NewsDigestforAugust2017(Clickoneachlinktoopen)

Foundationawardsfivetransferscholarships–DailyMountainEagleChangesunderwayasBevillStatestartsnewyear–DailyMountainEagleEnnisoutlinesstrategicplanforBSCC–TimesRecordBevillStatehelpingclosenationaljobskillgap–WBRCBSCCreleasesPresident’sandDean’sList–TimesRecordCordovaHighscienceteacherdetailshishardpathtosuccess–DailyMountainEagleGrowinginterestinnewdentalassistantprogramatBevillState–DailyMountainEagle

VolleyballreturnstoBSCC–TimesRecord

BevillState,otherlocalgroupstoofferassistancetovictimsofdeadlyhurricane–DailyMountainEagleStudentsgatherschoolsuppliesforHoustonchildreninneed–ABC33/40

The BSCC News Digest is a sampling of news articles and information regarding Bevill State Community College that appears in local media. If there is an article that you see that is not listed, please send to Andrew Brasfield at andrew.brasfield@bscc.edu

AUG. 8, 2017 JASPER, ALABAMA — TUESDAY — WWW.MOUNTAINEAGLE.COM 75 CENTS

BRIEFS

INSIDE

DEATHS

WEATHER

INDEX

Mississippiteen drownsduring churchtrip to LewisSmith LakeAuthorities say a

Mississippiteenager drownedwhile on a churchouting in Alabama.The Alabama Law

EnforcementAgency said in astatement that the16-year-old drown-ed around 6:30 p.m.Saturday at LewisSmith Lake in northAlabama. Al.comreports that CathyDavis, the head ofOak Hill Academy inWest Point, Miss.,identified the teenas Thomas LeeBales of Aberdeen,Miss.Bales was about to

start his junior yearat the private Chris-tian school on Mon-day. Bales’ father ison the school’sboard. Davis saidBales was on achurch trip to SmithLake when he died.This marks at least

the second drown-ing at Smith Lakethis summer. A 62-year-old mandrowned last monthwhile swimming.

Jeffry Craig Roden, 47,Kentucky

Shelby Gaye Myers, 73,Jasper

Gwynn Orsbon Kimbrell,80, Jasper

Itera Mae Johnson Harbin,91, Parrish

Ronald “Snake” Henderson, 71, Jasper

Violet Inez Burt, 93, Nauvoo

Peggy Hinds Aiken, 85,Bethlehem, Ga.

John Earl Keeton, 63,Jasper

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INSIDE TODAY:Minnesota mosque explosion ‘deeper, scarier’ than threats / A3

WALKER COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION

Guin fired following BOE hearing

Tanya Guin

Vikings begin fallpractice

The Jasper Vikings— as well as all

other high schoolteams across the

Eagle coveragearea — began fall

practice Monday inpreparation for the

2017 season,which kicks off

Friday, Aug. 25.Jasper opens the

season going toDecatur to face

Austin. TheVikings’ first homegame of the sea-

son is the followingweek when Hueyt-

won comes to Kiro-Gambrell Field. Atright, quarterback

Michael Creartakes off for a long

run during Mon-day’s practice.

Daily Mountain Eagle - Ron Harris

Trump looks to loyalvoters as supportslips, agenda stallsWASHINGTON (AP) — After

six months of infighting, in-vestigations and legislativefailures, President DonaldTrump is trying to combatnew signs of weakness in hisRepublican base and re-ener-gize his staunchest support-ers. / A7

Foundationawards

five transferscholarshipsSpecial to the Eagle

Walker College Foundation hasawarded transfer scholarships tofive scholars who have completedtheir associate in science or art de-gree from Bevill State CommunityCollege - Walker College Campus.

Jonathan Sargent, Diego Pas-cual, Kayla Key, Lynsie Taylor andJosie Walker will continue theirhigher education goals at four-yearuniversities this fall.

Sargent will be transferring tothe University of Alabama atBirmingham to complete his de-gree in electrical engineering. Healso earned a Presidential TransferScholarship from UAB and was se-lected to the All-Alabama Aca-demic Team and the All-USASilver Academic Team. Sargent’sactivities at Bevill State includedserving as a Walker College Foun-dation scholar and mentor, PhiTheta Kappa (PTK) officer, Na-tional Student Leadership Societymember, Scholars Bowl participantand a member of the InterclubCouncil.

He volunteered as a math tutorfor fellow students and has partici-pated in community service activi-ties including Rotary Club ofJasper’s Trivia Night fundraiser,Toys for Tots holiday toy drive andCapstone Rural Health Center’sholiday toy drive. He also serveswith the AHMEN Honduras mis-sion team. His future plans includea focus on developing renewableenergy sources for third worldcountries.

Pascual will be transferring tothe University of Alabama atBirmingham to complete his de-gree in biomedical sciences. He wasalso selected as a Smith Scholar-ship Foundation award recipientfor his next two years at UAB. Heis the first transfer student se-lected to receive this prestigiousscholarship. Pascual’s activities atBevill State included serving as aWalker College Foundation scholar

WALKER COLLEGEFOUNDATION

ELECTION 2017

Brooks brings senate campaign to JasperLow voter turnout expected in

primary to replace Sessions / A4

By JAMES PHILLIPSDaily Mountain Eagle

U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks, a Repub-lican candidate for U.S. Senate,paid a visit to Jasper Mondaymorning as a part of his “Drainthe Swamp Bus Tour.”

Brooks, who is currentlypolling in the top three in therace to fill Jeff Sessions’ vacatedSenate seat, spoke before a smallcrowd at Warehouse 319 indowntown Jasper. It was thefirst of several tour stops on theday with the campaign expectedto visit around 30 cities beforeElection Day on Aug. 15.

“I’m not one of these guys whoputs his finger in the wind, wholooks at the latest polling data,and decides to go this way orthat way,” Brooks said. “Therereally are some principles thatare good for America and bad forAmerica. I try to focus on theones that are good and stop theones that are bad, and that’s howyou can count on me voting as aUnited States congressman.”

Brooks currently serves in theU.S. House as the representativefor Alabama’s fifth congressionaldistrict.

“We haven’t done polling inthis race or in my previous races

for Congress on what you wantto hear, so what you hear fromme is what I really believe,” hesaid. “I highly recommend thatyou don’t listen to candidatesand what they say solely. Whatyou need to do is also verify whatthey say they are going to do isin fact what they are going to do.

With me, you’ve got thousandsupon thousands of a track recordto judge me by.”

While addressing Jasper resi-dents, Brooks mentioned hisrankings by several conservativegroups, citing himself being in

Daily Mountain Eagle - James Phillips

U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks, a Republican candidate for U.S. Sen-ate, was in Jasper Monday morning as a part of his “Drainthe Swamp Bus Tour.”

By NICOLE SMITHDaily Mountain Eagle

Members of the Walker County Boardof Education voted to terminate TanyaGuin’s employment as principal of Car-bon Hill Elementary/Jr. High SchoolMonday night.

After a two-day trial and more thansix hours of deliberation Monday, theboard announced Guin’s termination —11 months after she was placed on ad-ministrative leave amid potential ethics

violations.Superintendent Dr. Jason Adkins

originally recommended cancellation ofGuin’s employment on the followinggrounds: immorality, insubordination,neglect of duty, failure to fulfill the du-ties and responsibilities imposed uponprincipals by Alabama Code, willful fail-ure to comply with board policy, othergood and just cause, incompetency andfailure to perform duties in a satisfac-tory manner.

