Discover St. Clair October - November 2018

The Best of St. Clair Results • World of Music • Alabama Mailbox Gateway Community Garden • Chandler Mountain History • Urgent Care

October & November 2018

‘NO BULL’ Moody’s rising rodeo star

BIG CANOE CREEK PRESERVE

Joins Forever Wild

Special Salute to Veterans Inside

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Features and Articles Discover

The Essence of St. Clair

No Bull

Ryder Carpenetti: Rising rodeo star

Page 24 Ron Partain’s World of Music Page 8

Traveling the Backroads Chandler Mountain Page 8

Best of St. Clair The results are in Page 36

6th Day Creatures God’s amazing animals Page 38

It’s Time to Travel

Inside White House

Page 32

Community Garden

Emory Cox’s new job Page 44 A special place Page 48

St. Clair Remembers

Big Canoe Creek Preserve Page 50

Honoring those who serve Page 60

Business Briefing Page 76

October & November 2018

www.discoverstclair.com

Clean, smart and high tech. That’s the world of modern automotive manufacturing today. An industry experiencing unprecedented growth and constantly in need of a steady flow of skilled local workers.

It’s why you’ll find us partnering with schools, colleges, agencies and attending employer job fairs. We also support education through grants and scholarships.

Our aim is to develop talent, build skill sets and shine a light on the opportunities a career in automotive manufacturing affords. Together with our friends and neighbors, we aim for Alabama to continue to have a workforce to be reckoned with.

Carol Pappas

Writers AND Photographers

Carol Pappas is editor and publisher of Discover St. Clair Magazine. A retired newspaper executive, she served as editor and publisher of several newspapers and magazines during her career. She won dozens of writing awards in features, news and commentary and was named Distinguished Alabama Community Journalist at Auburn University. She serves as president/CEO of Partners by Design, the multimedia group that publishes Discover.

Elaine Hobson Miller Elaine Hobson Miller is a freelance writer with a B.A. in Journalism from Samford University.

She was the first female to cover Birmingham City Hall for the Birmingham Post-Herald, where she worked as reporter, food editor and features writer. A former editor of Birmingham Home & Garden magazine and staff writer for Birmingham magazine, she has written for a variety of local, regional and national publications.

Joe Whitten Joe Whitten was born in Bryant on Sand Mountain. When he arrived in Odenville in 1961 to teach at St. Clair County High School, he found a place to call home. He and his wife, Gail, taught across the hall from each other. He continues to live in Odenville in a 1904 house they called home for 36 years. Joe was active in the Alabama Writers’ Conclave and the Alabama State Poetry Society. The society named him Poet of the Year in 2000. Joe has also published a number of St. Clair County local history books.

Linda Long Linda Long has worked in communications for more than 25 years in print, broadcast, nonprofit promotion and special event planning and implementation. Her writing has appeared in Business Alabama Magazine, Technology Alabama, Mobile Bay Monthly, Birmingham News, Huntsville Times, Partners Magazine, Birmingham Magazine, Alabama Alive, Cahaba Talk, Hoover Outlook and Shelby Living. She served as news and special projects producer for NBC13 News, where her work won national, regional and state honors, including two Emmy Award nominations.

Susan Wall Susan Wall moved to Logan Martin Lake from Birmingham, where she worked as a critical care nurse. Alongside the nursing career, she owned Dreamscapes Photography, a portrait and wedding studio. Winner of the 2010 August Moore award at the Bluff Park Art Show, with numerous publications in magazines and the Kodak Instructional Magazine, her passion now is digital painting and portraits.

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Paul South

Paul South, a native of Fairfield, is an Au¬burn graduate with a degree in journalism and a double minor in history. He also has a Juris Doctorate degree from the Birmingham School of Law. Although sports writing was always his first love, he had a versa¬tile career as reporter, columnist and first full-time sports information director at Samford University.

Jackie Romine Walburn Jackie Romine Walburn, a Birmingham native and freelance writer, is an Auburn journalism graduate who has worked as a reporter, editor and corporate communications manager. She’s had recent writing published in the Birmingham Arts Journal and Alalitcom. Jackie is currently seeking an agent and publisher for her first novel, Mojo Jones and the Black Cat Bone.

Leigh Pritchett

Leigh Pritchett has been in the publishing field 30 years. Early in her career, she worked for a New York Times Regional Newspaper. Since the 1990s, she has been a freelance writer. Her work has appeared in local, state and national publications in print and digital form. Mrs. Pritchett received the Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Montevallo.

Wallace Bromberg Jr. Wally graduated from Auburn University where he graduated in 1976 with his BA in History and minors in German and Education.

Wally’s skills in photography blossomed during college.After a 30-year career, he decided to dust off his camera skills and pursue photography full time.

Mike Callahan Mike Callahan is a freelance photographer who resides on Logan Martin Lake in Pell City. He specializes in commercial, nature and family photography. Mike’s work has been published in Outdoor Alabama Magazine, Alabama Trucking Association and Alabama Concrete Industries magazines. Publishing his work to the internet frequently, he has won many honors for pictures of the day and week.

Scottie Vickery Scottie Vickery is a writer with a degree in journalism from the University of Alabama and was a reporter for The Birmingham News.

Her first assignment was covering St. Clair and Blount counties. She has more than 30 years of writing and editing experience and her work has appeared in a variety of publications. She also has worked in the nonprofit industry.

From the Editor

Discovering the Best of St. Clair I never seem to grow tired of discovering new things about our county. I love traveling the backroads to find out-of-theway places. I even enjoy traveling on main thoroughfares and seeing new discoveries in plain sight.

But this month, I have really enjoyed going through the choices of our readers for their ‘discoveries.’ In August, we challenged our readers to tell us about what they considered to be the “Best of St. Clair County.” And they did.

Readers cast their votes by mail and online for everything from hamburgers to their favorite nonprofit, from where to get the best cup of coffee to the tops in Meat ‘n Threes.

But I won’t give it away right here just yet. Check Page 36 for our official announcement of the 2018 Best of St. Clair County.

And if you didn’t make the list this year, no worries, we’ll be back next year with Discover the Best of St. Clair County Awards 2019.

Of course, that’s not the only discoveries you’ll find in this issue of the magazine. We had a few of our own.

On Big Canoe Creek in Springville, supporters are celebrating.

And with good reason. The 382-acre creek and adjoining tracts have been named a Forever Wild property, meaning it will become a state-protected preserve to be enjoyed for generations to come.

We have known of its natural beauty and allure for quite a while.

Now, it will become a destination point to be discovered by folks from all around.

Up on Chandler Mountain, we knew about its national reputation for growing tomatoes, but what about peaches? Did you know that peaches were the king crop atop the mountain long before tomatoes became the star? Find out all about it and more as writer Joe Whitten takes us back in time on the mountain.

Looking for adventure? Take a ride along with Ryder Carpenetti, but we warn you, it might get a little bumpy. This 12-year-old national rodeo star from Moody has captured 50 championship

buckles. His goal on every miniature bull ride? Hang on for the full eight seconds!

As Veterans Day approaches, we can’t help but turn our thoughts to all the brave men and women who have worn our country’s uniforms. With the model for the nation for state veterans homes right here in our own backyard, that’s not hard to do. The stories of those inside continue to amaze us, just like Beatrice Price, who served as a World War II nurse with Tuskegee Airmen. Her lifetime of “firsts” are sure to stick with you. Check out her story along with ways St. Clair County serves its veterans.

If music hits a successful note with you, take a peek at this story. There’s a world of music in historic downtown Pell City – Ron Partain’s World of Music, that is. A mainstay for four decades now, see if Partain’s story strikes a familiar chord with you.

There are plenty more in this issue. Turn the page and discover them all with us.

Carol Pappas Editor and Publisher

Discover The Essence of St. Clair

October & November 2018 • Vol. 44 • www.discoverstclair.com

Carol Pappas • Editor and Publisher Graham Hadley • Managing Editor and Designer Mike Callahan • Photography Wallace Bromberg Jr. • Photography Susan Wall • Photography Dale Halpin • Advertising Toni Franklin • Graphic Designer

A product of Partners by Design www.partnersmultimedia.com 1911 Cogswell Avenue Pell City, AL 35125 205-338-3466

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Distilling a love and life of music into one store

Ron Partain’s

f o M d u l r sic o W

Though Ron Partain sells lots of instruments, acoustic guitars are a particular favorite.

Story and Photos by Graham Hadley Window shopping on Cogswell Avenue in Pell City’s historic downtown, anyone with any interest in music will be drawn to Ron Partain’s store.

Following the sound of classic rock from the past four decades piped through speakers in the front of Ron Partain’s World of Music, visitors can look in and see guitars — electric and acoustic, mandolins, keyboards and electric pianos, banjos, amplifiers, drum sets, even a colorful row of ukuleles.

Plus everything else under the sun necessary for people to make music: effects pedals, sound mixing equipment, pics, microphones, speakers, strings, instrument straps and much more. Every inch of Ron Partain’s World of Music is a testament to his love of music.

And that is exactly the way he wants it — for Ron Partain, since his mid teenage years, his life has centered on music — and it’s a love that he wants to share with the world. So he, with the help of longtime employee Karen Poe, distill that love into the store that has been open on Cogswell for 41 years now.

The original store was located just down the street from its current location at 1914 Cogswell. Partain, who has spent his life as a music director for various church choirs in St. Clair and Talladega counties, knew he wanted and needed to do more with his life, and a music store seemed the perfect fit. “I loved the choir work, but I had two daughters to get through college. I had to do something — and here we are,” he said.

“I had no real money in 1977 when I decided to do this. I had maybe $1,000 and had to borrow three to four thousand more.”

Everything came together, and Ron Partain’s World of Music opened its doors for the first time across the street from the St. Clair County Courthouse in 1978. The original shop was much smaller than the current one — “a hole in the wall” he called it — and that was a particular issue because, back then, they sold full-size pianos and organs.

But it did the trick, cementing World of Music as a downtown staple for almost half a century.

It was also the beginning of a business relationship and friendship that has lasted almost as long as the business has been around. There were more than one business located in the building Partain bought all those years ago, and one of them was a Sneaky Pete’s restaurant. The owners were looking to sell their business, and Partain took the opportunity to expand his income. Within a few years, someone presented him with an offer to

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • October & November 2018

Ron with one of the more uniuque guitars in his shop.

Karen Poe has kept the business running smoothly for 38 years.

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World of Music

Karen and Ron show off a quilt made from shirt designs from his travels.

Ron watches a video of himself directing a youth choir at a sporting event on national television.

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purchase the restaurant that was too good to refuse.

Karen, who was 19 at the time, was the cashier at the restaurant.

“I figured I was out of a job,” she said.

Not so. “I handed her the keys to the music store and said, ‘You run the business for a while. I am going to play golf.’” And he did exactly that. Partain confessed he needed some relaxation time.

Between his duties as a music director, running the music store and managing a restaurant, he admittedly needed to catch his breath.

“I had no idea what I was doing,” Karen joked. “I spent the first few weeks just stacking and sorting papers so I would look busy.”

But she quickly grew into the job of managing the day-to-day operation of World of Music and is still doing so now, 38 years later, something Partain is quick to point out has been a key to the business’ long-term success.

That success should not surprise anyone who knows Partain. At 15, he, like most boys his age, was very focused on sports. Nothing could be further from his mind than music. All that changed when a gentleman named R.U. Green came into the locker room after football practice and announced he was looking for some young men to participate in a concert choir.

Hesitant at first, Partain and a few of the other players realized a choir might be a great place to meet some young ladies. So he joined up, and his life’s path was set.

“I had never sung before. By the third or fourth week, I was head

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • October & November 2018

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World of Music

A limited-edition Grateful Dead guitar

Ukuleles have been growing in popularity.

Electric and acoustic bass guitars 12

of the vocal choir. Music set my heart on fire. I was still 15 when I took my first paying job directing a church choir,” he said, “and I have been doing it ever since. Music just speaks to me.”

And he did get to meet a girl — his wife, in one of the choirs he participated in.

Partain has made a name for himself over the years as a music director, taking choirs, usually groups of high-school students and young college-age adults, all around the globe to perform. They have sung the national anthem at the opening of sporting events in some of the most famous stadiums, like Wrigley Field and the Astro Dome, in the country.

And playing those sports venues has had the added bonus of feeding one of Partain’s other loves — sports. “I got to see Cal Ripken play,” he said.

They also have performed at national monuments, the United Nations, places like the Brooklyn Tabernacle, and been as far away as Hawaii, more than once.

Partain said one of the biggest challenges, other than getting ready to perform before huge crowds, is keeping track of all of the teens and young adults in his group, so they have shirts printed up before each trip that everyone has to wear.

One of Partain’s prized possessions is a quilt made up of the different shirt designs they have used over the years.

“I have gotten to see and do things in my life that I would not have been able to do without music,” he said, adding that one of his proudest achievements is that he got to “sing with my daughters.”

It’s the life that his love of music has given him Partain wants to share with others through his store, which has been in its current location since 1986.

He readily admits, as does Karen, that they can’t play their instruments very well, but that is not the point. “I have a love of music, but I’m not a great musician myself. I love helping other people learn to love music.

“I wanted to give musicians a place in this area to shop,” he said. “I really get my personal fulfilment from watching people, adults and kids, come out here to make music.”

So he took a building and filled it with everything local musicians need. His personal favorites are acoustic guitars — Alvarez in particular. And though he keeps a broad inventory in his store, Partain realizes that to compete with big retailers and the Internet, he needs to have more than what he can fit in one building. He does that by keeping up a network with instrument distributors all over the country and beyond and can order pretty much anything his customers need or want.

But to keep a music store open in a small town, even in an area growing as fast as Pell City, means you have to have something for everyone, and do more than just sell instruments and sound equipment.

Partain says he is probably one of the oldest locally owned retail businesses in the area, and the key has been diversity. They repair instruments, help

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • October & November 2018

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Joe Turnbull of Ozark ended up chatting for a while with Ron after he stopped by to pick up a repaired guitar for his son, Pastor Brian Turnbull.

From banjos to amplifiers, sound equipment and electric pianos, World of Music carries something for everyone.

