INSIDE TODAY: HARTSELLE RETURNS TO PLAYOFFS AFTER DEFEATING BUCKHORN 52-7 SEE PAGE B-1
Hartselle Enquirer WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2020
Volume 87, No. 43
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Hartselle Veterans Day parade to change venues By Rebekah Yancey rebekah.yancey @hartselleenquirer.com The 10th annual Veterans Day parade will change venues for this year because of the COVID19 pandemic. The event, which historically runs down Main Street after beginning at the Depot, will be held Nov. 7. “Due to COVID-19,
Mayor Randy Garrison suggested we make a change to the veterans parade this year to keep the participants safe and comply with the governor’s mandate,” event organizer Lee Greene explained. Greene said the parade route will run from the south parking lot of See PARADE, Page A-5
MCSO terminates, arrests corrections officer on assault charges By Rebekah Yancey rebekah.yancey@hartselleenquirer.com
Cullman Regional breaks ground on Hartselle Health Center By Rebekah Yancey rebekah.yancey@hartselleenquirer.com
Elected officials from Hartselle and Morgan County, representatives of Cullman Regional Medical Center and members of the Hartselle Area Chamber of Commerce celebrated the hospital’s newest facility, named See GROUNDBREAKING, Page A-5
COVID-19 cancels annual Butterfly Ball memorializing Hartselle child By Rebekah Yancey rebekah.yancey @hartselleenquirer.com The fourth annual Butterfly Ball held by the Prayers for Kayleigh Foundation has been cancelled. The announcement came recently on the non-profit organization’s Facebook page, and according to the post, the ongoing COVID19 pandemic is to blame. “It is with an abundance of caution and heavy hearts we announce the 2020 Butterfly Ball is cancelled due to COVID-19. This means we need your help now more than ever,” the post reads. The event is the largest fundraiser of the year held by the PFK, founded by Tim and ‘Carrow McClendon of Hartselle in honor of their daughter. “Without (the event) we will be forced to scale back or cancel research grants, awareness programs, scholarships as well as family and community support initiatives,” the post continued. “The event is attended by many who work in the medical field, and a lot of our speakers are either cancer survivors or fighting cancer, so holding it this year wasn’t worth the risk,” ‘Carrow added. The foundation began as a Facebook page ‘Carrow started as a way to keep friends and family updated after Kayleigh’s diagno-
See BUTTERFLY Page A-7
Hartselle murder defendant has initial hearing By Michael Wetzel For the Enquirer
sis with a terminal brain tumor, DIPG, in 2016. Last year the Butterfly Ball raised more than $40,000 for pediatric cancer research, and even though the event won’t happen this year, there will be a live auction held virtually in its place that will launch Nov. 20 and be open for a week. Visit the PFK Foundation website for more information about available items and how to bid. Kayleigh’s story In May 2016 Kayleigh was diagnosed with Diffused Intrinsic Pontine Glioma – DIPG – an inoperable, incurable brain tumor. Most patients diagnosed with DIPG are children ages 6-10; the life expectancy is 6-9 months from diagnosis, and the survival rate is less than 1 percent. Medically, there is no hope, no medicine that can even slow it down. Patients with DIPG can choose to do radiation, and if it works, it might buy them a little more time – but even with radiation, the tumor roars back to life with vengeance in a matter of months. Once the tumor begins to progress, it shuts down the patient’s fine motor skills, then gross motor skills, taking away the ability to walk, swallow and breathe. Through all of
A Hartselle man has been arrested on four felony assault charges and terminated from his position with the Morgan County Sheriff’s Office. Investigators with the MCSO obtained arrest warrants for Jaylend Handley Edward Handley, 26, of Hartselle Oct. 22 after an incident that sent four inmates of the Morgan County Jail to the hospital with respiratory issues. Handley allegedly placed an unknown irritant on the cigarettes of several inmates, causing respiratory issues, according to the sheriff’s office. Uninvolved members of the corrections staff initiated a medical call and began rendering aid to those affected, according to the MCSO. As a precaution, the inmates were transported to the hospital, treated and released back to the jail. Public information officer Mike Swafford said the four affected inmates have now recovered. Handley was charged with four counts of assault in the third degree after turning himself into the Morgan County Jail. He was booked on a $1,200 bond. “We will not condone any misconduct by any members of our organization,” Sheriff Ron Puckett said in a statement. “Our corrections staff is charged with the care, custody and control of our inmates. We cannot accept anything less.”
Special to the Enquirer
(From left) Tim McClendon, ‘Carrow McClendon, Kooper Rooks, Grace McClendon and Cole McClendon pose for a group photo during the third annual Butterfly Ball Masquerade to benefit the Prayers for Kayleigh Foundation.
A Hartselle woman accused of fatally shooting a man at her residence in the Flint community Friday had an initial hearing Monday afternoon. Mary Evelyn Hamm, 59, of 93 Sage Private Drive, Hartselle, is charged with murder Hamm in the shooting death of Bruce Everett Cox. According to court records, Cox was 54 and a resident of Decatur. Morgan County sheriff’s spokesman Mike Swafford said Hamm’s initial hearing with a Morgan County judge was done virtually from the jail’s video arraignment room. Decatur police spokeswoman Emily Long called Friday’s fatal shooting “domestic related.” Morgan County Coroner Jeff Chunn said Cox died at Decatur Morgan Hospital after a single gunshot wound. Cox was pronounced dead at 6:49 p.m. Friday. Hamm remains in the county jail with bail set at $100,000, Swafford said. The case is Morgan County’s 21st homicide of the year.
DEATHS For full obituaries, see page A-2
• Talmadge Joel Mooney • Ricky Alvin Cook • Bill Farris • Wilma Inez Kirby • Anthony Freeman
• Lynn Carden • Larry Lee Guthrie • Harold Shaneyfelt • Elizabeth Ydeen Morgan