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COUNTY SCHOOL BOARD HOLD OPEN MEETING TODAY AT 5 The Tallapoosa County Board of Education holds its annual open meeting today at 5 p.m. The annual meeting is held to elect new officers and to hear from the community that it represents. A portion of the meeting is devoted to comments from those that wish to be heard as long as they sign in and adhere to time limits. Also on the agenda for today’s meeting is an update from the county schools financial officer on the current one-cent sales tax collection.
TUESDAY
BRHS runner Dylan Dean claims Class 6A state Cross Country crown, page 12.
Lighting the way for Alexander City & Lake Martin since 1892 November 17, 2015
Vol. 123, No. 229
www.alexcityoutlook.com
Council moves on legal issues By Mitch Sneed Outlook Editor
A federal class action lawsuit was filed in September by the Montgomery-based Southern Poverty Law Center alleges that Alexander City “has maintained a modem-day debtors’ prison”
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STATE CHAMP
that targets the poor, keeping residents in jail because they are unable to immediately pay fines and court costs. Monday night after an executive session, the council voted to unanimously approve a resolution and an ordinance that they think will address those concerns
as a possible date in court nears. The council voted to hire the law firm of Lanier Ford to represent the city in the matter, citing that while insurance will take care of possible monetary damages that could result, the city would be responsible for injunctive damages.
The council also passed an ordinance that changes many procedures in the way the municipal court does business. It spells out specific fees and makes it clear that “no defendant shall be incarcerated by the municipal court for inability to pay any See COUNCIL, Page 3
Chancellor HOLIDAY SEASON KICKS OFF seeks raises for college employees
Tide, Tigers unite for a cause
Increases at 2-year schools called ‘overdue’ By David Granger Outlook Staff Writer
DADEVILLE COUNCIL TO HOLD FINANCE COMMITTEE MEETING The Dadeville City Council Finance Committee will meet today at 4 p.m. The meeting was scheduled following last week’s council meeting where city clerk Mike Gardner explained to the council that the recently passed budget would need to be adjusted to accommodate the payment of the city’s portion of a business recruiter. “We passed last meeting to go in with the Tallapoosa County, Alexander City and the Lake Martin Economic Development Authority to hire a business recruiter,” Gardner said. “I have been able to tweak the budget and take a little from all the departments to make the budget work without changing the bottom line.” The council decided to wait for a meeting of the finance committee before voting on the amended budget.
ALEX CITY COUNCIL SETS WORK SESSION THIS AFTERNOON The Alexander City City Council will hold another budget work session this afternoon at 4:30 p.m. in the upstairs conference room at Alexander City City Hall. The council hopes to finalize numbers including capital spending and pay adjustments that include workers who have been overlooked for step raises in the past.
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Mitch Sneed / The Outlook
The 2016 legislative agenda for the Alabama Community College System will include a request for a 10 percent cost-of-living allowance for system employees, ACCS Chancellor Mark Heinrich said Thursday. The ACCS Board of Trustees met in an afternoon planning session in Montgomery. A portion of the discussion of the 10-member board included the system’s legislative agenda for 2016, highlighted by the request for a COLA that Heinrich said is long overdue. “This cost-of-living allowance would equal one percent for every year in which we haven’t received one and an additional two percent for the year K-12 received one (2013) and we got nothing. We are simply no longer competitive” for the best instructors, Heinrich said. According to materials released by the ACCS, the total cost of the wage adjustment would be $35.8 million. See RAISES Page 2
The downtown shopping season kicked off Sunday with the Chamber of Commerce Holiday Open House. Above, the Stephens Elementary School Music Club performs outside the Public Safety Building. Left, 7-month-old Maxwell Duck visits with Santa. Below, it was all aboard the ‘Polar Express’ at Jackson’s Drugs. More on page 6.
Event will benefit Crisis Center Backpack Program By Cliff Williams Outlook Staff Writer
Auburn and Alabama fans are supposed to nag at each other all year. Babies first words are often Roll Tide or War Eagle in this state. The winner of the Iron Bowl gets bragging rights for the next 365 days. The games on the football field often have earned names like, “Punt, Bama, Punt,” “Kick Six,” “Bo Over the Top” But the Lake Martin Auburn and Alabama clubs are setting aside that rivalry to join forces this week for the Auburn and Alabama Iron Tailgate Party to raise money for the Bill Myers Backpack Program. “We are setting aside the rivalry for a little bit for a great cause,” Lake Martin Auburn Club Board Member Laurie Sturdivant said. “It’s not that we hate each other, we just love our teams. But we live in the same community so why See BACKPACK, Page 11
Area churches collecting packages for foreign children By Corey Arwood Outlook Staff Writer
Last year, there were nearly 800 children from other countries that received boxes filled with toys, personal care items and the gospel, courtesy of people right here in our area. It was the first time First Baptist Church in Dadeville had taken part in the project, and the 54 cartons worth of packages were sent by horse-trailer to the next distribution center before being shipped to their remote destination. This year Tucker said that she expects to collect and transport yet more packages for more children, and surpass their first year’s efforts in Operation Christmas Child.
The church is one of the areas two drop-off locations, along with Vertical Point Church in Alexander City, for OCC’s National Collection Week, which is Nov. 16- 23. Tucker is the program coordinator at the church. She said the packages include school supplies, clothing and other basic hygiene goods. But for her, as well as the projects parent organization, Samaritan’s Purse, the mission is the message. “For me I know that I am helping to spread the gospel to a child in a another country,” Tucker said. The contents of the box, Tucker said, are necessities, File / The Outlook but the process of their delivJust like in past years, volunteers from several churches in the area ery is the actual mission. See CHILD, Page 11 are working to pack boxes for Operation Christmas Child.
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