WHAT’S UP: COMPLETE EVENT LISTINGS, PAGE 3
THE
FRIDAY
OPINION City budget fix is a good move, page 4.
Lighting the way for Alexander City & Lake Martin since 1892 November 20, 2015 Vol. 123, No. 232 www.alexcityoutlook.com
NEW YEAR!
Tigers open basketball practices, page. 8.
Wire transfer scam targets area businesses By Mitch Sneed Outlook Editor
How many times have you received an email from your boss asking you to handle something because they were busy? Ok, lower your hands. It’s a common practice and now some cyber scammers are hoping to play on those routine requests to cheat you out of thousands of dollars at a time. Several local businesses and banks say
that the practice known as “spear phishing” has targeted several local businesses. On some occasions, the scam attempt turned out to be an expensive lesson in the latest in cyber crime. “It’s something that we in the banking industry see almost every day,” said Mark Spencer, senior vice president and central Alabama area executive for USAmeriBank. “The email comes from an address that is very similar to someone
in your company. It looks real and sounds like a logical request from someone in authority at your business. “The reason they are so realistic is that this is a fulltime job for these criminals. They study your website, and in some cases get into your email. They do that to get information that makes the emails look legitimate and extremely realistic. That’s how good they are.” In January, the Federal Bureau of
Active shooter scenario helps train schools
Let the hunt begin
Schools’ staff and first responders take part in exercise By Cliff Williams Outlook Staff Writer
File / The Outlook
The season for hunting deer in Alabama with guns officially opens on Saturday, just as temperatures are beginning to settle into their autumn norms. Area hunters can expect a large herd, state officials say.
Hunters, stores, officials prep for opening of gun season By David Granger Outlook Staff Writer
Saturday morning, an untold number of men and women in Alabama will wake up early, grab a cup of coffee and maybe a quick bite of breakfast, then head out into the initial pre-dawn of the 2015-2016 gun season for whitetail deer. Yes, it’s deer season in Alabama. That’s good news for not only hunters who eagerly await each season’s start, but also for lots of seasonal processors and some other area merchants. Alabama Game Warden Sgt. Michael East says his early poll of processors who have dealt with bow-season kills indicates another year of good, healthy-
Investigation’s Internet Crime Complaint Center issued a warning about the wire transfer schemes that had surfaced. At that time, FBI statistics showed between October 2013 and December 2014, 1,198 U.S. victims and 928 nonU.S. victims of the scam filed complaints about the same basic type scam. The FBI estimated the losses for U.S. businesses over that period were $179 million and See SCAM, Page 7
weight deer is likely in the area of Tallapoosa, Coosa and Elmore counties. “I check in with some of the processors from time to time and they’re telling me that the deer they’ve seen so far are a lot like or a little better than last year, which they told me last year there were mostly good weights on the deer taken around here. So, we’re looking for a good season.” Early 2015-16 harvest statistics reported to the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources through its voluntary Game Check online system show 38 deer have been taken in the Tallapoosa-Coosa-Elmore county area, including 13 antlered bucks. Last season, final Game Check stats
showed those same three counties totaled 780 deer, 466 of them bucks, by season’s end. However, according to Marissa Futral, coordinator of hunter education and Becoming an Outdoors-Woman for ADCNR, those numbers are likely low. Last year, a little more than 13,000 deer were reported through Game Check. “And there were probably a quarter of a million deer killed in Alabama last year,” Futral said. “So, it really looks like unless we make it mandatory, a lot of people are not going to use it.” Regardless, East expects numbers similar to last year, whether it be in numbers of deer killed or in weights, See HUNT, Page 7
Tallapoosa County Schools have a taken a step that no one else in the state has when it comes to protecting its students in an emergency event. In October, the system along with the command staff at the Tallapoosa County Sheriff’s office, Tallapoosa County Sheriff’s office dispatchers, the Dadeville Police Department, the Dadeville Fire Department, the Alexander City Rescue Squad and Tallapoosa County EMA took part in a table-top exercise. “I know of no other school system in the state that has gone to the step of table top exercises,” Tallapoosa County School superintendent Joe Windle said at Monday’s Board of Education meeting. “We are on the cutting edge in Tallapoosa County in dealing with preparation and planning for a catastrophic event.” “It is something we have been talking about for several years,” Tallapoosa County Chief Deputy Sheriff David McMichael explained to the board. “We have been training in the schools as first responders but not with everyone that would be involved in an incident. We wanted to go that next step where we had all the parties that would be involved together and a do a table-top exercise.” McMichael explained why the exercise was a success. “The biggest thing we were able to do is get everyone exposed to the incident See TRAINING, Page 7
Area boat dealers again near top of industry rankings By Betsy Iler TPI Magazine Editor
Singleton Marine Group (SMG) Nov. 18 was honored as Boating Industry magazine’s No. 2 dealer in North America, with Russell Marine making this year’s list in the No. 4 spot and Skier’s Marine included in the top 100. SMG also brought home the Most Innovative Dealer award after the gala banquet held in Orlando, Florida. “We are excited to be No. 2,” said Evan Davis, head of marketing for OneWater Marine, the umbrella organization for SMG. “Last year, we were No. 3, so that’s an improvement. The criteria that Boating Industry uses includes detailed financial questions, inventory turnover, technician efficiency, marketing initiatives. They want to know what you are
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doing to improve.” Davis said company leaders tried to think outside the box of marketing and customer service strategies to win the innovation title. “In everything we do, we try to support the philosophy that if we are treating the customer unlike anyone else, everything else will fall into place,” Davis explained. “One of the things we did was we found that our customers were two times more likely to listen to Internet radio, so we created a station where they could listen to boating music.” Dave Commander at Russell Marine said great employees are largely responsible for the company’s consistent placement on the Top 100 list since Boating Kenneth Boone / The Outlook Industry, the leading trade magazine for Sales of boats like this one seen on Lake Martin helped See MARINE Page 2 make two area boat dealers among the top in the country.
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483.28 Reported on 11/19/15 @ 3 p.m.
Linda Shaffer, REALTOR® C: 256.794.4641 • W: 256.329.5253 shaffer@lakemartin.net 5295 Highway 280, Alexander City, AL
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