMMERCIAL & RESIDENTIAL PLUMBING!
256-392-3809 OFFICE 256-794-0777 CELL
FREE CONSULTATIONS
Evening & Weekend Appointments Available Upon Request
256-329-1313 • 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.”