In the wake of national elections that gave control of Congress to the Democrats, 2006 was a year of change for the country as a whole.The same is true for Talladega and St. Clair counties — and for The Daily Home, which opened in its new building on Battle Street in Talladega.
Some long-standing businesses and industries, most notably Avondale Mills, closed their doors, while new companies in the area fueled growth, especially along Interstate 20 and Alabama 280.
Here is a look at some of the events that have shaped our lives during the past 12 months.
Talladega
A series of decisions and announcements in the latter half of 2006 virtually guarantee that 2007 will represent a period of transition for the city of Talladega, the Talladega City School System and the Talladega County Commission, all of whom will be changing leadership in the new year.
In August, the Talladega County Commission voted unanimously to put county administrator Jim Hilber on notice that it would not be renewing his contract after it expires in February.
The commission’s action was taken without much in the way of public discussion, with then chairman Jimmy Roberson calling for a motion to “proceed with plans for the future of this county.”
The motion to non-renew was made by Commissioner Ed Lackey and seconded by Commissioner Kelvin Cunningham.
Hilber has served as county administrator since 1994. A search for his successor has already begun, and the commission has received resumes from at least 15 possible candidates, including Hilber himself and former Talladega city manager Thomas Christie. Two candidates were interviewed in December and one, Wayne Hall, a consultant at Bowater, where Roberson works, has already been called back for a second interview.
Seven other candidates, including Hilber and Christie, will be interviewed in January.
The Talladega City Council voted unanimously, also with no public discussion, to terminate Christie without cause during a brief called meeting in November. City clerk Sue Horn was named interim city manager, and Christie was required to relinquish all keys and city owned property immediately. The four councilmen present then left through a back door in the council chamber.
Councilman William Clark was absent from the meeting and said he was not aware of what the balance of the council planned to do, and would not have supported them if he had been. Mayor Brian York, who was present but does not have a vote, also said he did not know ahead of time what the council had planned and also did not support Christie’s termination.
Some 24 hours later, then council President Eddie Tucker issued a statement explaining the city’s “New Direction” by taking exception to several aspects of the compromise budget the council had unanimously approved a month before. Tucker also initially said the decision to terminate Christie was more or less spontaneous, however, Tucker sought a legal opinion the day before and the four councilmen involved said they had discussed the matter amongst themselves before the vote.
At a meeting with Citizens For Good Government shortly after the firing, Councilman Horace Patterson said the final straw came at a meeting two days before Christie was fired, when Councilman Charles Pope made a motion directing Christie to rehire an employee who had retired without full health benefits and was having medical problems. Christie told Pope the action was a violation of the state law governing city manager forms of government, punishable on second conviction by removal from office, and would also violate the city’s civil service rules and regulations.
At the same meeting, all four councilmen agreed Christie’s statement was legally correct, but they objected to his tone.
The manager position is currently being advertised through the Alabama League of Municipalities, the National League of Cities and the International City Managers Association. It was not immediately clear how many applications, if any, have been received.
Talladega City Schools Superintendent Lee Messer announced in December he will be retiring on the last day of the next school year. Although the announcement was unexpected, Messer said when he first arrived in Talladega as a temporary superintendent, after the retirement of T. Larry Thacker, he did not intend to stay for the four years he already had.
Messer had previously retired as superintendent of the Jacksonville City School System.
He said he planned to stay in the area after retirement, and would remain active in educational issues.
The board has not met since Messer announced his plans to retire, but will most likely organize a search in January.
2006 got off to a somber start in Talladega with the news that native Stephen J. White, a career soldier and sergeant first class in the U.S. Army, had been killed by an improvised explosive device in An Najaf, Iraq, Jan. 5. He was survived by his wife, seven children and 31 siblings.
White was honored at the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Prayer Breakfast, and was eulogized by Councilman Horace Patterson as well as the pastor of the Pentecostal Church White attended in Fort Hood, Texas. The church in Munford where the funeral was held was not large enough to accommodate all of the mourners who came to pay their respects, with an overflow crowd standing in intermittent rain outside.
The City Council honored White by renaming 17th Street Stephen J. White Memorial Blvd.
More than 20 years ago, the state Legislature created a third circuit judgeship for Talladega County, but subsequent bills had delayed implementation until 2006, when the third judge was to be elected. A bill sponsored by Sen. Jim Preuitt (D-Talladega) and passed by both houses of the Legislature last year would have delayed implementation yet again, providing for the position to be appointed by the governor in 2009 and elected in 2010.
Assistant District Attorney Chad Woodruff qualified to run for the position after the newest delay was approved by the Legislature but before it was signed into the law by the governor. Woodruff was technically elected to the position in November.