While Guin can no longer serve as

principal of the school, she will still beallowed to teach in the county schoolsystem, if she chooses.

Board Chairman Brad Ingle andboard members Bill Edd Gilbert andJamie Rigsby voted in favor of Guin’stermination, while Lee Ann Headrickand Todd Vick voted for Guin to remainprincipal of the school.

In a statement to the Eagle, Headricksaid, “We have voted to keep Tanya

See GUIN, A5

See BROOKS, A5 See FOUNDATION, A5

DAILY MOUNTAIN EAGLE Jasper, Ala., Tues., Aug. 8, 2017 www.mountaineagle.com — A5

Guin as a teacher but remove herfrom her contract principal position,a three to two vote. Just want a clearpicture painted,” she said. In finalwritten statements submitted Mon-day by Adkins and John Saxon,Guin’s attorney, both summarizedevidence they submitted during thetwo-day hearing. Saxon said thatother faults in bookkeeping hadbeen made at schools around thecounty, along with other instances ofimproper behavior by faculty andstaff members; therefore, he said,Guin shouldn’t be terminated.

“At best, we have less than strictadherence to a few practices regard-ing purchase orders and creditcards, and some private funds con-sisting of cash,” Saxon said.

He also said the attack againstGuin was personal, since she hasstated her intent to run as superin-tendent of the Walker County Boardof Education in the next election.

“Dr. Adkins knew she was think-ing of running against him,” Saxonsaid. “Dr. Guin is proposed for termi-

nation to humiliate and embarrassher, and make her electoral dam-aged goods. ... If any discipline isdue, reprimand Dr. Guin for lessthan perfect adherence to board poli-cies, then apply the same policiesuniformly to all schools and princi-pals. As CPA Philip Eads testified,all that is called for in such a case iscorrective counseling or training.”

Saxon said computers were re-moved from Carbon Hill ElementarySchool property that could havefilled in gaps, regarding financialdocumentation, to build their case.

Adkins insisted in a summary ofremarks to the board that he is notrecommending Guin’s terminationfor political or personal gain. “Thereis nothing personal or political aboutrecommending for termination aseasoned principal and a seasonedbookkeeper who were hiding cash(public funds) that they collected forthree years by using two sets ofbooks, an illegal off the books bankaccount, and a safe hidden in theprincipal’s closet,” Adkins said. “The

accounting processes this principalset up and allowed to be used, reflecta blatant disregard and obvious con-tempt for board policy.”

Walker County Board of Educa-tion Chief School Financial OfficerMargaret Scurlock said in the casesummary that improper accountingby Guin and the school’s bookkeeperwas not an “innocent mistake.” “Theprocess of failing to write receipts,writing receipts in a second set ofhidden receipt books, and the unau-thorized transfer of money betweenactivity accounts indicates the inten-tional shuffling of monies to defraudthe central office,” she said.

Scurlock added, “From my per-spective as CSFO, this is a clear caseinvolving employees who abusedtheir power and position of authorityto misappropriate school funds. ... Inmy opinion, failure to terminateboth the bookkeeper and the princi-pal will be perceived by other boardemployees as legalized theft.”

Guin will have the right to appealthe board’s decision.

Daily Mountain Eagle - Nicole Smith

This photo shows Tanya Guin’s initial reaction to being terminated as principal of Carbon Hill Elemen-tary/Jr. High School.

Guin From A1

the top on each one, de-spite what attack adscurrently suggest abouthim.

“Those attack ads arebased on polling datathat tells the LutherStrange campaign whatthey need to tell you inorder to try to create ani-mosity or dissatisfactiontowards me,” Brooks said.“They don’t really care ifthe attack ads are true ornot. That’s not the pur-pose of those attack ads.The purpose is to be-smirch the reputation ofthe target so that youdon’t want to vote for thetarget but vote for LutherStrange.

“I’ve pointed out myconservative record,” headded. “These ads are alldesigned to make youthink that I am someonethat I am not. These adsare designed to make youthink Nancy Pelosi is mybest buddy and that Ivote with Nancy Pelosiall the time. They havemore money than all theother candidates put to-gether. They can get awaywith trying to con theAmerican people becausethey no the targets ofthose attack ads do nothave the resources to setthe record straight.”

Some ads againstBrooks have suggestedhe doesn’t support theU.S. Military. Brooksmentioned his back-ground of support for themilitary, saying the citi-zens in the TennesseeValley, which is heavilyinvolved in defense con-tracts, would not havevoted him into office if hedid not support the mili-tary.

“I serve on the HouseArmed Forces Commit-tee. It is my job to be surethat we have a strong na-tional security,” Brookssaid.

Other ads have suggesthe does not support thecurrent president. Brookssaid in the GOP primarythat he was the Alabamachairman for the presi-dential campaign of Sen.Ted Cruz. Once the Re-publican primary was de-cided, Brooks said he hassupported the current

president more than any-one.

“I wrote a $2,500 checkto help Donald Trumpwin the State of Florida,”he said. “This is part of astrategy to divert atten-tion from LutherStrange’s record. Hedoesn’t want this to beabout ethics. I have aspotless ethics record. Ifwe make voters thinkabout ethics, how do youthink the voters are goingto vote.

Brooks said “an ethicalcloud that was so badover the appointment ofLuther Strange” was thereason the state hascalled the senate electionfor this year.

“His campaign nevertalks about ethics, butthey want to talk aboutthe past when I was help-ing another candidate in2015-2016,” he said.

Brooks said a filibusterrule, known as “the 60percent” rule, in the Sen-ate should be a determin-ing factor in whoconservatives vote for inthe senate race.

“A majority of the sen-ators have decided thatyou cannot advance legis-lation unless you have 60percent support,” he said.“That means we have toget eight Democrats toagree with us to get any-thing done.”

Brooks suggested thatStrange currently sup-ports the 60 percent rule.

“President Trump hasasked the U.S. Senate onseven different occasionsto get rid of the 60 per-cent rule and go with ma-jority rule, whichtypically is what youhave in a democracy,” hesaid. “The Senate hasturned a deaf ear toTrump’s request. I sup-port President Trump inthat regard. I have beenagainst the 60 percentrule for years.”

Brooks urged local vot-ers to turn out on Aug.15.

“This is an importantelection for our state andour country,” he said. “Weneed people to go vote.We need to continue tosend true, strong conser-vatives to Washington.”

Daily Mountain Eagle - James Phillips

U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks, a Republican candidatefor U.S. Senate, was in Jasper Monday morningas a part of his “Drain the Swamp Bus Tour.”

Brooks From A1

and mentor, Phi Theta Kappa(PTK) officer and National StudentLeadership Society Outreach Chair.

He volunteered as a UAB DentalSchool Community Day translator,helped with UAB’s CommunityHealth Screenings, worked in theParrish Community Garden andserved as a soccer coach for JasperPark and Recreation. He also par-ticipated in the Capstone RuralHealth Center’s holiday toy drive.Pascual’s experience at Capstonehas prompted him to set a goal ofcompleting a degree in dentistryand making dental care more acces-sible and affordable to everyone.

Key will be transferring to theUniversity of Alabama at Birming-ham to complete her degree in Ac-counting.

As a non-traditional student, Keyattended Bevill State while work-ing full-time at Pinnacle Bank.

She is a 2017 graduate of Leader-ship Walker County and a memberof Alfa Young Farmers Federation.She served as a Walker CollegeFoundation scholar and volunteeredwith Pilot Club and Relay for Life.Her future plans include earning amasters degree in Accounting.

