COMMUNITY COLUMNISTS INSIDE!
THE
WEDNESDAY
SPORTS Lighting the way for Alexander City & Lake Martin since 1892 CACC to host Fall Baseball Classic, Page 8. September 14, 2016 Vol. 124, No. 185 www.alexcityoutlook.com
SWEET VICTORY
Investigators seek suspects in bridge vandalism
County schools approve budget
Boater captured images of suspects who damaged fence By MITCH SNEED Editor
Russell Lands Security and investigators with the Elmore County Sheriff’s Department are working on identifying a suspect in a vandalism case that has left a bridge with thousands of dollars worth of damage. On Sunday Sept. 4, a boater spotted two white males one adult and one that appeared to be a teen leave a boat of Lake Martin and climb up onto what is known as the Ridge Bridge. The witness said that it appeared that the older males damaged the ornamental fencing in order to allow access to the bridge for the teen to jump off the bridge and into the water. The damage to the fence is more than $6,000 according to Russell Lands Director of Security Mack Daugherty. “The witness advised that the adult male began attempting to pull down one of the railings, which is part of the safety fence constructed along each side of the bridge,” Daugherty said. “The witness advised that the destruction continued to the point that one complete section of the safety fence was completely destroyed. The younger male then proceeded to jump off the bridge, and the older adult male returned to the boat.” Fortunately for law enforcement, a boater spotted the activity and See BRIDGE • Page 6
By DAVID GRANGER Staff Writer
Cliff Williams / The Tribune
Victoryland owner Milton McGregor, left, shakes the hand of Donna Tidwell of Columbus, Georgia Tuesday as McGregor reopened his casino. “I was here the first day they opened the dog track, I was here the first day they opened the games, when they reopened and I am happy to be here again today,” Tidwell said.
Massive crowd packs VictoryLand’s reopening By DAVID GRANGER Staff Writer
“The troopers just called and said that the exits are backed off onto the interstate,” attorney Joe Espy told Milton McGregor at approximately 2:30 p.m. Tuesday afternoon. “I came down the interstate and there was a line all the way,” said Tuskegee mayor Johnny Ford later in the afternoon. “I was rescued by a Shorter police car and escorted all the way in.” VictoryLand is back
in business more than three years after it was closed when state officials raided the Montgomery facility, seizing electronic bingo machines and cash. The facility celebrated a “soft opening” Tuesday with 510 electronic bingo machines and a host of guests, some – like Ford and former Auburn University football coach Pat Dye – there to celebrate with The crowd at Tuesday’s Victoryland reopenMcGregor and hundreds ing was so large that people often stood See VICTORYLAND • Page 5 three deep waiting on machines to play.
Investigators are close to securing warrants for the people who causes this bridge damage.
Today’s
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87 70 High
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Lake Martin
Lake Levels
487.73 Reported on 9/13/16 @ 8 p.m.
LACEY HOWELL 256.307.2443
laceyshowell@gmail.com 5295 Highway 280, Alex City, AL
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The Tallapoosa County Board of Education on Monday evening approved a $28.9 million budget for fiscal year 2017 at its meeting at the board’s Central Office in Dadeville. The budget includes $15.5 million in state funding, $10.2 million in local revenues and $3.2 million in federal funding. “This budget gets us back to 2008 levels,” said Phil Blasingame, chief financial office for Tallapoosa County Schools. “It took us eight years to get there and nothing costs the same as it did in 2008, of course. But we’re proud of this budget.” Blasingame pointed out that approximately $4.5 million of the local funds would be netted out of the state appropriation to cover the required 10-mill match for the state appropriation. The budget allocates $14.1 million for instructional services (largely employee salaries and benefits), approximately $4 million for auxiliary services (including See BUDGET • Page 11
19-year-old arrested in Kowaliga tomahawk theft By MITCH SNEED Editor
Submitted / The Outlook
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Kowaliga the Indian’s tomahawk has been recovered and the person investigators believe is responsible for taking it has been arrested. Investigator Bill Wilson with the Elmore County Sheriff’s Department said that 19-year-old John Mason Friday has been charged with theft of property after evidence linked him to the theft of the tomahawk from the Kowaliga Restaurant on Sept. 4.
Security captured footage of a young man entering the lobby of the restaurant, looking around before plucking the tomahawk from the hand of the statue and then quickly leaving the restaurant. Russell Lands Security Chief Mack Daugherty said that investigators were able to identify Friday as being with a large group of people at the restaurant that day. Using credit card information from someone in the party, they were able to get names of those possibly involved. Wilson said the investigation was
still active and didn’t rule out additional charges if it is found that others played a role in the theft. The statue is a fixture at the restaurant where much of the décor is centered around Hank Williams and his ties to the area. It is said that Williams penned his hit Kaw-Liga while staying at a lake cabin that was then owned by Darwin Dobbs. The tomahawk is valued at $1,250 and Daugherty picked up the tomahawk Tuesday and returned it to the restaurant.
New Site eyes future of ambulance service
Alex City Rescue Squad assists when needed in emergency situations EDITOR’S NOTE: 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 the Alex City Rescue Squad is featured.
By DAVID GRANGER Staff Writer
Who and what is the Alexander City Rescue Squad? Founded after a drowning on Lake Martin in 1959, the Alex City Rescue Squad is a non-profit, all-volunteer search, rescue and recovery group that assists police, sheriff’s and
USPS Permit # 013-080
By CLIFF WILLIAMS Staff Writer
fire departments in a variety of situations. What programs and services does the Alexander City Rescue Squad provide? The Alexander City Rescue Squad assists in response to and clearing debris from ice storms, tornadoes and other natural events. The members also search for missing persons on land and in water, search for evidence and more. Most recently, the rescue squad has added a river rescue team, which uses kayaks for better access to the Tallapoosa River. It is also working on getting a mile-marker system on the river to help with locating those on the river. What are the Alexander City Rescue Squad’s hours? The Alexander City Rescue Squad has no office or set hours. The group See RESCUE • Page 5
New Site is facing a decision when it comes to its ambulance service. “We are at a point with the ambulance that someone has got to make a decision,” New Site Public Safety Director John McKelvey said at Monday’s New Site Town Council meeting. “Our expense on it is costing us more than we are taking in. It has been in the shop more than it has been in the station in the last year. I am throwing it out there that it is a possibility that the ambulance is going See COUNCIL • Page 11
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