Fall foliage

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Cullman county in 2018. SUBMITTED BY Debby Boyd, Addison. Cades Cove 2019. SUBMITTED BY Charlene Coleman, Brewton.

3. Changing of the seasons. SUBMITTED BY Arthur J. Davis, Bay Minette. 4. Golden leaves at Birmingham Zoo. SUBMITTED BY KJ Sharpe, Andalusia.

Submit “Christmas vacation” photos by October 31. Winning photos will run in the December issue.

SUBMIT and WIN $10! Online: alabamaliving.coop Mail: Snapshots P.O. Box 244014 Montgomery, AL 36124

RULES: Alabama Living will pay $10 for photos that best match our theme of the month. Photos may also be published on our website at alabamaliving.coop and on our Facebook page. Alabama Living is not responsible for lost or damaged photos. Send a self-addressed stamped envelope to have photos returned.

A grateful young person in Louisiana made a hand-written thank-you note for a line crew from Marshall-DeKalb Electric Cooperative, based in Boaz.

Alabama co-ops help others hit hard by hurricanes

Hurricane Laura made landfall Aug. 27 as a category 4 storm and caused widespread damage to western Louisiana and eastern Texas. The storm caused massive damage to electric transmission structures and caused a system-wide outage that knocked out electricity to more than 1 million people.

In true cooperative fashion, Alabama’s rural electric cooperatives made arrangements even before Laura made landfall to help restore power after the storm. More than 175 men – mostly linemen, but also mechanics and warehousemen – from 14 Alabama cooperatives drove to Louisiana with needed equipment as soon as the storm passed and set to work.

The Alabama co-ops traveled to Beauregard Electric Cooperative, Inc. (BECi) based in DeRidder, Louisiana, to join more than 1,000 linemen to restore power to the co-op. All 43,000 members were without power; the co-op had more than 5,000 broken poles on its system.

Safety is always the top priority in any restoration effort, so several members of the safety staff of the Alabama Rural Electric Association (AREA) went to Louisiana to help the crews work safe and stay healthy. (AREA publishes Alabama Living.)

For the crews, the 16-hour days are long, the weather is hot and humid and the work is difficult. But restoring electricity to people who have not had it for weeks lifts the crews’ spirits, as do the expressions of gratitude – sometimes hand-written cards, or snacks or water – they receive from thankful residents.

The crews were still working in Louisiana when Hurricane Sally formed and strengthened in the Gulf of Mexico, with a path that directly impacted Mississippi and Alabama. The Alabama cooperatives brought their crews back to the state to be ready to respond to outages caused by Sally. BECi completely understood the need for the crews to prepare to help their own members and was grateful for their assistance.

As this issue was going to press, co-ops in southwest Alabama had requested help as Sally was set to make landfall, and several crews coming back from Louisiana volunteered to help those co-ops before heading back to their homes in other parts of the state. We’ll have more on the response to Hurricane Sally in the November issue of Alabama Living.

Whereville, AL

Identify and place this Alabama landmark and you could win $25! Winner is chosen at random from all correct entries. Multiple entries from the same person will be disqualified. Send your answer by Oct. 7 with your name, address and the name of your rural electric cooperative. The winner and answer will be announced in the November issue.

Submit by email: whereville@alabamaliving.coop, or by mail: Whereville, P.O. Box 244014, Montgomery, AL 36124.

Contribute your own photo for an upcoming issue! Send a photo of an interesting or unusual landmark in Alabama, which must be accessible to the public. A reader whose photo is chosen will also win $25.

September’s answer: The Waldo Covered Bridge, built in 1858, is 115 feet long and located in the Waldo community in Talladega County. Also known as the Riddle Mill covered bridge, it is the second-oldest covered bridge in Alabama and was constructed to allow commercial and private traffic across Talladega Creek. (Information from Encyclopedia of Alabama) Photo submitted by Tammy Riley of Southern Pine EC. The randomly drawn correct guess winner is Donna Hill Grice of Arab EC.

Take us along!