When asked about receiving thisscholarship, Key said, “I was veryhonored to receive the Walker Col-lege Foundation scholarship thispast year. The donors to these fundsallowed me to accomplish my goalof going back to school to furthermy career.”

Taylor will be transferring toAuburn University to complete herdegree in animal sciences, with afocus in equine science. She alsoearned the Ever to Conquer Schol-arship for Transfer Students andthe Auburn University Board ofTrustees Endowed Scholarship.Taylor’s activities at Bevill State in-cluded serving as a Walker College

Foundation scholar and mentor andmembership in Phi Theta Kappa,Sigma Kappa Delta, Circle K andthe National Society of Leadershipand Success.

She has volunteered with severalorganizations including EASI,Farmstead Veterinary Clinic andFarmstead Veterinary Medical Cen-ter. Taylor’s future plans includeearning a degree in veterinary med-icine and veterinary biomedical sci-ences, with a focus on large animalcare.

Walker will be transferring toAthens State University to com-plete her degree in elementary edu-cation. She also earned aPresidential Transfer Scholarshipfrom Athens State University. Heractivities at Bevill State includedserving as a Walker College Foun-dation scholar and mentor andmembership in Phi Theta Kappaand the National Honor Society ofLeadership and Success. Walkeralso volunteered at the Walker Col-lege Foundation, served as a foodbank volunteer at Mount VernonBaptist Church and volunteered forthe Hope for Women Festival ofLights and the Salvation Army ToyDrive.

Her future plans include teachingmath to 5th and 6th grade childrenbecause, according to Walker, “chil-dren are beginning to be introducedto algebra and similar concepts.Having a strong foundation in theseconcepts is vital for students toexcel in higher math in the future.”

Walker added, “Being a part ofthe Scholars’ Society has not onlyprovided me with the opportunityto complete my first two years ofcollege, it has also provided me withmany opportunities to give back tomy community while making life-long friends in the process.”

In addition to these five scholars,

Justice Evans was awarded a 2016summer transfer scholarship toAuburn University after his firstyear as a scholar with Walker Col-lege Foundation. At Auburn, he fin-ished 9th in his class of 73 in theindustrial design pre-qualificationsummer class and was admittedinto Auburn’s highly competitive in-dustrial design program last fall.

“The WCF trustees recognize thatmany students want to continuetheir education beyond an associ-ate’s degree, but the cost of twomore years at a four-year universitymay hold them back. We want togive them an incentive to keepgoing, “ said William “Bud” Long,Chairman of the Board of Trustees.“If they know they can earn addi-tional scholarship funds to continuetheir education, they may be en-couraged to work toward a higherdegree. It is amazing what a personcan accomplish if they know thereare people supporting them alongthe way.”

The transfer scholarship programis new to Walker College Founda-tion and represents an effort to helpcurrent scholars work toward afour-year degree. Funds areawarded to the top four or five stu-dents who are current recipients ofWalker College Foundation’s two-year scholarships, and completetheir associate in science or arts de-gree before transferring to a four-year university.

At this time, transfer scholar-ships are one-time awards thatrange from $3,000 to $5,000 each.

For more information aboutscholarships, student programs orsupporting a student scholarshipfund, please call Holly Trawick at(205) 310-3189 orhtrawick@wcfdn.org.

Visit the website atwww.wcfdn.org.

JonathanSargent

Diego Pascual

Josie Walker

Kayla Key

Lynsie Taylor

JusticeEvans

Foundation From A1

Bodycam footage raises questions for police departmentBALTIMORE — The

Baltimore Police Depart-ment is having a toughtime restoring public con-fidence in the troubledagency.

The city is on pace tobreak its decades-old mur-der record and the bodycamera program that wasrolled out to increasetransparency has fueledallegations of misconductafter a pair of problematic

videos recently surfaced.The videos come about

two years after the deathof a young black man inpolice custody thrust thedepartment into turmoiland set off unrest through-out the city.

Freddie Gray’s death ledto the firing of the policechief, a U.S. Justice De-partment investigationthat found longstandingpatterns of discrimination

and abuse, and a court-en-forceable order to change.

“We wouldn’t be under aconsent decree if we didn’thave issues,” said PoliceCommissioner KevinDavis earlier this year at anews conference announc-ing the federal indictmentof seven gun squad offi-cers. They had beencaught on a wiretap work-ing together to rob and il-legal detain citizens. At

least 39 cases involvingthe officers were dis-missed, and prosecutorMarilyn Mosby agreed toreview convictions in casesinvolving those officersdating back to 2015.

Since he was appointedin 2015, Davis has pledgedhis commitment to riddingthe department of corrup-tion, but has said theprocess will take time.

— The Associated Press

ELECTION TABULATION EQUIPMENT TESTED

Daily Mountain Eagle - Ed Howell

Walker County Probate Judge Rick Allison con-ducted the public testing of the ballot countingmachines that will be used in the Aug. 15 Senateprimary and sales tax referendum. The test,which was conducted at the old EmergencyManagement Building on Highway 69 Southwhere the machines are stored, was attendedonly by a Daily Mountain Eagle reporter, whorandomly picked a precinct to be tested. Prefiledtest ballots were fed into the machine, whichtested successfully.

By JENNIFER COHRONDaily Mountain Eagle

Libraries in the Carl ElliottRegional Library (CERL) sys-tem are distributing 1,000pairs of eclipse glasses leadingup to the Aug. 21 solar eclipse.

The glasses will protect thewearer’s eyesight during thefirst total eclipse visible in thecontinental United States inalmost 40 years.

CERL director Sandra Un-derwood said the Jasper PublicLibrary has approximately 650glasses on hand. The remain-ing glasses are availablethrough branches in Arley,Carbon Hill, Double Springs,Haleyville and Sumiton.

On Aug. 21, the Jasper Pub-

lic Library will also be hostinga viewing party of NASA TV’sfour-hour special, “Eclipse

Across America: Through the

AUG. 9, 2017 JASPER, ALABAMA — WEDNESDAY — WWW.MOUNTAINEAGLE.COM 75 CENTS

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BRIEFS

DEATHS

WEATHER

INDEX

4 arrested inshooting thatleft 2-year-oldboy deadBIRMINGHAM

(AP) — Four menhave been chargedin a shooting in Ala-bama that left a 2-year-old boy deadand two adults in-jured.AL.com reports

Birmingham policeannounced capitalmurder chargesMonday against 18-year-old TyroneSmith, 21-year-oldD’Marco Harris, 20-year-old MykahlHarris and 21-year-old Joshua Carpen-ter in connectionwith the Saturdaynight shooting.Police Chief A.C.

Roper and Birming-ham Mayor WilliamBell held a newsconference earlierin the day to dis-cuss the fatal shoot-ing of 2-year-oldRon’Narius “Duke”Austin, and thewounding of hismother, ShayAustin, and theunidentified driverof the car they werein. Roper said peo-ple from within eachvehicle fired shotsat one another.No additional de-

tails have been re-leased about thearrests or motives.All four are beingheld without bond.It’s unclear if theyhave lawyers.

Jerry Hathcoat, 75, Jasper

Barbara B. Williams, 93,Sipsey

Full obituaries / A2

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INSIDE TODAY: Strong quake strikes southwest China, 13 dead, 175 injured / A10

WALKER COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY’S OFFICE

Plea deals reached in assault casesBy RON HARRISDaily Mountain Eagle

Two Jasper men reached pleadeals Tuesday in separate jurytrials that got underway Mon-day.

Both cases involved gun-re-lated assaults.

