The Observer

Thursday Jan. 06, 2022

Vol. 14, No. 13

Opelika, Alabama

An award-winning publication created 'For local people, by local people.'

New County Administrator Steps Into Role management type job."

When the application for the job initially opened this past summer, Leverette missed it — she said she returned from vacation the day it closed and had decided against applying.

However, the application was reopened in September and she took the leap.

“I’m sitting at work one day in September and my husband sends me this text and it’s a copy of the job opening and he said, ‘well, I guess they didn’t get what they wanted.’

And so at that point I said, ‘okay, I’m going to apply for it.'"

BY HANNAH LESTER HLESTER@ OPELIKAOBSERVER.COM

Lee County welcomed a new county administrator at its last commission meeting — Holly Leverette.

Leverette will take over from Roger Rendleman, who served as county administrator for over 20 years.

The new administrator comes from Montgomery, where she served as the city’s director of risk management. However, she has been a Lee County resident since 1993.

LEVERETTE “I knew that Roger was going to be retiring and I told my supervisor, ‘If that job ever comes open, and

when he retires, if they don’t have somebody set for that job, I’ll apply for it.’ Just because it’s more of a

Opelika Mourns Dr. Lofton

Leverette had two different interview sessions with commissioners in order to not violate the open-meetings law.

Additionally, she met with Probate Judge Bill English and former County Administrator Rendleman.

She was then asked to attend the Lee County Commission meeting in December and answer some more questions on record.

During an executive session, the decision was made to hire Leverette.

The new administrator said she didn’t know any of the commissioners before

this process.

“I think that gives me a chance to form my own working relationship with them and my own expectations and feelings about how things are going to be,” she said. “And I think it gives them the same feeling working with me.”

Leverette said her first goal is to get to know the county and the system. Not only is she a Lee County resident, but she took the time to go back and read the minutes from previous Lee County Commission meetings.

See ADMINISTRATOR, page A2

Hemp Licensee Orientation Meetings Scheduled in 2022 CONTRIBUTED BY ACES WRITTEN BY KATIE NICHOLS

Former Opelika City Council Member and veterinarian, Dr. Robert Lofton, passed away on New Year’s Day following a battle with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

Lofton was elected to the council in 2020 and began his term as the Ward 3 Council Member in November 2020 and officially stepped down from position as of Nov. 2, 2021.

“We are saddened by the passing of Dr. Robert Lofton,” said Opelika Mayor Gary Fuller. “… He was a faithful member of the council and remained active while battling this terrible disease.”

In the year that Lofton served, he worked toward helping Opelika grow and be a better place.

“He was compassionate and caring with a large heart for people,” Fuller said. “He was truly an exceptional man. I will

The Alabama Cooperative Extension System is partnering with the Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries (ADAI) to host five hemp licensee orientation meetings throughout the state.

Licensed growers, processor/handlers and universities are all welcomed, but a current license is not required to attend. The meetings will be an overview of the 2022 hemp season with changes to hemp rules, procedures, deadlines and requirements for licensees. Each meeting will take place from 9 a.m. to noon, with light snacks provided.

Alabama Extension Entomologist, Katelyn Kesheimer said presenters will provide information on hemp budgets, as well as tips for successful growing.

“In previous years,

always be grateful for his leadership in getting the residential rental ordinance passed.”

Lofton only served one year but he was revered as a wise businessman and leader.

“Robert Lofton in the short time that he served on the city council became a dear friend and colleague to me,” said Eddie Smith, president of the city council. “I always could ask his opinion and know that I would get a straight answer from him, and he always thought about what he was going to say before answering.

We will certainly miss his wise council and great disposition.”

the ADAI has held one mandatory meeting in Montgomery for all growers with a license,” she said. “To make it easier in 2022, we are holding five meetings across the state and growers are free to choose based on their schedule and availability.”

These meetings will replace the one mandatory meeting covering regulations and create five meetings that cover regulatory information from the ADAI, as well as information from Alabama Extension.

Each meeting will be the same, so growers only need to attend one.

Meeting Schedule • Thursday, Jan. 20 Wiregrass Research and Extension Center 167 AL-134, Headland, Alabama 334-693-2363 Headland Registration: www. aces.edu/event/2022alabama-hemplicensee-orientation-

ADOBE STOCK PHOTO

BY MICHELLE KEY PUBLISHER

meetings/ • Wednesday, Jan. 12 Grace Fellowship Church 1412 E. Nashville Ave. Atmore, Alabama 251-368-4463

Atmore Registration: www. aces.edu/event/2022alabama-hemplicensee-orientationmeetings-2/ See GROWERS, page A2

CONTENTS OPINION.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A4 OPINION

SPORTS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B1

SOUTHERN HOSPITALITY. . . . . A7

POLITICS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B9

RELIGION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A13

CLASSIFIEDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B13

COMICS.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A16 COMICS

PUBLIC NOTICES. . . . . . . . . . . . B14

Elect Sherri Reese on Jan. 11 City Council Ward 3

Paid for by the committee to elect Sherri Reese, Opelika, AL 36801

A2 Jan. 6, 2022

Cox, Wire Road Roundabout Now Open

CONTRIBUTED BY THE CITY OF AUBURN The new roundabout at the intersection of Cox

ADMINISTRATOR >>

FROM A1

as the contractor puts the finishing touches on the intersection improvements.

Motorists are advised

“That’s one thing that I’m really hoping that we can be absolutely sure we spend every penny of ARPA money that we have coming to us,” she said. “I don’t want to give anything back to the federal government.”

Leverette’s first day of work was Jan. 4 and her first commission meeting will be Jan. 10. “[I want people to] know that my decisions are my decisions, they’re not personal,” she said.

“They’re business.

I told my bosses in Montgomery County and this is how I feel about Lee County.

I was hired to do a job, not make a lot of friends. Now, I’m very relational so I want those relationships and I want to build friendships but my primary job at Lee County is doing a job and managing these projects and making sure that I’m being a good steward of the taxpayer dollar.”

Outside of work, Leverette keeps busy.

She is married and the couple have a daughter, Faith, who will start the pharmacy program at Auburn University in the fall.

Leverette and her

family travel, in addition to running a small business on the side — University Carpet Cleaning — that they’ve owned for 21 years.

She and her husband also own rental property in both Opelika and Auburn.

As she steps into the new role, Leverette said she has been welcomed by county employees.

“After the meeting, when we were outside and they went back into another executive session, I can’t tell you the number of department heads that came up to me, some of them giving me their phone number, wanting me to put their phone numbers in my phone immediately, introducing themselves,” she said.

“Just a very warm, welcoming feeling.

So that really showed me the support I’m going to have. So, I’m looking very forward to that. And being back home … I’m a communicator, so I absolutely love to talk to people, I love to get to know people on a personal level and I’m very open. I’m very transparent so what they see is what they’re going to get.”

Sports Editor: Wil Crews Live Lee Editor: Hannah Lester Marketing: Woody Ross

Phone: 334.749.8003 editor@opelikaobserver.com Michelle@opelikaobserver.com

Photojournalist: Robert Noles

Publisher: Michelle Key

Rick Lanier, D. Mark Mitchell

Sports Writers:

www.opelikaobserver.com 223-A S. 8th St., Opelika, AL 36801 Copyright 2009. All right reserved.

The Observer is published weekly by Key Media LLC, 223-A S. 8th St., Opelika, AL 36801.

Periodicals postage is paid at Opelika, AL. USPS #025104 POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Observer, 223-A S. 8th St.,, Opelika, AL 36801

CORRECTIONS The Observer will correct any errors, omissions or inaccuracies deemed to be substantive. Corrections may be requested by contacting the editor at (334) 749-8003.

to use caution in the area as work continues and as travelers adjust to the new traffic pattern.

TIPS FOR ROUNDABOUT

GROWERS

• Yield to circulating traffic when entering, and • Use turn signal to indicate intent to exit.

USE: • Slow down when approaching a roundabout, • Yield to pedestrians and bicyclists,

>>

FROM A1

• Thursday, Jan. 13 Tuscaloosa County Extension Office 2513 7th St. Tuscaloosa, Alabama 205-349-4630 Tuscaloosa Registration: www. aces.edu/event/2022alabama-hemp-licenseeorientation-meetings-3/ • Thursday, Jan. 20 Alabama Department of Agriculture & Industries

orientation-meetings-5/.

MORE INFORMATION For more information about the hemp licensee orientation meetings, contact Kesheimer at kesheimer@auburn. edu or 334-844-5072.

More information about growing hemp in Alabama is available by visiting the Alabama Industrial Hemp Program webpage www.aces.edu/blog/ topics/crop-production/ alabama-industrialhemp-program/.

1445 Federal Drive: Auditorium, Montgomery, Alabama 334-240-7230 Montgomery Registration: www. aces.edu/event/2022alabama-hemp-licenseeorientation-meetings-4/ • Friday, Jan. 21 Camp Meadowbrook 2344 Co. Rd. 747 Cullman, Alabama 256-743-1431 Cullman Registration: www.aces.edu/ event/2022-alabamahemp-licensee-

ADOBE STOCK PHOTO

She attended сounty сommission meetings in Montgomery but said that it never felt like home.

“I’d sit in those commission meetings and I listened to all the groups come up and ask for help with funding and all of that and I never felt a connection to those groups because I didn’t live there,” she said.

“It’s not my home.

It was my home and I think that’s what I thought was that I’d be going back home. But I forgot that it’d been twenty years since I had been home. Even though my mother still lives in Montgomery, I’m not there. And so I found that very hard. And so that’s the one thing I’m really looking forward to is being able to be back in the community I live in.”

One of the bigger county issues Leverette will be faced with is the American Rescue Plan Act funding.

Leverette has some experience with this area — she managed the CARES Act funding for Montgomery County.

and Wire roads opened on Jan. 4.

Temporary delays should be anticipated over the next few weeks

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A3 Jan 6, 2022

New Federal Guidance Expands Eligibility for Child Care Workforce Stabilization Grants CONTRIBUTED BY ALABAMA DHR New guidance from the Administration for Children and Families Office of Child Care expands eligibility for Child Care Workforce Stabilization grants available through the Alabama Department of Human Resources (DHR).

Childcare providers licensed after March 11, 2021, are now eligible for the grants if they satisfy all other re-

quirements. Previously, providers licensed after that date were ineligible.

DHR has issued 116 licenses since March 11.

In response to the new guidance, DHR has extended the application window for the first of eight quarterly grants through Jan. 31, 2022.

To date, 1,204 child care providers have been approved for the initial grants.

The Child Care Workforce Stabilization grants supply funding for quarterly bonus payments

Violence Shatters Peace of New Year

of $1,500 for full-time employees and $750 for part-time employees to help child care providers recruit and retain qualified staff as the industry recovers from the pandemic. Eligible employees may receive up to eight bonus payments before the twoyear grant period ends in September 2023.

“The pandemic has underscored the importance of accessible childcare and the crucial role our providers serve for Alabama’s families,

workforce and economy,” said Alabama DHR Commissioner Nancy Buckner. “This immediate investment in childcare providers and their dedicated workers will generate long-term benefits for our entire state.”

To qualify, childcare providers must be in operation on the dates they apply, and they must continue operating for at least one year after receiving a grant.

Applicants also must be in good standing with DHR.

DHR is administering the grants through the Alabama Partnership for Children and the Talladega Clay Randolph Child Care Corporation.

Funding for the grants comes from the American Rescue Plan Act. This is the third grant opportunity DHR has offered to childcare providers during the pandemic. The two previous grant programs awarded a combined 2,427 grants totaling $56.8 million to help providers reopen and remain open.

U-Haul Growth Index: AUBURN-OPELIKA Market is No. 23 Growth City of 2021 PHOTO CONTRIBUTED TO THE OBSERVER

CONTRIBUTED BY U-HAUL

BY MICHELLE KEY PUBLISHER The new year started with violence in Opelika.

At approximately 1:13 p.m. on Jan. 1, the Opelika police department received a call regarding a shooting in the 600 Block of Edmond Ave. When officers arrived, they found a male victim suffering from gunshot wounds.

The victim, 25, was pronounced deceased at the scene. Officers learned that a second victim had transported himself to the hospital for treatment before the officers arrived at the scene. According to investigators, the shooting occurred during a family dispute between two brothers. The case is under investigation by the Opelika Police Department.

Captain Jonathan Clifton said that no

arrests have been made in this case at this time, but the case will be presented to the grand jury.

In 2021 Opelika saw five murders; one each in January, February, March, September and November.

Opelika Police Chief denounced the violence and said, “Violence of any sort, on any day, is not an appropriate way to handle a dispute. This incident between family members escalated to an unfortunate end that tragically effected one local family. Our thoughts and prayers are with them as they process the loss of their loved one.”

The OPD encourages anyone with any information contact the Detective Division at 334-705-5220 or the Secret Witness Hotline at 334-745-8665. Tips can be submitted through the Opelika Police Mobile App.

Results from a DHR survey this past September showed 90% of licensed childcare providers were open for business. Just 12% reported being open in March 2020. DHR is hopeful that the new monetary incentives will further stabilize the childcare industry in Alabama.

Applications, grant schedules and additional eligibility requirements are available at www. dhr.alabama.gov/childcare/.

Auburn-Opelika market is the No. 23 growth city in America based on U-Haul® truck moves throughout 2021, according to transactional data compiled for the annual U-Haul Growth Index.