We’ve enjoyed seeing photos from our readers on their travels with Alabama Living! Please send us a photo of you with a copy of the magazine on your travels to: mytravels@alabamaliving.coop. Please include your name, hometown and electric cooperative, and the location of your photo. We’ll draw a winner for the $25 prize each month.

Brothers David and Samuel LoDuca took their copy to the United States Military Academy at West Point, where Samuel reported to USMA as a new cadet in the class of 2024! Their parents, Paul and Summer LoDuca, are members of Baldwin EMC. Vicky Hollenbeck of Wetumpka visited the Kansas City Zoo with her favorite magazine. She is a member of Central Alabama Electric Cooperative.

Letters to the editor

E-mail us at: letters@alabamaliving.coop or write us at: Letters to the editor P.O. Box 244014 Montgomery, AL 36124

Required reading

Your article in the September issue (“Getting a second opinion,” Hardy Jackson’s Alabama) was one of my favorites! The last two sentences were powerful!

“Though Methodism is fine for me, I always like to get a second opinion.”

Of such an attitude, religious toleration is born.

This article should be required reading in every college (and high school) history class.

You are an especially gifted writer and I look forward to your articles each month.

Thank you for sharing your God-given talent with us!

Jackie Campbell

Somerville

Was amazed to see that in the latest issue not one single individual was pictured wearing a mask. So sorry to see you do not support the curbing of COVID-19 in our great state. I am a 77- year-old customer and was deeply distressed that you show such a callous attitude towards this serious virus that has in some way affected all the citizens of Alabama.

Roy Gamble

Flat Rock

Ed. note: Many of the photos in the September issue were taken before the statewide mask directive was in place and indeed, before the COVID-19 pandemic was known. We at Alabama Living comply with all directives of the Governor regarding the pandemic and agree with you that we must work together to curb the spread of the virus in our state.

Disputes football stats

The article by Brad Bradford (August 2020) had Tua Taguvailoa being the number 1 efficiency rating and Joe Burrow being number 2. It couldn’t be further from the truth. Only one player in NCAA history barely beat Joe with almost an 78% efficiency and Tua was not even close.

Tua did not receive the Heisman, Unitas Gold Arm, Davey O’Brien, Lombard, Maxwell, Walter Camp, Manning and AP National Player of the year awards, Joe Burrow did!

Yes, I’m an LSU alum living here in Alabama and I have followed LSU since I was 5 in 1953. And OBTW, your prediction will be way off the mark!

Raymond G. Dougherty

Decatur

Distressed by photos

Brad Bradford responds:

Using the football database final rankings as of January 13, 2020, my article stated passing efficiency: Tua 206.9, Burrow 202, Jones 186.8. Burrow WAS the best in the SEC. That was not up for debate. It had to do with Mac Jones' rating and returning as the starter. Burrow threw for 5,671 yards- 1st by far; threw for 60 touchdowns/1st by far, completion percentage of 76.3/1st.

Passing efficiency takes into account completion percentage, touchdowns thrown, interceptions, yards per completion, touchdown percentage. If the article had stated anything except passing efficiency, I would send a retraction. I stand by the above stats.

Find the hidden dingbat!

More than 600 of our readers found the hidden pencil on the red placemat on the table in the photo on Page 17 in the September issue. Apparently the fresh ly sharpened pencil inspired some of our younger readers who may have been look ing forward to using their own pencils when they got back to their school class rooms. Robert Barrentine of Wiregrass EC wrote us that as soon as he got the mail, “the first pair of hands on your Alabama Living was my granddaughter’s, Katie Von cile Adams. I laughed, for in three minutes she found the pencil.” Kathy Hickman of Greenville, a member of Pioneer EC, had help from her granddaughters as well: “It was so fun letting them find it.”

We got a few more poems, including this one from our prize winner, Ian Shreve of Hartselle, a member of Joe Wheeler EMC. Ian, who is 9 years old, even set his poem, written in couplets, to music! “If you have a piano and a person who can read music (like myself) then you can listen to it,” he wrote. When I had seen The magazine, I found the pencil (Without a stencil!)

As I have now seen On page seventeen.