Bert Bowers, 51, was sen-tenced to 30 years in prisonafter reaching a plea deal. Hiscase involved a shooting thathappened on Nov. 7, 2016, and

left the female victim with life-threatening injuries.

The victim has since recov-ered.

Bowers faced life in prisonwithout the possibility of parolehad the trial proceeded and hebeen found guilty. The stiff sen-tence was the result of Bowers’criminal history.

Assistant District AttorneysChris Sherer and Holly Farmerwere prosecuting the caseagainst Bowers.

Bowers was being repre-sented by attorneys RyanMoore and Dustin Whisenhuntfrom the Walker County PublicDefender’s Office.

Lionel Scurry Jr., 33, ofJasper, was sentenced to 20years — with three years toserve in prison — for his role inan assault that happened inSept. 2015.

Scurry is already facing two

BEVILL STATE COMMUNITY COLLEGE

Daily Mountain Eagle - Ed Howell

Students at Bevill State Community College will return to campus next week and can ex-pect a few changes, college officials said this week.

Changes underway asBevill State starts new year

By ED HOWELLDaily Mountain Eagle

Bevill State Community College studentsare gearing up to come back to class next weekas many changes are underway, ranging fromthe return of athletics to a rate increase.

A new 1.4 percent tuition hike forthe 25 two-year schools in the Ala-bama Community College Systemwill be in effect this fall, accordingto the Associated Press. Alabamaresidents will see a $2 increase to$119 for the price of a credit hour.Nonresidents will see the cost rise to$234.

“That happened across the board forall community colleges in Alabama. Thatwasn’t just us,” said Tana Collins, a spokesmanfor the college.

Collins said registration is set for Monday,

with classes beginning two days later onWednesday, Aug. 16. Although enrollment isstill ongoing, she said that the college has hadgreat response to early enrollment.

Registration will take place at the normalstudent service locations at both the Sumi-

ton and Jasper campuses, she said. Feeswill be paid in the business offices.

Some new offerings will be avail-able, she said, including a 15-weekdental assistance program on theJasper Campus. “It doesn’t startuntil Aug. 22,” Collins said. The$1,400 fee, which does not include

books, can use financial aid. The college’s new HVAC program

that is transferring from Clanton isnot expected to begin until the start of

calendar year 2018, she said.

Rate hike, athletics, new courses on tap this year

Local libraries distributing eclipse glasses

Daily Mountain Eagle - Jennifer Cohron

The Carl Elliott Regional Library system received 1,000pairs of eclipse glasses to distribute in advance of the solareclipse on Aug. 21.

See PRISON, A5

CARBON HILL CITY COUNCIL

Turning lanecompleted forCH schools

A/C, heat now in city’s blue gym / A5

By ED HOWELLDaily Mountain Eagle

CARBON HILL — Just in time forthe start of the school year, a long-de-layed road project to help traffic at theCarbon Hill schools has now been com-pleted.

Before Monday’s Carbon Hill CityCouncil meeting, Mayor Mark Cham-bers said that a turning lane on CountyRoad 11 has been completed leadinginto the Carbon Hill school complex,after inaction for at least six or moreyears. The area is in the city limits.

“That traffic backs all the way upinto the Christian academy,” he said.“So on that right hand lane, we turnedthat in there and divided the lanes.”

The lane is only on the west side ofthe entrance, he said, as an oppositeturning lane would have created con-gestion for convenience stores on theother side.

Photo Special to the Eagle

Forever and Always Patriots’ boardof directors pictured with the firsttiny house of what they’re hopingwill become a tiny house village forhelp homeless veterans.

Nonprofit working to set up tiny house villagefor homeless veterans

By LEA RIZZODaily Mountain Eagle

One Walker County nonprofit organi-zation that has been working to assisthomeless veterans is now looking to setup a tiny house village to help vets inneed.

Forever and Always Patriots is work-ing to raise funds and purchase tinyhouses to eventually set up their “vil-lage.”

“We’re going to do a series of tinyhomes that the veterans will transitionto, to get them used to living in civilianlife again,” said Michelle Phillips, one ofthe founders of the organization. “We ac-tually already have our very first tinyhome.”

The inside of the house the organiza-tion currently has, which is 14 feet by 40feet, will be finished by B.J. andAmanda Phillips, also known as theFlippin’ Family, and Jonathan Stewartof Stewart Roofing. Phillips said thisgroup will come in and take care of thewiring, dry wall and painting, among

Tinyvillages?

See ECLIPSE, A5

See BEVILL STATE, A5

See VILLAGE, A5

See COUNCIL, A5

DAILY MOUNTAIN EAGLE Jasper, Ala., Wed., Aug. 9, 2017 www.mountaineagle.com — A5

81ST BIRTHDAYSOneal and Odean Taylor of Arley both celebratetheir 81st birthdays this week. Oneal will turn 81today, Aug. 9, 2017, and Odean turned 81 onMonday, Aug. 7, 2017. The couple have beenmarried for more than 63 years and have five chil-dren, six grandchildren and four great-grandchil-dren. Oneal is the pastor of Arley House of Prayer.

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16-year prison sentences in Jefferson. Assistant District Attorney Matt Dougherty was

lead prosecuter in the case against Scurry, who wasrepresented by Sam Bentley and Nath Camp from thepublic defenders office.

Scurry was facing up to life in prison had he beenconvicted by a jury.

Walker County District Attorney Bill Adair praisedthe work of Sherer, Farmer and Dougherty, and wellthe work of investigators with the Jasper Police De-partment.

“They all did a fantastic job in these cases,” Adairsaid.

Prison From A1

Eyes of NASA.”More than 2 million

pairs of glasses weregiven away to librariesthroughout the UnitedStates as a result of a col-laboration among theGordon and Betty MooreFoundation, Google, theNational Science Foun-dation and NASA.

NASA and the Na-tional Science Founda-tion both support theSTAR Library EducationNetwork, which providesscience-technology activ-ities and resources to li-braries.

Libraries also receiveda 24-page guide to theAll-American eclipse,which is available to thepublic at www.starnetli-braries.org/EclipseGuide.

A total eclipse of thesun occurs when themoon passes between the

sun and the earth, dark-ening the sky and mak-ing the sun’s atmospherevisible.

The Aug. 21 eclipsewill stretch from Oregonto South Carolina.

Locally, the eclipse willonly be partial, meaninga portion of the sun willstill be visible.

The total phase of theeclipse will last for lessthan three minutes andwill begin locally around1:27 p.m.

The eclipse will takeapproximately 90 min-utes to cross the UnitedStates.

Locally, it will lastfrom 11:58 a.m. to 2:54p.m.

The next eclipse tocover the continentalU.S. will occur in April2024 and will include adifferent set of states.

Eclipse From A1

“We recently started a part-timeevening nursing program,” Collinssaid, saying it is based in Jasper.“In Sumiton, we now have anevening truck driving program.We’re trying to make it more con-venient for people wanting tochange careers or who have to workfull-time and who cannot do it dur-ing traditional schools hours.”

Collins noted the excitement oversports coming back to Bevill State.The college announced in May thatathletics, including men’s basket-ball on the Jasper Campus, wouldbe returning after a five-year ab-sence.

Bevill State Community Collegenamed Thomas “Tommy” Suitts ofDora as the new head basketballcoach for the College’s newly rein-stated men’s basketball program.

In addition to men’s basketball,Bevill State plans this school yearto return men’s baseball to theFayette Campus, women’s volley-ball to the Fayette Campus, andwomen’s softball to the SumitonCampus.