People coming to Auburn-Opelika in one-way U-Haul trucks increased 23% year-over-year, while departures jumped more than 30% from 2020 as overall moving traffic surged.

Despite a more substantial YOY rise in departures, arriving customers still accounted for 52.2% of all one-way U-Haul traffic in Auburn-Opelika during 2021 to keep it a top-25 market for netting do-it-yourself movers. However, it did backslide 19 spots from its No. 4 ranking of 2020 when 54.4% of all U-Haul traffic in Auburn-Opelika was arriving customers.

“The Auburn-Opelika market is in growth mode, and much of that has been driven by Auburn University,” said Anthonio Chism, U-Haul Company of Central Alabama president. “We’re big on sports around here. It’s an exciting environment.

The area surrounding campus has changed a lot. There are high-rise buildings where there used to be nothing, and migration has increased the last five or six years as more people have decided to make this their home.”

U-Haul customers made the Kissimmee-St. Cloud (Fla.) market the leading growth city of 2021. Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, Palm Bay-Melbourne Florida, North Port, Florida and Madison, Wisconsin round out the top five growth cities.

Florida boasts 10 markets among the top 25 growth cities on the U-Haul chart. Texas has five cities on the list, while North Carolina, Wisconsin and California have two apiece.

Growth cities are

calculated by the net gain of one-way U-Haul trucks entering a city versus leaving that city in a calendar year.

Migration trends data is compiled from well over 2 million one-way U-Haul truck customer transactions that occur annually. Neighboring cities in U-Haul markets are often packaged together for migration trends purposes.

While U-Haul migration trends do not correlate directly to population or economic growth, the U-Haul Growth Index is an effective gauge of how well cities are both attracting and maintaining residents.

Visit www.myuhaulstory.com to view the top 50 growth states and the top 25 Canadian growth cities.

U-Haul is the authority on migration trends thanks to its expansive network that blankets all 10 provinces and 50 states. The geographical coverage from more than 23,000 U-Haul truck- and trailer-sharing locations provides a comprehensive overview of where people are moving like no one else in the industry.

Independent small business owners interested in joining the U-Haul Dealer Network at no cost and earning commissions from rental transactions at their locations can visit www. uhaul.com/dealer to learn more and submit an information form.

Plus five more notable cities that just missed the cut but posted big See U-HAUL, page A5

A4 Jan. 6, 2022

Erin Has A Guardian Angel. A Real One.

T

SEAN DIETRICH

his supernatural cherub was a gift from her mother, long ago. It all started when Erin was six years old. Her dying mother called Erin to her sickbed, said a prayer, and gifted her daughter an angel. Simple as that.

After her mother passed, Erin was raised by her grandmother in a ramshackle house near the railroad tracks.

Times were not easy. Her grandmother was a single parent, and kids ain’t cheap. Simple as that.

“We ate a lot of Hamburger Helper,” said Erin. “And we shopped at thrift stores.”

But an angel is worth a lot more than greenbacks.

Especially an angel like hers, who has made himself evident at pivotal moments throughout her life.

There was the time in elementary school when Erin fell off a low balcony at her friend’s house. When she opened her eyes, she was in no pain. The doc couldn’t believe what he saw. Not a bone broken.

There was the time in high school when she was driving on the interstate. A voice inside Erin said, “Take the exit, and wait at the gas station.”

She did. On that same highway, on that same night, an auto collision occurred involving an eighteen-wheeler. Four people died.

There was the time when Erin was engaged to a young man whom she thought she loved.

The wedding was fast approaching, but something inside her said, “This is wrong. Do not marry him.”

She called off the ceremony, simple as that.

Erin gave back the wedding gifts. She returned the ring. And many years later, Erin realizes she made the right call. The man she might have married has already been remarried thrice.

Another time, she was in an apartment building visiting a friend. There was a man in the hallway who looked suspicious.

He was standing too close to her.

When Sarah brushed past him, the man’s stern face gave away his intentions. He obviously wasn’t there to play patty cake.

Erin ordered him to stay away from her.

Amazingly, the man’s disposition changed immediately. It was as though the man saw something towering behind her shoulder.

Something about the size

of Shaquille O’Neal. She walked away unharmed.

Simple as that.

Later, she read in the paper that two women had been raped in that apartment building.

Erin could tell you more stories. But we don’t have all day, and you get the gist.

A few years ago, Erin was combing through her grandmother’s attic, searching for Christmas decorations. The attic housed many of her mother’s old things.

There was the old steamer trunk. The antique writing desk.

There were several creepy old mannequins.

Which brings up a very important point. Why do people have mannequins in their attics? And at what time in history did the average residential family feel the need to own more than one mannequin?

Also in the attic she found a wooden box filled with trinkets. Her mother’s old Bible with a cracked pleather cover.

Ornate perfume bottles.

Stacks of postcards from people Erin never met.

And a journal.

It wasn’t a big diary,

WENDY HODGE

C

hristmas is behind us. All the gifts are opened, and all that’s left of the feasts are leftovers in secondhand Cool Whip and Country Crock tubs.

The lights are still up, but they don’t twinkle quite as brightly now that the big day is over.

What’s left for us to do is to take down the decorations and move into a new year. It’s time for the obligatory New Year’s Resolution.

Sigh.

In years past, I made myself promises and set goals and had so many good intentions to make huge and healthy changes for my life. I made lists and vision boards and charts and spreadsheets.

I read motivational literature and gave myself pep talks. I surrounded myself with good energy from good people who also had good intentions.

And I don’t remember a single New Year’s Resolution that I ever actually carried through to completion. Not one.

That bothered me for a long time, this inability to lose the weight or save the money or make the home improvements or whatever else my list contained from year to year. But sitting here this year, as 2022 rises like

while my sister slowly slipped away from us.

On that day, we had traveled back to the house to try to stumble through whatever the next hours would bring. Just inside the garage door, we had been confronted with a calendar hanging on the refrigerator. Play dates and appointments were marked in bright colors ... reminders for events that would now take place without my sister, if they happened at all.

There was a blanket on the couch where she’d left it, and her shoes were waiting at the foot of the stairs.

Leaving my broken family behind me, I climbed those stairs looking for a space where breathing might not be so painful. I found myself in her bedroom, surrounded by bookcases with volumes she had read and re-read. I ran my fingers down the spines, hoping to feel something other than grief. There was her nightgown tossed onto a chair. Her glasses were on the nightstand. I’m not sure why I opened the closet, maybe I had the desire to close the door behind me and hide there until the world returned to normal.

Her clothes hung there, waiting for her to return.

I could smell her perfume in the air. Up on the shelf, a box caught my eye. It was a shirt box with a sticky note attached that read: ‘For the Boys — Wrap These!’

I lifted the lid and found two plastic watches, one with a Ninja Turtles face and the other with a red Power Ranger face. The watchbands were See HODGE, page A5

had given the child HER angel.

Erin treasured these things, and pondered them in her heart.

Which brings us to the present day. A few mornings ago, Erin was holding her eldest son in her lap, reading the work of some pathetically hapless columnist on Facebook.

At the time, her son had been at home with a cold all week, coughing and running a low-grade fever. She kissed his hot little forehead, and read the columnist’s words about angels.

And a voice inside her spoke.

“Something just told me it was time,” Erin told me later in an email. “I knew what I had to do.”

So she gave her son a sacred gift. The same gift her mother gave her a lifetime ago.

“I just thanked my mom for giving me her angel, and the I gave my angel to my son.”

The next morning her son’s fever broke.

Simple as that.

Dear January…

Carpe Diem the sun on the horizon, I can feel the weight of that burden roll away.

I’ve decided that my resolution this year is to not have a resolution at all. I’m going to reign in my planning tendencies, my to-do lists and my motivational sticky notes and just live in the moment. Because for all my planning and looking forward to special days like Christmas and birthdays, I’ve finally learned that, more often than not, life just doesn’t follow a straight line.

The moment you mark a date on your brand new calendar with red ink, the universe sits back and conspires to make sure that date, in fact, is far from set in stone. Use a pencil, I’ve learned. Or, better yet, be okay with a big red slash through your plans and new ones written over them.

Don’t get me wrong, I will always be a planner.

I’ll always delight in a new color of marker and sticky notes shaped like a beagle. Plans are good, and people who plan are necessary. But sometimes having no plan at all is the exact right thing to do.

Three days before Christmas this year, I found myself standing in a spare bedroom surrounded by gifts that I had spent hours planning for and shopping for and wrapping. I closed my eyes, and I was back to late September 1994, standing in a silent house in Danville, Virginia. The house belonged to my sister, her husband and their two little boys. It had been an empty house for the seven days that we’d been in the hospital, waiting and watching

but when she flipped through the yellowed pages she found teenage drawings on the interior flap. And her mother’s writings.

One page read something like this: “August, 1962. I met my angel today. He saved my life when I got bit by the snake in our driveway… Mom said I’m lucky to be alive…”

And another, which read something along the lines of: “Angel, thank you for helping Daddy find a job, you know how much he needs it.”

“Dear angel, please help me get pregnant.

You know how badly Louis and I want to have a baby…”

“Angel, help me not be so afraid.”

“January, 1980. I’m pregnant! The doctors said it would never happen, but God proved them wrong! God is good! Thank you!”

Peach-sized tears filled Erin’s eyes as she read through each entry written upon brittle pages in her mother’s hand. She realized that her mother had not just given her an angel. The mother

ROBERTSON

H

appy New Year everyone.

I’ve decided to use this space to honor one of my favorite months of the year, January. For years, I have loved the peace and calm of this month along with its soup, its fire place and its rest that it brings into our home. If your January feels blue, I hope I can turn your perspective into something new.

Dear January, Wow! I am so very thankful you have arrived. You have no clue how much I have missed you.

I think the last calm spell we had was perhaps June, but since August, when the kids started back to school, it’s been all wild and bananas up in here.

Between school and cheerleading games and horse roping and farm life and late-night chats and holidays and meals and birthdays, there just isn’t much space for rest.

Oh, but you January, you slip right in after the season of parties and gifts and Jesus and you know just what we need. We need you. We need calm and we need soup, lots and lots of

warm soup to nourish our body and soul. It’s like you call us in to hibernate like a bear, to snuggle up and get cozy and have a little QT with time itself.

How do you do it January? When all the other months of the year require something extra from us, how did you decide to be the odd ball out? Maybe this is why I like you so much, as I myself have always felt to be quit different than everyone else. But not as different as you.

You January, surpass us all.

You give us a clean slate to start something new. You give us no agenda, accept what we put on ourselves.

You give us cold temperatures, so we can huddle up inside and build fires. You give us rest and time for reflection. You inspire us to cook all the warm meals and you even condition us to stay home. That’s genius.

It’s like you're saying, “Come, cook, sit, eat and be together.

I promise you, it is a holy place for everyone.”

And you don’t rush us, you don’t tap your clock like a watchman.

You don’t even require our attention. We can do absolutely nothing in you January, and you don’t mind it one bit.

However, I do think you ask of us just one thing, to embrace you for who you really are.

You are the beginning.

You are something new.

You are the rest before a busy year. You are

the frost on the ground.

You are the still, so we can hope. You are fires and blankets and snuggles in the bed with books and soft chatter.

You are time standing still, to reflect on what has been and make way for what can be.

You own me January, you own my whole year. So I will embrace you. I will soak up every hour of you. And when you are gone, I will be ready for whatever is to come in 2022.

Yours fondly, Bradley P.S. I named a new soup after you (January Soup). I’m sharing it below, so that maybe it will warm you too, just as you warm me.

JANUARY SOUP: 1 diced medium onion 3-4 garlic cloves, diced 2 cups diced carrots 1 lb flavored sausage 8-10 cups chopped greens (kale, collards, mustards) 2 cups diced potatoes or turnip root 10-12 cups of water Sautee onion and garlic with olive oil over medium heat 12 minutes. Add in carrots and sautee 15 more minutes. Add in sausage. Cook till its brown. Add in water.

Bring to light boil. Add in greens and potatoes.

Salt well. Simmer over medium-low heat about 30 minutes.

Thank you January, thank you for everything.

A5 Jan 6, 2022

Point Broadband Presents Check for $100,000 to Opelika PHOTO CONTRIBUTED BY CITY OF OPELIKA

BY MICHELLE KEY PUBLISHER

During Tuesday nights city council meeting, Point Broadband presented the city of Opelika with a check for $100,000 as a sponsor of Opelika's pickleball facility. The newest facility will be

completed later this year and will include 12 new covered courts. Point's Area General Manager Al McCambry said, " ... One of the things on that value [mission] statement is we want to be a partner with the communities in which we serve. And this is an idea of what a partnership

can look like." Point Broadband moved its headquarters to Opelika last fall.

"It is not only an operational market for us, but our corporate headquarters," Nipper said. "We're fully engaged in Opelika for sure."

Mayor Gary Fuller

PHOTO CONTRIBUTED BY U-HAUL

of Marketing, Taylor Nipper, said that he believes that Opelika is on the spot with pickleball.

"Pickleball is such a huge, fast-growing sport," Nipper said. "I think you are on the spot with pickleball as a destination point for Opelika."

Opelika Parks and

Recreation Director Sam Bailey stated that Point Broadband will be listed as a sponsor and their name will be on the new court facility.

Pictured left to right in photo above are Opelika Pickleball Club President Jim Young, Bailey, Fuller, McCambry and Nipper.

