0802 islander

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COMMUNITY CALENDAR: Ongoing and Upcoming Events, PAGE 4

Local triathlete encourages family, friends to compete in September race on Alabama’s Gulf Coast

The Islander

INSIDE

AUGUST 2, 2017 | GulfCoastNewsToday.com |

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Task force pitches Gulf Shores city school system

Big Beach Brewing celebrates National IPA Day Introducing…. the inaugural National IPA Day celebration at Big Beach Brewing Company. The ninemonth old independent craft brewery in Gulf Shores plans to release three different versions of the sought-after IPA on August 3. To find out more, see page 35.

When the USSSA teams stream into town next summer, this field in Orange Beach will have a new look.

Orange Beach plans upgrades for Sportsplex BY JOHN MULLEN Islander Contributor

Back to School Beach Bash set for August 17 in Gulf Shores The City of Gulf Shores will host its annual Back to School Beach Bash at 6 p.m. on Thursday, August 17 at the west end of the Gulf Shores Public Beach. For more information, jump to page 32.

ORANGE BEACH – Coming to the beach to play baseball or softball and relax on the sand in salty breezes can make for a fun summer. But those same breezes aren’t necessarily good for the facilities where hundreds of games are played on fields in Orange Beach and Gulf Shores. Orange Beach recently voted to spend $610,000 to replace some metal fencing – among other improvements – at the Sportsplex to try and eliminate some of the deterioration it faces in a coastal setting. It’s the first of three phases in a three-

year upgrade the city is undertaking. Work will start on July 31 as city crews take down fences, backstops and dugouts. Four other fields and the soccer complex are not affected by this work. “Basically, just through many, many years of wear and tear and the weather, we face the erosion of the backstops and the fencing,” City Administrator Ken Grimes said. “We are converting to poles and netting which are more popular with a lot of the teams. For complexes, you see that more and more today.” With less metal at the facility, Grimes said, city crews won’t have to work as SEE UPGRADES, PAGE

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Shipp’s looks to reopen in three weeks BY JOHN MULLEN Islander Contributor

DEATHS

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Shirley Barrett Burrows Morley Jr. Norene Dean White Clara Arlene Wichterman

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ORANGE BEACH – Matt Shipp was a grateful man a day following an early-morning in the iconic restaurant he and wife Regina run, Shipp’s Harbour Grill at Sportsman Marina. “We’d just remodeled so we’re very thankful there was no roof damage so there’s no major external structural issues,” he said. “We’re ready to get it put back together.” In as quickly as three weeks, he hopes. Shipp’s is one of the resort area’s favorite restaurants and there was an outpouring of support on social media sites and from friends and neighbors. “We’ve had a lot of outreach from the community,” Shipp said. “I’ve had more texts and phone calls from friends and clients and customers concerned and offering whatever they can

do. Which is great about Orange Beach. Everybody from the first responders to the community, everybody was there to help.” One of the first notes of thanks he sent out was to the Orange Beach Fire Department. A security guard noticed smoke coming out of the back of the building at 4:20 a.m. on July 26 and called 911. “Orange Beach Fire responded very quickly and maintained the fire in a small area of the kitchen,” Shipp said. He said an electrical malfunction is the likely cause of the fire, but officials who investigated weren’t able to pinpoint it’s start. SEE SHIPP’S, PAGE

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PHOTO BY CRYSTAL COLE/ ISLANDER EDITOR

A standing room only crowd greeted Gulf Shores City Council for a presentation on a city school feasibility study. By CRYSTAL COLE crystal@gulfcoastmedia.com

The citizens of Gulf Shores want more from their education system, and Monday night they came out in droves to tell their city council just that. Kevin Corcoran, spokesperson for the Island Education Task Force, presented the desire for a city school system feasibility study to Mayor Robert Craft and council with a standing room only crowd behind him. He said the Baldwin County Board of Education (BCBE) had repeatedly revised it’s numbers for projected growth in the Gulf Shores feeder pattern, having the school actually lose numbers over ten years. “We have very different expectations for out island education than the Baldwin County Public School System has,” Corcoran said. “We realized how divergent we were in goals, philosophies and ideas. They are not someone we are interested in partnering with on a long-term basis.” Corcoran went on to say that Gulf Shores was not included in the first two phases of the pay-as-yougo capital improvements plan enacted by the BCBE, and was only allotted $3.8 million of the more than $100 million total spent in the county for improvements to the elementary school.

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“We immediately began to explore other alternatives,” Corcoran said. “Our first and foremost alternative was a special tax district. We researched that idea; we researched multi-municipal school who contract services with one another, and we even explored a charter school system, I can tell you for various and numerous reasons all three of those alternatives were found to not be viable.” Corcoran said he met with Dr. Aaron Milner, superintendent of Saraland City Schools. Milner said he visits all four campuses of his school system every day, something Corcoran witnessed first hand. Corcoran said Milner knew all the students who came up to him by name. He referenced a video of BCBE superintendent Eddie Tyler at a meeting saying he Skypes with many of his principals to highlight the infrequent meetings between the two. Tyler told the Islander he was saddened by some of the rhetoric used during the meeting and disputed some of the claims made. “I’m highly disappointed to hear some of these claims because I feel like I’ve spent as much time at the Gulf Shores and Orange Beach schools comparatively with anywhere else in the county,” Tyler said. With regards to his SEE PITCH, PAGE

Gulf Coast Media

BALDWIN LIVING, 5-7

OPINION, 10-11

CLASSIFIED, 8-9

OUT & ABOUT, 23

HEALTH, 20-22

SPORTS, 12-14

VOLUME 41 • ISSUE 32

LEGALS, 24-31

TV LISTINGS, 15-18

1 SECTION • 36 PAGES

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