“That’s going to be a big deal,”Collins said. “We hope to see a lot ofcommunity involvement in that. In

the past, when basketball was hereat Bevill at Walker College, thatwas a huge community event.Everyone from all of WalkerCounty came to those basketballgames. We’re really excited aboutseeing the community as a wholecome together on the college cam-pus again.”

The college has gone as far as toobtain a new bear mascot, calledGrizz Lee Bear after a contest washeld to name him.

Basketball is scheduled to startin early November, she said, notingthe campus gym is being preparedcurrently.

One-stop shop centers to put stu-dents services more in one conven-ient place are being put in place onall campuses at a cost of $4.6 mil-lion, she said.

As part of the project’s firstphase, Davis Hall, the first buildingconstructed on the Jasper Campusin 1938 when it was Walker Col-lege, will be torn down and rebuiltas a new Davis Hall to house theone-stop center for Jasper campusstudents.

The current building named forGeorge H. Davis, which has struc-

tural issues and safety concerns,will be rebuilt so that the exteriorwill look much like the currentDavis Hall, she said. It will end upas a two-floor, 7,700 square footstructure, allowing the inside willbe designed for serving all the one-stop student service needs.

“That’s an ongoing project,”Collins said. “That will continue tohappen in the fall. I don’t know ifthe demolition will happen in thefall,” although she said it likelywill. “We’re still on track for thatproject.”

On the Sumiton campus, Build-ing 1200 will be renovated to housethe one-stop center for that cam-pus. The next phase will be on thecampuses for the Hamilton andFayette, with all the work set to becompleted next year.

Collins emphasized the project isnot having any impact on studentfees.

Bevill State was recently rankedNo. 4 in Alabama in community col-leges. The ranking came fromNiche, a website that combines rig-orous analysis with authentic re-views to highlight the best places tolive and go to school.

Bevill State From A1

Village From A1

Council From A1

other things.Once the veterans village

takes off, there will be sev-eral activities at the vil-lage, including gardeningand farming, as well as jobskill training.

“We’re going to [build] agarage and we have someretired mechanics whohave dedicated time to usonce it’s built and they’llcome and teach [the veter-ans] skills and trades,”Phillips explained.

She said they’re hopingto be able to put the villageon five acres of land nearthe Walker/Blount countyline but they’re still lookingfor land.

Phillips stressed that allmoney raised by Foreverand Always Patriots, whichrecently received 501c3status, goes towards help-ing veterans.

“We are 100 percent non-

profit,” she said. “None ofour board members or vol-unteers are paid. Everypenny we make or dona-tion we get goes strictly toveterans.”

Forever and Always Pa-triots will be holding itsfirst big fundraiser, a carshow, on Saturday, Sept. 2,from noon until 4 p.m. at325 Highway 78 in Sumi-

ton, across from Sonic.Early registration for the

car show costs $15 andday-of registration is $20.Those interested can regis-ter from now through theday of the event. The first25 entrants will receive afree T-shirt. There will alsobe balloon animals, facepainting and snow cones,among other things, avail-able at the event.

The money raised at theevent will go towards pay-ing for land as well as pur-chasing more tiny homes,with Phillips saying theycould eventually have over20 in their village.

Forever and Always Pa-triots was born from thecombination of Always andForever a Daddy’s Girl and1914 Patriots.

Phillips founded Alwaysand Forever a Daddy’s Girlin honor of her late father,

Larry Phillips, who was amember of the U.S. MarineCorps.

She started the organiza-tion in an effort to helphomeless veterans inWalker County becausethere are not many re-sources for them in thecounty.

She met Karla Albertus,founder of 1914 Patriots,late last year while holdinga clothing drive for veter-ans and “we realized thattogether we could do biggerand better things,” Phillipssaid.

Those interested in con-tacting the group can emailforeverandalwayspatri-ots@gmail.com, send amessage through the For-ever and Always PatriotsFacebook page or visit theiroffices at 325 U.S. Highway78 in Sumiton in the backof Vapors 4 You.

His understanding was that thecity asked county officials years agoabout putting a turn lane in. Whenhe got in office, he said he caught upon incompleted projects, includingthis one.

“I fought hard on that turninglane,” Chambers said. “The hold uphas not been the county. The hold uphas been AT&T. Those are theirpoles on that side of the road.”

District 2 Walker County Com-mission Jeff Burrough’s district road

crew did all the work, Chamberssaid.

“Jeff has been outstanding. Any-thing that I’ve asked him to help uswith, he has helped us with,” themayor said. “The county helps us alot more than people know.”

In a Facebook video posted aboutthe work, Chambers said the citydid have to do anything except toask Burrough to help with work,noting the crews worked in hotweather.

He thanked county officials andcrew in the video, saying that thework will help to relieve traffic con-gestion on the road.

“It’s should help,” Burrough saidTuesday, noting the work was donelast week and didn’t take but a cou-ple of days. The work was inexpen-sive, as “we did it ourselves.”

He said it should held with trafficcoming in from Carbon Hill, al-though he noted a police officer willcontinue to help with traffic. “

A/C, heat now operating in city’s blue gymBy ED HOWELLDaily Mountain Eagle

CARBON HILL - Car-bon Hill Mark Chamberssaid Monday night that airconditioning and heatingare now working in thecity’s Blue Gym, and he iswanting to make a numberof other improvements atthe facility.

The work was made atthe old Carbon Hill HighSchool gym, which the cityis hoping to make the cen-terpiece of a recreationalpark. The gym sits next tothe city’s splash pad. Boththe splash pad and thecity’s swimming pool willclose the summer seasonout after Saturday.

The mayor said on Face-book the work was com-pleted by July 31, when atest was run. “We ran it for30 mintues today and youcould feel a big differencewhen you walked in,” hesaid at the time in hisposting.

“Steve Mitchell is work-ing on putting the gas heatback inside, because it willbe cheaper to run com-pared to electrical heat,”Chambers said after Mon-day’s meeting of the Car-

bon Hill City Council.“Right now, we have theheat pumps working, thea/c and heat both.”

However, as large as thefacility is, it would be morepractical to run the gas,using the electrical for thecooling, instead.

“On a 20-degree day,what we have got runningright now will warm it to60 degrees in there. So weneed a little extra in there,and that gas will be a lotcheaper to operate thanthe electrical,” he said.

As soon as that work isdone, crews will move intothe gym’s concession areain the front lobby area towork on the heating andcooling in there, he said.

The recent work hasnow made the gym —which had once been sub-ject to extreme tempera-tures — more bearable foryouth and adults to playbasketball in the summer,the mayor said.

“You can go in there now,and it is about 70 degrees,”he said.

He noted the councilthat night agreed to pur-chase five game basket-balls for $50 each andthree basketball nets for

the gym at $7 each.“Probably at the next

meeting (moved to Tues-day, Aug. 29, at 6 p.m.),we’ll set Greg Edwards (asthe gym’s director) up witha schedule to where it isopen certain times and wecan compensate him forbeing there.” He said an of-fice might be set up forhim there, which wouldalso help prevent vandal-ism at the facility.

Chambers noted thatpart of the front of thebuilding has plywood cov-ering doors and windows.“I want to put new storefronts in the front where itlooks good,” he said.

Lettering on the front,noting it was the old highschool gym, was reno-vated.

“Bill Hurst took thatupon himself,” the mayorsaid. “He came over thereand took a ladder and tookall of them down. Hesanded them, paintedthem and put them back ...He not only spent two daysdoing it, he bought thepaint and everything.”

A recent work day byDesperation Church andlocal volunteers was suc-cessful, taking down over-

growth and cleaning theinside of the gym.

