OPINION: LOCAL ELECTIONS SHOW THAT EVERY VOTE COUNTS, PAGE 4.
THURSDAY
THE
Lighting the way for Alexander City & Lake Martin since 1892 October 6, 2016
Vol. 124, No. 201
www.alexcityoutlook.com
SPORTS, PAGE 12
Central Coosa renames stadium.
Council passes budget continuance City will operate on 2015-16 budget with no changes until further information is gathered By MITCH SNEED Editor
In a meeting that took just six minutes including the prayer and Pledge of Allegiance, the Alexander City City Council passed a resolution that will allow the city to continue to have funding to operate. By a 6-0 vote, the council voted to continue under the 2015-16 budget, which expired on Oct. 1. State law requires municipal governments to have a
balanced budget before expenditures can be made. Passing the resolution does keep spending levels at the same levels that were in place. It also prevents, without special vote, some new projects from beginning. Council President Jim Spann explained what the move means. “What this means is that we operate under the same guidelines that we had in place in the 2015-16 budget,”
Spann said. “The salary structure, the pay, the positions all remain the same. There would have to be a new personnel authorization list approved along with the budget before that could change. “We plan to allow the next council to handle that so they can have input on it.” Spann said there are too many financial issues lingering to go forward with a new budget. He cited a lack of See COUNCIL • Page 3
Alex City man guilty of shooting into home
Days offer no relief for dry conditions By DAVID GRANGER Staff Writer
By MITCH SNEED Editor
A jury has convicted an Alexander City man of shooting into a house with a family still inside. Bryan Keith Taylor, 32, was found guilty Wednesday morning of shooting into an occupied dwelling, a charge from an incident in Alexander City on May 19. Taylor was charged of shooting a gun into a home near the intersection of J and N streets in Alexander City. There were six people inside the home when the shots were fired, including children. Assistant District Attorney Jeremy Duerr prosecuted the case for the state and called Taylor witnesses including victims who testified to the terror they felt when the shots were fired towards their home. The jury heard several See SHOOTING • Page 3
Cliff Williams / The Outlook
Above, the water is shallow in Coley Creek.The drought has Lake Martin down five feet currently. Below, round bales await purchase at Abernathy Feed and Seed Wednesday afternoon. The drought will likely bring about hay shortages for farmers.
BEAUTIFUL BUT DRY
See DRYNESS • Page 3
Lake Martin
Boy Scouts offer fun – with a purpose The United Way of the Lake Martin Area partners with 27 agencies that serve the local area in a variety of important ways. Each year, United Way holds a major fundraising campaign to raise money that is disbursed among those agencies. For the next several weeks, The Outlook will briefly profile each of those 27 agencies. Today, we feature the Boy Scouts of America’s Tukabatchee Area Council. The answers to the questions were provided by Larry Newton, district executive of the Tukabatchee Area Council. By DAVID GRANGER Staff Writer What are the Boy Scouts of America? The Boy Scouts of America is a non-profit organization found in 1910. The organization adheres to the following mission statement: “The mission of the Boy Scouts of America
Wednesday brought another beautiful day to Alexander City, but again failed to bring much-needed relief to lawns and gardens in the area. Almost all of Tallapoosa County is at the driest point on Alabama’s lawn and garden moisture index, according to a report from the state climatologist released Tuesday. “It’s real dry,” said Dale Martin, an Equality-based lawncare professional who has been in the business for 20 years. “This kind of weather, it really slows things down for me with customers who don’t have irrigation. Some yards that I normally cut every other week, I’m cutting them every three or four weeks now. “If they don’t have irrigation, they’re drying up.” Asked how many yards he maintains, Martin replied, “Too many when we’re getting rain. Not enough when it’s this dry.” The lawn and garden moisture index measures the current capacity of moisture in the soil to sustain healthy lawns and gardens. “With Alexander City at a -2, that means that the shallow-rooted vegetation needs at least two inches of rain within seven days to recover,” said State Climatologist John Christy. Another measure of how dry things are is the drought index.
is to prepare young people to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes by instilling in the them the values of the Scout Oath and Law.” What age groups do each of the types of scouting serve? The Scouting program covers a wide-range of age groups and appropriately places its youth members by skill set based on age/grade in school. The Cub Scouting program- often referred to as a Cub Scout pack- covers grades first through fifth (ages 7-10 1/2), is divided into smaller units known as dens, and broken into the following program areas: Tigers (first grade), Wolf (second grade), Bear (third grade), Webelos I (fourth grade), and Webelos II
2016 ANNUAL LAKE MARTIN LIVING ART AND PHOTOGRAPHY CONTEST Today is the last day to place your vote for the People’s Choice Award winner in the 2016 Annual Lake Martin Living Art and Photography Contest. Votes will be accepted from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Alexander City’s Emporium Wine and Gallery 128 located at 128 Calhoun Street. Lake Martin Living received 70 entries for the contest this year. The overall winner for the contest will be featured on the cover of the October issue of the magazine. All other artists, including the winner of the People’s Choice Award, will be featured on the inside pages of the October issue. Submissions include works in acrylics, oil, watercolor, pencil, pen and ink, pastels and photography, and all entries reflect life in our east central Alabama region. Be sure to cast your vote!
See SCOUTS • Page 3
Lake Levels
486.06
Reported on 10/05/16 @4 p.m.
LACEY HOWELL 256.307.2443
laceyshowell@gmail.com 5295 Highway 280, Alex City, AL
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