This pencil is new, Used just a few. I had such great fun Searching for this one!

As I have now seen On page seventeen.

Congratulations, Ian! We appreciate all the letters we get from our readers of all ages! This month, we’re hiding a candy corn. Good luck! The deadline is Oct. 7.

By email:

dingbat@alabamaliving.com

By mail:

Find the Dingbat Alabama Living PO Box 244014 Montgomery, AL 36124

Mayberry town barber

Beloved character lives on, thanks to tribute artist

By Jeremy Henderson

Allan Newsome pretends to give a haircut to a young fan held by David Browning, a now-retired Barney Fife impersonator. PHOTO BY HOBART JONES

All of a sudden Allan Newsome’s wife, Jan, will point at him: community of “The Andy Griffith Show” aficionados large enough “There — you’re doing it right now!” to spawn multiple annual fan events, a dozen or more books, a

He doesn’t hear it. In his mind, when he gets back from popular Bible study curriculum (born in Huntsville’s Twickenham a Mayberry Days event and it’s time to hang up the coat and put Church of Christ), and even an upcoming quasi-documentary of away the scissors, that’s it. He’s back to being regular old Allan sorts (which Newsome stars in). He is, to reference a Season Two Newsome, a 54-year-old Huntsville man with a mustache that he’s classic, a keeper of the flame for fellow fans, having maintained had since high school, an IT guy at Redstone Arsenal who hap practically every major Griffith fan site for more than 20 years, pens to run a couple of personal including WeaversDepartment websites on the side, not a barber Store.com, an online emporium shop. (named for Aunt Bea’s favorite

But he’s outnumbered. His son place to shop) of Griffith kitsch Adam swears he hears it, too. and collectibles that is currently

They’ll all be at the dinner table pushing a line of “The Andy Grif or on the couch and Allan won’t fith Show”-themed coffee and baeven be talking about the show. con. Jan handles the orders. It might just be a quick comment And, of course, there’s his pod about the weather, or something cast, “Two Chairs No Waiting,” he saw on the news that he can’t another Season Two reference. wait to forget, and Jan will stop He’ll be recording the 586th ep him and say, “Now, come on, Al isode tonight. Should be a good lan. That sounded just like him.” one. There’s been a bombshell

He’ll laugh. Sometimes he’ll development in the mystery of argue. Hey, if it’s true — if he oc “Nice Dress Nellie,” the nickname casionally forgets that he’s not on Newsome visits with Betty Lynn, who played Barney Fife’s girlfriend, of a recurring show extra. A fan stage and lapses back into charac Thelma Lou, on “The Andy Griffith Show.” PHOTO BY HOBART JONES claims to have a solid lead on the ter — then, well, that just comes woman’s last name. That may not with the territory. That’s what sound quite as thrilling as when nearly three decades as the world’s premiere (and only, as far as he Allan got the guy in Indiana to isolate and reverse the audio of the knows) Floyd the Barber tribute artist will do to a man. rewinding tape recorder in Season One’s “Mayberry on Record,”

Allan Newsome is one of the top powerbrokers in a thriving but it’s still pretty sensational stuff.

But his greatest contribution to the culture, by far, is Floyd Law- son, the Mayberry town barber.

In the beginning

It all started in 1994. He was at Mule Day in Gordo, Alabama, and a group went out to eat, David Browning included. Until his recent retirement from the impersonation circuit, Browning was the king of Griffith tribute artists. His spot-on Barney Fife was a must-have at Mayberry meetups for 30 years.

So, they’re all just waiting for a table, quoting the show to each other, doing voices and everything like always, and Allan does Floyd’s “Bobby Gribble hates Emma Larch” routine from the “Case of the Punch in the Nose” episode. He nailed it. Browning loved it.

Not long after that, Allan and Jan were at the Mayberry Squad Car Rendezvous in Bradford, Ohio, a town that boasts a full-sized replica of Wally’s Filling Station. And, of course, Browning was there.

“He kept getting me to come over and talk to people like Floyd,” Allan says. “Then he took me aside and said ‘Hey, you want to dress up and come to Mount Airy as Floyd for Mayberry Days?’”