Attorney Buddy Campbell filed a lawsuit alleging that appointing a judge to a position that has not been vacated by a sitting judge dying, retiring, resigning or being removed from office violates Section VI of the Alabama Constitution of 1901, and asking that the new law be struck down on those grounds. Although the suit was filed in Talladega County, Circuit Judges Julian King and Bo Hollingsworth both recused themselves from hearing it, and a retired judge from Dothan was appointed to handle the matter. A motion for summary judgment against Campbell brought by the state Attorney General’s Office was denied, but the suit remains pending at the end of the year.
There were six homicides in north Talladega County in 2006, including a July incident in Westgate in Talladega where a 15-year-old shot five women, killing one of them.
Cartravious Jemez Collins, 15, of 131 Westgate, was formally charged with one count of murder, two counts of attempted murder and two counts of aggravated assault in the first degree, and has been certified as an adult for trial purposes. He will still be eligible for sentencing as a youthful offender, however.
Collins allegedly shot Chelsea Embry, 21, and Latoya Monique Embry, 25, both of Broadway Avenue, Talladega; Jalysa Embry, 17, and Kaylon Embry, 23, both of 468 Greer St., Lincoln; and Cassandra Larnette White, 23, of 43 Westgate. Chelsea Embry was transported in a private vehicle to the emergency room of Citizens Baptist Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead.
Collins said he was defending his sister, who was being assaulted by the five older women. The sister did file a police report alleging the assault about a week after the event.
There were signs of growth all over Talladega in 2006, but nowhere was that growth more evident than on Fort Lashley Avenue, where the Piggly-Wiggly grocery store and the main office of The Daily Home moved into new buildings and demolished the old ones.
The new Piggly Wiggly is more than three times the size of the old one, and employs almost twice as many people. It also carries a much broader line of products.
While construction was still going at the West Battle Street location, owner Ronnie Baker also purchased the former Winn-Dixie store in Talladega, which was closed when the parent company went bankrupt, and converted it into a Piggly Wiggly store as well.
The Daily Home’s new building is not as large as the old one, but uses space more efficiently, is more sound structurally and more appealing to the eye. As 2006 winds down, work remains to be done on the parking lot and landscaping.
Pell City
The city saw growth and prosperity during the past year, with many new companies bringing jobs and additional tax money for city services.
One of the most welcome additions to the community was Jefferson State Community College, which began offering college courses, day and night, last fall in its new multi-million campus in Pell City.
In addition, the city saw two large German automotive manufacturing suppliers break ground in Pell City Industrial Park. The new automotive suppliers, WKW Erbslöh Automotive Group and VST Keller Inc., will bring hundreds of new jobs to the city.
About the only economic setback for the city was the closing of the Avondale Mills plant, which produced and dyed textile cloths for more than 100 years in Pell City.
There were also many new business openings in 2006, including the grand opening of The Home Depot in the new Bankhead Crossing commercial development behind Wal-Mart.
The long anticipated opening of the Center for Education and the Performing Arts also highlighted the economic prosperity of the thriving community. The facility, which has a huge gymnasium and theater, was renamed the Pell City Center during 2006. The state-of-the-art theater hosted the first professional play in the fall.
City officials also followed bigger cities last year in passing a no-smoking ordinance, restricting smoking in public places throughout the city.
On the school front, the Board of Education moved forward with construction of a fifth- and sixth-grade school, purchasing property along Hardwick Road for the school site.
Sylacauga
Avondale Mills, one of the oldest textile operations in the nation and a mainstay of Sylacauga and Pell City for a century and a half, officially ceased all operations companywide July 25.
Some 1,200 employees in Sylacauga and more than 200 in Pell City found themselves out of work.
Despite the loss of the historic economic heart of Sylacauga, local businesses, schools, and local, state and federal governments stepped in to provide assistance to the workers and their families displaced by the closings.
In addition to financial help, workers were offered the opportunity to train for other careers and job fairs aimed specifically at helping place Avondale employees in new jobs were held.
Additionally, the trucking division of Avondale was purchased by another company, helping to preserve some of the textile company’s jobs locally. Mount Vernon Mills has no intention of moving the trucking division it purchased from Avondale Mills from Sylacauga, company officials said.
But the economic news was not all grim in Sylacauga in 2006.
Blue Bell Creameries began building its second expansion in Sylacauga in three years.
The project was announced in December 2005 by Paul Kruse, executive officer and president of Blue Bell Creameries on a visit to Sylacauga.
Jason Green, facilities maintenance manager for Blue Bell, said the new facility is going to allow the plant to serve restaurants, grocery stores and other businesses across the Southeast, from North Carolina and South Carolina, to Georgia and even into south Florida, as well as Alabama and Tennessee.
