January 2021 | Volume 14 | Issue 5
280LIVING.COM
THE 280 CORRIDOR’S COMMUNITY NEWS SOURCE
2021: WHAT TO EXPECT
Scott Stantis, left, on his wedding day with his brother, Marc. Photo courtesy of Scott Stantis.
Multiple Shelby County, Chelsea construction projects to kick off, continue in new year
Epilepsy foundation celebrates 50th year
By LEAH INGRAM EAGLE
O
f all the county projects for 2021, the largest will be the new Shelby County Services Building on U.S. 280 at Shelby County 41. The threestory, 46,000-square-foot building is set to open July 1. The former Blackwatch Sports building was torn down, and construction began on the building in the last quarter of 2020. The new building will house a license office that is moving from Inverness, which will have four Alabama Law Enforcement Agency personnel who can handle driver license testing and issue STAR ID cards. The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office will also relocate its North Shelby precinct there. Shelby 911 will have a new modern space, moving from its offices in the county services building in Pelham. Central Alabama Wellness and 58 INC. will also be housed in the new building, which will include space for future expansion. “We are bringing services closer to our residents,” Shelby County Manager Chad Scroggins said. “This will give them the ability to do some of these transactions closer to where they live.” Construction will also begin on a project 10 years in the making. The Inverness Greenway project has been in design and waiting on
See PROJECTS | page A30
By LEAH INGRAM EAGLE Many people may know Scott Stantis from his career as a political cartoonist for The Birmingham News and the Chicago Tribune. But what most people don’t know is that he lost his brother, Marc, to epilepsy in 1986 when Marc was just 31 years old. Marc was the third of four boys, with Stantis being the baby of the family. “Marc had epilepsy and development issues, and that makes you a different kind of person having a sibling like that,” Stantis said. “I had just gotten a job at the Memphis Commercial-Appeal and had been there for about a month when I got a phone call from my older brother that Marc had died. He had a seizure in his sleep and asphyxiated himself.” Marc rarely had the type of seizures where he would collapse and convulse.
Construction is underway on the new Shelby County Services Building located by the SportsBlast 1996 Fields Complex. Photo by Erin Nelson.
See FOUNDATION | page A31
INSIDE
Sponsors............... A4 280 News.............. A6
Business...............A10 Community..........A16
Schoolhouse.......A20 Faith..................... A26
Opinion................ A27 Sports.................... B4
Women In Business.............. B9 facebook.com/280living
Forever Homes
Women In Business
The Cavalier Rescue facilitates second chances to ‘medically fragile’ Cavalier King Charles Spaniels.
Get to know some of the faces behind the success of many of the businesses in the area in our annual Women In Business section.
See page A18
See page B9