OPINION: LAWMAKERS CAN’T KEEP KICKING PRISON CAN. PAGE 4.
FRIDAY
THE
ALL STARS Pair of Wildcats named to soccer All-Star teams.
Lighting the way for Alexander City & Lake Martin since 1892 May 6, 2016 Vol. 124, No. 91 www.alexcityoutlook.com
See page 8.
Sunday sales vote bill passed By DAVID GRANGER Staff Writer
The Alabama Legislature approved with time running out in its 2016 regular session a bill sponsored by Alexander City’s Rep. Mark Tuggle that will allow municipalities in Tallapoosa County – as well as the county itself –to hold referendums on the Sunday sales of alcohol. The bill passed with only four minutes remaining in the 2016 regular legislative session, which ended Wednesday night. The city councils of Alexander City, Dadeville and New Site and the Tallapoosa County Commission
‘Yes I Can’ group receives letter from Biden Children sent VP letters after son Beau’s death By DAVID GRANGER Staff Writer
Alexander City’s Yes I Can Mentoring program received an unexpected letter in the mail this week. Teresa Moten, who leads the program for ages 4-12 which meets when schools are not in session, received a letter from Vice President Joe Biden thanking her and several participants in the program for letters and drawings they sent to the vice president upon the death of his son, Beau, in May of last year. “We talked about the president and we talked about the vice president and, when the vice president’s son died, I asked the kids if they wanted to write him letters,” Moten said. “Several of them did. We didn’t expect him to write us back, but he did.” B i d e n ’s l e t t e r, See LETTER • Page 3
(unincorporated areas of the county) have all already passed resolutions approving votes on Sunday sales of alcohol. Passage of the bill on Wednesday makes those referendums possible. In Alexander City, the city council authorized in March a vote on Sunday sales, which would take place at the time of the mayoral and city council municipal elections in August. For unincorporated areas of Tallapoosa County, the bill calls for the referendum to be held as part of the general election in November. The resolution the Alexander City city council passed in March reads, in part:
“(The city council) wishes to give the citizens of Alexander City, Alabama, the right to vote on the ability to provide additional revenue to these businesses and capture sales tax revenue on alcohol that is being spent outside of the city on Sundays … “The Mayor and the City Council believe that the citizens of Alexander City, Alabama, have the fundamental right to vote on whether to allow sales seven days a week subject to the time limitations stated herein.” Ed Collari, president and CEO of the Alexander City Chamber of Commerce, said the Sunday sales of alcohol in the city would have “enormous potential See SALES • Page 3
Carter Jones, left, celebrates with teacher Vicki Adair, as their team took a first place finish in the oral presentations of the Wildcat Showcase Thursday at Benjamin Russell High School. The two-day competition highlighted student ideas and marketing plans that they put together throughout the year. Below, Jones and Michael McGill show off the Blow Ball they designed to help T-Ball players.
Historic Tallassee Mills razed in overnight blaze By COREY ARWOOD Staff Writer
The historic Tallassee Mills, also known as the Mount Vernon Mills, were engulfed in flames Wednesday night and efforts to fully extinguish the fire are ongoing as a criminal investigation begins into what Tallassee police said were the suspicious circumstances surrounding the blaze. Smoke could be seen billowing from the 19th century historic structure as a helicopter swooped over and dropped buckets of water from the close-by Tallapoosa River, which the large stone compound sits adjacent to. Tallassee Police Chief Jimmy Rodgers had been up all night with the nearly 12-hour extinguishing efforts. He said the department does not yet have See FIRE • Page 3
Mitch Sneed / The Outlook
Ingenuity on display Wildcat Showcase student inventions, marketing skills By MITCH SNEED Editor
Benjamin Russell High School celebrated a year’s worth of innovation and marketing Wednesday and Thursday with the Wildcat Showcase, where marketing students showed off and presented projects that they had been working on throughout the year. The ideas were incredible, but the celebration was even more intense. A group from Vicki Adair’s class including Carter Jones, Daly Wagoner
Eric Hill / Special to The Outlook
Investigators are searching for answers after a fire at the historic Tallassee Mills complex.
See SHOWCASE • Page 2
Wax museum, victory parade highlight DES Leadership Day
Today’s
By DAVID GRANGER Staff Writer
Dignitaries from throughout Alabama and American history stepped into the halls of Dadeville Elementary School on Thursday to greet guests and tell about themselves as part of the school’s third annual Leadership Day and Wax Museum. The distinguished people from history – ranging from Tallapoosa County Superintendent Joe Windle to George Washington – were actually being played by students who stood in the halls of the school like figures in a wax museum waiting for visitors to push their “on” button and, with the button pushed, reciting the stories of their lives. Some were dressed for the part, like Audrey Champion, who wore the spacesuit of astronaut Sally Ride, Charlotte New, who donned the goggles, cap and flight suit of aviaCliff Williams / The Outlook tor Amelia Earhart, and Jahmari Williams, who wore the black robe of former Supreme Dadeville Elementary School principal Chad McKelvey talks to Leadership Day See LEADERSHIP • Page 3 crowd as ambassadors, guests look on.
Lake Martin
Weather
Lake Levels
74 51
490.60
High
Low
Reported on 5/5/16 @ 4 p.m.
6
54708 90050 USPS Permit # 013-080
8
Linda Shaffer, REALTOR® C: 256.794.4641 • W: 256.329.5253 shaffer@lakemartin.net 5295 Highway 280, Alexander City, AL
Now Playing:
Junglebook 3D – PG Ratchet & Clank – PG Captain America- Civil War 3D – PG-13