World of Music SHE ONCE BUILT A FORT SO LARGE, THAT IT UTILIZED EVERY BLANKET, TOWEL, AND CHAIR IN THE WHOLE HOUSE.

set up sound systems, even move pianos — if a customer needs an item or needs something done, they find a way to make it happen.

He estimates as many as 75 people a week have taken music lessons at World of Music — from guitar to horns, they can teach it all. They even work with local school bands to keep their instruments in top shape.

As he credits Karen with the success of running the business, Partain says Steven Begley is not only a fantastic music instructor, he can repair almost any instrument.

“We had a guy come in here with his father’s guitar that had gotten water on it. It was all bowed out and warped on the sides, all over.

“Steven took that guitar and worked on it. When the guy came back to pick it up and saw Steven coming out with the completely repaired guitar from the back of the shop, he stopped right here and started crying. He had thought the guitar his father had left him was ruined. Steven made it look like it had never been damaged.”

It is those types of experiences that bring it all home for Partain. “I love sharing music with people. I love everything about this business, talking to people as they come in, the purchasing, the selling — everything.”

And he will share that love with his customers even if you are not looking to buy that day, with people coming by the store just to talk, visit or listen to music.

The doors of Ron Partain’s World of Music are open to musicians and music lovers alike. l

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DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • October & November 2018 Built A Fort - 3.916 x 9.75 - DiscoverStClair.indd 1

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8/24/18 12:31 PM

Traveling the

BACKROADS

Chandler Mountain A pinnacle of St. Clair History

V. C. DeWeese grand dad.

V. C. Pastor C. Mt Baptist in 1925 and 1930

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DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • October & November 2018

Story by Joe Whitten Submitted photos Rising to an elevation of approximately 1,315 feet in the northern part of St. Clair County, Chandler Mountain extends from the southwest to the northeast for about 10 miles.

Its average width is about two and a half miles with an area of about 25 square miles. The terrain is rugged with numerous outcroppings of rock.

According to Place Names in Alabama (The University of Alabama Press, 1999), by Virginia Foscue, the mountain got its name from Joel Chandler, “who brought his family to this area soon after the Creek Indians were removed in 1814.” He settled on Little Canoe Creek. The mountain behind his place provided good hunting, and hunters, who used a trail near his property to climb to the hunting ground, began calling the mountain Chandler’s Mountain. In time, the apostrophe “s” was dropped, and Chandler Mountain has been the name since.

Despite the rugged terrain, settlers arrived. The first, Cicero Johnson from northwest Georgia, entered land on Chandler Mountain in 1855. Historian Vivian Buffington Qualls records that others soon came with their families from Georgia and the Carolinas to join Johnson: Franklin Smith, Jake Lutes, John Bearden, W.V. McCay, John Hollingsworth, Boze Wood, Jake and Bob Robinson, John Hollingsworth and Levi Hutchens.

Hezekiah McWaters came from Troy, Alabama. So, the area began to be settled and cultivated.

Darrell Hyatt tells a family story of his Robinson great grandfather, George, who as a boy learned to play the fiddle.

During the Civil War, when Confederate troops had camped between today’s US 231 and the Beason House, George would entertain them by playing the fiddle. Years later, George married Susie, who played the banjo. Darrell shared a treasured photo of the couple—Susie holding her banjo; George, his fiddle.

An interesting feature of this Chandler Mountain lies in the water level. Water for family and livestock came from dug wells or creeks on the mountain and in the valley. According to written sources, mountain well-diggers struck water within 25 or 30 feet, whereas in the valley, wells sometimes went as much as 75 feet down before finding water.

Lee Gilliland and Larry DeWeese, who grew up on the mountain, said that early on, wells were hand-dug and lined with rock, brick or wood. They also spoke of “punched wells.”

A bit about 4 inches in diameter and attached to a long heavy tube was mounted on a truck. A motor pulled the tube high and then let it drop, pounding it into the earth. This process took up to two weeks before it reached the water source. The steady pounding could be heard for quite a distance.

Numerous springs bubble from the ground, but the water doesn’t flow far before sinking back into the earth. In 1949, D.O. Langston wrote his master’s degree thesis at Auburn University about Chandler Mountain. He stated that “Gulf Creek is the only stream that flows any distance, and its water disappears in dry seasons.”

Two roads give access to the mountain: Steele Gap on the east and Hyatt Gap on the west. Hyatt Gap is named for John M. Hyatt, who migrated from Heard County, Georgia, around 1875.

For his master’s thesis, Langston interviewed Hillard Hyatt, who gave an account of John Hyatt’s coming to Chandler.

Hillard told that John, living in Georgia, fell in love with a

E. J. DeWeese, Pastor of C. Mt. Baptist 1919-1925

Moats Family

Russell Vester Vernon Marvin

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • October & November 2018

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Traveling the

BACKROADS George Robinson, Darrell’s grandfather

Mt. Lebanon 1940 young woman. Her parents objected to the courtship, so John came to his cousin, Hezakiah McWaters, on the mountain.

After working for McWaters “for a year or so,” John bought “80 acres near the southwest end of the mountain.” Then, “… he went back home to Heard County, married his childhood sweetheart, and they came back home, bringing all they possessed on one small pony. They arrived with 20 cents in money.” John’s 80 acres included what is today’s Horse Pens 40, an international tourist and recreational attraction because of its centuries-old rock formations. Its history includes an ancient Native American burial ground, a hideaway during the Civil War and for outlaw Rube Burrow. It was nationally known for bluegrass festivals with rising stars of the day like Lester Flatt, Bill Monroe, Charlie Daniels, Ricky Skaggs and Emmylou Harris. Today, it is home to world class bouldering, hosting the triple crown climbing championship.

Darrell Hyatt recounted that family lore named John Hyatt as the last person to be granted a homestead in Alabama and that John and wife arrived here with all they owned in a pillow case.

Wikipedia says the park derived its name from the original deed when allocating the acreage: “the home 40, the farming 40, and the horse pens 40.”

Organization of schools and churches According to Mrs. Qualls, the first school on Chandler was called Mt. Lebanon. The building was across the road from today’s Mt. Lebanon First Congregational Methodist Church.

A note written in old minutes of the church states, “A building was near the site of Mt. Lebanon Church in the late 1880s and was used for school meetings.”

The Mt. Lebanon School was on the east end of Chandler. On the west end, around 1895, the McCay School was organized.

Mrs. Qualls records that John Hyatt had recently built a new house and donated the logs from his old home for the school building on the McCay property. Langston states, “After this house was built, the school then alternated between the church located on the east end of the mountain and the school on the

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west end. The church being on the east end and the school on the west made it necessary to alternate between the two to keep peace and harmony. …” Then, in 1902, the school relocated to a new building on the Hollingsworth property.

The two schools eventually consolidated, and in time the school became the Chandler Mountain Junior High School, which flourished for many years. The students consistently made high scores on the yearly standardized tests. The county school system closed the school and today buses students to Steele and Ashville.

The date that Mt. Lebanon Church started worshiping together is not known, but they likely met in the Mt. Lebanon school building. It is known that the Mt. Lebanon First Congregational Methodist Church officially organized in July 1905 and that William Robinson, a Congregational minister, would come from Georgia to the mountain to visit his Robinson relatives. While on these visits, he conducted revival meetings, and one of these revival meetings culminated in the establishing of Mt. Lebanon Church. William Robinson served as the first

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • October & November 2018

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Traveling the

BACKROADS

Vester and Doris Gilliland

The Moats family (Annie pastored Mt. Lebanon)

pastor from 1905 to 1911.

The church purchased land on which to construct a building from Bent Engle. They paid $2 an acre for two acres. A penciled note in some old minutes record that Jeff Smith donated land for the cemetery.

From 1933 to 1936 the church had a woman pastor—Annie Struckmeyer Moats, an ordained minister in the Congregational Church. Annie’s husband was Alley Mathis Moats. Annie’s granddaughter, Barbara Robinson, is a current member of the church.

Mt. Lebanon celebrated its centennial in 2005, and as it has done for over a century, remains a vibrant contribution to Chandler Mountain.

Chandler Mountain Baptist Church through the Years—1910-2010, compiled by Ellis Lee Gilliland and Mary Gilliland, recounts that on Oct. 22, 1910, members of the Missionary Baptist Church met at Cross Roads, or as some called it, Pleasant Valley, in Greasy Cove District near Gallant, Alabama, and organized a missionary Baptist church. The organizing presbytery consisted of John Heptenstall, Colman Buckner, Mon Umphres, J.D. Vicars, J.B. Rodgers and H.H. Turley.

Minutes dated Nov. 6, 1910, give that name as Cross Roads Baptist Church, which indicates that was its first name. These minutes show the church elected John Heptenstall as minister and M.C. Rogers, son of Deacon J.B. Rogers, as church clerk.

Years passed, new buildings replaced outgrown ones, and in March 2001, the church named a committee to proceed with plans for building a new sanctuary with a basement fellowship hall and to obtain a loan for a stated amount. The committee completed its job, and worship services moved from the old 1948 building into the new. The first service in the new building occurred on Sept. 9, 2001. The church paid off the loan in 2011. They used the 1948 building as a youth facility.

Then in 2017, structural weakness in the trusses caused unsafe conditions in the new sanctuary, and the congregation had to meet in the old building again. Over the years, church members have been faithful and resilient in difficult times, and so has it been in this set-back. The repairs haven’t been completed yet, but the church is making progress and looking forward to being back into the 2001 sanctuary.

Chandler Mountain Baptist Church celebrated its centennial in 2010 and continues its 108-year legacy of a faithful church body that is a source of spiritual strength to the community.

Lumber and Sawmills The Ashville Museum and Archives has photocopies of articles Kenneth Gilliland wrote of his family and the mountain. One tells of the logging industry of the 1920s.

There were sections of timber that had never been cut over and contained “a large supply of virgin timber, mainly pine trees. The pines were tall and straight. We called them ‘Old Field’ pines. Many of the trees would yield 12” x 12” timbers, eighteen to twenty-four feet long.”

Kenneth’s and Lee’s daddy, Sylvester Gilliland, built a portable sawmill that he could move into a tract of timber and have it set up in a day or two. Kenneth wrote, “A gasoline automobile engine was used to power the mill. Daddy used

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DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • October & November 2018

DISCOVER - LEARN - COMPETE

Jacob and Ada Robinson an engine out of a 1927 Buick for many years. He equipped it with a gravity-fed carburetor system from a Model A Ford. He would saw 8 to 12 thousand board feet of lumber a day if all went well. ... The trees were all cut down and cut into logs of the correct length by two-man crosscut saw” and the “… logs were snaked in by mules.”

In those days, men found work wherever they could — usually for $1 a day. Gilliland paid his workers $2.50 a day because “they were worth it.”

In an interview, Lee Gilliland commented that his dad could do anything he set his mind to. His brother, Kenneth, recorded one such endeavor — electrifying their home seven years before Alabama Power climbed the mountain with their electricity in 1939-40. He wrote: “…electricity came to the S.B. ‘Vester’ and Dora Gilliland family about 1932. Daddy installed two 32-volt D.C. Delco Light Plants. They were set on concrete slabs in the corner of the garage. These were a one-cylinder gasoline engine pulling a direct coupled D.C. generator. These engines would run on kerosene also. They would charge a bank of lead/acid batteries. Wire was run from the bank of batteries into the house. Mom’s first appliance was a 32 V.D.C. iron bought from Teague’s Hardware in Ashville.”

In a 1977 interview with Dale Short of The Birmingham News, Sylvester Gilliland said, “The first 5 dollars I ever got hold of after I was grown, I sat down with the Sears-Roebuck catalog and ordered me a book about automotive mechanics.

Most folks around thought I was a little touched, because not only did we not have any sign of a car, but even if we had, we couldn’t have got it on or off the mountain, roads being like they were.”

Observing that Gilliland devoured the automotive book, then ordered a book about steam power, then one about hydraulics, and then one about radios, Short commented, “Now he can look back over half a century of keeping sawmills whirring, gins ginning, mowers cutting, and in later years, radios and televisions playing.”

It would be correct to say that Sylvester Gilliland was the right man at the right time for Chandler Mountain.

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DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • October & November 2018

21

Traveling the

BACKROADS

J.B. Rogers family Peach paradise?

Many do not know that mountain farmers grew peaches and sold them commercially. A Mr. Sloat and a Mr. Bush came from Michigan and introduced peach orchards to Chandler Mountain. Just when they came and what their first names were seem unrecorded, but it can be surmised they arrived toward the end of the 19th century. Sloat and Bush convinced the farmers, and they planted several thousand trees.

Vivian Qualls writes that around 1907 W.L. Yeilding from Birmingham bought Sloat’s orchard. She quotes Yeilding’s son, Ency, “The farm included about 200 acres of land, onehalf of which was in peach trees. ... The original trees … were about 7,500. About three years later, he began to plant another orchard of between 3,000 and 3,500 trees.”

Mr. Langston wrote that the men built a stone packing shed near the railroad depot in Steele, and “the trees bore their first crop about 1900. The fruit was of a desirable kind and of very high quality. The packing house was ready. The crop, properly graded and packed, sold for a good price. The farmers were well pleased with their new adventure.”

Several years of good peaches selling for good prices followed. Then the bottom fell out of the market. Langston records that one farmer hauled 304 bushes of high quality peaches to Steele and returned home with $12.08. His crop brought about four cents a bushel.

Mrs. Qualls relates that the Yeildings built a canning plant so the peaches could be preserved and sold when prices went up again. For a few years the peaches were canned. However, Langston notes that when the average life of the first trees ran out, none of the farmers were willing to replant, and the peach industry dwindled out.

Tomatoes become king of mountain Both Qualls and Langston record that Otis Hyatt, son of John Hyatt, raised the first crop of tomatoes marketed from Chandler Mountain. Over the years, Otis had learned farming from his father, John Hyatt.

John became a successful grower of garden produce. At

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some point, he raised enough to make it profitable to take the produce down the mountain to sell. Needing a more convenient road than Steele Gap, Mr. Hyatt built the road known today as Hyatt Gap. Mr. Langston records that John built the road “single handed down the mountain to Greasy Cove.” Darrell Hyatt recently added that his great grandfather used a “team of oxen and a slip scrape” to build Hyatt Gap Road. The gap was paved in the 1970s.