“It looks great. Inside, itsmells good. When we firstwent up there, there wasblack mold going up thewall 6 feet high. Wesprayed probably 50 gal-lons of bleach in there,”Chambers said. “We cameback a week later andwiped (the walls) down,after it killed (the mold).You could taste it in yourmouth when you walked inthere.”

Leaks were found on theroof where tin blew off, butthe mayor make sure thetin was replaced and theleaks were repaired, hesaid. As for the ceiling,which had become torn inplaces over the main floor,Chambers said planned togo to Montgomery thatweek to get all-new ceilingtiles for that area. At thestate surplus facility, “Ihappened to see thousandsof those ceiling tiles, brandnew, stacked in a box.We’re going to get them fornearly nothing downthere,” he said.

Attendance is still doingwell, as he saw maybeabout 45 people playingbasketball recently.

Trump warns NKoreaof ‘fire and fury’ as

nuke threat worsensBRIDGEWATER, N.J. (AP) — President Donald

Trump threatened North Korea “with fire and furylike the world has never seen” on Tuesday after sug-gestions the communist country has mastered one ofthe final hurdles to being able to strike the UnitedStates with a nuclear missile.

North Korea said it was examining its operationalplans for attacking Guam — a U.S. territory about2,100 miles (3,400 kilometers) away — in order to con-tain U.S. military activity there. The North Koreanarmy said in a statement distributed Wednesday bythe state-run news agency that it is studying a planto create an “enveloping fire” in areas around Guamwith medium- to long-range ballistic missiles. Guamis home to Andersen Air Force Base.

The competing threats escalated tensions betweenthe foes even further. Although it wasn’t clear ifTrump and the Koreans were responding directly toeach other, the heightened rhetoric added to the po-tential for a miscalculation that might bring the nu-clear-armed nations into conflict.

Trump’s stern words to the camera at his golfcourse in Bedminster, New Jersey, came hours afterreports indicating North Korea can now wed nuclearwarheads with its missiles, including those that maybe able to hit the American mainland. The isolatedand impoverished dictatorship has strived for decadesto have the ability to strike the U.S. and its Asian al-lies, and the pace of its breakthroughs is already hav-ing far-reaching consequences for stability in thePacific and beyond.

The nuclear advances were detailed in an officialJapanese assessment and a Washington Post storythat cited U.S. intelligence officials and a confidentialDefense Intelligence Agency report.

The U.S. now puts the North Korean arsenal at upto 60 nuclear weapons, more than double most assess-ments by independent experts, according to the Post’sreporting.

AUG. 20, 2017 JASPER, ALABAMA — SUNDAY — WWW.MOUNTAINEAGLE.COM $1.50

BRIEFS

DEATHS

WEATHER

INDEX

SupremeCourt Justiceto speak inTuscaloosaTUSCALOOSA

(AP) — U.S.Supreme Court As-sociate JusticeSonia Sotomayorwillspeak atthe Uni-versity ofAlabamalawschoolnext month.Sotomayor will

participate in a dis-cussion with deanMark Brandon andU.S. District JudgeHarold Albritton IIIon Sept. 12. Bran-don says in a state-ment the school ishonored to haveher.Former President

Barack Obama ap-pointed Sotomayorto the court in 2009.The New York na-tive served on fed-eral district andcircuit courts beforethat. Alabama isn’tan Ivy League uni-versity, but it hashad a lot of successin luring SupremeCourt justices tospeak at its lawschool. Eleven jus-tices have spokenin Tuscaloosa sincea lecture seriesbegan in 1996.

Kenneth Samuel “Sam”Glover, 76, Sumiton

Lloyd Ray Garrett, 64,Jasper

Geraldine D. Mote, 87,Oakman

Elsie Tidwell Beasley, 84,Jasper

Ronald C. Earnest, 53, Tanner

Full obituaries / A2

High94

Low72

Classifieds..............B6Dear Abby.............A11Horoscope............A11Lifestyles.................B1Money & markets...B3Opinion...................A6Sports.....................A9

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Daily Mountain Eagle - Dale Short

Faye Jenkins, still active at 80, saysenjoying her job 'just came naturally tome.'

LOYALTYAT WORK

Carbon Hill woman works sixdecades for original employer

By DALE SHORTDaily Mountain Eagle

Americans liked Ike. Gasoline cost anaverage of 22 cents a gallon. The hottestsong was Elvis Presley’s “HeartbreakHotel.” The year was 1956 and a 19-year-old Carbon Hill woman graduated (assalutatorian) from Birmingham BusinessCollege, ready to start her job hunt.

But the job found her instead. FayeJenkins was offered a position in the of-fice of Bankhead Mining Company. Re-markably, 60 years later, she’s still theregoing strong. Now known as BankheadDevelopment Company, the firm manageslands for coal and royalty income. Overthe years Jenkins has worked in a widerange of positions for various companiesunder the corporate umbrella.

“I guess my original job title was ‘plainold secretary,’” Miss Jenkins says. “Butmy actual job was to do a little bit ofeverything. I learned it as I went; Istarted out not knowing how to fill out adeposit slip, so I had to pick everythingup as from scratch as I went along.”

As she mastered the office technology ofthe day, some breakthroughs were moresuccessful than others. The first photo-

AP Photo/Charlie Riedel

In this photo taken Friday, fourth graders at Clardy Elementary School in Kansas City,Mo. practice the proper use of their eclipse glasses in anticipation of Monday's solareclipse. Schools around the country preparing for the solar eclipse are reacting in avariety ways, with some using the event for a full day of science lessons and othersclosing to avoid the crush of crowds expected in their towns.

Library hosting viewing party, distributing final eclipse glasses

Tribes hope for renewal in solar eclipse; not

all will watch event / A2

By JENNIFER COHRONDaily Mountain Eagle

The Jasper Public Librarywill be livestreaming NASATV’s coverage of the solareclipse on Monday, as well asdistribute 50 pairs of eclipseglasses during the event.

Sandra Underwood, directorof the Carl Elliott Regional Li-brary System, said hundredsof patrons have requestedglasses since nearly 1,000pairs were distributed atbranches throughout Walkerand Winston counties in a 48-hour period last week.

The remaining 50 were re-served for Monday’s eclipseviewing party.

The glasses were given

away to libraries throughoutthe United States by support-ers of the STAR Library Edu-

cation Network, which pro-

A sight to behold

Observing animals during the total solar eclipseBy NICOLE SMITHDaily Mountain Eagle

Scientists are asking for the public to helptrack the behavior of animals during the totalsolar eclipse Monday.

The California Academy of Sciences is askingfor people to download the iNaturalist app,

available through the App Store and GooglePlay, and track the behavior of a chosen animalbefore, during and after the total solar eclipse.

Scientists have spoken with various newsoutlets in the past week about how animalswill respond to the eclipse, considering the pe-

BEVILL STATE COMMUNITY COLLEGE

Program ‘a win for the students’

By NICOLE SMITHDaily Mountain Eagle

Bevill State CommunityCollege has unveiled anew dental assistant pro-gram on the Jasper cam-pus that has alreadycapped in enrollment.

The new program hasbeen in development forthe past three years, andis made possible through a$60,000 startup grantfrom the governor’s officeof workforce developmentthat was awarded to the

Growing interest innew dental assistant

program at Bevill State

Daily Mountain Eagle - Nicole Smith

New Dental Assistant Instructor Ronda Henson, left, talkswith Bevill State Community College Dean of Health Sci-ences Penne Mott, right, about the college’s new dental as-sistant program.