Also, in an effort to modernize and expand manufacturing and related distribution operations in Talladega County, United Industries Corporation, a subsidiary of Spectrum Brands, announced plans to build a new facility in Sylacauga.
The facility will be located on the east side of Hill Road, north of the Fayetteville Highway intersection adjacent to Lee Merkel airfield.
Spectrum is currently operating out of a facility on West Ft. Williams Street.
The new building will be 380,000 square feet. Once it is constructed, the old operation will be shut down. The new operation will add some 30 jobs to its current pool of 85 workers.
Construction of Sylacauga’s new Coosa Valley Medical Center continued to progress at a rapid pace. The city held a topping out ceremony to commemorate one of the construction milestones for the building project.
The new 120,000-square-foot Coosa Valley Medical Center will cost around $28 million. Officials hope to have the new hospital open for business in April 2007.
A long-awaited drainage project was started in Sylacauga in December to alleviate flooding near downtown. The project includes a $500,000 Community Development Block Grant from the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs.
Additional funding from the city will be used to complete the work.
The project is expected to solve drainage issues along West Eighth Street, Douglass Avenue and West Fourth Street.
Sylacauga continued to move ahead with several projects to beautify and revitalize its downtown area, including sidewalk improvements and replacing older traffic lights.
Along the same lines, donations are being sought for a multi-purpose project under way for the property between Broadway and Norton Avenue across from Blue Bell Creameries. The first phase of the project is the construction of a pavilion, to be ready by April 2007 for the 100th birthday celebration of Blue Bell.
The project has been started by a committee formed through Leadership Sylacauga. Working with Leadership Sylacauga members are the Chamber of Commerce, Parks and Recreation Department and city officials.
The property is owned by the city and is used for various functions throughout the year. The committee was formed to make the property suitable for multi-purpose use.
Other parts of the revitalization project include a walking track, improvements to city parks and athletic facilities and possibly a skate park.
Jim Armstrong, director of Sylacauga Parks and Recreation Department, said Noble is going to be the premier park for the city because of its central location where everyone that passes through the city on Alabama 21 can see it.
In early October, two men were arrested and charged with burglarizing and burning down a church in Sycamore near Sylacauga.
Randy Lee Jones Jr. and Preston Lindenthaler were formally charged with one count each of third-degree burglary and second-degree arson.
The two are accused of breaking into and burning down the sanctuary and Sunday school annex of Rocky Mount Baptist Church. Both buildings were destroyed.
Later, Jones was also charged with a drive-by shooting where a 13-year-old was struck twice.
In Fayetteville, it was announced a handful of residents – four people — in one subdivision will get an election all their own. The households are voting on whether to join the Fayetteville school tax district, which will increase their property taxes. The money from the special property tax in the community has been earmarked for improvements to the schools there and for a number of related civic projects, including a community recreation complex and a lighted walking track.
In August, it was announced that Sylacauga has paved at least seven of a possible 24 streets in its million-dollar paving project.
The streets completed as of Aug. 10, according to Eddie Bentley with the city, are McDowell, Chestnut, Lang Circle and Road, Lee Drive, Valley Lane, Canyon Ridge Circle and Miller Drive. The work is expected to cost just more than $1 million.
Childersburg
When Nippon Oil Lubricants (America) opened its facility on Dec. 5, it not only heralded a great day for the city of Childersburg, but for the state of Alabama at large, according to Gov. Bob Riley and area officials.
This was the first such plant to open in America, and representatives with the company chose Childersburg as the prime destination. Some factors mentioned in helping the company choose to locate in Childersburg were the climate, friendly community, the vicinity to Honda, industrial park, dual rail system and being on land adjacent to a railroad spur.
Representatives from both Japan and Childersburg agreed it was a great union and looked forward to what the industry could do for the city.
Nippon will be able to supply lubricants and grease manufacturing and sales in all of the United States with the help of Nippon Oil USA.
This year Childersburg also celebrated another first in the city’s history — the publication of its own magazine.
Titled “Childersburg Magazine,” the full-color 100-page publication serves as a guide to living, shopping, playing and working in Childersburg. It was sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce and is provided as a free service to the public.
In addition to many photos of the area, the magazine also includes city statistics, business directories, a buyer’s guide, chamber membership directory and church directory. Numerous articles in “Childersburg Magazine” highlight the city’s proud heritage and offerings.
The magazine is especially targeted toward newcomers, key business prospects and visitors or tourists, with the unique aspects of living and doing business within the Childersburg community. Representatives and officials hope the magazine will serve as a marketing tool to recruit new businesses and industries to the Childersburg community.