In a 1940s interview with Mr. Langston, Otis gave 1926 as the first tomato year. He raised the crop, harvested it, packed the tomatoes in baskets and peddled them. He received “on the average one dollar per basket.”

The next year, his brothers planted tomatoes and sold them the same way. The brothers established routes and delivered tomatoes three times a week. Through experimenting with planting times, they found they could harvest from July to October, for first-frost came later on the mountain than in the valley.

Langston records that the Hyatts’ “… neighbors soon began to follow the same practice, and by 1932, the local markets could not take care of the crop produced.” Thus, began the crop that has made Chandler Mountain famous.

Production increased, and by 1940, McDonald Produce Company of Terry, Miss., was sending trucks to the mountain to be loaded with tomatoes for selling in Mississippi. With a longer growing season on the mountain, Mississippi and other states realized they could have fresh tomatoes into late autumn for their markets. In 1948, The Southern Aegis reported that the farmers shipped tomatoes to buyers “from New York to Miami.”

The farmers banded together and formed the Chandler Mountain Tomato Growers Association in 1943. As recorded

by Langston, the following men were the first directors: Farmer Rogers, Cecil Smith, Hershal Smith, J.D. Osborne and Clarence Smith. The association incorporated in 1945. There were two packing houses for processing the crops, and that year, the association graded approximately 30,000 bushels of tomatoes.

Production continued to increase, and in 1946, Ross Roberson and J.D. Osborne built packing sheds near Whitney on the Birmingham to Chattanooga highway—U.S. 11. In 1947, the association processed 60,000 bushels of tomatoes, some coming now from Blount County farms.

As the 1948 season progressed, farmers saw excellent harvests and sales. October came with prices reaching $3.50 a bushel. Then disaster struck. As reported in the Oct. 22, 1948, issue of The Southern Aegis, an “unseasonable ‘snap-freeze’ that swept over most of Alabama Sunday night (October 17)” ruined an estimated 40,000 bushels of tomatoes. The Aegis put the financial loss at between $100,000 and $150,000.

Most farmers are invincible, and gradually tomato farmers recovered, and production still flourishes today.

So, the next time you slather mayonnaise on two pieces of white bread and cut thick slices of Chandler Mountain goodness for your sandwich, remember Otis Hyatt, who started it all.

And as you take your first juicy bite, whisper thanksgiving to the Lord for this summer satisfaction! l

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • October & November 2018

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Moody’s Ryder Carpenetti is quietly making his mark on the pro rodeo world.

At 12, he’s already a three-time world junior champion.

Ryder Carpenetti MOODY’S RISING RODEO STAR

... AND THAT’S NO BULL

Story by Paul South Submitted photos Truth be told, the closest most of us have come to mounting a bucking bull was as a kid on the 25-centpowered horses at the local five and dime, watching John Travolta in “Urban Cowboy” in college, or worst-case, when liquid courage in a shot glass convinced usually sensible adults that they could tame the mechanical bull at the neighborhood cowboy bar.

But the miniature bulls that Moody’s Ryder Carpenetti takes on in rodeos from North Carolina to Las Vegas are the real deal – 1,200 pounds of thick muscle and foul mood that are as unpredictable as it gets. These animals can with a buck, or spin or dip send their riders into the air like a rag doll, leaving them with a face full of mud, bumps and bruises – or worse.

But Carpenetti has captured three world titles riding miniature bucking horses and half-ton bulls.

He’s 4-foot-6, weighs 71 pounds and still has some of his baby teeth. And he’s only turned 12 years old in September.

As John Wayne might put it: Pilgrim, this is one tough little hombre.

It all started with a bulletin board. Ryder’s Dad, Frankie Carpenetti, remembers.

“He was 3 years old. I saw a flier at a Tractor Supply down in Sterrett, and they had ‘mutton bustin,’ you know, where they ride the sheep. I said, ‘I’ll take him down there and let him ride in that. Maybe he’ll ride in that, and then he’ll be done with it.”

Ryder won. And he wasn’t done. Turns out, the sport had lassoed the toddler. From there it was riding his first calf at 5, then steers to junior bulls to mini-bulls.

In 2013, he won his first world title in mutton busting.

In 2015, he captured world titles in bucking horses and mini bulls.

Watch Ryder Carpenetti on YouTube and you see a kid as cool as the backside of a pillow. He has a quick grin that gleams from beneath the long shadow cast by his big, black cowboy hat. While waiting for his next ride, he waits quietly. His demeanor seems more school play backstage than bull rider.

Once his protective gear is on – a helmet and vest mandated by the MBR (Mini Bull Riders Association) – he’s unflappable.

“He really doesn’t have any fear,” Frankie Carpenetti says.

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • October & November 2018

Ryder Carpenetti goes eye-to-eye with a 1,200-pound mini bull.

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Ryder Carpenetti

Ryder Carpenetti calmly studies the competition. He hopes to one day capture Professional Bull Riding or National Finals Rodeo world titles, following in the footsteps of his hero, the late rodeo legend Lane Frost.

The Carpenettis: Rear from left: Frankie and April Carpenetti, Front: Ryder and sister Harley. Harley, a successful former rodeo barrel racer, now excels as part of a nationally competitive cheerleading team.

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“We have dirt bikes at the house, and he does jumps and all that. When he gets on the back of the bucking chutes, a lot of the kids are nervous. You can tell. We always have people say, ‘How’s he so calm?’ He just sits on the back of the bucking chutes and waits his turn.

Nothing bothers him. He’ll find my wife in the crowd, and he’ll wave to her. The other kids, they’re back there shaking and stuff.”

Carpenetti added, “There’s times when I’m a little more nervous than he is. We go to a lot of big deals. The PBRs (Professional Bull Riders), the Built Ford Toughs (rodeos), you know. I guess I get a lot more nervous than he does sometimes. I guess my nervousness would be him getting hurt. He’s pulled the tendons out in his elbow a couple of times, aside from the normal bumps and bruises.

“But nothing bothers him. He’s in his own world right there. He’s getting ready to ride,” Frankie Carpenetti said. “He’s in his own zone. He just gets in there and rides” Like any mother, April Carpenetti had the jitters, too. But now, her worries aren’t as great as when he plays youth football in Moody, as a running back and defensive back. On a recent Saturday, Ryder played a half day of football, then was on the road for a rodeo in Bessemer City, N.C. “Any mom would be terrified,” she says. “But it’s just like anything. The more they do it, the more I feel comfortable. He had to move up in (weight class) in football. Right now, I worry more about him playing against bigger kids in football than I do about him rodeoing. I guess it’s just something he’s been doing so long that I’m comfortable with him doing it.”

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • October & November 2018

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE!

Ryder Carpenetti

Carpenetti captured his first world title in 2015 as a bareback rider.

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At only 12, Carpenetti has drawn comparisons to the late Lane Frost. Frost, who won the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) Bull Riding World Championship in 1987 when he was just 24, was killed in the arena in 1989. To this day, long after his death, Frost casts an almost mythic shadow over the sport.

Gary Leffew, a member of the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame and the 1970 National Finals Rodeo champion, is Carpenetti’s coach. He believes the comparison to Frost is on target.

“He’ll go wherever he wants to go,” Leffew said. “He’ll either be in the PBR or the PRCA. He’ll be in there somewhere where he’s a star. He’s like a young Lane Frost. He’s charismatic. People are going to know his name, wherever he decides to go.”

Leffew’s career offers a backstory to Ryder Carpenetti’s championship ride. Leffew is called “the rodeo guru” of positive thinking. Leffew finished 10th in the world in 1966, then hit a slump. As a new husband, soon with a baby on the way, Leffew worried more about making a paycheck than setting goals and visualizing how life could be for him and his family if he won. Worry beat down on him like a July Texas sun.

Then he read Maxwell Maltz’s 1960 bestseller – “Psycho-Cybernetics.” His thinking – and his career – took a turn “Once I read that book, I just sat up in bed and laughed,” Leffew says. “I was 22 years old, and it was the first time anyone had explained to me how the mind works and that it can work for you or against you. (The mind) doesn’t care, it’s a piece of machinery. Whatever you program in, it will take and give it back to you. I realized I was a victim of my own thinking.”

Leffew also studied the style and technique of George Paul, who Leffew calls “the greatest bull rider I ever saw.” Paul, who tragically died in a plane crash in 1970, rode 79 consecutive bulls without being thrown. Paul was considered “the strongest man ever to ride bulls in professional rodeo.”

Studying Paul and diving into the workings of the subconscious mind, transformed Leffew’s career.

“That next year, I was third in the world. I rode the Bull of the Year his last ride. I came out in 1970 and won the world title and the National Finals Rodeo. Once I got into positive thinking, it took me three years to reach my goal of the world championship,” Leffew said. “During that period, I was no lower than third.”

And those who were skeptical of his positive thinking approach started to come around. “(Early on), there was a lot of laughing. The first rodeo I went to at Denver in 1968, I was one point from the alltime record – 89 points – on a bull that had never been rode. I rode him like Patton for a dance. I was runner up for the championship. I went three months without getting thrown off. They were like, ‘This kid’s on to something’ They’d come around and ask, ‘What page was that on?’”

Now, Carpenetti is part of a stable of star pupils who have embraced Leffew’s power-of-positive-thinking approach. Leffew has mentored 19 world champions.

“What we teach is hyper body, quiet mind. Your heart will be pounding, your adrenaline will be running, which is good, but you want a quiet mind. A quiet mind operates at the speed of light. It processes a billion pieces of information per second. A hyper mind works a second at

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Ryder Carpenetti a time. You’d think a hyper mind works faster. It just screws things up. There’s no continuity, no timing, no flow. So, you have to get in a quiet mind state. You just focus much better.”

Carpenetti has that laser focus. Like other St. Clair County athletes, like Springville’s Casey Mize, the first pick in last summer’s major league baseball draft, and Odenville’s Dee Ford of the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs, Ryder has a dream.

“He wants to do bigger things,” April Carpenetti says. “We don’t make him go to any rodeos. We’ll be in the car on Friday afternoon after school, drive 12 hours to Dallas for a Saturday rodeo and drive back on Sunday to keep his points up.”

Therein is another part of the story. No competitor in any sport reaches a high level without a support system. Last year, the Carpenettis rolled up 56,000 miles traveling the rodeo circuit. And Ryder’s sister, Harley, a student at Moody Junior High, is a competitive cheerleader on a Birmingham-based squad. It’s not unusual for Ryder and his Dad to be traveling in one direction, April and Harley, 13, off in another.

A quick note: Before taking her talent in another direction, Harley Carpenetti excelled as a barrel racer, another competitive rodeo sport.

“We’re all over the place,” Frankie Carpenetti says.

Both Leffew and Frankie Carpenetti praised the young rider’s work ethic.

“He’s got persistence. He’s got goals set. He’s got a great support system. He’s got everything he needs to be a superstar.

He’s a very focused young man and he’s a talented young rider.

But he’s a gentleman. That’s one of the things we try to teach our kids. You can’t be too polite,” Leffew says. “You want to think about other people. You don’t want them to just say he’s a good rider, but that he’s a good young man, a role model for everybody who comes behind you. People don’t just judge you on how good you ride, but what kind of human being you are.

Integrity.”

Says Frankie Carpenetti: “He’s just a humble kid. He doesn’t boast about anything he wins. You know he can go out there and win the world championship. He’s not out there boasting.

He’s just as happy for the other kid who beats him one day.

He’s just as happy for the kid who won the rodeo as he would be for himself. His sportsmanship is what makes me the proudest,” he says. “A kid can be bucked off and get mad and throw their helmet or something, and he’ll go back to the back and try to figure out what he did wrong. Then a few minutes later, he’s back to himself, out playing or whatever. That’s what makes me proud. And he’s got a real good work ethic. He’s up in the morning wanting to go ride the bulls.”

That integrity, that gentlemanly spirit, has captured the attention of corporate sponsors. The Lane Frost brand, owned by the late champion’s family, backs Ryder, as does Rodeo King hats, 100X helmets, Capri Campers, Flying P Farms and of course, Carpenetti’s Pizza, owned by Ryder’s grandfather, Frank Sr., and the family.

And Ryder and his family have also won the respect of Cirildo “Junior” Leal and his wife Lilly, who along with twotime Professional Bull Riding (PBR) champion Chris Shivers, own the Mini Bull Riders.

Born in 2010, the MBR began with 120 kids in Ogden, Utah, and has grown to an international sport, attracting competitors from Brazil, Canada, Australia and the United States. Kids ages 8 to 14 compete in the events, which emphasize safety, respect, sportsmanship and building confidence. Venues have

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While world titles, “mean a lot” Carpenetti’s happy with a successful eight-second ride, the standard of excellence in bull riding. included AT&T Stadium in Dallas, the Mandalay Bay Casino in Las Vegas and elsewhere. In 2015, Professional Bull Riders became a presenting sponsor of the Miniature Bull Riders Association.

Junior Leal sports a bushy handlebar moustache and bears a striking resemblance to country singer Freddy Fender. He’s quick with a laugh. As the father of six daughters, he jokes “I’ve already got my ticket to heaven. I raised six girls.” And, it seems he and his wife Lilly have hundreds of sons – the bull riders like Ryder, who the website proclaims, are “the toughest little cowboys on the planet.”

Leffew calls MBR and its competitors “the future of the game.”

Cirildo Leal, whose day job is raising mini bulls and daily delivering feed for 200,000 head of cattle to ranchers from his home in Lockney, Texas, sees a world title or a National Finals Rodeo crown in Ryder’s future. For the Leals, Cirildo, Lilly and daughter Alysa – a family of faith – the MBR is a labor of love.

“He’ll be a PBR world champion or an NFR world champion ... because he’s just got a lot of potential, and his parents

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • October & November 2018

really support him and take him, and the kid doesn’t give up. Sometimes he might get trampled on, but he just gets up, shakes it off and goes on. And he’s ready to ride again.”

Lilly Leal agrees. “Ryder is a super good kid. He’s always been super good. What you see with him is what you get.

Ryder gets on a bull, and he’s businesslike, ‘Come on, I gotta do what I gotta do.’ ” She adds, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen Ryder cry. Like I said, he’s tough, and he’s got super good parents and grandparents, all of his family.”

Ryder also has fans close to home, like Pell City steel executive John Garrison, a longtime fan of rodeo. He believes the sport is part of the “great Western experience” that helped make America great.

