THE
SPORTS
7 Central Coosa is right where it belongs
FRIDAY
LOCAL
2
Lighting the way for Alexander City & Lake Martin since 1892
March 1, 2019 Vol. 127, No. 43 www.alexcityoutlook.com 75¢
‘Coffee with the Councilman’ is March 23
Young people key to build new economy, Lee says Editor’s Note: This is the first of a two-part series about the Alexander City Chamber of Commerce’s plan to draw new business into the area. By JIMMY WIGFIELD Managing Editor In 2017, the Alabama Department of Transportation determined more than 27,000 cars a day passed by Russell Medical on U.S. Highway 280 — proof there’s plenty of cash driving through
Alexander City. Back then, those motorists saw abandoned buildings and rubble, the remnants of Russell Corp.’s once-vigorous empire. Randy Lee, who grew up in Alexander City, remembers the days of economic splendor and is optimistic they can return if the city provides a reason for its younger generation to stay. “My generation saw the downfall of
collar positions moving off to Atlanta through to the blue-collar positions kind of dwindling down from around 8,000 jobs at one point down to, I guess, about 300 or 400 at this point. It’s quite a bit of difference from the heyday of the mid-90s. “My generation, when we got out of college, we kind of knew and already felt that there were no jobs to come back to. I just see so many people that See ECONOMY • Page 5
Russell,” said Lee, 41, the CEO and founder of Lee Marketing Group who has been chosen to lead the Alexander City Chamber of Commerce’s efforts to recruit retail and commercial businesses as part of its Partners in Progress 201923 strategic plan. “I lived through the changes, both personally with my family that was active and we still currently are active in the apparel and textile business,” he said. “I’ve seen it from all of the white-
PLUG DAY
SPORTS | PAGE 7
DIVING INTO AWARDS BRHS grad Howard honored by SEC
LOCAL | PAGE 5
LET’S CLEAN UP Volunteers welcome on Saturday
Kenneth Boone / The Outlook
Martin Dam’s operators began raising the lake level to summer pool on Thursday.
CALENDAR | PAGE 6
Alabama Power bringing lake to summer pool
UPCOMING EVENTS
By BETSY ILER TPI Magazine Managing Editor
What’s going on in March? OBITUARIES | 2 OPINION | 4 CLASSIFIEDS | 8
F
eb. 28 is the day on which Martin Dam’s operators begin to raise the lake level to summer pool and while it is affectionately known and in some circles celebrated as Plug Day, there is not an actual plug or stoppage mechanism that facilitates the 7-foot fill of Lake Martin each spring. The rise to the 491-foot mark is instead a balancing act between inflows and outflows, said Alabama Power Company’s
Tallapoosa River manager Chris Goodman. “We monitor the inflows coming into the lake and we monitor the outflows through generation, so we are sending out less water than what is coming in,” Goodman said. “This year, for instance, we’re getting a lot of rain right now. If that continues, we won’t have to curtail generation very much but the level will come up. If the rain starts to slow down and the lake isn’t rising toward the summer level, we would curtail generation, even to the point of stopping generation, to bring the level up.” The water level rises according to the rule curve published See LAKE • Page 3
Downtown gets new garbage cans By CLIFF WILLIAMS Staff Writer
Visitors will now have an easier time to properly dispose of trash when they visit downtown Alexander City thanks to the installation of new garbage cans. The cans were installed thanks to funding from Main Street Alexander City. “We purchased 19 new garbage cans,” Main Street Alexander City executive director Stacey Jeffcoat said. “We are replacing the old ones and putting in new ones too.” The decorative metal cans also have an extra feature to keep even more trash off the ground and disposed of properly. “They have ashtrays on top,” Jeffcoat said. Jeffcoat said 15 of the cans will be on South Main, Main, Alabama, Calhoun and Broad streets and four double cans Cliff Williams / The Outlook will soon be installed in Strand Park. New trash cans have been installed around downtown Alex City. “Cement has to be poured for those,”
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Jeffcoat said. “They will be installed when it gets a little drier.” The cans in downtown were installed Wednesday and plans are already in place to make sure they are emptied. “Tim Blankenship and his crew with the city put all of them in for us,” Jeffcoat said. “The city will also take care of emptying for us. They already pick up trash in the area and this will hopefully make their job easier.” Main Street Alexander City purchased the cans at an approximate cost of $22,000. “It was done with donations and funds raised at events,” Jeffcoat said. Jeffcoat hopes the new garbage cans will be used to keep litter off the ground. “There has been an issue with paper and cigarette butts thrown down in downtown,” Jeffcoat said. “They look really good. We want to encourage people to use them. We are trying to keep downtown clean and attractive to visitors.”
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