U-HAUL >>

Truck Share 24/7 offers secure access to U-Haul trucks every hour of every day through the customer dispatch option on their smartphones and our proprietary Live Verify technology. Our customers’ patronage has enabled the U-Haul fleet to grow to approximately 176,000 trucks, 126,000 trailers and 46,000 towing devices.

U-Haul offers nearly 825,000 rentable storage units and 71.6 million square feet of

self-storage space at owned and managed facilities throughout North America.

U-Haul is the largest retailer of propane in the U.S., and continues to be the largest installer of permanent trailer hitches in the automotive aftermarket industry. U-Haul has been recognized repeatedly as a leading “Best for Vets” employer and was recently named one of the 15 Healthiest Workplaces in America.

FROM A3

growth numbers in 2021: Greenville, South Carolina, Fort Collins, Colorado, Seattle, Washington, Conroe, Texas and Nashville, Tennessee.

ABOUT U-HAUL Since 1945, U-Haul has been the No. 1 choice of do-it-yourself movers, with a network of more than 23,000 locations across all 50 states and 10 Canadian provinces. U-Haul

Whataburger Opens 2nd Location in Lee County PHOTO BY JESSICA LEACOLA

Whataburger opened a new storefront this week in downtown Auburn at Toomer's Corner. This is the second location in Lee County. The address is 101 North College St.

expressed his appreciation for Point Broadband and their presence in Opelika.

"I want to tell you how much the city appreciates your involvement in our community and what you are doing as a sponsor to make Opelika a destination point."

Point's Vice President

HODGE >>

FROM A4

plastic in primary colors.

They were so small, just right for a six- and fouryear-old’s little arm.

And it broke me.

My sister had picked those out, maybe on a whim or maybe after much searching, and with all the confidence in the world that she would be the one to fasten them to her boys’ arms and teach them how to tell time. But that’s a joy she never got to have, memories she never got to make.

Back in the bedroom in Opelika, three days before this Christmas, I stood looking at the gifts I’ve been excited to give Tim for weeks now. And I realized I can’t wait, not even until the 25th. In fact, I decided not to wait a minute more. So we sat together on Wednesday, Dec. 22, and had our own little Christmas celebration. And I am so grateful that I got to be the one to watch Tim open the tickets for our

guided fishing trip on a lake we’ve never fished together and the special lures he’s going to use to catch the biggest stripe of his life. Not waiting was the exact right thing to do.

2022 will be the year of living in the moment and seizing the day.

This will be my Carpe Diem year. I will relish

the unplanned and the spontaneous and the priceless moments that just pop up when you least expect them. (I do plan, however, not to actually throw away my sticky notes and day planner — let’s not get crazy.)

Happy New Year, everyone. Here’s hoping 2022 is the best yet!

A6 Jan. 6, 2022

NAMI East Alabama to Host Meeting Jan. 18

Historical Society to Host Second Saturday, Quarterly Membership Meeting

BY MICHELLE KEY PUBLISHER

BY MICHELLE KEY PUBLISHER

The Lee County Historical Society will host the monthly Second Saturday event on Jan. 8 at 10 a.m. at Pioneer Park in Loachapoka On Jan. 9 at 2:30 p.m.

Archaeologist Ned Jenkins will be the speaker at the quarterly membership meeting of the Lee County Historical Society - but you don’t have to be a member

NAMI East Alabama, the local affiliate of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI),

to attend. The event is free.

It will be meeting in Fred’s picking parlor ‘barn’- the wooden structure on the east corner of the lot. Please

will meet at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 18, at the Auburn Chamber of Commerce located at 714 E. Glenn Ave. in Auburn.

NAMI supports

families dealing with mental illness through mutual support, education and advocacy.

There will be a time for sharing. The public is invited.

consider joining the Lee County Historical Society and learn more about how Alabama’s Native Americans became the Creek Nation.

Letter to the Editor: Lobby Day will be Jan. 26 CONTRIBUTED BY MELISSA MULLINS

Alabamians 4 Medical Cannabis Freedom & Disability Rights is a nonprofit, grassroots, nonpartisan, and registered Alabama Cannabis/ Disability Rights advocacy organization. First, we want to thank the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission Members for their work during the recent ‘off’ session. We know it has been tedious to start the implementation process of the Medical Cannabis program for Alabama.

We will continue to lobby the Alabama Legislature to expand the Medical Cannabis program and

correct any issue that prevents Alabama patients from gaining access sooner rather than later.

We have collectively adopted the Legislative Asks (see below) for the 2022 Legislative session.

Tuesday, Jan. 11, begins the 2022 Legislative Session. We have a Lobby Day on Jan. 26 at 9 a.m. in The Alabama State House room 324. We will be joining the Alabama Cannabis Coalition, Alabama Republicans Against Marijuana Prohibition, and the Libertarian Party of Alabama.

We invite everyone to come see us and let’s discuss the progress of Cannabis in Alabama, the current

state of Cannabis in Alabama and how we can continue to rally the troops to stand up and be heard in an effort to open minds and hearts as to the medicinal and therapeutic qualities of Cannabis. We are ready to e back in the State House and walk those halls lobbying for you — the patient and citizen.

2022 LEGISLATIVE ASKS: 1. Expungement and Decriminalization. Nobody should be in jail for Cannabis. Our jails and prisons are overcrowded and understaffed- with no room for real criminals. A murderer should be in jail-NOT

a Cannabis consumer.

Cancer and other medical patients that see beneficial changes to their conditions, should not have to worry about going to jail. #legallydeadorillegallyalive 2. Remove the stipulation that requires physicians to request license suspension, if a patient is recommended to take more than the 75 mg daily dose allowed.

This violates the right of patients to be able to legally provide for themselves.

How would they get to doctor appointments?

How would they travel to the grocery store for food? Patients should not feel

Take care of yourself and others with an easy test.

Don’t wait. If you have symptoms, find out if you have the virus.

The testing is simple, fast, and effective at identifying COVID-19.

Find testing near you at

AlabamaUnites.com.

forced to commit a crime based solely on a medical condition.

We also feel that it steps on the patients’ rights by punishing the patient for having a debilitating medical condition, that they didn’t ask for.

3. Place a Veteran and/or patient on the Medical Cannabis Commission. The people are the stakeholders in this program, and they should have someone understanding of them to represent them.

4. Reinstate the option that allows physicians to petition the Commission, for the addition of qualified medical conditions. Having to

petition, via the legislature, every session will weight down the legislative process and will be at the bottom of priority.

Alabamians 4 Medical Cannabis Freedom & Disability Rights is committed and dedicated to fighting for you — the patient — in Montgomery. Keep the faith and stay the course.

Melissa Mullins Founder/President Alabamians 4 Medical Cannabis Freedom & Disability Rights Alabama Registered Cannabis Lobbyist al4medicalcannabisfreedom@ gmail.com www. alabamians4medicalcannabisfreedom.org/

TEXTILE MILLS ASBESTOS CLAIMS If you began working in a Textile Mill, Tire Plant, Paper Mill, Steel Mill or any other industrial setting before 1980: You may have a claim against the asbestos manufacturers.

Call now for your free evaluation.

1-(888)432-6020 Asbestos Claims, LLC, Jubal L. Hamil Attorney at Law ARPC 7.2.(e) “No representation is made that the quality of the legal services to be performed is greater than the quality of legal services performed by other lawyers.”

E vents, Food, & SocietyNews

UPCOMING EVENTS JAN. 9: CAMPFIRE COOKING AT KREHER JAN. 13: THE ROUGH & TUMBLE AT SUNDILLA JAN. 14, 15: MISS ALABAMA USA & MISS ALABAMA TEEN USA AT THE GOGUE

Start the New Year With Hearty, Nutritious Breakfasts PHOTO BY ANN CIPPERLY

Ann Cipperly

Southern

Hospitality

N

utritionists say breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and if a New Year’s resolution is to eat better, breakfast is a good place to start.

Research has shown that children perform better in school if they have eaten a good breakfast.

While mornings can be hectic getting ready for work and children ready for school, several recipes can be started the day before and be ready to bake in the morning or cooked all night in a crock pot.

Planning ahead will help mornings go smoother. Set the breakfast table the night before. Have the coffee ready to go or on a

timer. A hot pot quickly brings water to a boil for tea and hot chocolate mixes.

Oatmeal and grits can be cooked all night in a crock pot and be ready to serve the next morning for a hot breakfast.

Arrange the topping the night before except for cheese or cream. Another option is the overnight refrigerator oats in mason jars, which will be ready to grab and eat.

Pancakes can be frozen and warmed in the microwave.

For a hearty dish with eggs, the Make Ahead Scrambled Egg Casserole with Cheese can be prepared the night before and placed in the oven first thing the next

morning while everyone is getting dressed. If your family likes bacon, the easiest way to prepare it is by baking.

Check directions on package and line the baking sheet with foil for quick cleanup.

Keep nutritious whole wheat breads on hand to quickly toast and top with almond butter or natural peanut butter.

Be sure to check labels, look for ones that are simply ground roasted nuts and avoid any with sugar, palm oil and other added ingredients.

Our daughter-in-law, AJ, makes yummy biscuits using three ingredients. The butter is frozen and grated so that it is easy to incor-

Pancakes and sausage are a tasty combination for a hearty breakfast on a winter morning.

Check out easy breakfast ideas in the column and read about the history of locally made Capps’ sausage. Photo by Ann Cipperly

porate into the flour. To make it even quicker, the grated butter can be kept in the freezer. If she doesn’t have buttermilk, she adds vinegar to milk. We enjoy these biscuits with Capps Sausage for a delicious morning treat.

Locally made Capps sausage is the most popular breakfast meat in our area. While the family had been making sausage on their farm for years, the history of the business goes back to the early 1960s.

Billy Capps’ father, Bill Capps, had taken some

of his hogs to market and was offered such a small amount that he decided to take them back home and make sausage.

Billy grew up helping to kill hogs and making sausage that had been started by his grandfather years before. It was part of life on the farm.

When Billy and his father started making sausage to sell, they used the grandfather’s method, but then switched to a recipe from a friend. Bennie Edwards, who had retired from his own meat

business in Phenix City, shared his recipe for making sausage.

It wasn’t much different from the grandfather’s recipe, except that his seasoning was different. Billy made changes in the seasoning, which became a family secret that has been patented. A company in Calera makes the seasoning that gives the sausage its unique flavor.

A small seed shed on the Capps’ property was See CIPPERLY, page A10

Miss Alabama USA, Miss Alabama Teen USA to be Crowned in Auburn CONTRIBUTED BY AO TOURISM

Sundilla Concert Series & Radio Hour Presents The Rough & Tumble CONTRIBUTED BY SUNDILLA

The Rough & Tumble return to Sundilla to kick off the 2022 season on Thursday, Jan. 13. Showtime at Pebble Hill is 7:30 pm. Advance tickets are just $15 and can be found at Spicer’s Music, Ross House Coffee and online at www.sundillamusic.com; admission at the door will be $20.

Five years ago Sundilla brought The Rough & Tumble to town with the prediction that they would “take the stage as unknowns and leave the stage as somebody’s new favorite.” Based on all of the “You can bring these guys back anytime.” comments that were heard after the show, it looks like they were right. Since then, The Rough & Tumble have only gotten better, and have added three

new CDs, a Listening Room Artist of the Year award and a SERFA Official Showcase to their already impressive resume.

The Rough & Tumble are as easy to detect as a stray dog on your doorstep — and as difficult to send home. The dumpster-folk, thriftstore-Americana duo, consisting of Mallory Graham & Scott Tyler, have been hobbling around the country in their 16’ camper since 2015, when their Nashville landlord left them without heat during an ice storm for 12 days. Then she tried to hike the rent. Enough was enough, and The Rough & Tumble gave their 30 days’ notice at their jobs and their lease, sold most of what they owned and hopped into their shoddily

built camper, in spite of the lot salesman’s advice. They picked up a couple of actual strays along the way — two 100lb dogs, Puddle & Magpie Mae — and have been making themselves at home in living rooms, bars, theaters and festivals across the country.

“Their Americana music is restorative, their performance highly entertaining, their orchestra of unusual instruments intriguing, and ... jokes and stories are worthy of an HBO special” said Linda Bolton of Cozy Cabin House Concerts.” And Red Line Roots says "... they sure as hell are peaking high and mighty in this music and songwriting game.”

For more information, including videos, go to www.sundillamusic. com.

The Miss Alabama USA and Miss Alabama Teen USA pageants will crown this year’s winners in Auburn at the beginning of the year. The long-running tradition will be held on Jan. 14 and 15 at Auburn University’s Jay and Susie Gogue Performing Arts Center.

Over 80 contestants from all over the state of Alabama will compete in interview, evening gown and swimsuit/active wear competitions. These contestants will be vying for thousands of dollars in scholarships and prizes and the ability to travel the state promoting the pageant and its charitable alliances. The Miss Alabama Teen USA pageant will feature contestants between the ages of 14-18; the Miss Alabama USA pageant will feature contestants between the ages of 18 to 27. The preliminary competition will be held on Friday evening, followed by the final competition on Saturday evening.

The January event is an official state preliminary to the MISS USA® and MISS TEEN USA® pageants, sponsored by the Miss Universe Organization.

The winners of the Miss Alabama USA and Miss Alabama Teen USA pageants will go on to represent Alabama and compete for the MISS USA and MISS TEEN USA titles in 2022.

Samantha Sims, a senior at Auburn University, will be competing as Miss Auburn-Opelika USA. Sims said she is honored to represent the Auburn-Opelika community.