For Garrison, seeing young people like Ryder Carpenetti excel is an encouragement. Garrison studies different generations. Kids like Ryder give Garrison – a Baby Boomer – hope for the future. “Any time I see a young person that’s doing something special, I have a tendency to take particular notice of that young person because they’re doing something outside the norm. I think Ryder Carpenetti and Harley, his sister, are doing positive things. Ryder is making a mark in the rodeo world.”

Predictions of future greatness for Ryder are “spot on,” Garrison says.

“A young person who starts in that kind of sport, it’s remarkable that he comes from Alabama ... a state not known for rodeo greats. That a young kid from Alabama can go out there and compete is just over-the-top amazing.”

He adds: “It’s a dangerous sport, and you get banged up now and then. He’s no doubt a tough kid and a hard competitor. As long as he stays healthy, I think he’s unstoppable.”

Talk to Ryder, and you hear the competitive fire of a cowboy who successfully rode all four bulls on the way to the 2015 world title at the Chris Shivers Bull Riding. But you also hear the heart of an 11-year-old kid, who likes to play Fortnite, ride dirt bikes, to play with the animals at the family home and who giggles at the names of some of the bulls he’s ridden, like “Butthead.”

The reason he rides?

“It’s fun,” Ryder says. “I have a lot of friends that ride. When you get a good score, you win.”

And as the adults in this story have said, he is fearless.

“It’s fun to me. When I’m doing something fun, I don’t get nervous or anything.”

It’s important to note, too, that Ryder is an A-student. His lowest grade at the end of the last school year was a 96.5.

And as most kids will, he makes the complex – like riding a half-ton bull – a simple thing.

“You gotta stay on the front end,” he says. “Don’t lose your feet and keep your hand shut. I ride with my left hand shut and my right hand up. You can’t tell what a bull’s going to do. But when they open the gate, you have to stay on for a full eight seconds.”

When asked, he’ll talk about his world titles and the 50 bright belt buckles he’s won in competitive rodeo. And he’ll say he wants to win a PBR world title one day He says his world titles “mean a lot.”

But while some talk about his boundless future. Ryder Carpenetti hangs his big, black hat on humility, like most kids his age would do.

“I don’t really care if I win. I’m happy if I ride for the full eight seconds.”

Somewhere, Lane Frost, the rodeo legend, is smiling. l

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • October & November 2018

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Time To Travel Story by Linda Long Submitted photos

Pigeon Forge

Gatlinburg

Autumn … the time for cooler nights and longer days, perfect for staying home and curling up by a cozy fire. Right? Well, not necessarily so, says Bruce Mardis who along with his wife, Joanie, own and operate Seasons of Travel in Odenville.

“This is actually a great time to travel,” said Mardis. “It’s what we consider the shoulder season, falling right between the summer rush and the holidays. Folks can go a little more economically now and may even get a better choice of destinations. We’re located in a real central area, close to the Smoky Mountains and not that far from the Ozarks. So, if you’re looking for fall foliage, and that’s why a lot of people like to travel now, we’re great for that. And, of course, north Alabama is nothing to sneeze at when it comes to fall color.”

Jackie Patterson owner of Trussville’s A Weekend Getaway agrees. “Fall travel is just always real popular. And, with the leaves changing colors, right now everybody’s wanting to go to the mountains. Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, that’s all very big.”

And, just as surely as travelers turn out for autumn’s colorful showing, so do football fans on Saturdays in the south.

“The third weekend in October is always busy,” said Patterson. “That’s when Alabama plays Tennessee, in Knoxville, then Auburn plays them either the week before or the week after. People want to go there for the game, then head on over to Gatlinburg or Pigeon Forge.”

“We get a lot of inquiries (about football games) starting in late summer,” said Joanie Mardis. In the last couple of years, we’ve really gotten into booking football games and football travel. It’s an expanding part of our business.”

The Mardises offer complete football travel packages, including hotels, flights and transportation to and from the game. “We can custom design it as much as you want it to be,” she added, “from an elaborate package to just tickets, and we can get tickets to any game, including bowl games. We work with a very reputable agent, so you know you’re not being

Want to get away?

Local travel agents reveal hotspots 32

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • October & November 2018

Bungalows over the water in the Caribbean DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • October & November 2018

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Time To Travel

scammed. Some of these online deals may be offering a ticket that’s not really there.”

But there’s more to fall travel than football and falling leaves.

“Rail travel is real popular right now,” said Bruce Mardis.

“We’ve got one women’s group going by train to New York City for the Rockettes holiday show at Radio City Music Hall.

They’ll be doing some shopping and seeing the sights. Fall is also big for annual festivals both in the U.S. and Europe.”

Closer to home, the Dollywood Fall Festival offers the Great Pumpkin Luminights. “It’s unreal,” said Patterson. People come from all over to see these champion pumpkin carvers.

Restaurants carry through on the theme with foods geared toward the harvest.”

Patterson also says families are opting to spend the Thanksgiving holidays in rented mountain cabins and she adds, “fall cruises are very popular. This is probably the best time to get a good price on a cruise.”

One kind of travel that transcends all seasons, though, is the honeymoon — the stuff of dreams.

For today’s honeymooners, those dreams look a lot like zip lining in Costa Rica, swimming with the dolphins, or journeying by rail through the Canadian Rockies.

“Younger couples, today, are very active, and that’s how they’re choosing their destinations. They’re adventureoriented,” said Bruce Mardis. The Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Costa Rica and Mexico are all hot spot honeymoon destinations.

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“The bulk of my honeymooners are heading South, somewhere toward an island in the Caribbean,” added Mrs. Mardis. They’re going down somewhere warm, somewhere beachy.”

That seems a far cry from the days when Niagara Falls in upper state New York was considered the honeymoon capital of the world... romance and nostalgia were key words in that time.

Not so today. “I can honestly say I haven’t booked any couples into Niagra Falls. I haven’t even had anybody ask me,” Mrs. Mardis said. “That traditional old honeymoon spot...not anymore.”

Today’s “super hot” honeymoon spot is anywhere that offers “over-the-water bungalows,” she said. These super-luxe honeymoon accommodations feature stilted cabanas with glass floors over water, and private piers from which couples can dip into the ocean Also popular today, is the all-inclusive destination. “These resorts are very sought after,” she explained. “They include all your meals, drinks, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic, everything except gratuities. You get it all in one package. We put that together with air, excursions, travel protection. Couples pay the price before they go and then don’t have to worry about anything.”

To get that perfect seaside room, couples need to book as far out as possible, but according to Mrs. Mardis that doesn’t always happen. “I actually had a couple call me three weeks before their wedding to book a honeymoon. We were able to help them, but I don’t recommend cutting it that close. The farther out you book, the better it is.”

For some honeymooning couples today, the choice is not air travel or a sun-soaked island. These guys are headed north to the Canadian Rockies for the romance of riding the rails — some according to Mrs. Mardis – clear across the country.

“Most of them will do the leg that goes across the snowcapped Rockies,” said Mr. Mardis, “and that includes some of the most beautiful scenery in North America. A lot of younger people just want to do something out of the country, but not go so far as Europe. The rail journey accomplishes that and gets them away to a great honeymoon spot.”

And, just how much is this honeymoon going to add to the overall wedding budget? That’s almost like asking how high is up.

“I’ve signed people who say I’ve got a $2,225 budget, and I want to plan my honeymoon,” said Mrs. Mardis, “and, I’ve sent them on a honeymoon for five days at an all-inclusive resort, air included.

But, then again, I’ve also booked those who are paying $10,000 per person, or more, for five days. The cost all depends on what country they choose, what resort, the time of year, just so many factors, including air travel costs, which can change daily.”

Whatever the travel plan, Patterson has this word of advice: “Get travel insurance. I’ve had people who just knew for sure they were going (on their trip) and thought insurance was just a waste of money. Then, something happens, and they can’t go, and they’re out all that money.”

She says most basic insurance covers medical reasons, a death in the family and residential storm damage, but depending on how much you want to pay, it could also include loss of luggage and more. l

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • October & November 2018

Thanks for helping us Discover

THE BEST OF ST. CLAIR In our first ever, non-scientific polling from our readers, the 2018 “Discover the Best of St. Clair Awards” are now official.

Presentations have been made, and we will feature our winners in the December issue so you can discover them, too.

We thank each of our readers who took the time to cast their ballot and root for their favorite. We’ll be back again next year in August giving one and all an opportunity to vote for the Best of St. Clair.

Wait no longer, here are the 2018 winners: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

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Best Hamburger – Jack’s Best Catfish – The Ark, Riverside Best Barbecue – Good Ole Boys BBQ, Pell City Best Pie – Pell City Steakhouse Best Cake – Edible Memories, Steele Best Coffee – Canoe Creek Coffee, Ashville Best Restaurant – Mi Casita, Odenville Best Fast Food – Chik-fil-A Best Lunch Spot – Love’s Travel Stop Best Onion Rings – Pell City Steakhouse Best French Fries – Jack’s Best Wings – Big Deddy’s, Coal City Best Dinner Spot – Louie’s Grill, Cropwell Best Ribs – Butts to Go, Pell City Best Asian Food – Oishi, Pell City Best Country Cooking – Triple T’s, Pell City Best Buffet – City Market, Pell City Best Sandwiches – Toast, Pell City Best Salads – Zaxby’s Best Breakfast – Jack’s Best Meat ‘n Three – Pell City Steakhouse Best Doctor – Rock Helms, Northside Medical Associates, Pell City Best Dentist – Tie, Dr. David Sawyer and Dr. Bob DeShazer, Pell City Best Pediatrician – Tie, Purohit Pediatrics, Moody, Springville Pediatrics Best Orthodontist – Rape & Brooks, Odenville Best Massage Therapist – Amy Kay Best Physical Therapist – Tyler McGrady, Therapy South, Pell City Best Vehicle Repair – Right Price Automotive, Steele Best Lawyer – Charlie Robinson Jr., Ashville Best Insurance Company – ALFA Best Realty Company – Lake Homes Realty Best Realtor – Nicole Anderson Walters, Lake Homes Realty Best Mortgage Company – People’s Independent Bank, Steele Best Credit Union – Coosa Pines, Pell City Best Bank – Metro Bank, Pell City, Ashville, Moody, Ragland Best Automobile Dealership – Town & Country Ford, Pell City Best Boat Dealership – Wood’s Surfside Marine, Cropwell

• Best Boat Sales Executive – Mark Hildebrandt, Wood’s Surfside Marine • Best Boat Repair – Tie, Rodney’s Marine, Pell City, and Wood’s Surfside Marine, Cropwell • Best Interior Designer – Gerald Ensley Jr., Southern Manor, Pell City • Best Upholsterer – Echols Upholstery, Ragland • Best Clothes Store/Boutique – Hattie Lee’s, Cropwell • Best Caterer – Zaxby’s • Best Grocery Store/Market – Publix • Best Historic Site – John Looney House, Ashville • Best Place to Kayak/Canoe – Yak the Creek, Ashville • Best Boating – Logan Martin Lake • Best Fishing – Logan Martin Lake • Best Scenic Spot – Camp Sumatanga, Gallant • Best Gift Shop – Magnolia’s, Cropwell • Best Park – Lakeside Park • Best Splash Pad – Pell City Splash Pad • Best Picnic Area – Lakeside Park • Best Farm – Legacy Farms, Ashville • Best Skiiing – Logan Martin Lake • Best Wakeboarding – Logan Martin Lake • Best Wakesurfing – Logan Martin Lake • Best Personal Watercraft Riding – Logan Martin Lake • Best Jeweler – Griffin’s Jewelers, Pell City • Best Nonprofit Group – Moody Miracle League • Best Civic Club – Pell City Rotary Club • Best Church Group – Chapel in the Pines, Pell City • Best Professional Group – Pell City Chamber of Commerce • Best Library – Pell City Library • Best Artist – Tie, Wayne Spradley and Buddy Spradley, Pell City • Best Photographer – Melissa McClain • Best Woodworker – David Foote, Pell City • Best Potter, Earthborn Pottery, Leeds

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • October & November 2018

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Lizards, spiders snakes and more are all part of the presentation.

th

6 Day Creatures Springville family turns passion into business, teachable moments Story by Jackie Romine Walburn Photos by Susan Wall It’s hard to say exactly when 6th Day Creatures, an exotic animal education and entertainment venture headquartered in St. Clair County, really began for Jamie Hacker, his family and their collection of exotic pets.

The obvious start was when Jamie was asked to do a devotion at a children’s church event seven years ago, and he brought along a couple of small, friendly snakes and a black and white ferret with him “to illustrate how God created and loves all of us – even funny-looking animals and snakes.”

That impromptu devotion quickly morphed into more. “By Monday at school, our seven-year-old had volunteered us to do another program, and another.”

So officially began 6th Day Creatures, a business and mission that brings exotic animals and life lessons to children and adults at church, school and community events across Alabama and beyond.

The name 6th Day Creatures is based on when the Bible says God created all the creeping and crawling land creatures.

As noted in Genesis 1:24. “And God said, ‘Let the earth bring forth the living creatures after his kind, cattle, and creeping things and the beast of the earth after his kind,’ and it was so.”

But, the true beginning for 6th Day Creatures can also be traced to Jamie and his wife’s family traditions of unusual pets and their family’s ongoing love, knowledge and care for exotic animals.

Both Jamie Hacker, who works

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • October & November 2018

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6th Day Creatures African Spur Thigh Tortoise

as registered nurse at St. Vincent’s Hospital in downtown Birmingham, and his wife, Trussville native Leigh Fox Hacker, a nurse who works at St. Vincent’s East, grew up around unusual pets.

The couple’s passion for exotic pets was honed during their childhoods and passed on to their children, daughter Lauren, 18, now a freshman at Jacksonville State University, and son Brady, 14, who is a freshman in high school.

Jamie’s father raised show pigs, modern bantam chickens and cattle in Oklahoma, where Jamie stayed when not with his mom in Mississippi. Leigh’s grandparents bred and raised chinchillas, the rodent native to Peru and Chile that are prized for their dense, soft fur.