Mayberry Days is the big one. It’s held every year in Andy Grif fith’s hometown of Mount Airy, North Carolina, which has capitalized on the show’s phenomenal syndication success by billing itself as the real-life Mayberry. The Snappy Lunch diner down - town? It’s actually mentioned in an episode. And of course, so is Mount Pilot, Mayberry’s slightly larger sister city. Only, on an ac - tual map, it’s Pilot Mountain, southeast of Mount Airy by 11 miles.

Griffith pilgrims can visit the Andy Griffith Museum, tour the town in a vintage squad car, pose in a replica courthouse, and yes, have their bangs trimmed at Floyd’s Barbershop. The town’s offi - cial website is VisitMayberrry.com, and you don’t have to scroll far to find a photo of Allan Newsome.

He thought dressing up for that event would be a one-time deal. Instead, he’s become a fixture. You don’t come back from Mayber - ry Days without a selfie with Allan Newsome.

Allan got hooked on “The Andy Griffith Show” while a student at Auburn in the late 1980s. He’d seen it before heading off to col - lege, obviously, but something about the simplicity of it, and the clockwork regularity — 5 p.m., 10 p.m. — seemed tailor-made for an electrical engineering student trying to keep sane between ex - ams.

“We’d need a break from studying and you’d just pop some popcorn and sit down and watch ‘The Andy Griffith Show,’” Allan says. “It would just relieve some of the stress that you had from just trying to do all that dadgum homework.”

Reminders of home

Plus, it reminded him of home. He’s from Henegar, a DeKalb County town of 3,000 people or so. Aunt Bea’s friends — Clara Edwards and Myrtle? They might as well have been ladies from his church. And he can’t watch an Ernest T. Bass episode without thinking of this one farmer down the road he’d see as a kid.

Allan’s dad, Wayne, laughs at that one.

“Yeah,” he says, “that’s a pretty fair assessment.”

Wayne and his wife Ann still live in Henegar, and, yes, they now hear traces of Floyd in their son’s voice, too. The first time Wayne met Allan’s alter ego was at a Huntsville Stars baseball game years back. Allan and David Browning were both there, in character, as part of the team’s perennial “Mayberry Night” promotion.

“I said ‘I can’t believe I sent him to Auburn to do that,’” Wayne laughs. “It just didn’t seem like him. He’s always been a matter-offact guy, but to see him as Floyd, it’s like a totally different person.

But he loves it.” that’s what he’s gathered from watching the show.

And the more Allan stuck with, the more it Wayne may not know that the new kid in town made sense. What he said about seeing Henegar framed Opie for busting the streetlight with in Mayberry, and vice versa? Wayne sees it, too. an apple rather than a rock — that would have He still sees it. knocked him out of the Mayberry Days trivia

“Allan grew up in that type of town. It’s still preliminaries in a heartbeat, I told him — but a Mayberry town,” he says. “No one locks their he’s definitely a fan. doors. Everybody’s friendly. Everybody knows “Oh yeah, it still comes on, it’s a great show,” he everybody. And, yeah, we definitely have a few says. “Mayberry is just the place you want to be.” characters around here.” Exactly, Allan says. That’s the reason the show If we’re talking Mayberry parallels, Wayne ac tually might be one himself. Newsome “trims” a fan’s hair for a photo at a Mayberry fan event. endures. It’s not just because it’s good. It’s because it’s an escape to simpler times. In 2020, that’s

For starters, he was police commissioner for a PHOTOS BY HOBART JONES something that grows more valuable by the day. short while in the ’80s. Almost by the hour.

“We had more than one police car, though,” he says. “We had But it sure is hard on his ties. two or three.” “A lot of times we don’t even call him on doing the voice any

He also even used to own Stone’s Department Store, which more, but that’s the other thing he does now,” Jan says. “He fiddles might as well have been a Weaver’s come to life, he says. At least with his ties all the time, just like Floyd.”

Floyd (Allan Newsome) and Barney (David Browning) ride in a Mayberry fan event parade.