“I feel blessed to compete for the crown right here in our backyard at the beautiful Gogue Performing Arts Center,” Sims said.

“This will be such a wonderful weekend as girls come from all over the state of Alabama to our community.”

In the past, the panel of judges for the pageants have included celebrities like Austen Kroll, star of Bravo TV’s “Southern Charm;” Dr. Bill Dorfman from ABC’s “Extreme Makeover;” and Cammy Miller, owner of popular clothing store Show Me Your MuMu. Tickets for the pageant can be purchased online. For more information about the Miss Alabama USA or Miss Alabama Teen USA pageants, contact Paula Miles, executive director at RPM Produc-

tions, at info@rpmproductions.com ABOUT THE MISS UNIVERSE ORGANIZATION The Miss Universe Organization (MUO) uses its global grassroots reach to empower women to be self-confident and strive to be their personal best.

MUO believes that every woman should be “Confidently Beautiful.”

The MISS UNIVERSE®, MISS USA® and MISS TEEN USA® pageants provide an international platform through dedicated partnerships with charities, sponsors and brands around the world. During their reign, the titleholders are given the tools to personally and professionally enrich others by providing humanitarian efforts to affect positive change, all while developing their personal career goals. For more information and to learn more about The Miss Universe Organization’s official causes around the world, please visit: www.missuniverse. com.

ABOUT AUBURN-OPELIKA TOURISM Auburn-Opelika Tourism is a non-profit service organization positively impacting our local economy and enhancing the quality of life in our community through tourism and travel.

A8 Jan. 6, 2022

Making the Grade: on the Road to Phenix City, Alabama

A

s I sit writing this column for next week’s Observer (which will be published on Jan. 6, the Good Lord willing), I, like all of you, am awaiting 2022, the new year. And like every true Southerner, I am planning to have black-eyed peas and turnip greens as part of the New Year’s Day meal for my husband Mike, my Mama (Barbara Patton, but not the former mayor of Opelika) and me.

Since black-eyed peas and greens are a Southern tradition for New Year’s Day, Mama always prepared them for us. These two dishes, according to Mama, were supposed to bring us a lot of money in the new year. “Blackeyed peas will bring us change, and turnip greens (or collards) will bring us green, folding money,” she said.

One year, I pointed out that even though we carried out this Southern tradition yearly, we didn’t receive a lot of extra money; however, we were blessed to have all we needed.

Undeterred, Mama said,

coleslaw and hushpuppies, all was right with the world. As I’ve said before, I usually prefer salad to coleslaw, but not at Ezell’s. I LOVE their coleslaw, which has chipped up pickles in it. Also, their hushpuppies, which have bits of jalapeno peppers, are the BEST. I could eat 10 of them, but I’d be in a diabetic coma, so I restrain myself. As Mike has often said, you could make a meal just out of Ezell’s delicious coleslaw and hushpuppies. However, we did come for catfish.

For his entrée, Mike ordered blackened catfish with fries, while I chose the grilled catfish and fries. Jack ordered a combo: fried and grilled catfish with cheese grits.

Last, Wil-

liam chose fried catfish and calabash shrimp with fries. Ezell’s earns bonus points from me for serving only U.S. farm-raised catfish, 100% American.

Quiet descended at our table as we ate happily. Everything was delicious; needless to say, no to-go plates

were requested. Run, do not walk, to Ezell’s Catfish in Phenix City.

For starters, Ezell’s PHOTOS BY MIKE WALLACE

STACEY PATTON WALLACE

“Well, if we didn’t eat them, we might have less money than we have now.” Works for me.

This year, I am attempting to make my Grandma Patton’s (Daddy’s Mama) amazingly delicious tomato sauce, enhancing the black-eyed peas, which are quite bland to me.

I’ll report back on how the sauce turned out for me.

Another Southern food which I really enjoy is catfish. A former friend of mine in LaGrange, Georgia, disdained catfish, calling them “bottom feeders.”

However, he didn’t like my favorite Christmas movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life,” either, so I strongly question his judgment.

Recently, our friends Jack and William traveled with Mike and me to one of our favorite places to eat this Southern delicacy: Ezell’s Catfish at 3546 U.S. 280 in Phenix City, Alabama.

I’m so glad that Ezell’s is only 30.2 miles from our house.

Also, I love the rustic atmosphere of the restaurant and its slogan, “Eat catfish and be somebody,” which staff members wear on their t-shirts.

Patrice, our waitress, was really sweet, helpful and patient with us. As I’ve mentioned before, we appreciate all service staff and are always kind to them, especially since many restaurants are still shorthanded. When Patrice brought us our

offers diners: fried Gulf oysters (seasonal), fried alligator tail (seasonal), steamed Gulf shrimp, Buffalo chicken wings, fried green tomatoes, fried dill pickles, beer battered onion rings, fried crab claws (seasonal) and house-made

seafood gumbo (seasonal).

Besides our delicious choices, other entrees include: fried or chargrilled chicken strips, hamburger steak, grilled shrimp, boiled peel & eat shrimp, grilled or blackened salmon and a variety of Po Boys.

Ezell’s Catfish in

Phenix City is open on Sunday from 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.; on Monday through Thursday from 4:30 to 9 p.m.; on Friday and Saturday from 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Ezell’s Catfish makes the grade with an A+ from this retired English teacher. Remember, “Pooh-sized” people NEVER lie about food.

Enjoy!

Stacey Patton Wallace, who retired from teaching language arts for 30 years, is a professional diner.

Her column, “Making the Grade,” will appear each week in the Observer. Stacey may be reached at retiredlangartsteacher2020@ gmail.com

A9 Jan 6, 2022

with AAron Diehl

The Knights, New York City’s eclectic and internationally sought-after orchestral collective, returns to Opelika with an electrifying program including Stravinsky’s “Firebird Suite” and George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody In Blue”, featuring acclaimed jazz pianist, Aaron Diehl.

Tuesday, January 25th, At 7:30PM

Opelika Center for the Performing Arts, 1700 Lafayette Parkway For Ticket Information, Call East Alabama Arts at 334.749.8105 or Visit eastalabamaarts.org

07 FEB 2022

28 FEB 2022

30

27

MAR 2022

APR 2022

A TRIBUTE TO ARETHA FRANKLIN: THE QUEEN OF SOUL

S Y N C O PAT E D LADIES

MNOZIL BRASS

AN AMERICAN I N PA R I S

Damien Sneed’s new multimedia production celebrates the life and career of the most successful female recording artist in history, featuring fourtime Grammy Award-winning gospel legend, Karen Clark Sheard

Take Chloe Arnold’s cross section of today’s most popular music, mix in the swing of syncopation, the thrill of improvisation, and the energy of tap, and you have a recipe for the empowerment of young women ready to take on the world.

Mnozil Brass, the Austrian band known as the Monty Python of the music world, seamlessly combines slapstick comedy with extraordinary musical ability for an over-the-top fun, virtuosic, and laugh-out-loud experience.

With gravity-defying dance, this four Tony Award-winning Broadway production, based on the Academy Award-winning film, soars with youthful optimism and the power of love. Featuring the songs of musical geniuses George and Ira Gershwin - I Got Rhythm, Liza, ‘S Wonderful, But Not for Me, and Stairway to Paradise - who could ask for anything more!

FOR TICKET INFORMATION CALL 334-749-8105 OR vISIT www.EASTALABAMAARTS.ORg

A10 Jan. 6, 2022

CIPPERLY

>>

FROM A7

converted into a shop.

Billy and his father began selling sausage during the Christmas season in the early 1960s, and it continued to grow every year.

In the beginning, they purchased more hogs to raise for making sausage.

While Billy and Jane’s son, Trey, helped some growing

CIPPERLY RECIPES >> THREE INGREDIENT HOMEMADE BISCUITS AJ Cipperly The recipe goes together quickly and is so good with sausage, ham or bacon, as well as with jams or honey.

2 cups self-rising flour (White Lily preferred) 1 stick butter, frozen 3/4 cup buttermilk or make your own by placing 2 Tbsp. white vinegar in a cup and fill with milk to ¾ cup Use cheese grater to grate butter or use food processer. You can grate butter ahead and place back in freezer until ready to make biscuits.

Mix grated butter with flour. Add milk and mix until just combined. Fold a couple of times. Batter should be fairly sticky; use some extra flour to pull off balls of flour and shape into balls.

Press down onto greased cookie sheet.

Bake in a 425 degree oven for about 12 minutes, rotating pan once.

Note: Can add 1 or 2 Tbsp. sugar, if desired.

OVERNIGHT OATMEAL IN CROCK POT WITH TOPPINGS Jennifer Rezek 1 cup steel cut or regular oats (not quick oats!)

4 cups water 1/2 cup milk 1/4 cup brown sugar 1 Tbsp. butter 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract 1 tsp. cinnamon Combine all in crock pot and cook on low for 8 hours. Serve with milk and cinnamon sugar.

Toppings and Options: Make it your own and try these options.

Add up to 1 cup raisins/dried fruit before cooking.

Add 1 chopped fresh apple before cooking.

Top with fresh fruit (in season) or drained canned fruit.

Add a pat of butter or a dollop of jam/preserves.

Drizzle with honey.

WAFFLE STATION WITH TOPPINGS

Can make batter day before and store in refrigerator.

1 egg 1 cup buttermilk 2 Tbsp. salad oil 1 cup all-purpose flour 1 Tbsp. sugar 1 tsp. baking powder ½ tsp. soda ½ tsp. salt Beat egg; add remaining ingredients in order listed. Beat until smooth.

Spray waffle maker with nonstick spray. Make according to instructions.

up, he never thought he would go into the sausage business.

After graduating from Auburn University in 1998, he decided to get involved in the family business. When Billy retired, Trey began operating the business.

The Capps stopped killing hogs 40 years ago, as the pork had to be from a USDA inspected slaughterhouse. Since it was too expensive to have their

own slaughterhouse, they began purchasing the pork for making sausage.

Before the shop opens in the fall, Trey begins purchasing 2,000 pounds of Boston butts at a time from a USDA inspected plant that delivers. The bones are removed, and then the pork is cut up and seasoning added. The meat is then ready to grind.

It is stuffed into casing and smoked, starting at two in the afternoon until early the next morning.

Smoked links are available hot or mild.

Small breakfast links are stuffed into sheep’s casing instead of natural hog casing.

They also make a fresh link, which is not smoked and is mixed with jalapeño peppers and cheddar cheese.

Other sausage products

include fresh breakfast links and fresh patties that are offered hot or mild. Trey does not add water and cereal as some large commercial companies will do.

While the majority of customers will buy a few pounds at a time, two customers will buy 1,300 pounds for Christmas gifts.

Some of their customers come from out of state.

The Capps’ sausage

*If using self-rising flour, omit baking powder and salt and decrease soda to ¼ teaspoon.

Mix may be prepared night before and may be doubled.

Toppings: Select from to serve with waffles: sliced bananas, sliced strawberries, chopped apples, raspberries, blueberries, fresh pineapple, maple syrup, cinnamon sugar, whipped cream, chopped pecans or walnuts.

or English muffins for serving, optional Coat a sheet pan with nonstick spray.

Create nests with Swiss or cheddar cheese.

Break eggs into nests.

Pour cream over top.

Season with salt and pepper and sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top.

Bake at 425 degrees for 10 to 15 minutes or desired doneness.

Sprinkle paprika or parsley over top, if desired. Let sit 10 minutes before serving.

Can serve as is or cut into portions and serve on biscuit halves, toast, English muffins.

Easy Eggs Benedict Bake Sheet Pan Baked Eggs with Cheese. Place cooked bacon, sausage or ham on bread of choice.

Top with baked eggs and serve with hollandaise sauce.

bowl beat egg whites until stiff peaks form.

Gently fold beaten egg whites into ricotta mixture, ¼ of egg whites at a time.

For each pancake, pour about ¼ cup batter onto hot, lightly greased griddle or heavy skillet. Cook over medium heat about 2 minutes on each side or till pancakes are golden brown, turning carefully. Makes about 24 pancakes.

salt and pepper together. Carefully pour over cheese and sausage.

Bake at 425 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes until center is firmly set and biscuit crust is slightly browned.

Note: Can cook sausage ahead and refrigerate. Heat in microwave until slightly warm and crumbly.

BAKED FRITTATA WITH CHERRY TOMATO TOPPING Amanda Wunderlich 12 eggs 3 Tbsp. milk 1 cup cheese of choice, such as goat cheese, shredded cheddar or mozzarella, divided Up to 3 cups of addins, such as crumbled cooked bacon, cooked sausage, sautéed mushrooms, spinach or shredded zucchini Fresh herbs, optional Whisk together eggs, milk, and season with salt and pepper. Add in 1/2 cup cheese and any other desired toppings.

Transfer egg mixture to 9 x 13 buttered pan and sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 30 minutes or until just set.

The Cherry Tomato Topping is good served on the side. My favorite is a frittata made with shredded zucchini, goat cheese and fresh basil.

Cherry Tomato Topping: 1 lb. cherry tomatoes, halved 1 Tbsp. finely chopped shallot 1 Tbsp. butter 1 tsp. seasoned rice vinegar 1 Tbsp. chopped fresh basil or 1 tsp. dried basil Heat butter in large nonstick skillet over medium high heat.

Add tomatoes and shallot and season with salt. Sauté until tomatoes begin to break down, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a dish and stir in vinegar and basil.

