SYLACAUGA — The Police Department is investigating an apparent murder and attempted suicide early Tuesday morning outside Blue Bell Creameries.

PELL CITY — The Coosa Valley Water Supply District approved work for the final detail of the new $31 million surface water treatment plant. “It’s a safe and adequate water supply for our future,” said Paul Manning, chairman of the Coosa Valley Water Supply District board, after the board unanimously approved the low bid submitted by P.F. Moon and Company of West Point, Ga., in the amount of $3.98 million, for the construction of the raw water intake and pump station. The board hired the company after Goodwyn, Mills and Cawood engineer Mike Walraven, who is overseeing the multimillion project, recommended the board accept the low bid for the construction of the raw water intake and pump station during a special called meeting last week in the council chambers at Pell City City Hall. He said about $1.5 million of the total cost of the project is funded through a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency grant the Coosa Valley Water Supply District received. “They should finish this about a month before the plant is finished,” Walraven said. He said the company should begin work on the raw water intake and pump station the first week of October. “They have nine months to complete the work,” Walraven said. The raw water intake will withdraw water from a quarry, which is supplied underground water from the Coosa River. “The river will feed the quarry,” Walraven said. He said the treatment plant, which is about 40 percent completed, is about 2,000 feet away from the quarry. The completion of the new surface water treatment facility is only about one year away, he said. The 3 mgd (million gallons a day) plant is expected to be completed by August 2011. Officials say the plant can be upgraded to pump 6 mgd of water without any additional capital improvements. The bids for the water intake and pump station ranged from about $4 million to the high bid of $5.2 million. Walraven said the bid accepted by the board was lower than they had expected, saying their estimate was about $5 million. “It came in considerably lower,” he said. The surface water treatment facility is a joint venture between Pell City, Springville, Odenville and the St. Clair County Commission. Once the plant is up and running, all four entities are required to purchase 750,000 gallons of wholesale water per day from the Coosa Valley Water Supply District. Lincoln was also a member of the Coosa Valley Water Supply District, but unexpectedly pulled out of the regional water supply district last year. Contact David Atchison at datchison@dailyhome.com

TALLADEGA — Fire Chief Danny Warwick’s National Guard unit is preparing to deploy to Kuwait and Iraq for the third time during the war.

TALLADEGA —City Schools Superintendent Doug Campbell said the announcement during a Talladega High School football game Friday night that Assistant Principal Bobby Tittle was now interim principal was “premature.”

PINHOTI — The three backpackers removed food from their packs, sat down on the Laurel Shelter’s wooden floor and began talking while eating lunch.