They both love animals and value exotic species, but it was Leigh who first bought the children their own exotic pets. For son Brady, she purchased one of the family’s first corn snakes, and daughter Lauren’s got a chinchilla named CeCe. Lauren also around this time adopted a rescue Maltese Yorkie (Morkie) named Sebastian, who became a family pet, too.

As the number and variety of exotic pets grew, the family sometimes raised exotic animals for the pet store market. “At one time, there were 100 snakes being raised in our son’s bedroom,” Jamie recalls. Their pet count got up to about 400 when they bred for pet stores. Now the pet count is about one-tenth of that. Also, they used to breed several kinds of cockroaches, mainly for food for pets. “We have bred Red Runner Cockroaches, Dubia Cockroaches and mealworms in the past.”

Now they have only Madagascar hissing cockroaches, one of the largest cockroach species that can reach two to three inches long. “We only have hissing cockroaches now just for fun since

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they are really big flightless roaches that gross people out,” Jamie says.

The pet lizards get live insects because they will only eat food if it is moving, he says. However, the Bearded Dragons sometimes get dried meal worms on their greens – “like you put croutons on a salad.”

Live food is never fed to the snakes or other carnivores.

They do not feed any live rodents, he says, to keep the snakes from having the instinct to strike and be aggressive. Instead, they purchase frozen rodents, Jamie says, remembering how the UPS man commented “ya’ll must eat really good,” about delivering packages of what he assumed were frozen steaks or other expensive people food. Then they explained that the boxes were actually frozen rodents.

Through their days as pet owners, then breeders and now with an animal adventure business, their veterinarian has been Dr. Carl Grimmett of Grayson Valley Pet Clinic.

Knowledgeable about exotic pet care, which is a shared interest, Dr. Grimmett usually makes house calls for the Hacker family pets.

The family business th

Since 6 Day Creatures came to life, it’s been a family project, with Jamie up front as the animal adventure master of ceremonies and either Leigh, Lauren or Brady assisting.

“I love animals and kids,” says Jamie. His ease with both is plain to see as Jamie and Brady brought 6th Day Creature’s Animal Adventures to a Clearbranch United Methodist Church’s Wednesday night children’s service.

Like an exotic pet pied piper, children follow as Jamie walks around before the show, with Dewey the Bearded Dragon,

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • October & November 2018

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6th Day Creatures African Pygmy Hedgehog

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an Australian lizard, clinging to his back or head or shoulder.

“Put him on my head,” one child says. “Put him on my sister’s head,” another offers.

As Jamie introduces Dewey and then brings out Zelda, a colorful corn snake, he explains the 6th Day rules. If you don’t want to pet, see up close or interact with whatever creature Jamie offers, “just put your palm up, no thank you.” Even though you might make friends with 6th Day creatures, he tells the children, never touch a wild animal – like these or others – when you are outside in their territory. He also explains that audience members should consider it an “anointing” if a pet takes the opportunity to ‘relieve himself’ and reminds the kids that most of the exotic pets are not housetrained, so anything could happen.

After safety – 6th Day has never had an escape or incident with the exotic pets interacting with people – the main message this day is that God created us and all the creatures for a reason and that He loves us and all creatures of his creation.

“God has a reason for everything He does,” Jamie says, using the nonvenomous corn snake as an example. “The craziest thing is, without snakes, we wouldn’t survive,” he explains.

Snakes eat rats and mice and keep the vermin’s population down and protect us from diseases they carry.

When Lucy the hedgehog makes an appearance, children see how God equipped hedgehogs to protect themselves – with their quill-covered skin and the ability to fold up into a ball.

When the so-ugly-it’s-cute hairless guinea pig is introduced, Jamie explains that the hybrid is called a skinny pig and

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reminds him of how God made us all different. “Some of us are tall, some small, some prettier than others,” he says. Telling a story about children teasing a boy in a wheelchair, Jamie encourages the young audience to appreciate the differences in all of us and never make fun of someone who is different.

Instead, he urged, “use the way God made you special to do good and spread love.”

When Taco, the Chaco Golden Knee Tarantula, was introduced, the giant spider prompted squeals from the children, who could look but not touch. Ditto for the dwarf Caiman, an alligator relative from Central and South America whose jaws are taped shut for all outings. With 80 razor-sharp teeth, Caimans are generally more aggressive than their north American cousins who grow much bigger. Jamie points out its two sets of eyelids, so the amphibious carnivore appears to be asleep while he is actually watching for prey.

Up next is the African Spur Thigh Tortoise, slow and steady with temperature control built into its spurred feet. As a finale, 6th Day features its largest Burmese Python, named Sonnie, a male who is almost 11 feet long.

Big, little, scary or sweet, Jamie explains, God’s creatures are gifts and responsibilities and serve as testimony that God loves us all.

A growing family

Back at home, Jamie sits cuddling Pikachu, a Kinkajou that looks like a ferret-monkey mix. Pikachu is named for a Pokemon character. “We call him Pika because saying Pikachu

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • October & November 2018

the Kinkajou is a mouthful.”

Pika travels with 6th Day Creatures often. “He likes to snuggle and go hide in our shirts. A shy nocturnal animal like its cousin, the raccoon, the Kinkajou curls up inside his shirt as Jamie recites a list of animals that now live with the family in St. Clair County.

In addition to the family’s six dogs, the “regular” pets, the Hackers, and 6th Day currently have about 60 pets, including 25 snakes, all non-venomous, mostly colorful corn snakes and three Burmese Pythons, who often steal the show.

6th Day Creatures is a licensed and insured educational company. The business has an exotic animal exhibitor license with the USDA, which conducts annual inspections of the pets’ quarters in the Hacker’s home and yard in Springville.

Fees for the shows go to help feed and take care of the pets.

The cost of a party or show varies according to how many miles the eight to 10 creatures need to be transported from the Hacker’s home in the 35146 zip code. The starting amount is $225, for up to 25 miles of travel, for an animal adventure of about an hour.

To count them down, 6th Day Creatures include the animals that starred in the show at Clearbranch plus: two pot belly pigs, two ferrets, several guinea pigs, two skinny pigs, more than 20 additional snakes, two more tortoises and several rabbits, including Rebunzal, the long-eared, 30-pound rabbit with 16inch ears. They also have families of chinchilla which do not travel to shows because they cannot tolerate being hot or wet.

Seven years into 6th Day Creatures, with a daughter in college and son in high school, Jamie says they are working through a transition period with his key animal adventure helpers not available nearly as often as before. Feeding and caring for scores of unconventional pets is time consuming, especially after days of he and Leigh working 12-hour shifts as nurses.

But, the shows, the children and the chance to share his passion for animals while sharing beliefs in God’s love and wisdom prove to be worth the work.

Learn more about 6th Day Creatures – including how to book an animal adventure show – at www.6thdaycreatures.com. l

Chaco Golden Knee Tarantula

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • October & November 2018

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On the Inside Pell City native Emory Cox lands job in White House

Story by Leigh Pritchett Submitted photos When Emory Cox received his college diploma this past May, he stepped right into a job at the White House.

On July 9, Cox began work as a staff assistant in the Office of Presidential Personnel.

In the years leading up to this role, Cox spent his summers in the presence of newsmakers. He had served as an intern for the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs (the chairman of which was U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby, R-AL); in the Capitol Hill office of U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-AL, not long before Sessions became the U.S. Attorney General; in the office of Alabama’s then-Gov. Robert Bentley; in the office of the state’s then-Attorney General Luther Strange; in the office of Alabama Secretary of State John H. Merrill; in the office of Congressman Mike Rogers, R-AL, and with the Alabama Republican Party.

During the summer of 2017, Cox was a White House intern in the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs. This internship led to Cox’s invitation to return to the White House for a full-time position in the administration of President Donald Trump.

“The Office of Presidential Personnel supervises the selection of executive branch political appointees,” said 22-year-old Cox. “It presents candidates to the President for his consideration and guides his nominees through the Senate confirmation process. The office’s primary goal is to serve President Trump and the nation by identifying highly qualified citizens who are wholeheartedly committed to advancing the Trump agenda and placing them in the Administration.”

Cox noted that his supervisor in the Office of Presidential Personnel is a senior Administration staffer who has served every Republican President since President Ronald Reagan.

“I am fortunate to have an encouraging boss who I learn a tremendous amount from each day,” Cox said. “Everyone in the office has been incredibly welcoming, and I have been impressed with my fellow staff members’ drive and dedication to improving the lives of all Americans.”

Cox noted: “To continue to build upon President Trump’s many successes, it is critical to have a dedicated team of talented individuals serving as his appointees in positions across the Federal government. (The Office of) Presidential Personnel endeavors to ensure that each member of his team – from Cabinet secretaries and agency heads to staff assistants and confidential aides – supports the President’s objectives and has the experience and qualifications needed to serve the American people effectively.”

Cox brings to his work the values he learned growing up in Pell City. He is the son of Annette Cox of Pell City and the late Ray Cox, who was founder of Metro Bank. Emory Cox is an alumnus of The Altamont School in Birmingham. A summa cum laude graduate of Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Va., Cox received his Bachelor of Arts degree in American history.

“A firm grasp of American history – including our nation’s divinely-inspired founding – is essential for those who hope to tackle today’s challenges,” Cox said of his decision to major in history. “Understanding and acknowledging the past is a critical component of any plan aimed at charting a course for the future.”

He chose an historical university for pursuing that degree, too. Washington and Lee University was founded in 1749, before the United States became its own nation. Though the

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DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • October & November 2018

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On the Inside university had a different name at its inception, it was later named for U.S. President George Washington, who was a benefactor, and for Gen. Robert E. Lee. Lee, who served as the university’s president after the War Between the States until his death in 1870.

At Washington and Lee, Cox was named to the national academic honor society Phi Beta Kappa and the national leadership honor society Omicron Delta Kappa (an organization that, incidentally, began in 1914 at Washington and Lee University). Cox also was awarded the Ollinger Crenshaw Prize in American History, which is the greatest honor given to an American history major at Washington and Lee University.

Working in the White House, for Cox, is an experience without comparison.

“Each day presents a myriad of learning opportunities, and I can think of no higher honor than serving President Trump and the American people at the White House,” Cox said.

“I am truly blessed, and I am grateful to the many people in my life who have made this opportunity possible. Each day is a new adventure.”

Cox continued, “When my time at the White House comes to a close, I look forward to bringing my experiences back home to Alabama.”

Cox then would like to earn a law degree and, ultimately, become a term-limited statesman working for the people of Pell City and St. Clair County.

“As far as I am concerned, I grew up in the best place in the world,” Cox said. “And I hope to, one day, have the opportunity to give back to my community – a community that has given more to me than I will ever deserve.” l

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2017 Inauguration

Cox meets with St. Clair Commissioner Tommy Bowers.

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • October & November 2018

Gateway Community Garden Promises to be a special place Story and photos by Carol Pappas Without much more than a plot of land, a few plants, a handful of visionaries and one big dream, Pell City Gateway Community Garden took root four years ago.

Today, it no longer resides on the quarter acre plot the city let the group use in those early days. It is a full-fledged, producing garden that helps feed the needy in Pell City. And it just got a sizable boost from the Community Foundation of Northeast Alabama that will help it grow into an impressive garden spot – a natural sanctuary from the hustle and bustle of everyday life.

In a groundbreaking ceremony on a sultry, summer day in August, the group took ceremonial shovels in hand – a natural fit for these gardeners – and broke ground on what promises to be a destination point for restoration and healing as well as a garden that produces bounties for those who need it most.

The garden is the result of a partnership with St. Simon Peter Episcopal Church, and it is located on the church’s land just across Mays Bend Road.

“It is for the community to enjoy,” said Debbie Smith, one of the catalysts of the project. “I have such appreciation for what God gave us. When I put that little seed in the ground, it makes my cheekbones go up,” and it illustrates that “God gave us many blessings and provided this harvest.”

Jennifer Maddox, CEO of the Foundation, talked of the genesis of the $10,000 grant the organization gave to the garden. It comes from the Susie Parker Stringfellow fund, Open Spaces Sacred Places, named for a woman who moved to Anniston from Mobile in the 1800s. Just days before she passed away, her handwritten will donated land to build a public hospital. Today its known as the Stringfellow Hospital.

But her giving did not end there. It lives on today through the grants like the one Gateway Community Garden received.

Maddox described it as “one gift of charitable giving that has touched millions.”

Open Spaces Sacred Places are intended to be areas that encourage “community well-being and resilience of mind/body/ spirit of both individuals and communities.” According to its mission, “These special places are conceived by an individual

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Movers, Shakers, Planters It takes a dedicated group to sow the seeds of success. For Pell City Gateway Community Garden, they are: Worth Barham Annette Cox Blair Goodgame Cori Harris Renee and Kevin Lilly Lisa Phillips Hope Skelton

Sam and Debbie Smith Mary Taylor Linda and Howard Tutwiler David Wadsworth Laura Wilson

or organization inspired with the idea that access to nature can make a positive impact on the various community and personal challenges individuals and communities. Behind each space is a Firesoul, a person with a burning passion to develop the site and who will have a leadership role in designing and implementing the space.”

In Pell City, Firesouls are as many as they are diverse. Partners have come together – businesses, individuals, civic leaders, churches and organizations – to form the foundation. The Episcopal Church is the anchor institution for this latest evolution of the garden, and the ‘dreamers’ who made it happen are continuing to dream big about the future.

It began with the idea of a place where community residents could rent a plot of land to grow their own harvest. But it led to a garden in which the entire community can have a sense of ownership. From the early days of growing tomatoes, okra and other vegetables and melons that had a limited life, the garden now produces more storable commodities like potatoes and

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • October & November 2018

onions. It supplies food for the Love Pantry, Pell City Senior Center, Good Works Foundation, Arc, Methodist Church and Episcopal Church.

Its help along the way comes not just from the volunteers who toil and till in the soil there. Businesses like Home Depot, The Pink Store, Johnny Smith and Sons, St. Clair Co-op, Johnny’s Electric, Hank’s Towing, Boy Scouts, and Future Farmers of America each contribute in their own way to its progress. A host of small monetary donations only add to the notion that this is truly a community garden.

“It basically was a dream,” said Worth Barham, one of the leaders of the group. Now it is quickly taking shape as the ultimate open space, sacred place and garden spot the entire community will enjoy for years to come.