SHEET PAN BAKED EGGS AND CHEESE

Easy to double Shredded Swiss or cheddar cheese 6 eggs ½ cup cream or half and half Salt and pepper to taste Parmesan cheese Paprika or chopped parsley, optional Biscuit halves, toast

OVERNIGHT GRITS IN CROCK POT WITH TOPPINGS Jennifer Rezek The amount of grits for your family. (I make the amount for 8 servings.)

Double the amount of water suggested in directions on grits package.

Salt to taste Splash of half and half Toppings: butter, shredded cheese Add the amount of grits for your family into slow cooker.

Double the amount of water in directions.

Add salt as directed.

Cover and cook on low at least 7 hours.

Check towards the end of cooking to see if you need to add a touch of water.

Serve with toppings.

RICOTTA PANCAKES Serve with whipped cream and berries, syrup or powdered sugar.

2/3 cup all-purpose flour 1 ½ tsp. baking powder 1/8 tsp. salt 4 egg yolks 1 cup milk 4 tsp. finely shredded orange peel 2 cups ricotta cheese 2 egg whites In large mixing bowl stir together flour, baking powder and salt. Make a well in center of dry mixture; set aside.

In small mixing bowl beat egg yolks slightly. Stir in milk and orange peel. Add egg yolk mixture all at once to dry mixture.

Stir just until moistened. Add ricotta and blend gently. (Batter should be lumpy.)

In large mixing

BAKED OATMEAL CUPS OR BARS Mindy McCain Smith This is Mindy’s standby for a quick breakfast on busy days. She prepares the oatmeal cups ahead, stores them in the refrigerator and then warmed them in the microwave.

2 cups rolled oats ½ cup honey ½ tsp. sea salt 1 tsp. baking powder ¾ cup milk 1/3 cup butter, melted 2 eggs Mix together oats, honey, salt and baking powder. Stir in milk and melted butter. Put eggs in another small bowl and beat slightly.

Add a little of oatmeal mixture to the eggs while continuing to stir eggs. Then add eggs to oatmeal mixture.

Scoop into cups of a greased muffin tin.

Bake in preheated 350-degree oven until golden brown, about 30 minutes.

Makes 6 large muffins, 12 regular, or bars in an 8x8 pan. Adjust baking time accordingly.

DEBBIE’S BREAKFAST CASSEROLE WITH BISCUIT CRUST 10 biscuits from a 12 ct. canned biscuits or Mary B’s Frozen Biscuits, thawed in refrigerator overnight (Do not bake.)

1 lb. sausage, cooked, drained and cooled 2 cups shredded cheddar or mozzarella cheese 6 eggs, well beaten ½ cup milk (can use skim or 2 percent) ¼ tsp. salt ¼ tsp. pepper Coat a 9 by 13 inch baking pan with nonstick spray or butter.

Press uncooked biscuits onto bottom of dish, sealing all areas to make a solid crust.

Sprinkle cooked sausage over top, then add shredded cheese on top.

Wisk eggs, milk,

FRESH FRUIT SALAD WITH HONEY YOGURT DRESSING

Beverly Corley 2 cups washed and sliced strawberries 2 cups grapes, halved 1 cup diced apples 3 oranges, peeled, seeded and cubed ¼ cup freshly squeezed orange juice 1 cup plain low-fat Greek yogurt 2 Tbsp. honey Toss all fruit together in a medium bowl.

Whisk orange juice, yogurt and honey in a separate bowl. Chill until ready to serve.

OVERNIGHT REFRIGERATOR MASON JAR OATS

Jennifer Rezek 1/2 cup quick pats 1/2 cup low-fat milk 1/4 cup Greek yogurt 1/4 cup blueberries or any berry or banana (combination tastes great) ¼ cup granola 1/2 Tbsp. honey Pour oats into a mason jar. Pour in milk; add in fruit and Greek yogurt. Add granola and top with honey.

Put the top on the Mason jar and place in the refrigerator overnight.

MELANIE’S MORNING “MILKSHAKE”

Keep frozen sliced bananas in freezer for making this milkshake.

1/2 cup milk 2 Tbsp. chocolate syrup 2 Tbsp. peanut butter 1 frozen sliced ripe banana 8 oz. carton vanilla yogurt or Greek yogurt Place all ingredients in a blender and process until smooth.

MAKE AHEAD SCRAMBLED EGG CASSEROLE

Dora James This is great to make ahead, store in refrigerator and have ready to bake the next morning.

1 cup cubed ham or Canadian bacon, optional ¼ cup chopped onion 3 Tbsp. melted butter

shop is open the second weekend in October until the last week in April on Friday and Saturday 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. and Sunday 8 a.m. until noon at 555 Lee Road 100, Opelika. Customers can call ahead to place an order at 334.750.8970.

Look over the recipes and create scrumptious breakfasts to give everyone in the family a great start to the day. or margarine 1 dozen eggs, beaten 4 oz. can sliced mushrooms, drained or use fresh mushrooms that have been sautéed, optional Cheese Sauce (recipe follows) Topping, optional ¼ cup melted butter or margarine 2 ¼ cup soft breadcrumbs ¼ tsp. paprika Sauté ham and onion in 3 tablespoons butter.

Fold in eggs and cook.

When eggs are set, stir in mushrooms and cheese sauce. Spoon into a greased 13 by 9 inch pan. Combine ¼ cup melted butter and crumbs, spread over eggs. Sprinkle with paprika. Bake uncovered for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Can be made a day ahead.

Cheese Sauce: 2 Tbsp. butter or margarine 2 ½ Tbsp. flour 2 cups milk ½ tsp. salt ¼ tsp. pepper 1 cup shredded American or cheddar cheese Melt butter; blend in flour and milk. Cook until thickened. Add salt, pepper and cheese, stirring until cheese melts.

BAKED EGGS WITH HAM AND CHEESE IN MUFFIN CUPS

6 eggs 6 thin slices of ham Shredded cheddar, Swiss or mozzarella cheese Preheat oven to 400.

Coat a muffin tin with nonstick spray. Place slice of ham in each muffin cup to form a nest. Place one egg into each cup. Sprinkle salt and pepper over eggs.

Sprinkle cheese of choice over eggs.

Bake eggs for about 13 to 15 minutes or until desired consistency.

EASY SAUSAGE BALLS WITH HONEY MUSTARD SAUCE

1 lb. pork sausage 2 cups Bisquick 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese.

Mix all ingredients together and shape into small balls. Place on baking pan that has been coated with nonstick spray.

Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes. Turn halfway through baking to have them brown on both sides. Serve with Honey Mustard Sauce.

Honey Mustard Sauce: 1/4 cup Dijon mustard 1/4 cup honey 1/2 to 3/4 cup mayonnaise Mix together until well blended.

A11 Jan 6, 2022

Girl Scouts of Southern Alabama Kicks Off 2022 Cookie Season CONTRIBUTED BY THE GSSA

Earlier this week, Girl Scouts of Southern Alabama started their annual Cookie Season on Jan. 2.

Stock up on all of your favorite Girl Scout cookies and power unique and amazing experiences for girls with every purchase.

This year’s cookie lineup includes two new cookies: the Adventurefuls and ToastYays.

Adventurefuls are a brownie-inspired cookie with a caramel filling and a sea salt drizzle on top.

Toast-Yays are French toast-inspired cookies with cinnamon icing. Talk about delicious.

The Thin Mints, Caramel deLites, Shortbread, Lemonades, Peanut Butter Patties, Peanut Butter Sandwich and the gluten-free Caramel

Chocolate Chip cookies will also be available for purchase this year.

The Girl Scout Cookie Program is the nation’s largest girl-led business and leading financial literacy program for girls. Through the Girl Scout Cookie Program, girls learn five essential skills for leadership: goal setting, decision-making, money management, people skills and business ethics.

On Jan. 14, Girl Scouts will begin selling their cookies in booth sales as well as online and door-to-door sales. Girl Scouts of Southern Alabama will also be hosting cookie drive-thrus on January 14, at their offices on this day.

The 2022 Girl Scout Cookie Program will end on March 6, so make sure to stock up.

The more cookies girls sell, the more earnings they have to power

impactful community projects and personal enrichment experiences, such as STEM activities and traveling.

Every purchase of Girl Scout Cookies is an investment in girls both now and in the future and their leadership capabilities, with 100% of the net revenue staying local. To learn more about the Girl Scout Cookie Program, and to find out when Girl Scouts will be selling near you, visit girlscoutssa.org.

WE ARE GIRL SCOUTS OF SOUTHERN ALABAMA Girl Scouts bring their dreams to life and work together to build a better world.

Through programs in 30 counties in southern Alabama, Girl Scouts of all backgrounds and abilities can be unapologetically themselves as they discover their strengths and rise to meet new challenges — whether they want

to climb to the top of a tree or the top of their class, lace up their boots for a hike or make their first best friends.

Backed by trusted adult volunteers, mentors and millions of alums, Girl Scouts lead the way as they find their voices and make

changes that affect the issues most important to them.

To join us, volunteer, reconnect or donate, visit girlscoutssa.org.

Dream Day Foundation to Host Annual Dr. Martin L. King, Jr. Annual Celebration CONTRIBUTED BY THE DREAM DAY FOUNDATION

The Dream Day Foundation, Inc., a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization in partnership with McDonald’s of Auburn, Opelika, Shorter and

Tuskegee, Kroger, Inc. and the Opelika City Council is in the planning stages of its 23rd Annual Celebration honoring the life and legacy of Dr. Martin L. King, Jr. This year’s event, “Lift Every Voice", will be held

on Jan. 17, at Opelika Center for Performing Arts at 11 a.m.

Due to COVID-19, masking and social distancing will be enforced.

Free testing and the Pfizer vaccine will be offered one hour be-

fore the event and one hour after the event.

Parents and guardians must be present to consent to take test or vaccine.

Dr. King’s legacy will be honored by lifting his voice and the voices that many others

have used to advocate for peace, equality and justice. The recipient of the 2022 Dream Achiever Award and the winners of our 2022 Dream Day Scholarships for high school seniors wishing to further their educa-

tion will be announced during the event.

If you are interested in our sponsorship opportunities or need any additional information, please feel free to contact Marion Sankey, coordinator at 334-663-6638.

A12 Jan. 6, 2022

Soup Recipes to Help Warm Up on a Winter Night CONTRIBUTED BY ACES WRITTEN BY KATIE NICHOLS

When cooler temperatures set in, warm soups are a great dinner option for the family to enjoy together. Live Well Alabama’s team of agents and nutritionists have a variety of soup recipes that are sure crowd pleasers. This Friday, Live Well Alabama is serving up Family Favorite Tomato Soup and Potluck Taco Soup.

FAMILY FAVORITE TOMATO SOUP With a stunning 40 mg of sodium per serving, this homemade tomato soup has a significantly

lower sodium content than most canned tomato soups, which can contain 500 mg. However, don’t let the lower sodium count fool you. This soup is delicious and simple to make.

INGREDIENTS 3 tablespoons butter one medium yellow onion, diced two cans of diced tomatoes, 14.5 ounces each one, 46-ounce bottle or can of tomato juice 2 tablespoons sugar black pepper to taste 1 cup of 2 percent milk 1/4 cup of fresh basil, chopped (optional) PRO TIP Add fresh, chopped

basil for additional flavor and color.

DIRECTIONS Melt the butter in a large pot. Add onion and cook until soft, about five minutes. Add diced tomatoes and tomato juice. Stir to combine.

Stir in sugar and pepper.

Heat to almost a boil.

Turn off the heat. Add milk and basil, if desired. Serve warm and enjoy.

Want to learn more? Step-by-step instructions for Family Favorite Tomato Soup, as well as an instructional video, are available at LiveWellAlabama.com.

POTLUCK TACO SOUP

Who doesn’t love taco soup? This simple recipe includes canned beans and tomatoes, making it an easy weeknight menu item.

INGREDIENTS 1 pound lean ground beef 1/2 large onion, chopped one red bell pepper, chopped 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder 1 tablespoon chili powder 1 1/2 teaspoons cumin two cans Italian diced tomatoes, 14 ounces, undrained one can corn, 14 ounces, undrained

two cans black beans, 14 ounces, drained 1 cup water (add additional cup if needed) PRO TIP Add toppings such as reduced-fat sour cream, low-fat cheese or lime wedges.

DIRECTIONS In a large pan, cook the beef over medium heat until browned. Add onion and bell pepper.

Cook five minutes.

Drain the fat from the cooked beef, onion and pepper. Add garlic powder, chili powder and cumin. Cook and stir for one minute. Add tomatoes, corn, beans and water. Bring to boil,

reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Add toppings as desired.

Want to learn more? Step-by-step instructions for Potluck Taco Soup, as well as an instructional video, are available at www.

LiveWellAlabama.com.

LIVE WELL ALABAMA Live Well Alabama is a Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program-Education (SNAP-Ed) initiative developed by the Alabama Cooperative Extension System at Auburn University. This initiative reaches residents across the state with research-based education.

Auburn Professor Offers Advice For Staying On Track With New Year’s Resolutions CONTRIBUTED BY AUBURN UNIVERSITY

At the start of a new year, many individuals set resolutions to live healthier lifestyles–either through diet changes, exercise or some combination of the two. However, many people admit to giving up on their resolutions early in the year, despite their best intentions when the resolutions were set.

Danielle Wadsworth, an associate professor in the College of Education’s School of Kinesiology, answered a few questions on how people can stay on track with their goals.