CARBON HILL CITY COUNCIL

City council buys lot to build

Hillfest stage park By ED HOWELLDaily Mountain Eagle

CARBON HILL — The Carbon Hill CityCouncil on Thursday agreed to purchasethe vacant lot directly in front of city hallfor $7,500, with Mayor Mark Chambers in-tending in time to set up a permanent stageand concrete surroundings — valued atabout $30,000 or more — that could serveHillfest, church singings and outdoormovies.

The called meeting resulted in a 5-0 voteto purchase the land, with District 4 Coun-cilman Chandler Gann out of town.

Purchasing the lot means the city nowowns three corners of the same intersectiondowntown, with the city hall and the com-munity center anchoring two other corners.

The council agreed to purchase a 90-footby 65-foot lot from Don Allison of Arley, whois a Carbon Hill native. Chambers, who ne-gotiated the agreement with Allison, saidAllison was reluctant to negotiate at first,but finally decided to sell the property for$7,500, which is what he paid for the land.

“It took a lot of talking (with him) for himto even agree to sell it,” Chambers said.District 1 Councilman McClain Burroughsaid he first met with him two months ago,and it has only been recently that he hasbeen willing to discuss actually selling.

Besides remaining firm on the price, Al-lison also added the stipulation that thestage be named after his brother, Lacy Alli-

See COUNCIL, A8

See JENKINS, A8

See PROGRAM, A8

See ANIMALS, A8

See ECLIPSE, A8

A8 — DAILY MOUNTAIN EAGLE Jasper, Ala., Sun., Aug. 20, 2017 www.mountaineagle.com

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son, who at one time ranthe Pizza Bar down thestreet. Some in town actu-ally have still called therestaurant “Lacy’s” due tohis association with therestaurant.

The mayor said anyonecould speak up if they dis-agreed with the naming,but no one at the meetingdid.

Chambers said, “I thinkit is a great opportunity forus to build a stage overthere that we could notonly use for Hillfest, but wecould pour the rest of it inconcrete or leave it ingrass, whatever the major-ity of the people want to do,and just have a nice parkthere on the corner thatwould look good.”

He said church singingscould be held theremonthly or weekly, per-haps after services. Afterthe meeting, he said hecould envision the site assomething of an amphithe-ater, even have outdoormovies shown.

Chambers talked duringthe meeting about havingthe stage ready for nextyear’s Hillfest, instead ofthis year’s event on Sept. 8-9 — less than a monthaway.

Carbon Hill IndustrialDevelopment Board secre-tary-treasurer Jarrod Vick-ery brought up that the taxassessed value was $900.The mayor noted that Alli-son was firm on the price,as that is what he paid forthe land.

“I know the land is notworth $7,500. Any block inthis town is probably notwith nothing on it,” Cham-bers said. “But it will beworth more to the city thanto anybody else, being rightwhere it is at, and the op-portunity we’ll have to giveback something nice to thecitizens that will last for-ever. It will be there fromnow on — it should be.”

Burrough said he may beable to obtain a donation ofmaterials and labor tobuild whatever structure isplaced on the land, al-though that is not certainat this point. The mayorsaid he would like the cityto do as much of the workas possible, feeling certain85 percent of it can be donearranged in-house.

When asked about a pos-sible bathroom, Chamberssaid he didn’t know, butthen talked about what heenvisioned for a stage.

“I don’t want to build asmall stage out there,” hesaid. “I would like to builda $25,000 or $30,000stage.” When he said that,an audience member washeard to say, “Gracious.”

The stage would be 40feet long and 30 feet wide,and housing its own elec-trical power source, he

said, so that electricalpower will not cut off re-peatedly.

“I would like to wire thestage where it is sufficientto run what these bandsbring and what we’ll bedoing with it,” the mayorsaid. “I would also like forit to have its own lightsand its own (public ad-dress) system up there.”

Things that need to staydry could be stored.

“We could leave the frontopen towards this way, butblack the back end so thatit wouldn’t blow,” he said.“If you had something thatcouldn’t get wet, you couldput it under there, under a30-foot wide stage. I mean,you would have plenty ofroom.

“I don’t want to build a$1,500 deck over there toperform on. I would like tobuild something nice ifwe’re going to build some-thing.”

After the meeting, themayor said a $30,000 pricetag would involve half ofthat for the stage and halfof that for preparing thegrounds.

Chambers said duringthe meeting Carbon HillIndustrial DevelopmentBoard member Scott Kirk-land had mentioned theidea of the board possiblydonating $7,500 for thestage, and the mayor saidthe city’s industrial andwater boards could havedonate for the project.

After the meeting, Vick-ery said that the boardwould have to discuss andapprove any donation. Henoted the board also stillhas to discuss the appoint-ment of a new chairman,as Bill Strickland lastmonth stepped down fromthe board.

Asked during the councilmeeting where the balanceof the funding might come

from a stage, the mayorsaid fundraisers might beheld but the city was alsoin good financial condition.

“The city is a little betteroff than what we used tobe. We can afford to do it.In just a few months, we’llbe able to afford to do itourselves,” he said, latersaying General Fundmoney could be used.

Chambers said he didnot have plans drawn up.

“I’ve run a constructioncompany for a long time,and if you are going tohave something nice overthere, you’re looking at$35,000 by the time youtake care of the concreteout in front and the stage,too,” Chambers said.

Bill Hurst, the chairmanof the Carbon Hill UtilitiesBoard, said his board couldleast afford it among theboards in town due to$80,000 in expenditureslast month at the waterplant.

The mayor said he wasnot even sure yet aboutwhether it would be legalfor the board to donate themoney.

Vickery said the indus-trial board would love tohelp as it can, and that hepersonally liked the plans.He said the board has tomeet soon to elect a re-placement for Stricklandanyway, so it could discusswhat the board can affordto do. “I’m willing to help,”he said.

Dewayne Kennedy,seated in the audience,said he knew the mayorwanted nice work done onthe stage, “but sometimesyou have to crawl beforeyou can walk. You can puta stage out there, and addto it as you can afford it.”

“The city can do it by it-self if it has to before thenext Hillfest” in 2018,Chambers said. “The city

will be able to pay for it.”He added the city has thefunds at this time to atleast buy the land.

Officials also discussedhow much effort Hillfesttakes in work and funds,and that the permanentstage and electrical outletscould help to have some ofthat work in place. Cham-bers said the locationwould also encourage oth-ers to help participate withthe churches when theyhave events there.

“‘If you get away fromthe church, you get intotrouble’ is the way I’ve al-ways been led to believe,”Chambers said. “I think weneed to get more involvedwith out churches and thatwould be a great place forour churches to haveevents, so everyone in towncan participate with them.”

Asked if all of thegrounds would be con-creted, he said he didn’tknow and would have toget input from others.

Burrough said all themayor is asking for the mo-ment is purchasing theland. “It’s premature totalk about anything we aregoing to build over there. Ijust think we need toworry about getting theland and then see what weare going to go with it fornext year.”

Turning to the mayor, hesaid he was not trying to“discredit” what he wassaying. However, Cham-bers appeared to agreewith him, saying, “We’re along ways from building.”

Discussing at lengththat night over the plansfor the land at that point is“worrying about a bunch ofnothing right now,” Bur-rough said. “I just think weneed to get the land andwork toward having some-thing nice for the commu-nity.”

Council From A1

Program From A1

copiers used a heat-oper-ated inking systemknown as Therma-Fax.“It was an old crinklykind of paper and after afew years it was not evenreadable. We had toswitch to makingumpteen copies typed oncarbon paper, which wasnot an easy task.”