The garden was designed by landscape architect O.G. Touchstone, ASLA, and the graphics are by garden volunteer Howard Tutwiler, a retired architect. The plans call for row crops, blackberries, corn, muscadine vines, fruit trees (donated

by Pell City Rotary Club), potted citrus or vegetables, a greenhouse, a raised bed for asparagus, an arbor, trees, ferns, magnolia, hydrangea and native azaleas.

It will have a waterfall and a demonstration area to teach the latest techniques for growing.

It features walkways and paths and a bench with a weatherresistant diary, where people can sit, reflect and write about their feelings and emotions of the day.

This garden will be the gateway to an inviting respite as well as a source for fortification of souls and those who are simply hungry for sustenance.

Maddox said she looked forward to one day sitting on that bench, for now, just drawn into the plans, and be able to reflect on Stringfellow’s gift and say: “Here is a woman who made a difference again.”

And as this Gateway Community Garden group continues to grow alongside its crops, the community will be reaping what they all have sown together. l

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • October & November 2018

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OURNEY’S EN

Big Canoe Creek Preserve in Springville is now a part of Forever Wild Story by Carol Pappas Photos by Susan Wall and Emily Y. Horton

It’s a journey that began nine years ago, and it has had as many twists and turns along the way as the winding, wooded trails that run through this 382-acre nature preserve.

Big Canoe Creek Nature Preserve in Springville is finally a reality. It is now a Forever Wild property, protected and preserved to be explored and enjoyed by generations to come.

It has come close before, not quite making it to the protected designation as a Forever Wild preserve, but a group of dogged Friends of Big Canoe Creek volunteers led by equally determined President Doug Morrison just would not give up.

He was no doubt inspired by the groundwork they meticulously laid in making a compelling case for saving this property for the future, others entered the picture to eventually move this project over what had been an elusive finish line.

Prominent Springville businessman Dean Goforth, helped them navigate the political process. So did Candice Hill and Don Smith of the St. Clair Economic Development Council.

Vickey Wheeler, a local artist and head of Nature Planning for Friends was among those helping push it to fruition.

Wendy Jackson, former executive director of Alabama Freshwater Land Trust and now executive VP of the Land Trust Alliance in Washington, D.C., was instrumental as was Barnett Lawley, former commissioner of the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and now a board member of the St. Clair EDC. “The Big Canoe Creek Preserve is perseverance at its finest,” Jackson said. “So many people committed to making the preserve a reality and never quit. Doug Morrison and all of the Friends of Big Canoe Creek, the City of Springville, St. Clair County Commission and Freshwater Land Trust were early champions and stayed the course, even when success seemed far from certain.

“Kudos to their forward thinking and leadership that created a remarkable legacy for my beloved home county. I grew up playing in Canoe Creek and look forward to visiting this new beautiful, preserve that brought so many people together. For me, it will always stand as a symbol to great character of the people in St. Clair County and why, no matter where my travels take me, I am so proud to call it home!”It is easy to use words like perseverance when describing the project’s history. At one point in the process, “They were at a place where they felt like it was dead,” said Goforth. “It wasn’t going anywhere.” He worked with State Rep. Jim Hill and State Sen. Jim McClendon as well as State Lands Manager Doug Deaton of ADCNR. Referring to Morrison and the Friends of Big Canoe Creek, Goforth said they had done “an awesome job of nominating the property and helping people understand its importance.”

Because of the relationships he and others had, they were able to combine forces and work together to take the effort to a whole new level.

“It was a team effort,” Morrison said. The city of Springville, St. Clair County Commission and various state officials and agencies invested all the support that was needed, and the preserve became official. “It will benefit people from now on,” Goforth added.

They predicted it will become one of the premier destinations in the state. It’s centrally located. It’s easy to access. And it has it has a number of diverse development possibilities over time, including horseback riding, canoeing, kayaking, bird watching, hiking, walking trails and possibly, mountain bike trails.

Look in any direction, and you cannot help but see an outdoor classroom surrounding you. The education component is limitless. Goforth called it a “huge opportunity from an education standpoint” with schools and colleges as natural partners along with other organizations who will use it as a teaching and research tool.

“The impact of this project will be felt across St. Clair County, both from a tourism perspective and a preservation presence,” said Retail Development Specialist Candice Hill of St. Clair EDC. “Because Springville is already set up to receive tourism dollars in its retail districts, they will feel the spinoff immediately. The participation of both St. Clair County and the City of Springville in this projects says to all of us that

they care about the quality of life and the preservation of green space, and we look forward to the future of this preserve,” she said. “Over 100,000 people visited the Forever Wild prerserve at Turkey Creek last year, and if we see similar results, this could really help local businesses.”

PREPARING FOR THE FUTURE On an August morning of overcast skies, dozens of volunteers, environmentalists and conservationists combed the tracts of land that run along Big Canoe Creek looking for even more reasons – species – this watershed should be preserved.

Two graduate students from the University of Alabama, Frank Gigliotti and Thomas Franzem showed up for the Bio-Blitz “just for fun. They were there looking for species of birds and insects. They are working with the State now for a return visit for a more thorough exploration.

Kim Waites of Wild South, a leader in public lands protection in the Southeast, volunteered to map the distance of the entire border of the property and look for places to develop trails.

Henry Hughes, retired director of Education at Botanical Gardens, a forester by trade, was looking forward to his first Bio-Blitz as well. His task would be identifying the trees found on the expansive parcel.

Educator Lacy Kamber talked of the programs Turkey Creek, where she works, has put in place. Named a Forever Wild property in 2008, its 466-acre park in Pinson is a growing attraction. It has six miles of hiking and biking trails and a creek that is “incredibly clean” with a waterfall that visitors can tube down, a natural waterslide. With more protected species than any other preserve, Turkey Creek has earned a reputation for its richness in education, recreation and environmental resources.

It is known for three species of darters, one of which – vermillion – is on the critically endangered species list. It only exists in 10 square miles of Turkey Creek.

ABOUT BIG CANOE CREEK Big Canoe Creek has plenty of its own precious resources.

The main part of the creek is more than 50 miles long with four tributaries flowing into it – Gulf Creek, Muckleroy Creek and two “Little Canoe” creeks.

Along its shores, the preserve is home to a mix of oakhickory and oak-pine forests. Thickets of mountain laurel and native azaleas populate its slopes.

Bordering the creek are Beech, Red and Sugar Maples,

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JOURNEY’S END

Volunteers use nets to collect species.

Hornbeams, Catalpa, Butternut and Big Leaf Magnolia trees.

In limited supply, but nevertheless dwelling n the land, are fire suppressed stands of river cane.

The creek itself is home more than 50 species of fish, including a rarity, the Trispot Darter, discovered in 2008 in Little Canoe Creek – a species that used to occur in Alabama but had not been observed in nearly 50 years. It is a species of conservation concern in Alabama, Tennessee and Georgia and is under review by the US Fish and Wildlife Service for listing under the Endangered Species Act. Because it had not been collected in Alabama since the mid20th Century, it was considered locally extirpated. With the discovery of the Trispot Darter, it is now designated, “Highest Conservation Concern” by the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

Mussels – nature’s water filter – are in great supply in Big Canoe Creek, illustrating and ensuring the creek as an ecological treasure. The creek has retained a majority of its mussel species. They are the most endangered because of their dependency on exceptionally high water quality.

Big Canoe Creek watershed has eight federally listed freshwater mussel species associated with it. And an 18-mile stretch of its main stem was designated in 2004 as a “critical habitat” under the Endangered Species Act. A distinct new species, The Canoe Creek Clubshell, only found in Big Canoe Creek, has been discovered in one of its tributaries.

Conservation status is designated for 10 species of mussels in Big Canoe Creek. Two species have state conservation status while eight have designations under the Endangered Species Act. Three of the eight are known from historic records only. Of the remaining five extant species, three are listed as endangered, one as threatened, and another is proposed for listing.

Dr. Wayne Barger of Alabama Department of Conservation, State Lands Division, talked of the importance of adding to the

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DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • October & November 2018

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JOURNEY’S END

An aquarium-type container enables a good look.

collections and identifying the species, like those found in the Bio-Blitz. “We are still working to get all the data identified.

It was a good day. It adds to our knowledge as we move forward.” Regarding its potential, Barger added, “It scored well as a nature preserve. This will protect its diversity” and allow people to observe nature, bird watch and hike – “enjoy nature as it should be.”

“For The Friends of Big Canoe Creek it has always been about protecting and educating ourselves and our community about Big Canoe Creek,” said Vickey Wheeler.

“The Big Canoe Creek Nature Preserve is our ‘living museum.’ We are planning ways everyone of all ages and abilities will have the opportunity to observe and learn about the natural world. A system of educational, gentle walking trails in combination with more strenuous hiking trails is what we are looking at first for public use. Whichever direction our community chooses to support, we must put the health and protection of the creek at the forefront of all decisions we make

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in planning Big Canoe Creek Nature Preserve.

Healthy creeks equal healthy communities.”

Future plans will include ways to connect with the city and bring support to local businesses. “We are continuing our talks with the city and county to bring more conservation areas into Alabama,” she said.

Evan Lawrence, a biologist in State Land Recreational Management, said his group is working closely with Springville to guide the process. “Plans call for a hiking trail system through there, mountain biking trails and possibly horseback trails.”

As the preserve nears opening in about six months, boundaries are being marked, a gate will be installed at the entrance to the property, the road is being improved and a kiosk in the parking area will be set up to offer information about the property.

Development of it will come in phases en route to a preserve destined to become a destination point, supporters say.

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • October & November 2018

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JOURNEY’S END

Volunteers gather at Springville Café before Bio-Blitz.

SUCCESS AT LAST Why so much preliminary work? Alabama’s biodiversity ranks Number 1 in so many categories, first in the U.S. in freshwater fishes, freshwater snails, freshwater mussels, crayfish and turtles. It is important to document the flora and fauna on this tract of land and the creatures in the creek. It gives historical data about the existing ecosystem and helps us better understand this Nature balance. Are there existing conditions affecting the plants or wildlife? Invasive species are everywhere, how bad is it here? Where exactly are they on the property? Are there any rare species found?

Where can new trails go that won’t affect any special plants found?

Nine years is a long time for a quest, but Morrison said all the work and the angst were worth it in the end. But he is quick to point out that it really isn’t the end, it’s a new beginning.

“At one time, there was talk of a development on this property, and we were concerned about the effects this would have on the creek as this property borders the creek.

As we were looking for ways to preserve this property, Vickey Wheeler and I had a meeting with two members of Springville’s Planning and Zoning group, Stephen Graham and David Jones. Mr. Jones, now on the City Council, pointed out the Forever Wild program to us.

We took the idea and ran with it.

“Alex Varner, now with The Nature Conservancy, a good friend and fellow Friends

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A volunteer doesn’t mind getting wet to help collect data

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • October & November 2018

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JOURNEY’S END

member, went with me to meet one of the landowners on the property and pitch the idea to him, to let The Friends of Big Canoe Creek nominate this property to Forever Wild. I’ll never forget the landowner asking how long it would take. I said then, “I have no idea, but what do you have to lose?” Who knew it would take nine years? One of our board members, Sean Andrews, was very beneficial in drawing up the necessary documents, maps, etc. for the nomination package and the journey began.”

HELP ALONG THE WAY “We met Wendy Jackson with the Freshwater Land Trust, and she was very instrumental from the beginning. She helped pitch the idea of a different type of economy with green space to the City of Springville and St. Clair County.

We met with the Springville City Council and the St. Clair County Commission, and they jumped on board and assisted financially to make this happen,” Morrison said. “This would not have happened, period, without their backing.

“Libba Vaughn carried the torch after Wendy left FWLT and attended the Forever Wild Board meetings with us. There were many roadblocks along the way, a lot of heartaches, headaches and frustrations, but we never lost hope.”

Morrison expressed gratitude to Friends members and board members, Mayor Isley for seeing the possibilities and believing in the project, the St. Clair Commission chairmen, Stan Batemon, originally, then Paul Manning, the Springville City Council, the St. Clair County Commission, Candice Hill, Don Smith and Dean Goforth for “helping get us to the goal line. Myself, I had many sleepless nights in those nine years – too many to count. The bottom line is, we got it going, the community paid attention, and the resources needed joined forces to make the Big Canoe Creek Nature Preserve a reality.”

“I believe that part of the the impact of the Forever Wild nature park in Springville will be to provide an untouched, natural and beautiful portion of God’s creation – Earth - made available to our citizens, neighbors, families and friends,” said Springville Mayor William “Butch” Isley. “The users of this beautiful sanctuary full of wildlife, fish and foliage will be able to spend time there in wonder and bewilderment at the beauty of this preserved area.”

In addition, he said, “The city of Springville – its citizens, businesses, churches and community residents will be benefitted in many ways by hosting guests and visitors from all parts of St. Clair and surrounding counties as everyone hears about this beautiful nature park.”

A BRIGHT FUTURE “I see the Forever Wild program as a unique way to preserve property in the State of Alabama, for the good of the State and its people. We hope this Big Canoe Creek Nature Preserve will benefit folks in our communities, benefit our educational institutions for research, outdoor classrooms, etc., and help maintain a natural balance for generations to come,” he said.

With an unmistakable passion, he added, “Big Canoe Creek is a special tributary. I know this Preserve just adds a small bit of protection from over development along the creek, but perhaps it can serve as food for thought. It will be wonderful to see folks getting outdoors and just enjoying nature for what it is. Take a clean breath and enjoy a little bit of tranquility while observing nature. I think folks will come, especially when the weather is cool, to enjoy a hike, get some exercise and just unwind. It may be like Field of Dreams, in reverse. If you don’t build it, they will come.”

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DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • October & November 2018

HEROES A tribute ST. CLAIR REMEMBERS

to those who serve It’s hard to mistake the patriotism that thrives in St. Clair County. From the state-ofthe-art Col. Robert L. Howard State Veterans Home to the many markers and monuments that serve as poignant reminders of service and sacrifice, to the 6,364 veterans who call St. Clair home, the evidence is clear.

Each year, Discover Magazine salutes the men and women who have served or are serving the country in uniform with a special section dedicated to stories about veterans and their experiences, many of them coming from the veterans home. Others, like in this section, raise awareness about veterans programs available and how they help serve those who have served us.