WHY ARE PEOPLE MORE EAGER TO SET NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS FOR EXERCISE VERSUS DIVING IN AT ANY OTHER TIME OF THE YEAR? I am not sure there is any clear reason why, other than most people associate the new year with new beginnings and a chance for change. Just remember that any time is a good time to get your body moving.

IT SEEMS THAT MANY PEOPLE GIVE UP ON THE EXERCISE ROUTINES A FEW WEEKS INTO THE YEAR. WHY IS THAT? There are several reasons why people give up on their exercise routines.

First, most people

overestimate what they can do or the amount of time and energy a new exercise routine takes. Second, starting a new exercise routine for many is hard. Exercise for most of us is a volitional behavior that may require research into what you want to do, or new equipment, or time or it may be something that some just don’t like. Third, for many, exercise is the first to go in a long list of competing demands. Although the new year brings us a time of growth, it also has many obligations.

WHAT CAN PEOPLE DO TO ENSURE THEIR RESOLUTIONS WILL BE SUSTAINABLE LONG TERM? The number one reason people self-report dropping out of an exercise routine is a lack of time, but I would argue it is a lack of time management, not actual time. After all, regular exercisers only have 24 hours in a day, just like non-exercisers. The only difference is regular exercisers manage their time and make exercise a priority. If you want to keep exercise as part of your regular schedule, do what you do for all the important items in your life: put it on the calendar first.

The second reason people drop out of an exercise program is they are not seeing the results they want to see. I encourage everyone to keep their goals small, increase a little week by week and, if you hit a plateau, change anything to get your body going again.

I would also encourage everyone to keep it simple and find something that you enjoy doing on a regular basis.

WHAT ARE THE BEST MOTIVATORS AND WAYS TO STAY MOTIVATED? Most people are motivated by one of three aspects: enjoyment, relating to other people or an ability to show that you are competent at something. Think about yourself and what motivates you. Do you need to enjoy exercise to complete it? Would it be helpful to exercise with other people, or do you prefer exercising on your own?

What are you good at, and how can you get better? Identifying these aspects early on will pay off in the future.

WHAT SUGGESTIONS DO YOU HAVE FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE LOOKING TO START EXERCISES IN THE NEW YEAR? FOR SOMEONE WHO HASN’T HAD A PHYSICAL ACTIVITY ROUTINE, WHAT’S THE

BEST WAY TO START TO MAINTAIN CONSISTENCY? First, keep it simple.

You can meet exercise recommendations by simply walking 10,000 steps a day.

Add in some simple bodyweight resistance, such as squats and push-ups and some stretching, and you have yourself a well-rounded routine.

Second, if you have a smart watch, USE IT! Let it help you track your steps and keep you accountable.

Third, try to move more throughout the day. If you have to sit for long periods of your day, try setting a timer to make yourself stand or move around.

Fourth, think outside the box and make it fun. Exercise can and should be fun. If you have kids, think about how you can get them involved. Elementary children go to physical education every day in Alabama. Ask them what they did and do it again at home. Find some fun work site challenges or start your own TikTok revolution.

IF PEOPLE FALL BEHIND ON THEIR GOALS, WHAT IS A GOOD WAY TO GET STARTED AGAIN? You most likely will not meet all your exercise goals. Give yourself some grace and revaluate what you can do RIGHT

Danielle Wadsworth is an associate professor in the School of Kinesiology.

NOW. The most important aspect is you are MOVING! Think about how you can readjust and keep moving forward.

WHAT TYPES OF GOALS ARE REALISTIC AND THUS MORE REALISTICALLY ATTAINABLE? Goals really depend on what you are doing now, what you have done in the past and what your physical

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capabilities are. For most, I would think about the frequency (how many days a week), intensity (how hard you are exerting yourself ) and the time (duration of the activity) and only extend one of those per week.

Humans are meant to move, and exercise can and should be a part of your daily routine. You’ve got this!

A13 Jan 6, 2022

Loving God Gloriously who sang, “There ain’t no doubt in no one’s mind that loves the finest thing around” and of course, he was right. And love for the Lord is at the top of the BRUCE GREEN list. Paul has just spoken Teaching Minister at 10th of “how I long for all of Street Church of Christ you with the affection of in Opelika Christ Jesus” (v. 8), so it appears he’s referencing their love for the Lord.

His request to God is aul’s prayer for the disciples at Philippi straightforward — he was “that your love wants their love for the Lord to be manifested in may abound more and “knowledge and depth of more in knowledge and insight.” We might have depth of insight so that anticipated him saying you may discern what their love should be seen is best” (1:9-10). I think through service to others, it’s safe to say this isn’t a kindness or generosity, prayer we hear every day and for most of us, it’s not but “knowledge” catches most of us by surprise. We something we personally didn’t see that coming. pray about on any kind of But he doesn’t stop regular basis. there.

The first thing Paul He goes on to say mentions in his prayer is that he is requesting love. It was James Taylor

P

knowledge and depth of insight “so that you may discern what is best.”

But he doesn’t stop there either. He wants this discernment so they may be “pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ — to the glory and praise of the Father” (v. 10-11). And with that, Paul has said a mouthful. He started the prayer with their love for the Lord and brought it all the way around to them living in a way that brings glory and praise to God. In our better moments, that’s what we long for and live for, isn’t it?

But to retrace our steps, knowledge, depth of insight and discernment are at the heart of this petition that ends so gloriously.

There’s a good reason for

that. You see, “love” tends to be a wonderful, wandering generality of a word. It can mean so many different things to different people — and not all of them are good. In fact, sometimes “love” can be quite toxic. Much of the sexual brokenness and confusion currently taking place in our culture springs from counterfeit ideas about love. Undiscerning disciples and even churches have adopted a “love is all you need” filter. There is a decided lack of knowledge, depth of insight, and discernment.

Jesus spoke of loving God with our mind (as well as our heart, soul and strength). When we love God with our minds, we practice a discriminating love — a love that filters everything through the word of God. After all,

“love rejoices with the truth” (1 Corinthians 13:6.

Love and truth/knowledge are never in opposition to each other — they are simply different sides of the same coin.

As children grow and mature, they become more discerning. In school, they learn to distinguish different letters of the alphabet, then different words and soon they are writing sentences and reading books. The same thing is true for disciples. God’s word teaches us right from wrong, good from bad and true from false. The knowledge and depth of insight it provides enables us to love God and others discerningly, righteously and gloriously.

You can find more of Bruce’s writings at his website: a-taste-of-gracewith-bruce-green.com.

ABOUT BRUCE GREEN You can find more of Bruce’s writings at his website: atasteofgracewithbrucegreen.com.

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BIBLE VERSE OF THE WEEK

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." — Jeremiah 29:11

DIRECTORY APOSTOLIC HOLINESS Emmanuel Temple of Deliverance Inc. 28 Sanford Ave., Opelika 334-745-0210 God’s House of Prayers Holiness Church 301 Highland Ave., Opelika 334-749-9672 True Deliverance Holiness Church

936 N. Donahue Dr., Auburn 334-502-4700 BAPTIST Bethesda Baptist Church 201 S. 4th St., Opelika 334-745-7528 Beulah Baptist Church 5500 Lee Road 270, Valley 334-705-0538

Was Saul Saved on the Road to Damascus?

Cooperative Baptist Fellowship 128 East Glenn Ave., Auburn 334-887-8506 Friendship Missionary Baptist Church 3089 Judge Brown Rd., Valley 334-710-2117 Greater Peace Missionary Baptist Church 650 Jeter Ave., Opelika 334-749-9487

Come and Find Out.

Green Chapel Missionary Baptist 390 Lee Road 106, Auburn (334) 749-4184

THE CHURCH OF CHRIST AT CUNNINGHAM DRIVE

High Hope Baptist Church 227 Lee Road 673 334-524-8750

2660 CUNNINGHAM DR., OPELIKA SUNDAY BIBLE STUDY 9:30 A.M. SUNDAY WORSHIP 10:30 A.M. / 5 P.M. WEDNESDAY BIBLE STUDY 6:30 P.M.

Lakeview Baptist Church 1600 E. Glenn Ave., Auburn 334-887-7094 Pepperell Baptist 2702 2nd Ave., Opelika 334-745-3108 Providence Baptist Church 2807 Lee Road 166, Opelika 334-745-4608

Union Grove Baptist Church 4009 Lee Road 391, Opelika 334-749-0461 CHURCH OF CHRIST Church of Christ at Cunningham 2660 Cunningham Dr., Opelika 10th Street Church Of Christ 500 N. 10th St., Opelika 334-745-5181 Church Of Christ 2215 Marvyn Pkwy., Opelika 334-742-9721 Southside Church Of Christ 405 Carver Ave., Opelika 334-745-6015

Auburn United Methodist Church 137 South Gay St., Auburn 334-826-8800 Beulah United Methodist Church 5165 Lee Road 270, Valley 334-745-4755 NON-DENOMINATIONAL Church At Opelika 1901 Waverly Pkwy., Opelika 334-524-9148 Connect Church 2015 West Point Pkwy., Opelika 334-707-3949 St. Ellis Full Gospel Church 5267 US Hwy 80W, Opelika 334-298-4319 PRESBYTERIAN

COMMUNITY OUTREACH Good Sheperd Anglican Church 3015 Opelika Road, Opelika EPISCOPAL Emmanuel Episcopal Church 800 1st Ave., Opelika 334-745-2054 METHODIST

Trinity Presbyterian Church 1010 India Road, Opelika 334-745-4889 SEVENTH DAY ADVENTIST Opelika Outreach S.D.A. Church P.O. Box 386, Opelika 334-749-3151

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Email: editor@opelika observer.com Call: 334-749-8003

A14 Jan. 6, 2022

Don’t Give Up! Persevere!

Mickey Mouse 300 times before one said yes. He persevered.

T

WALTER ALBRITTON

he word “persevere” is seldom used in everyday conversations. If we want to encourage a struggling friend, we are more apt to say simply “Hang in there,” or “Hang on.”

However we say it, our goal is to persuade our friend to persevere. If the road to hell is paved with good intentions, the road to success is paved with perseverance.

To persevere is to refuse to quit or give up. Thomas Edison produced a workable lightbulb because he refused to give up.

Bankers rejected Walt Disney’s concept of

Guess what basketball player said this: “I have missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games.

On 26 occasions I have been entrusted to take the game winning shot, and I missed. I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” Yes, that’s a quote from Michael Jordan, one of the greatest to every play the game.

And it was Michael Jordan who also said, “Obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it or work around it.” He persevered.

Babe Ruth is recognized around the world as one of the greatest baseball players of all time. But when he retired in 1935 he held the record for the most strikeouts in major league baseball. Asked to

explain why he struck out twice as often as he hit a home run, he said: “I just go up there and swing. I just keep on swinging and I keep on swinging. Every strike brings me closer to my next home run.” He persevered.

Winston Churchill inspired England with his famous call in WWII to fight in the fields, the streets, the hills and “never surrender.”

Educated as a child at Harrow School, Churchill returned there to deliver a speech that endeared the prime minister to people everywhere: “Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never — in nothing, great or small, large or petty — never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense.” Good advice from an old man who was known for his perseverance in England’s desperate fight for freedom.

Ben Franklin called

perseverance the mother of good luck. Thomas Carlyle said it was patience concentrated. An Arabian proverb calls it the greatest of all teachers.

My parents taught me perseverance. Dad had a doggedness we all admired. Every day he got up at 4:30 and worked till dark. When he tackled a job, he stayed with it until it was done. I never heard him say, “Son, when you take on a tough task, persevere.” But his example illustrated the difference perseverance can make.

Mama canned vegetables like there was no tomorrow. One day she spilled boiling paraffin on her right arm and hand. The injury was so severe that she could not use her hand for months. But that slowed her down only a few days.

Slowly she learned to write with her left hand.

Her “sticktoitiveness” taught her children how to persevere in tough times.

A friend gave me the honor of persuading him not to give up when he felt like quitting. He overcame his failure and became a credit to his profession. To celebrate our friendship he gave me this framed poem that reminds me of the value of perseverance: When things go wrong, as they sometimes will, When the road you’re trudging seems all up hill, When the funds are low, and the debts are high, And you want to smile, but you have to sigh, When care is pressing you down a bit, Rest if you must, but don’t you quit.

Life is queer with its twists and turns, As every one of us sometimes learns, And many a failure turns about, When he might have won had he stuck it out.

Don’t give up though the pace seems slow, You may succeed with another blow.

Success is failure turned

inside out, The silver tint of the clouds of doubt, And you never can tell how close you are, It may be near when it seems so far, So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit, It’s when things seem worse, That you must not quit.

If today you feel like you are at the end of your rope, hang on. Hang by your fingernails if you must, but don’t quit.

Believe in yourself. Ask your friends to help you.

Ask God to help you.

He is famous for helping his struggling children find the grace to hang in there until the dawn chases the darkness away. He can give you the grit and gumption to say what Paul said from inside a stinking prison, “Forgetting what is behind and straining forward to what is ahead, I press on!” So don’t give up! Never give up!

Persevere.

He is survived by his wife of 49 years, Lela and their son Jesse Robert Lofton, brothers and sister in laws Dewey and Karen Lofton, Terry and Brenda Lofton, sister in law and brother in law, Sally Melson Phillips and Jody Phillips and numerous nieces and nephews, and of course his faithful dog, Grace.

In lieu of flowers donations can be made to Alabama Chapter of ALS 300 Cahaba Park Circle Ste 209 Birmingham, AL 3542 or Circles Opelika 2133 Executive Park Dr. Opelika, AL 36801 in Roberts memory.