Excitement was stirred again in Childersburg when crew members with ESPN and Radical Media visited the Key West Inn while they filmed a commercial to preview the upcoming 2007 Bassmaster Classic. Portions of the commercial will film on-site at the hotel.
In addition to the staff, two professional fishermen, Gerald “G-Man” Swindle of Hayden and Terry Scroggins, were also guests at the hotel as they were filmed for the commercial.
ESPN staff said they chose Childersburg because of its proximity to Lay Lake and its ambience. Having the crew members choose Childersburg as one focus of the commercial, and staying at the local hotel, resulted in other economic gains for Childersburg as the workers did business in the city.
This is the thirty-seventh annual Bassmaster Classic, and it will be held on Lay Lake. The competition will run from Feb. 23-25.
Lincoln
The city of Lincoln wasn’t far into 2006 before it experienced its most notable event of the year. On Jan. 18, two trains — one carrying noxious sodium cyanide that could have been fatal for hundreds had it come in contact with water — collided along a railroad sideline in the city. Unable to extinguish the fire, firefighters allowed the train cars to burn as the fiery crash covered the sky above Lincoln with black smoke that could be seen as far away as Birmingham.
Residents in nearly 30 homes in the Lomar Drive subdivision were trapped as the trains blocked the only exit from their neighborhood and were forced to shelter in place using kits designed to use in case of an accident at the Anniston Army Depot.
The accident amplified Lomar Villa residents’ demands for an alternate access road. After nearly a year of communication among Norfolk Southern railroad, state transportation officials and Lincoln Mayor Lew Watson, the state and Norfolk Southern are currently negotiating rights of way necessary for the road, which will parallel the railroad and connect Lomar Drive to Honda Drive.
Lincoln’s milestones for the remainder of the year were signals of the city’s ongoing industrial and residential growth.
Not resting on its haunches after being named 2006 Manufacturer of the Year in April, Honda Manufacturing of Alabama announced a $40 million expansion in August that will add 20 employees to its existing work force of about 4,500.
The expansion will add a 41,000 square-foot facility that will include high- and low-pressure aluminum die cast equipment, high- and low-pressure aluminum melt surfaces, low-pressure heat-treat equipment and additional sand mold capabilities.
The Talladega County Commission approved a 10-year property tax abatement for the expansion.
And the automaker continued to fire on all cylinders as it was announced in October as the sole production facility for the Pilot sports utility vehicle. Sole production of the Pilot will begin in early 2007. The Lincoln plant is already the sole production site of the Odyssey minivan.
November brought a milestone to the celebrations to workers at the plant — the first coming on Nov. 3 as workers rolled off Line One the one millionth vehicle and engine produced at the facility. The second celebration was one of much hurrah as Gov. Bob Riley congratulated workers on the plant’s fifth anniversary Nov. 14 for becoming a major industrial force in the state.
The City Council committed to two projects during the year that have implications for sports and community. The council let bids in August on excavation work for 60 acres on Holly Hill Road that is slated to become a top-notch sports facility, including four Little League baseball fields, three regulation baseball/softball fields and a soccer field.
Long-term plans for the site include a $2 million recreation center and landscaping, which will be included with the soccer field in Phase II.
Dirt has been moved on the park, and officials plan to open bids on Phase I Jan. 3.
Riverside
The town rushed to fill its highest office during 2007 as 10-year Mayor M.H. “Pokey” Forrester shocked the council Feb. 21 as he announced his retirement.
Forrester cited health concerns and his intention to retire before his 81st birthday in March.
The council picked Councilman and Mayor Pro Tem Rusty Jessup to complete Forrester’s term, which ends in 2008. Rachelle Painter was chosen to fill Jessup’s seat on the council.
Jessup hit the ground running, orchestrating the town’s purchase of two private sewage systems the city will expand upon to create a quasi-public system officials hope will spur a retail boon along the U.S. 78 corridor.
The town also secured nearly $200,000 in Federal Emergency Management Agency grants to create a storm shelter adjacent to town hall. The concrete-ceiling and -wall building, which will also be used as a community center, nears completion.
The council approved in September a measure officials hope will benefit all the town’s residents. At the purchase price of $500 per acre, the council approved buying 5.1 acres of ponds and marshy wetland to create a nature park.
The purchase followed the creation of the town’s Parks and Recreation Board, which members hope will bring public recreation opportunities to the town to help it attract more residents as neighboring cities Pell City and Lincoln experience exceptional growth.
Home staff writers David Atchison, Chris Norwood, Richard McVay and Christa Jennings and Home Managing Editor Graham Hadley contributed to this report
