The Fayette County Board of Education recently completed a “Chromebook Initiative” that will hopefully make all Fayette County students a little more tech-savvy and better prepared as they leave high school.
The Fayette County Board of Education approved the retirement of four employees whose combined tenure with the system totaled more than 89 years during its April 17 meeting.
All board members were present with the exception of Sam Sullivan. The retirements accepted were: Janet Litton, teacher at Fayette Elementary School with 26 years service; Sherry Hall, teacher at Fayette Elementary with 23 years service; Debbie Ingle, elementary teacher at Hubbertville School with 25 ½ years service; and Charlie Dale Jones, bus driver with 15 years service.
Bevill State Community College announced on Wednesday, April 18 the reduction of 15 faculty and staff members from throughout the college’s five campus locations. These cuts follow a reduction of 19 employees from the system that occurred in August 2017. The previous cuts were instructed by the Alabama Community College System chancellor’s office in an effort to increase Bevill’s reserves. The Alabama Community College System also provided Bevill with guidance concerning the latest cuts.
Recent reports of the unauthorized use of blue police lights on a personal vehicle has prompted the Fayette County Sheriff Department to issue a warning to the public. A female resident was recently driving on County Road 26 when a black Dodge Charger pulled up behind her and turned on blue lights similar to the ones used by law enforcement. The driver did not pull over and soon the person driving the Charger turned off onto another road.
The Glen Allen Town Council met on Tuesday, April 3 at the town hall. The agenda for the regular scheduled monthly meeting was short as most items requiring action had been discussed in detail during the council's water-working meeting held on Tuesday, Feb. 6. All council members were in attendance at the water-working meeting and were also present for the council meeting. Mayor Allen J. Dunavant presented items one-by-one for discussion from the water-working meeting prior to the council electing to take the necessary action.
Alex Henry has signed to play her remaining two years of college with Auburn University of Montgomery. She was a standout volleyball player at Fayette County High School and only played one year at Bevill during the college’s reinstatement of the volleyball team in 2017.
Berry had a rare week of softball, losing the only two games that it played during the week.
Holy Spirit pounced on Berry early and never looked back in a decisive 17-2 win against its area rival. Brooke Blanton was the losing pitcher, allowing seven hits in four innings of work while striking out five. Allie Taylor pitched two innings in relief, allowing five hits and striking out three. Sommer Bullard was one-for-three for the Lady Wildcats, with a double and a RBI. Gracyn Hydrick was one-for-two with a RBI. Tierra Grevins and Kierston Smith scored the only two runs for Berry.
The Hubbertville softball team hosted Brilliant on Wednesday, April 18 and easily defeated the Lady Tigers by a score of 18-2. Emma Nichols pitched a complete game for the Lady Lions, allowing four hits, one earned run and striking out two batters. Gracie Dodd had the big bat for Hubbertville, going three-for-three including a home run, two runs scored and four RBIs. Laikyn Wright also had three hits for Hubbertville, including a double, four runs scored and three RBIs.
A total of 52 people participated in the annual Glen Allen “Don’t Drop it on Alabama” clean-up day on Saturday, April 21. Glen Allen Mayor Allen Dunavant said that the crowd was smaller than usual due to the Hubbertville Park Day being held at the same time, but he said the clean-up campaign was a success.
Bevill traveled to Marion on April 12 and lost both games of a double-header to Marion Military Institute. In the first game, the Bears lost by a score of 5-3. Bevill took an early 1-0 lead in the first inning and stretched that lead to 3-1 by the second inning. MMI took the lead in the fourth and never relinquished to preserve the win. Parker Hubbard took the loss for Bevill despite surrendering only two earned runs. He struck out three opposing batters and allowed five hits.
Former Berry Town Council member Clyde Pendley, age 78, passed away at his home on Friday, April 13. Services were held on Monday, April 16 with burial in Memory Hill Garden cemetery. According to Berry Town Clerk Marie McClusky, Pendley served as a Berry councilman from his appointment for the remainder of an unexpired term in April 2007 until his resignation in February of this year due to health reasons.
Dr. Kim Ennis was named as the new president of Bevill State Community College by the Alabama Community College System’s Board of Directors during a meeting held on Tuesday, April 10 at Lawson State Community College.Ennis began her college career as a student at Walker College, which is now part of the Bevill State Community College system. Following her studies at Walker College, Ennis received her Bachelor’s degree in business at Birmingham Southern and later received her Masters’ and PHD in Education from the University of Alabama in Birmingham.
Sandy Whitson, 46, of Fayette was arrested and charged with first degree burglary, third degree burglary, first degree theft of a vehicle and second degree domestic violence assault in connection with an attack on a Millport woman. The attack occurred at approximately 9:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 11, according to Millport police chief Charles White. He said Whitson broke into the female victim’s home and assaulted her before she could get away.
The Fayette County Commission voted to purchase the former Shop & Save Supermarket located across from the annex building during its April 9 meeting. Commissioner Barry Corkren said that the commission had an opportunity to purchase the supermarket property for the assessed value of $220,000 if they voted now to make the purchase. He said that the property would be put on the market if the county commission chose not to make the purchase.
The Fayette City Council approved the purchase of a security system for city hall during its April 10 meeting. Councilwoman Linda McCraw was absent from the meeting, with the remaining council members in attendance along with Mayor Ray Nelson.
Prior to beginning the discussion concerning security, Nelson said that he had a copy of a video from Kirkwood, Missouri that showed an active shooter killing two police officers, three city councilmen and the mayor during a council meeting. He said the video reinforces the need for security at governmental buildings.
The Berry Town Council held a special called meeting on March 19 to award the bid for the water line relocation in Bankston. Councilman Calvin Madison made a motion to adopt a resolution authorizing Mayor Jimmy Madison to contract on behalf of the Town of Berry with Robinson and Sons Construction to relocate the water line. The amount of the successful bid was $255,450 and the cost of the relocation will be reimbursed by the Alabama Department of Transportation.
Hubbertville defeated Pickens County 20-2 on April 10 in a three inning game.
Emma Nichols pitched a complete game for Hubbertville, allowing four hits and two unearned runs with three strikeouts and no walks. Gracie Dodd had two hits for Hubbertville, including a home run, with two runs scored and two RBIs. Chelsea Porter had three runs scored and two RBIs, Savannah McCraw scored a run and had two RBIs, and Cayla Tidwell had a double, RBI and scored two runs.
Fayette lost to Winfield on April 10 by a score of 7-6 as the Pirates Jack Williamson hit a two-run triple in the bottom of the eighth inning for Winfield’s come-from-behind win. Walt Tucker had a two-run double in the top of the seventh inning to tie the game at five, and Fayette had a 6-5 lead in the bottom of the eighth before the triple by Williamson. Austin McCaleb had a three hit night for Fayette and Tucker also had multiple hits in the game.
Berry started off the week on Monday, April 9 with a shutout softball win against Pickens County by a score of 15-0. Brooke Blanton started the game as pitcher for Berry and dominated the Lady Tornado batters, striking out eight of the nine batters she faced and allowing no hits. Blanton also contributed at the plate, going two-for-two with two RBIs and walked twice during the game.
Tatarian Williams, 28, of Fayette, accepted a plea deal in Fayette County Circuit Court on April 4 and was sentenced to spend the next 20 years in an Alabama Department of Corrections facility. Williams was arrested on June 10, 2016 and charged with drug trafficking and possession of drug paraphernalia following a raid on his residence, located on 3rd St. SE in Fayette. According to reports of the arrest, Antonious Charblye Delaney and Dionne Cherell Dixon were also arrested during the raid.