OBITUARIES taught Sunday School for young marrieds for most Dr. Robert Lofton of his years at Trinity. passed away Saturday, He was also active in the Jan. 1, 2022 after a community with Little yearlong battle with League, Scouts and ALS. He died at home Kiwanis. surrounded by family and Upon retirement Robert friends. moved to Opelika to move Robert was the oldest to his wife’s hometown of three boys born to Matt and to help take care of and Frankie Lofton. He his mother-in-law. At this was born in Alexandria, time, he was able to fulfill Louisiana and raised another dream of being in Ball, Louisiana. By on staff at AU Veterinary the age of 16 he knew School. At Auburn he he wanted to be a worked with Fourth veterinarian and he set Year students in the his sights to meet that Community Practice and goal by working in local still be able to work with vet clinics making plans clients while teaching to attend LSU where the students to put into he continued to work in practice what they had local clinics and work learned the three years on campus. He attended previous.

Auburn School of Once again, he retired Veterinary Medicine and from his wonderful made lifelong friends and profession and had to colleagues while a student. learn to fill his day with After graduation he new friends and hobbies practiced for a year in and get some travel time Roanoke, Virgina, then in as well. Staying still moved to Lake Charles, was not easy or fun for Louisiana, where he built him so he turned his a small animal practice, attention to local politics University Animal Clinic, and won a seat on the and worked for 40 years.

Opelika City Council.

While in Lake Charles This was another lifelong he was involved in dream that he did not many areas of veterinary have time to pursue while medicine on local, state practicing medicine. He and national levels. He also got back into the was a deacon at Trinity role of Bible teaching at Baptist Church where he First Baptist Opelika by DR. ROBERT LOFTON

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teaching a wonderful class of people who were a great supporter during his final battle with ALS. Robert loved life! He had many loves the first being his family, then veterinary medicine, followed close behind.

He felt he got to practice in the best of times and never dreaded a day at work. He loved the outdoors whether it was working or playing. He loved the mountains and backpacking became a great hobby. He loved his native state of Louisiana and soon became adjusted to the marshlands near Lake Charles along with the wonderful food found there. He loved everything Auburn! Vet School, football, basketball, baseball and anything else Auburn. He was known to throw a roll of toilet paper after a victory or two.

Most of all he loved people! He could talk to anyone and find out more about them in a short period of time. He loved the young and the old, the successful and those who needed a hand up.

Most importantly he loved the Lord and wanted to be sure that people knew the Lord as their personal savior. His first prayer

about ALS was that God would be glorified in the process.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Matt and Frankie Lofton, a niece Lynne Lofton Walker, his in-laws, John and Margaret Melson, and sister in law, Barbara Lavallet, who also died from ALS, and her husband, Phil.

––––––– See OBITUARIES, page A15

A15 Jan 6, 2022

Lee County Episcopal Church Partnership Launches With Service of Evensong CONTRIBUTED TO THE OBSERVER

Emmanuel Episcopal Church, which is the oldest public building still in use in Opelika, will host a Service of Evensong at 4 p.m. CST/5 p.m. EST

on Jan. 9. The church is located at 801 1st Ave. This service is being offered in partnership with the other Episcopal Churches in Lee County: Holy Trinity of Auburn, St. Dunstan’s of Auburn

and St. Stephen’s in Smiths Station. The Rev. Dr. Larry C. Williams, Priest-In-Charge at St. Stephen’s, will welcome everyone. The Rev. Thomas Joyner, Rector at St. Dunstan’s will

officiate. The Rt. Rev. Glenda S. Curry, Ph.D., Bishop of Alabama, will preach. Holy Trinity will provide the Cantors.

Emmanuel Church and St. Stephen’s will provide the Lectors and

the Psalmist. After the service, guests are invited for fellowship across the street at Resting Pulse Brewery.

The Parish Partnership Program is an initiative of the Episcopal Diocese

of Alabama, the goal of which is to encourage larger and smaller churches to reach across the aisle and discover ways to work together for the spread God’s kingdom.

Pictured left to right on top row: Emmanuel Episcopal Church, Opelika; St. Stephen's, Smiths Station. Bottom row: St. Dunstan's, Auburn and Holy Trinity also in Auburn.

OBITUARIES OBITUARIES >>

FROM A14

EUGENE CLAYTON ROBERTS, JR.

Clayton was born in Opelika on May 7, 1935.

He died Dec. 28, 2021, at The Bethany House. He Robert Wesley Prince graduated from Beauregard JR., 71, of Cusseta passed High School and joined away at East Alabama The Alabama National Medical Center on Guard. He was a member December 31st, 2021. of Hopewell Methodist Wesley loved to fish, hunt, Church. He retired from and spend time with his Uniroyal Tire Company at children, grandkids, and age 57. great grandkids.

He’s survived by his Wesley was born on son Cliff (Cindy) Roberts; April 3rd, 1950 and is survived by his wife, Karen grandchildren, Rachel (Brandon) Elliott, Parker Prince; three children, (Rachel) Roberts, Lindsey Robert Wesley Prince III (Chad) Fullerton; great (Lea), Amy Spraggins, Jeremy (Mandy) Prince; six grandchildren, Natalie Elliott, Camille Elliott, Grandkids, Marley Prince, Olivia Fullerton, and Amber (Dalton) Thomas, Jackson Fullerton.

Anna (Matthew) Bolt, He’s preceded in death Auburn Spraggins, Aubrie by his wife, Margie Prince, Jacob Prince; three Roberts, and his parents, great grandkids Brantley Mary Louise and Eugene Bolt, Wyatt Bolt, Hudson Clayton Roberts, Sr. Bolt; three sisters Bobbie Visitation was held on Jean Bishop, Tricia Dec. 30, 2021, at Jeffcoat(Ronnie) Fralic, Doris Trant Funeral Home and Jackson; Mother in Law a graveside service was Kathleen Long; a host of held at 1 p.m. on Friday, nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends. Dec. 31, 2021, at Hopewell Methodist Church cemetery Wesley is preceded in with Dr. Rusty Sowell death by his father and mother Robert and Mildred officiating.

Jeffcoat-Trant Funeral Prince; sister Helen Home and Crematory Cardwell. directed.

A memorial service was held at Pine Grove Church, ––––––– Monday Jan. 3, 202,2 at 2 p.m.

TERRY LYNN WESTFALL ––––––– ROBERT WESLEY PRINCE JR.

Terry Lynn Westfall of Salem, Alabama, was born to the late Leidy and Hazel Knechel in Pennsylvania on Aug. 27, 1961, and passed away at her home on Dec. 29, 2021. She was 60 years old.

Terry was a dental hygienist for over 25 years. She loved working in this profession. When not working she loved gardening, photography and spending time with her family especially the grandchildren. In addition, she would spend hours walking on the beach and collecting shells.

Terry is survived by her husband, Karl R. Westfall, Jr.; children, Brian Westfall (Beth), Richard Westfall (Aimee); grandchildren, Taylor, Alex, Ford, Dane, Jake; brother, Kim Knechel (Christine); sisters, Kathy Zweible (Rob), Sherry Derstine (Rob), as well as numerous nieces, nephews, cousins and other family members.

Visitation was held Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2022, in the Parlor at FrederickDean Funeral Home from 5 to 7 p.m.

The funeral service will be held in the Chapel at Frederick-Dean Funeral Home on Thursday, Jan. 6, 2022, at 11 a.m. Interment will follow at Garden Hills Cemetery.

–––––––

RICHARD BARRY MANNING Richard Barry Manning, 55, of Opelika, Alabama, passed away at East Alabama Medical Center on Dec. 26, 2021.

Barry was born in Atlanta, Georgia on June 8, 1966 to Jimmy Manning and Linda Mayberry Manning. In his teen years, his family relocated to Texas where he attended Livingston High School.

Barry married Kim, his high school sweetheart, in 1983 and from that union had 3 daughters; Brandie, Candice and Mandie.

He was a master brick mason who co-owned a construction company with his father and 2 brothers for many years. In his spare time, he enjoyed camping, fishing, spending time with his grandchildren, grilling, taking care of his family, telling stories (the same one … over and over again) and ‘one-upping’ everybody.

Barry was a loving and devoted father, husband, papa and friend.

Barry was preceded in death by his beautiful wife, Kim; grandmothers, Myrtis Carden Manning and Eunice Sumner Mayberry; and grandfathers, Clifford Manning and Walter Mayberry.

Barry is survived by his daughters, Brandie Roberson and Bubba, of

Mexia, Texas, Candice Boston, of Cabot, Arkansas, and Mandie and Jody Knight, of Valley, Alabama; granddaughters: Lexy Perez, and Ava and Zoe Boston; grandsons: Brandyn Carpenter, Racyn and Rylan Langley, and Seth Garcia; greatgrandson, Brycen; great-granddaughter, Brae’lyn; his father, Jimmy Manning and mother, Linda Mayberry Manning of Opelika, Alabama; brothers: Dewayne Manning and wife Kathy, and Robert Manning and wife Judy also of Alabama; mother-in-law, Becky Oliver of Mexia, Texas; numerous nieces and nephews and dog, Laila.

Family and friends are invited to attend either visitation. The first will be from 5 to 7 p.m., Wednesday, Dec, 29, 2021, in the Parlor at FrederickDean Funeral Home in Opelika, Alabama.

A second visitation was held from 3 to 5 p.m., on Sunday, Jan. 2, 2022, at Jones Funeral Home in Mexia, Texas. Graveside services were held at 10 a.m. on Monday, Jan. 3, at Mexia Cemetery.

––––––– WAYNE SELLERS In loving memory of Wayne Sellers of Chelsea,

Alabama. Wayne passed peacefully at home Dec. 31, 2021, at the age 76. He was a 1963 graduate of Tarrant High School. He retired from ABC Coke division of Drummond Coal. He was a member of Alabama High School Athletic Association (baseball); he was president of Jefferson Co. Baseball Association and member of Dolcito Masonic Lodge, Tarrant, Alabama, Alabama Gun Collectors Association, National Rifle Association, and past member of American Legion in Tarrant, a member of United Steelworkers Union and a member of Purpose Baptist Church of Opelika.

Wayne was preceded in death by his parents, Rollin and Lucille Sellers, wife, Sandra Sellers and son, Kerry Sellers. He is survived by his sons, Chris Sellers (Kelly) and Jeff Chafin; grandchildren, Drake Sellers (Caroline), Drew Sellers, Brittany Chafin, Nikki Umphrey and great grandchildren, Katie, Weston, Cameron, Preslee, Ellie Chesley, Layla and Ellie. A funeral for Wayne was held at Jefferson Memorial Funeral Home Chapel on Wednesday, Jan. 5 at 2 p.m. with a visitation held one hour prior to the service. Pastor Tim Tidwell presided over the service.

A16 Jan. 6, 2022

COMICS

“Life is worth living as long as there’s a laugh in it.” ― Lucy Maud Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables

S

INSIDE

S

ON THE MARK D. MARK MITCHELL

Opelika Returns to Action

O

pelika school students returned from Christmas break on Wednesday after having over two weeks off for the holiday.

See SPORTS, page B2

• OPELIKA/AUBURN SCHOOLS • LEE COUNTY SCHOOLS • AUBURN UNIVERSITY • SUSSC • COMMUNITY SPORTS

AUBURN: JAN. 11 AT 6 P.M. LEE COUNTY: JAN. 11 AT 6 P.M. OPELIKA: JAN. 25 AT 4:30 P.M.

Local Middle Schooler Showcases Football Skills on National Stage

BY WIL CREWS SPORTSCREWS@ OPELIKAOBSERVER.COM Thirteen-year-old Skylan Holstick has been busy building his football resume.

The 5-foot-9-inch, 264-pound Opelika Middle School student plays defensive tackle for the travel football team Ross Elite Longhorns, based out of Georgia.

“I usually play both sides [of offense and defense] but I always prefer defense,” Holstick said in a recent media interview. “I love [defensive tackle]. The physicality mostly.”

Holstick and the Longhorns competed in

the youth national championships in Miami the week of Dec. 6 through 11, vying for the title of the No. 1 13U football team in the nation.

While the Longhorns came up short, Holstick performances on the team — and his A+ performance in the classroom — earned him his second straight invitation to the Bret Cooper Junior Academic All American Bowl.

Bret Cooper Football is unique in that it holds the only game in the country that is has academic and character-related requirements.

“Your ability to hit your opponents as hard as you hit the books will let you showcase your

talents along with the very top student athletes across the country and internationally,” a Bret Cooper Football press release said.

To be selected, student-athletes must have a 3.0 GPA. Holstick is well beyond that mark and has stated his ambition to become a doctor one day.

“I just always thought that being a doctor was such a noble job to do and for helping people in general,” he said.

The prestigious, weeklong Junior Academic All American Bowl was held in Dallas, Texas, and featured 5-star hotel accommodations, media nights, tickets to the Goodyear Cotton Bowl

HOLSTICK Classic, an NFL-style symposium, an awards banquet gala, meet-andgreets, individual competitions, a bowl game and more.

During the week, See MIDDEL SCHOOLER, page B2

Despite Bowl Loss, Auburn Football Gaining Momentum for 2022 PHOTO BY ROBERT NOLES / THE OBSERVER

The wrestling team participated in the “Oxford Invitational” at Oxford High School last week. Although the team finished second, Head Coach Jim Davis was proud of his team’s effort.