Neither was one of theprecursors to the com-puter era, a large pay-roll-preparation machinethat was, judging fromher gestures, the size of alarge microwave. “Wenicknamed it ‘The Mon-ster,’” she recalls. “Forgood reason.” But sheconquered it anyway.

“One of the most re-warding things waswhen I worked for theBankhead Foundation,”she says, “giving grantsto charitable organiza-tions and to other placeswhere it was reallyneeded. It wasn’t mymoney, of course, but itmade me feel good insidejust to know we wereable to help.”

She has fond memoriesof her first bosses, in-cluding Walter W.Bankhead, who was afirst cousin of TallulahBankhead. “I can stillhear his voice from theend of the hall saying,‘Could you please takesome dictation?’ ”I wasscared to death of himwhen I first started,” shesays, “But nobody wasany better to me than hewas. I believe he sort ofliked to bluff and makeyou think he wasrougher than he was,sort of a Black Bart.Whenever I’d misunder-stand a part of the dicta-tion and ask him torepeat it, he’d say it loudand clear so as to notleave any mistake.

“My philosophy is to domy job, regardless ofwhat needs to be done,”Jenkins says. “I’ve beenvery fortunate. Justabout every person I’veever worked for has beenreally nice to me. Re-spectful. And I’ve beenthe same way toward

them. So I think it worksboth ways.”

As for advice to jobnewcomers on employ-ment longevity and howto make yourself invalu-able over the years, shesays, “Be a good em-ployee, don’t call in sickif you’re not. Work hardand learn to enjoy yourjob. Enjoying mine justcame naturally to me.”

It also doesn’t hurt topay attention and be-come part of your em-ployers’ institutionalmemory. Jenkins has thereputation at her office ofbeing “a walking encyclo-pedia” of the company’shistory. “I wouldn’t gothat far,” she says with agrin, “but if there’s some-thing you needed, I’dprobably have a prettygood idea where to findit.”

As to why she’s chosento work past typical re-tirement ages, she says,“Getting out of the houseis important to me. Ithink it helps to broadenyour mind by just gettingout.”

She faced a specialchallenge in 2006 whenshe suffered a strokethat left one side para-lyzed, but typically sheworked hard at rehabili-tation and has made afull recovery. Since then,she’s changed her sched-ule to work just two daysa week.

Though her 80th birth-day isn’t until Aug. 22,members of her familycame from around thecountry two weekendsago for a special surpriseparty.

Co-worker Gin Foutssays she found it mean-ingful that when the par-tygoers went around acircle and were asked toname the single wordthat best describes FayeJenkins, more than halfof them answered “Agiver.”

When asked the samequestion about herselfnow, Jenkins ponders aminute. “Loyalty meansa lot to me,” she says. “I’dsay ‘loyal.’

Jenkins From A1

college in Oct. 2016.BSCC Dean of Health Science

Penne Mott said the grant hashelped to purchase two dentalchairs and dental training tools, andhas helped to convert a biology labfor the program on BSCC’s Jaspercampus.

The new dental assistant programat the college will teach students pa-tient care, procedural preparation,how ot take and expose radiographsand other skills associated with theprofession.

The 15-week course already has15 students enrolled, with many ona waiting list.

Upon completion of the course,students will receive a certificate ofcompletion and be able to enter theworkforce.

Ronda Henson, a dental assistantand hygienist, will be teaching theprogram.

“I’ve always had a desire to teach,and I’ve been in dentistry a while,”Henson said.

Henson said she taught a dentalassisting program for the collegenearly 20 years ago, but the pro-gram was made possible throughthe use of a dental office.

Once the doctor at that officedidn’t want to house the programany longer, it ended. Now, the col-lege will have full control of the pro-gram and provide the equipmentnecessary for certification.

Mott said the dental assistantprogram is a collaboration betweenthe college’s departments of healthsciences and workforce solutions.

“It has been a focus for the collegeto look at programs like this thatwill get people out into the work-force very quickly,” Mott said.

Henson shared her personal storyon becoming a dental assistant, andsaid she hopes others will take in-terest in the career field.

“Dentistry has given me a lot ofways to improve myself. I didn’t gothe regular pathway out of highschool into college. I got married,had children and then went toschool, and dentistry gave me a wayto become a professional,” Hensonsaid. “To me, it helps people go fromgetting a job to going into a profes-sion.”

She added that the 15-weekcourse will be intense and cover alot of material, but after certifica-tion, completers can expect a me-

dian pay of nearly $37,000 annually.Henson currently works for Dr.Michael Jennings, who will be aspeaker during the course.

Classes will begin next week andare held Tuesday and Thursdayevenings from 6 until 9 p.m. A 50-hour externship during the course isalso required. Prerequisites includea high school diploma or GED, andthe cost of the course is $1,400 plusbooks.

“We looked at this program and itwas also a recommendation fromour community advisory councilseveral years ago to look at dentalassisting, because there was such aneed for employment of dental as-sistants in the community,” Mottsaid. “When you have that commu-nity need for people to be able tocomplete a one semester programand be able to go out and get a job,that’s really a win for the collegeand a win for the students who canbecome employed very quickly afterjust completing a one semester pro-gram like this.”

To get on a waiting list for the pro-gram, call Dental Assisting Coordi-nator Bonnie Barton at (205)387-0511, ext. 5941.

riod of darkness during the event will interrupt theinternal clock of animals.

An article from CNN notes scientific observationsin the past of bizarre behavior exhibited from animalsduring an eclipse, such as birds falling from trees,chickens huddling together, bees that stop humming,evening bugs becoming active during the day and an-imals preparing to sleep, due to darkness.

In one instance during an eclipse in 1984, a chimpstood and pointed to an eclipse in the sky, accordingto the CNN feature.

In a story on People.com, a scientist said pet ownersshouldn’t be concerned about their animals having eyedamage during the eclipse, since animals typicallydon’t stare into the sky.

Director of Astronomy and Professor of AstrophysicsAngela Speck at the University of Missouri said in aNASA news conference, “On a normal day, your petsdon’t try to look at the sun, and, therefore, don’t dam-age their eyes, and on this day, they’re not going to doit, either.”

Other scientists told CNN, however, that they can’tbe sure how animals will react to the phenomenon,particularly tall animals, like giraffes.

In a number of articles, scientists recommendedmoving pets indoors if possible, and to refrain fromtraveling with your pet during the eclipse.

For information on helping scientists track theeclipse, visit www.calacademy.org/citizen-science/solar-eclipse-2017.

Animals From A1

vides science-technology activities and resources to li-braries. They are designed to protect the wearer’s eye-sight during the first total eclipse visible in thecontinental United States in almost 40 years.

On Monday, library staff will provide numbers to upto 50 guests beginning at 12:15 p.m. Everyone with anumber will receive a pair of glasses during the view-ing party.

Glasses will be distributed at 1 p.m.For their safety, children under age 8 will not be el-

igible to receive the glasses. However, parents who re-ceive a pair of glasses may assume the risk and sharethem with their children.

Patrons will be able to watch NASA TV’s “EclipseAcross America: Through the Eyes of NASA” begin-ning at 11 a.m. in the library’s meeting room. Themaximum coverage of the eclipse will start around1:28 p.m. local time.

Eclipse From A1

Daily Mountain Eagle - Ed Howell

The miner statue at Carbon Hill City Hall looks across the street at a lot thatthe Carbon Hill City Council purchased Thursday night. Mayor Mark Cham-bers wants to set up a stage on the lot for Hillfest and other events.