As Veterans Day approaches, it also serves as an opportunity for many businesses and individuals to publicly express their thanks for the service of more than 7 percent of the St. Clair County’s population, according to the 2016 estimate of the U.S. Census.

It is a fitting honor that the veterans home in St. Clair County bears the name of Col. Robert L. Howard. An Alabamian by birth, he was believed to be the most decorated living American soldier at the time of his death. His story is to be revered, remembered and retold.

His Congressional Medal of Honor reads: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. 1st Lt. Howard (then SFC.), distinguished himself while serving as platoon sergeant of an AmericanVietnamese platoon which was on a mission to rescue a missing American soldier in enemy controlled territory in the Republic of Vietnam.

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The platoon had left its helicopter landing zone and was moving out on its mission when it was attacked by an estimated 2-company force.

During the initial engagement, 1st Lt. Howard was wounded and his weapon destroyed by a grenade explosion. 1st Lt. Howard saw his platoon leader had been wounded seriously and was exposed to fire.

Although unable to walk, and weaponless, 1st Lt. Howard unhesitatingly crawled through a hail of fire to retrieve his wounded leader. As 1st Lt. Howard was administering first aid and removing the officer’s equipment, an enemy bullet struck 1 of the ammunition pouches on the lieutenant’s belt, detonating several magazines of ammunition. 1st Lt. Howard momentarily sought cover and then realizing that he must rejoin the platoon, which had been disorganized by the enemy attack, he again began dragging the seriously wounded officer toward the platoon area.

Through his outstanding example of indomitable courage and bravery, 1st Lt. Howard was able to rally the platoon into an organized defense force. With complete disregard for his safety, 1st Lt. Howard crawled from position to position, administering first aid to the wounded, giving encouragement to the defenders and directing their fire on the encircling enemy.

For 3 1/2 hours 1st Lt. Howard’s small force and supporting aircraft successfully repulsed enemy attacks and finally were in sufficient control to permit the landing of rescue helicopters. 1st Lt. Howard personally supervised the loading of his men and did not leave the bullet-swept landing zone until all were aboard safely.

1st Lt. Howard’s gallantry in action, his complete devotion to the welfare of his men at the risk of his life were in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit on himself, his unit, and the U.S. Army.

Discover joins St. Clair County in saluting Col. Howard and the thousands of men and women who sacrificed so much to preserve and protect our freedoms throughout our country’s history.

ST. CLAIR REMEMBERS

A life of ‘firsts’ Serving with the Tuskegee Airmen and breaking barriers Story by Scottie Vickery Photos by Wallace Bromberg Jr. Submitted photos As she looks back over photographs of her life and loved ones that hang in her room at the Col. Robert L. Howard State Veterans Home in Pell City, Beatrice Muse Price feels the need to pinch herself. “I’ve had a strange life with a lot of firsts,” she said. “It’s been an interesting, interesting journey.”

The granddaughter of slaves, young Beatrice started school at age 4 and never stopped blazing trails. The little girl with humble beginnings grew up to break color barriers in order to serve her country as a nurse during World War II. General George S. Patton was among her many patients, and she made history when she was assigned to help care for the Tuskegee Airmen, the first black pilots to serve in the U.S. military. “We took care of their medical needs and made sure they were in good shape,” she said. “Our job was to keep them flying.”

In 2012, nearly 70 years after her service with the Airmen, she was presented the Congressional Gold Medal for her efforts in the war.

At 94, Price can’t think of much she would change about her life. After leaving the Army, she was a nurse at the Birmingham VA Medical Center and started a health and wellness program at her church, which she counts among her greatest accomplishments.

Despite growing up during the height of segregation she lived to see Barack Obama become the first AfricanAmerican president and was among the estimated 1.8 million who flocked to Washington for his inauguration in 2009.

Four years later, she was the special guest of U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell during

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President Obama’s 2013 State of the Union Address.

“Every time I turn around, I’m involved with something that’s made me think, ‘Can you imagine this?’ I’ve never seen any reason to stop with less than you were capable of doing. Now that I look back on it, I can’t remember anything I was afraid to do, and I think that’s why I had such great opportunities everywhere I went,” she said.

Price was born in Bessemer on Jan. 21, 1924, the second of Henry and Frances Muse’s six children. The family moved to Hale County when she was 3, and she grew up on a farm in Greensboro, where her parents modeled strength, courage and determination. Badly injured in World War I, her father was in and out of the VA hospital for much of her childhood. “Mama had to run the farm, and boy did she run it,” she said. “She believed in doing everything possible to make life better for all of us.”

For that reason, Price got an early start on her education “My sister Ruth, who was 11 months older, was afraid of everything, including her shadow,” she mused. “When she went to school, Mama started me too, even though I was only 4, just to be company for her.”

Price excelled in school, despite her many chores around the farm and the time she spent helping to care for her father. That experience is ultimately what set her on her career path. “My father always said, ‘Bea, you would make a good nurse.’ He told me that from the time I was 3. By the time I graduated high school, he had convinced me totally,” she said.

The problem was, she graduated early, at age 16. “You had to be 17 to go to nursing school, so Daddy got a birth affidavit for me. Because of midwives, a lot of people didn’t have birth certificates, so rather than have me sit out a year, he aged me a year on my

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • October & November 2018

Beatrice Muse Price spent her life breaking barriers.

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • October & November 2018

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ST. CLAIR REMEMBERS birth affidavit,” she said.

Despite never having left Alabama, she boarded a train by herself and went to the Grady Memorial School of Nursing in Atlanta, graduating three years later in 1944 as a registered nurse.

During her college days, “segregation was at its height,” she said, and she remembers the superintendent of nurses telling her and her classmates to “go back to the cornfields and cook kitchens where you belong.” The white students and black students were separated, but Price didn’t allow the racism she experienced to affect her focus. She graduated with one of the highest grade point averages among both groups of students.

By the time she finished nursing school, “they were appealing for Army nurses with every breath,” she said. “We had recruiters at school every week or so, but you had to be 21 to join the Army. Daddy got a birth affidavit for college, but he said he wasn’t going to mess with the military.”

Instead, she spent a year in Trinity Hospital, an all-black private hospital in Detroit before becoming a U.S. Army Nurse in 1945. She joined the Army three days after turning 21 and was one of 12 black nurses sent to work at a hospital in Fort Devens, Mass., after completing basic training. “We were the first black nurses there and when they took us to breakfast the next morning, the forks were hitting the plates so hard we were looking to see how much china was broken,” she said with a laugh.

After earning the respect of her colleagues, she was the first black nurse to be promoted to head nurse at the hospital. Although she can’t remember what he was treated for, Gen. Patton was a patient in her ward. “Everyone called him ‘Blood and Guts’ because he was so forceful and fearless,” she said, adding that he wasn’t difficult or intimidating during his stay. “He disappointed me,” she joked.

After being promoted to First Lieutenant, Price was stationed at Lockbourne Army Air Base in Columbus, Ohio, and was assigned to the Tuskegee Airmen. The pilots, who trained in Alabama as a segregated unit at Tuskegee Institute’s Motion Field, were subjected to discrimination both inside and outside the military. “They were trying to be the best they could be in spite of the fact that people didn’t want them to do it at all,” she said. “I enjoyed working with them to the highest.”

Price said she got to know some of the pilots and flew with them on a few practice flights, even taking the controls on occasion. “They had to keep their hours up and they were so happy to have company along, they taught you everything they knew. Maybe I shouldn’t be telling you that,” she said with a grin.

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Visiting the Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, Va., during a veterans trip to Washington, D.C.

With Gov. Bob Riley during a veterans trip to Washington, D.C.

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • October & November 2018

The St. Clair County Commissioners proudly honor our veterans. They are what makes St. Clair County second to none.

Left to Right: Jimmy Roberts District 4, Tommy Bowers District 3, Ricky Parker District 2, Jeff Brown District 1 and Paul Manning, Chairman (Seated)

ST. CLAIR REMEMBERS Nursing days in World War II

After the war ended and Price returned home, she continued her nursing career at the Birmingham VA Medical Center, where she worked for 34 years. She was married twice and has three children, two stepchildren, four grandchildren, five stepgrandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Through the years, she’s “adopted” some others and counts them as her own. She credits her family and her career among her greatest blessings.

Price rejoiced in 2007 when President George W. Bush presented the Tuskegee Airmen – which included the nearly 1,000 pilots and support personnel such as armorers, engineers, navigators, intelligence officers, weather officers and nurses – with the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest honor given by Congress. In 2012, U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell presented Price with her own medal during a ceremony at her church, Sixth Avenue Baptist.

She is amazed at the honors she has received for what she calls fulfilling her calling.

“There’s nothing in the world I could have enjoyed more than nursing,” she said. “It has really been the most rewarding career I could possibly imagine. I’ve had a rich, full life, and I’ve just been in the right place at the right time with the right things somebody was looking for. It’s how God works. He finds you and gives you assignments, and you’ve just got to try to carry them out.”

66

With Alabama Congresswoman Terri Sewell

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • October & November 2018

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ST. CLAIR REMEMBERS

Saving Veterans Special court program helps our soldiers when many need it most Story by Elaine Hobson Miller Photos by Michael Callahan There was a time in his life when Jerry Franklin thought he could handle anything. He was a tough guy. He had overcome a rough childhood that included alcoholism at the age of three (because his mom gave him and his brother Wild Turkey whiskey to make them sleep), a failed suicide attempt at 11, and countless beatings by his grandfather.

He had joined the Marines at 16, later got into law enforcement, became a juvenile boot camp instructor, and was one of the federal marshals who brought in Eric Robert Rudolph, the Olympic Park Bomber and domestic terrorist wanted for a series of abortion clinic bombings across the South.

Two days before Thanksgiving of 2013, he was diagnosed with the Big C — in the form of nasopharyngeal cancer. That changed him, he started drinking again, and the alcohol proved that Franklin wasn’t so tough after all.

“It almost took my life and someone else’s life, too,” Franklin told a small group of people assembled in a St. Clair County courtroom in August. “This disease (alcoholism) knows no boundaries. It does not care who you know or who you are. It will take your life. If I had not had an accident and got into this program, I would be dead. This program is serious, and I’m grateful for this opportunity to find value in myself.”

The program to which he referred is Veterans Treatment Court, and Franklin was graduating from it that hot, sticky summer day. Headed by Presiding Circuit Judge Phil Seay, VTC gives veterans who run afoul of the law due to drugs a chance to stay out of prison.

“Veterans Treatment Court is under the umbrella of the St. Clair County Drug Court,” says Judge Seay. “We have four components to drug court: adult, veterans, family and mental health. I handle the adults and veterans.”

Begun in 2013, the VTC is based on a drug court model that utilizes incentives and sanctions with added components of plugging VTC participants into additional veterans’ services and using veteran mentors to guide the participants, Seay says.

When someone is arrested on a felony drug-related charge and pleads guilty, he can be given a five-year sentence without going directly to jail. His adjudication is held but not recorded, so that when the defendant graduates from the program, he

68

Mentors for Veterans Treatment Courts stand so Judge Seay can recognize them.

will not have a criminal record.

“The district attorney has to agree,” says Seay, who is president of the Alabama Drug Court Association. “Then the person enters our drug rehab program. He signs a contract agreeing to submit to random drug screening and to pay for drug testing at $220 per month, which is less than the cost of drugs. He must show up for the weekly court session on Thursday mornings, put in 50 hours of community service, submit to drug counseling, pay court costs, fines and restitution to any victims. He must agree to some type of after-program care, such as a support group. And he has to work.”

Eleven veterans are participating in the program now, which takes an average of 18 months to complete. Some go through in a year if they have no sanctions (violations of contract terms).

“Instead of sending them to prison, we’re trying to keep them out,” Seay says. “It costs about $25,000 a year to house a prisoner. That’s $275,000 we’ll save on these 11, but it’s $4.5 million saved for drug court overall, based on the 180 we’ve graduated from all four drug court programs since 2007. Plus, graduates are paying taxes, making money, raising children or paying child support. We only send to prison if they commit a new crime or quit the program.”

Of those 180 drug court graduates, 95% have not committed new felonies, Seay says. He has seen no re-offenders at all among the 16 vet court graduates.

Seay is just one part of the VTC team. It includes Cindy Smith, drug court coordinator; Harvey Bell, director of

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • October & November 2018

Judge Phil Seay congratulates Jerry Franklin on his graduation from Veterans Treatment Court.

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • October & November 2018

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ST. CLAIR REMEMBERS St. Clair Drug Lab employees James Wansant, Laura Godwin and lab director Stacy Williams are part of the VTC team.

New Pathways counselor Amanda Lovell, a 2016 adult drug court graduate Community Corrections; Patsy Isbell from New Pathways, a local, private drug counseling company; a defense lawyer who rotates from the circuit contract criminal defense lawyers, and Carol Boone, assistant district attorney. “We have had in the past community members that were a part of the team, too,” says Seay.

A gentle father-figure in the courtroom, Seay chats with each veteran about his job and family. He can be firm, though, when needed, as when he told one truculent vet, “You roll your head at her one more time, and you’ll go to jail.” The “her” to whom he was referring was Boone, drug court assistant district attorney.

“He’s very compassionate but very stern, because people try to manipulate the program,” says Franklin. “But he’s fair. He wants you to succeed, but if you’re dead set on doing your own thing, he’ll send you to prison, no two ways about it.”

One female veteran saw Seay’s stern side the day Franklin graduated. She had missed the weekly Thursday morning drug court. In addition, one of her urine tests had come back positive for drugs.

“I’ve been hanging out with the wrong people,” she told Seay.

He ordered her into the custody of the sheriff, and she had to sit through the remainder of that court session in handcuffs.

She would be remanded to jail until the following weekly court session.

“Sanctions start at 24 hours in jail, then graduate to 48, 72, four days, a week, then a minimum of 30 days and usually inpatient treatment at that juncture,” Seay says. “Some offenders graduate at one year, but the average is about 18 months due to sanctions and some as long as three years due to long stints in rehabs. I think we had one guy go four years. We do give four- and eight-hour community service sanctions for minor violations like being late for court.”

A new charge and conviction while going through the program will net the offender a five-year prison sentence

70

without opportunity for probation. The same applies if a veteran quits or refuses to comply with court requirements. “I won’t kick them out to prison as long as they don’t quit or ask to be sent,” Seay says. “We’ve had only a handful sent to prison.”

By law, drug court cannot exist without the consent and cooperation of the District Attorney in each county, according to Boone. “Mr. (Richard) Minor, St. Clair County district attorney, decided years ago to let us start one,” she says. “I’m the assistant DA assigned to it in St. Clair. I have to decide who’s eligible and meets all the criteria.”

Most of the defendants are first-time, non-violent, felony offenders, she says. To qualify, their crimes must have been committed as a result of drug addiction, whether caught with drugs or stealing something because of drugs. Drug dealers are not allowed into the program.

“We look at the facts of the case, what they’re charged with, their criminal history and any prior treatment,” Boone says. “Those committing crimes of violence are not allowed in. The ultimate goal is to get them clean so they can become productive members of society and contribute instead of take.”

Veterans are teamed up with peer mentors for support.

“We’ve had mentors go find vets who have run or are suicidal,” Seay says.

Robert Johnson, a veteran of the U.S. Coast Guard and the Army National Guard, has been a volunteer mentor for the VTC since the program began. “If they have a problem, such as no transportation, we will pick them up and make sure they get to court,” Johnson says. “We also provide transportation to their drug treatment program when necessary. And we’re there if they need somebody to talk to.”

It’s not just veterans and mentors who experience a sense of satisfaction from their participation in the VTC. Judge Seay says he loves his drug court work.

“You can actually help someone,” he says, “and at the same time, save lives and taxpayers’ money.”

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • October & November 2018

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ST. CLAIR REMEMBERS

Veterans Outreach Getting the benefits they deserve

Veteran David White (left) is proud of the new home Wayne Johnson found for him.

Story by Elaine Hobson Miller Photos by Michael Callahan

72

Ed Jackson thought he just needed his floor repaired.

Ditto for David White.

Both men got more than they anticipated when they called St. Clair County Extension’s Veterans Outreach. They got new homes.

“When I went out to Ed’s trailer, the floor was beyond repair,” says Wayne Johnson, Veterans Outreach Extension Agent Assistant for the Alabama Cooperative Extension System’s St. Clair County office. “That’s when people came together and started lending a helping hand for Mr. Jackson, a veteran of the U.S. Army.”

The situation with White and his wife was similar. White called Johnson because he had mold in his flooring. As it turned out, the mold was rampant beneath his house, and the house had to be torn down.

In each case, Johnson put his community contacts to work and found a couple of abandoned mobile homes. Not only were the homes donated, but he found groups willing to pay for their delivery and set up. Volunteers provided materials and labor to ready each home for occupancy.

“The key is spreading the word,” says Johnson, who has been at this job three years. “I do lots of networking. I found someone to tear down his old home, someone to pay the $7,000 to move the trailer, someone to do plumbing and wiring for this man.”

Veterans Outreach is the brainchild of former St. Clair County Commission Chairman Stan Batemon, a Vietnam-era Marine veteran who also completed a 16-year career with the Alabama Army National Guard. A partnership between the St. Clair County Commission and the Alabama Cooperative Extension System, its function is to help veterans access the benefits they have coming to them as a result of having served in the military. Those benefits include education, employment, wellness, family support and legal issues.

“More than 7,300 veterans call St. Clair County home,” says Johnson. “Many of them aren’t even aware of the benefits available to them, and a lot of the older ones don’t want to take advantage of them because they feel others are more deserving.”

Veterans Outreach has built several wheelchair ramps for disabled veterans, repaired roofs and painted homes. In each case, materials were donated and volunteers handled the labor. Home Depot, Habitat for Humanity, First Baptist Church of Pell City, Eden Westside Baptist Church of Pell City, Leo Russo Building Company Inc. of Trussville and Family Endeavors of Birmingham have partnered with Veterans Outreach on several projects.

“Working with local businesses, organizations and individuals is a way we can skip the red tape veterans often have to go through to get help,” says Johnson.

The St. Clair County Commission provides Johnson with a vehicle, and Dean Matthews of Bermuda Baptist Church of Repton in Conecuh County, donated a van with a wheelchair lift to take veterans to medical appointments.

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • October & November 2018

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ST. CLAIR REMEMBERS Lead VTC mentor Darryl Higginbotham, Veterans Affairs Director Hobert Thomas and Veterans Outreach agent assitant Wayne Johnson work together to help St. Clair veterans get the help and benefits they are due.

Johnson spends time each week visiting with veterans at the Colonel Robert L. Howard Veterans Home in Pell City, sometimes just listening to them. “Everyone has a story,” says Johnson, who served in the Air Force. “There are times where many veterans just want someone to talk to.”

Compared with their urban counterparts, rural veterans are often seriously disadvantaged in terms of being aware of the federal and state services available to them, says Lee Ann Clark, coordinator of Alabama Extension System’s St. Clair County office.

“There is a critical need to connect veterans within communities, especially in small communities, to resources that can improve their financial well-being and their employment prospects,” Clark says. “For more than a century, Cooperative Extension has been about providing effective, face-to-face outreach to people where they live and work. And for this reason, we think we are especially well-suited to serve our county’s veterans, especially those in critical need of assistance.”

A pilot project that actually began in 2014, Veterans Outreach is a program that Clark hopes will be replicated in other counties throughout the state. (*Editor’s Note: There is a similar but non-profit, charitable organization called Veterans Outreach that has offices in five states, including one in Hartselle, Alabama.)

Alabama Extension Director Gary Lemme says the partnership between St. Clair County and Alabama Extension reflects a combined commitment to those who provided this nation’s defense.

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“Helping the families of these heroes access Veterans Affairs benefits that they have earned and providing resources to help them cope with the unique stresses of deployment and returning to home life will benefit not only those directly involved but also the entire community,” Lemme says.

Johnson has referred a number of veterans to the state’s Department of Veterans Affairs office, manned by Hobert Thomas, right across the hall from his office at the St. Clair County Courthouse in Pell City. Thomas helps veterans with service-related disabilities and their families fill out the paperwork to get their pensions, death and educational benefits.

Ed Jackson never realized how much help he could get until he contacted Wayne Johnson. “I am very thankful that Mr. Johnson found this trailer for me. He has been such a big help all the way through this process.”

As of this writing, Army veteran David White and his wife, Linda, were living with his wife’s mother in Springville while their mobile home is being readied for occupancy in Pell City.

White says having a nice home that is mold-free will mean everything once he gets in it.

“We’re very grateful to Veterans Outreach for this new home,” Linda White says. “Our house got torn down. David built it in the ‘70s, and it was framed with heart pine. Mold got into that pine, and it couldn’t be fixed. My husband has lung cancer, so we’re very grateful for Veterans Outreach or we’d be living in house full of mold.” l Veterans may contact Wayne Johnson at 205-338-9146 or by email at wjj0006@aces.edu

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • October & November 2018

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Business Review Louis

Alabama Mailbox Company’s new storefront

A new era begins at Northside

76 DISCOVER Essence St. Clair •••August & September 2013 of St. ClairThe •The Business Review DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair October && November 2017 76• DISCOVER The Essence DISCOVER The Essence St. Clair •August February &July March 2016 DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair June & July 2016 76 DISCOVER The Essence ofof St. Clair & September 2017 2018 2017 DISCOVER DISCOVER Essence The Essence of St. Clair of St. ••Clair Clair December June 2016 & 2015 2017 DISCOVER The Essence ofof St. Clair December 2017 & January January 2018 DISCOVER The Essence of St. •••April & May

Story and photos by Carol Pappas

Alabama Mailbox

New store on Ashville square fulfills longtime vision When Marty Crews served on the Ashville City Council, one of the sturdiest planks in his platform was the unwavering belief that Ashville could revitalize its downtown.

Once the heart of the city’s business district, the courthouse square in recent years has been plagued by empty storefronts and vacant buildings. But Crews was hoping for a resurgence and rather than sitting on the sidelines and talking about it, he’s actually doing something about it.

Crews has located his company, Alabama Mailbox, on the square two doors down from where the corner drugstore once thrived for generations. Dr. Labbe has transformed that drugstore building into a modern look for his growing dental practice. A silk screening business has moved in next door and has been able to maintain business there for a few years.

Crews sees both as the beginning of a renaissance for downtown, and he wants to be a part of it, too.

Don’t let the name of his new store deceive you. Yes, it has a showroom for his refurbished mailboxes and his office in the back, but Alabama Mailbox is more. Much more.

It is a retail store showcasing works by mostly local people. It’s as much about promoting what the region has as it is contributing to the new business population. It’s as much about leading by example as it is about simply opening a store.

For Crews, it’s about breathing new life into downtown. It’s about proving a point. “You can’t expect people to invest in your city if you’re not willing to do it yourself,” Crews said.

That’s why when he was looking for a place to relocate his office from his home for the past 17 years, he chose downtown. But he took it a step further and added a store to help draw people downtown.

Opening in late August, he described traffic to his new store as “slow, but we anticipated that because people are used to driving by empty stores in Ashville. It’s going to take time.”

He sees the key as a unified push to shop local. It was his mantra when he was on the city council.

To encourage local shopping, what better way than to use local vendors as much as possible and promote what is made right here in your own backyard, he reasoned.

The new store carries a little bit of everything.

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Business Review

Alabama Mailbox Company

Numbered among the vendors he promotes are: • Klassic Kandles of Rainbow City, which is a company that specializes in fundraising for schools and charities. “That fit well with us,” said Crews.

• Steph’s Hand Stamped Jewelry of Ashville, featuring handcrafted, one-of-a-kind jewelry.

• Whiz’s Country Salsa, a little south of the border fare from Ashville.

• Jackson Southern Charms, owned by Rodney Jackson, another Ashville craftsman who makes rustic crosses and other pieces.

• TMG Photography, a local photographer capturing local scenes.

• Salty Traditions, although a designer of performance wear from Louisiana, it has a local connection. It sponsors the charter fishing boat Crews captains on the coast.

• LakeLife, a St. Clair County company that produces Tshirts, performance shirts, hats, visors, boat totes and decals with the Neely Henry LakeLife branding, promoting the nearby lake.

• Ceramo, creator of high-end pottery from North Carolina.

“They are our biggest vendor that is not local.”

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Throughout the store, you’ll find the unexpected. Products are displayed on antiques, blending old with new. They sell flag poles for commercial and home use, home and garden accessories and reptiles.

The reptiles, like baby tortoises who can live 70 years and grow to 200 pounds, are an attraction as well as a seller. He originally thought of having the reptiles – tortoises, chameleons and bearded dragons – as an attraction for the kids. But it grew into sales, and he took advantage of their popularity.

He tries to have a little something for everybody, hoping to draw more and more shoppers to downtown Ashville.

“We need to diversify,” Crews said.

“Having been on the city council, I am fairly well known in the city, so why not lead by example? The main thing is to show other people we can, in fact, have thriving business in Ashville.” l

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • October & November 2018

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Business Review

Town and Country

Northside aims to take patient care to next level Story by Carol Pappas Northside Medical Associates is making a habit of staying on the move. On the heels of doubling its size, partnering on clinics in underserved areas of Springville, Ashville and Trussville and announcement of intentions to partner on a Wellness Center venture, its next move is to take urgent care to the next level.

On Oct. 15, Northside will open Accel Urgent Care, a division of Northside Medical, in its original medical practice location in Building I on the campus at 70 Plaza Drive, Suite 1.

Accel’s hours will be Monday through Saturday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sundays from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Northside founder and CEO Rock Helms called it, “The next phase of developing a comprehensive primary care delivery method. We’re really excited about it. It’s really going to be something unique.”

It was the brainchild of partner Dr. Michael Dupre’, who initiated Northside’s After Care extended hours years ago.

The new concept will be a blend of primary care, emergency room care and urgent care all under one roof with patients having access to advanced diagnostics, a full range of lab services, CT and ultrasound. “It’s good for patients having urgent care with primary care. It yields benefits,” Helms said.

It is tightly interconnected with the primary care network, making the transition to a regular doctor in a timely manner – that day or the next – much smoother because of that connection between the urgent care services and Northside’s primary care practice.

In a typical urgent care setting, the patient is generally asked

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Medical Associates

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • October & November 2018

Northside’s expansive campus will now include Accel Urgent Care in Building I, giving greater access to all services Northside has to offer.

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • October & November 2018

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Business Review

Town and Country

Accel Medical Director Dr. Jeremy Allen

to follow up with their primary care doctor. With Accel, if they are a Northside patient, the physician is just a phone call away.

If they don’t have a primary care doctor, the referral can be instant.

“It improves the transition of care,” Helms explained. “With our model, it prevents inefficiencies.” If you need primary care, Northside can provide it. If you need hospital care, Northside has that relationship.

“It is very efficient and patient friendly,” Helms added. “The technology is already in place. We’re also going to have a phone app that gives expected waiting times.”

Dr. Jeremy Allen is the medical director for Accel, and he has 10 years of experience working in that realm of health care.

“We are excited about the opportunity of his managing it,” Helms said.

Allen is board certified in Family Medicine, graduated medical school in Kansas City and was chief Resident at St. Vincent’s East. He served at Cooper Green Hospital and St. Vincent’s East Emergency Department prior to joining American Family Care as regional medical director.

When Northside was looking for a way to build out its

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continuum of care, its philosophy and that of Allen’s mirrored one another. They wanted to bridge the gap between their strong primary care and hospital practices.

He explained that when people have a medical issue, whether it’s a neighbor, a family member or someone at church, they have a person they trust to call. In his circle that is him.

But not everyone has someone to call. In that moment, Northside wants to “be that person, be that call, be that place you go when you’re in that spot. Northside Medical has a family of patients, and they want to be there when they need to make that call.”

The ability to close that gap is what appeals to Allen. “I applaud Rock and Northside for bridging this gap as a service to their patients. We are a team, and this increases access to the team with state-of-the-art diagnostics, cutting edge lab and facilities.” He talked of the diagnostic technology available at Accel that can diagnose the flu with virtually a 100 percent success rate.

Accel’s goal is to get patients in, get them out and get them better, Allen said. “Who better to do that than their hometown doctor?” l

DISCOVER The Essence of St. Clair • October & November 2018

It’s like catching the

WINNING PASS each month.