The following is a summary of who scored points for the Bulldog grapplers: - Brady Campbell went 5-0 and was the 138-pound champion - Landon Willis was 5-0 and the 160-pound Champion - Jack Pritchard was 5-0 and the 195-pound Champion - Brayden Wilson was 4-1 and the 126-pound runner-up - Micah Smith went 4-1, finishing second in the 132-pound class - John Ambrocio placed third in the 113-pound class - And Kyle Epperson placed third in the 220-pound weight class.

The following Bulldogs were medalist and scored points for Opelika: - Ari Brogdon placed fifth at heavyweight - Harrison Renfroe placed fifth at 145-pound class

- And Tommie Johnson placed fifth at 182-pound class.

OHS wrestlers will participate in the Tallassee Duals at Tallassee High School on Jan. 7 and 8.

BASKETBALL The OHS girls’ basketball team played in the Columbus High Tournament (Georgia) last week. Coach Blake Smalley’s team lost to three good teams — Pleasent Grove (6155), Baker (43-46) and Central Tuscaloosa (34-31).

Haley Sanders led the OHS on offense against Pleasent Grove, scoring a game high 25 points.

Ashanti Thomas added 10 points.

Erica Mathews scored 16 points and grabbed nine rebounds against Baker, while Sanders added 12 points.

Sanders scored 13 points against Central Tuscaloosa.

Opelika travelled to Auburn on Monday, losing 56-34 in the AHS gym. OHS and AHS were tied 20-20 at halftime, but the Lady Tigers outscored OHS 26-14 in the second half to earn the win. Mathews scored a game high 13 points for the Lady Dogs.

Opelika’s boys’ basketball team lost to rival Auburn, 68-59, in the

SCHOOL BOARD MEETINGS

BY WIL CREWS SPORTSCREWS@ OPELIKAOBSERVER.COM Despite ending their season last week with a 17-13 loss at the hands of the Houston Cougars in the Birmingham Bowl, the Auburn Tigers are building momentum in the early days off 2022.

The Tigers had an up and down 2021. The peak of the season came after back-to-back victories over No. 8 Ole Miss and No. 22 Arkansas in October. Five straight loses followed, compounded with the firing of offensive coordinator Mike Bobo and the departure of three-year starter at quarterback Bo Nix via the transfer portal. All the while, Auburn’s two biggest rivals – Alabama and Georgia — were marching

toward the College Football Playoff.

Nix is now at Oregon, Seattle Seahawks quarterbacks coach Austin Davis is the new offensive coordinator and Harsin has bolstered the Tigers with a successful early national signing day period. Oh yeah, and Alabama and Georgia are set to square off in the national

championship on Jan. 10.

The disappointment of seeing Auburn’s two biggest rivals square off for a championship and yet another bowl game loss has gone by the wayside (Thanks, Bruce Pearl.), and Harsin heads into his second spring on The Plains with a revamped coaching staff, roster and outlook.

In just the past few days, Auburn has gained assurances that key players such as Derrick Hall (the team’s 2021 sack leader), Colby Wooden (a starter on the defensive line), tight end John Samuel Shenker and Owen Pappoe (a threeyear starter at linebacker) will all return in 2022.

Shortly before their announcements, star running back Tank Bigsby announced his plans to return to The Plains after rumors of his departure swirled.

The recent dismissal of standout reciever Kobi Hudson will hurt, but Auburn was in a similar situation at the end of last year, hopefully giving Harsin and company more confidence in re-tooling.

See GAINING, page B2

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B2 Jan. 6, 2022

Auburn Basketball Puts SEC, Nation on Notice

BY WIL CREWS SPORTSCREWS@OPELIKAOBSERVER.COM

SPORTS >> FROM B1 AHS gym on Monday.

The Tigers jumped out to a 17-3 lead early in the first quarter. The Bulldogs rallied in the second half thanks to Stephen Knight’s 16 points, Knox Chase’s 15 points and Landon Lee’s 11 points.

The two teams host Eufaula in area play on Friday in the Mainstreet gym on the OHS campus. Varsity girls start at 6 p.m., boys to follow.

INDOOR TRACK The OHS indoor track team travels to Birmingham this weekend for its first indoor

MIDDEL SCHOOLER >> FROM B1 Holstick was awarded with the “Big Sexy” award, given to outstanding linemen.

The last day, Jan. 2., Holstick’s team won the 13U Bret Cooper All American Bowl 13-6.

“I want to shout out my mom,” Holstick said in an interview. “She is always working hard to be able to let me do stuff like this.”

Bret Cooper Football has produced the most college, D-1 and NFL football players in the last 10 years of football history. It nationally recognized as the clear leader and trusted advisor by the top colleges in the country regarding their national combines and games.

Some notable Bret Cooper Alumni are

year’s Second Team All-SEC performer Allen Flanigan. The absence of Flanigan has been mitigated in Bruce Pearl’s team, as junior Devan Cambidge has taken his game up a level and Lior Berman and Chris Moore have

diagnosis for Cambridge —and posted 10 points, six rebounds and one assist in 29 minutes.

Bruce Pearl stated this week that Flanigan’s health is fully intact after playing such heavy minutes in his first game back, although he did

They have size and length, speed and shooting and playmaking galore.

Despite often being the smallest player on the court — and coming off the bench — Wendell Green Jr. is oftentimes the largest presence on

schedule.

In short, Auburn has arrived.

How so? You may ask.

For starters, the not-so-glaring hole in Auburn’s rotation has been filled by last

provided meaningful, effort-full minutes. The versatile, 6-foot-6-inch guard made his second appearance of the season against LSU — slotting into the starting lineup due to a positive COVID

miss the S.C. game due to undisclosed medical issues.

At full strength, Auburn now has a 11-man rotation — of which all the players are trusted.

the floor. That’s saying something with the potential No. 1 NBA draft pick Smith quietly posting dominant performances night after night. Green Jr.’s vision and execution of passing

PHOTO BY ROBERT NOLES / THE OBSERVER

The Auburn Tigers are ranked No. 9 in this season’s first AP basketball poll thanks in part to their recent 70-55 victory over then-undefeated LSU. Against the Bayou Bengals, the Tigers from The Plains overcame 21 turnovers and offensive slumps in both halves to secure the double-digit win.

Their collective reward: being the highest-ranked SEC team in the nation, currently.

Individually, Walker Kessler was named SEC Player of the Week for his 16-point, 11 block and 10 rebound performance against LSU — only the second triple double in program history (The only other was Kenny Gabriel, who scored 24 points, 13 rebound and 10 blocks against BethuneCookman in 2012.). The skilled giant — Kessler became the first D-1 player in 25 years to record a triple double against a team that was 10-0 or better.

Additionally, Jabari Smith was named CoSEC Player of the Week honors, sharing the spoils with Kentucky guard TyTy Washington Jr. Against LSU, Smith played a team-high 30 minutes and had 16 points and four rebounds

— extending his streak to 10 straight games with double figures in scoring.

On Tuesday, the Tigers defeated a physical South Carolina team on the road to continue their early rampage through the SEC

meet of the season. The Bulldogs participate in the “ICE BREAKER” Invitational at the Crossplex. Unfortunately, the Birmingham Crossplex is the only venue in Alabama to host indoor track meets.

OHS is trying to repeat as state champs after winning the 2021 Indoor State Championship.

D. Mark Mitchell is the sports director at iHeartMedia, host of “On the Mark” Fox Sports the Game 910-1310, co-chair of the Auburn-Opelika Sports Council, chairman of the Super 7 and Dixie Boys Baseball state director.

Washington Football Team defensive end Chase Young, Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Christian Kirk, Pittsburgh Steeler backup quarterback Dwayne Haskins and others. Holstick may be next on the list.

GAINING >> FROM B1 The Tigers boast a top15 nationally ranked 2022 recruiting class (to the surprise of most) and next season begins with five straight home games.

There is plenty to look forward to.

The Tigers’ defensive line’s quality and depth looks menacing; The second year combination of Jarquez Hunter and Bigsby looks potent; The

tight end room is loaded; and the systems of Harsin and defensive coordinator Derek Mason should be better-learned in year two, among other things.

The quarterback competition will be one thing to keep a close eye on.

T.J. Finley performed up to par in the stead of Nix over the final two regular season games, but delivered a putrid performance against the Cougars in the bowl game. The coaching staff has shown little

faith in former 4-star and upcoming sophomore Demetrius Davis, although Harsin confirmed he was getting more reps in preparation for the bowl game. Incoming freshman Holden Giriner is a coveted 4-star himself, and is Harsin’s first hand-picked recruit at quarterback.

Still, however, many believe Auburn’s quarterback is not yet on campus.

A few marquee names remain in the transfer portal; don’t be surprised

is second to none; and he must be a subscriber to the Steph Curry shooting technique newsletter with the distance and difficulty of which he shoots (and makes) his three pointers.

The guy who occupies Green Jr.’s spot in the starting lineup — Zep Jasper — has adjusted to the SEC better than elastic waistbands adjust to the holidays, and continues to be one of the best guards in the country in terms of assist-to-turnover ratio.

K.D. Johnson, despite struggling through a shooting slump recently, is struggling graciously, and making his impact on the defensive end and offensively with his finishing ability at the rim.

Backup center Dylan Cardwell is all of 7-foot, 250 pounds, and his new nickname should be “Thrillin’ Cardwell” because of the energy he brings off the bench.

Jaylin Williams — who has nobly taken a bench role this season after starting last year — brings a stoic leadership and playmaking ability to the team when he comes off the bench.

As the final man in the rotation, Lior “Bucket Man” Berman is shooting 57.1% on three pointers and well on his way to becoming as big an Auburn cult hero as the highly-recruited Smith himself — for what that is worth. if Harsin brings one in to beef up the competition.

Replenishing the talent lost on the backend of the defense will be of paramount importance for the Tigers in 2022. The nation’s top-rated cornerback according to PFF, Roger McCreary, is going pro; The controversial but ever-involved Smoke Monday is following suit and three other rotational players in the secondary will be amiss from the 2022 Tigers. Furthermore, the loss of All-SEC linebacker Zakoby McClain, as well as senior leader Chandler Wooten will be difficult to make up for.

Offensive line is another area of concern for Auburn — just as it was in 2021. With as many as six or seven potential departures (two already confirmed) and only one 3-star recruit signed on for 2022, Harsin and his staff must focus on bringing in talent through the transfer portal or convince a few of the guys to cash in on their COVID-eligible free year. Without improvements up front, this team will have a severely limited ceiling.

But be patient with this team. At the moment, there are a number of moving parts but the Tigers are trending in the right direction. Harsin deserves time. He is attempting to change the identity, culture and perception of Auburn football; With his no-malarkey attitude — and maybe just a little bit of luck — he is on his way.

B3 Jan. 6, 2022

Tigers Tame the Bulldogs PHOTO BY ROBERT NOLES / THE OBSERVER

For more information on the Jan. 3 meeting between Auburn High School and Opelika High School basketball teams, turn to D. Mark Mitchell's column on page B1.

B4 Jan. 6, 2022

Glenwood Gets Mid-Season Test PHOTOS BY JERRY BALLAS / FOR THE OBSERVER

Glenwood hosted its annual "Border Wars" basketball tournament on Dec. 28. The tournament featured boys and girls teams from Glenwood, Lee-Scott, Grace Christian, Terrell and Southland. Alabama teams emerged victorious seven games to five.

B5 Jan. 6, 2022

Lee-Scott Travels for Border Wars PHOTOS BY JERRY BALLAS / FOR THE OBSERVER

B6 Jan. 6, 2022

Auburn Gym Ranked No. 14 in Preseason Poll CONTRIBUTED BY AU ATHLETICS The 2022 Auburn gymnastics team will open the year at No. 14, the Women’s Collegiate Gymnastics Association announced Friday, Dec. 14.

“It’s always exciting when the preseason poll comes out because it means our season is right around the corner,” said head coach Jeff Graba.

“Being ranked No. 14 in the coaches’ poll is as good a place as any to start. I’m excited for this team to get started and show what we’re capable of.”

Three Southeastern

Conference schools are in the Top 10 and all eight schools are in the Top 20. Florida will start the year at No. 2, while LSU and Alabama are at No. 5 and No. 6, respectively. Arkansas is 11th, Kentucky is at No. 13, Georgia is at No. 15 and Missouri rounds out the SEC schools at No. 16.

The Tigers will also face No. 1 and defending national champion Michigan in March. The team kicks off the 2022 campaign at No. 35 North Carolina, Jan. 7.

For the latest on Auburn Gymnastics, follow @ AuburnGym on Twitter and visit our Facebook page at facebook.com/ AuburnGym.

Auburn S&D Adds Three Mid-year Enrollees for 2022

CONTRIBUTED BY AU ATHELTICS The Auburn swim and dive program is adding three midyear enrollees to its roster, head coach Ryan Wochomurka announced this week. The trio is expected to join the team immediately and compete for the Tigers this spring.

Anastasia Makarova of Russia will join the women’s team.

Makarova, a breaststroke specialist, won three gold medals, a silver medal and a bronze medal at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics.

In 2019, she won

three silver medals at the World Junior Swimming Championships and set personal bests (LCM) in the 100 and 200 breaststroke.

This fall, Makarova advanced to the final in the 100 and 200 breaststroke at the 2021 FINA Swimming World Cup in Kazan.

The other two mid-year enrollees, Lewis Treggiden and Josh Cobia, will join the men’s team. Both swim freestyle and backstroke. Treggiden is another international enrollee who hails from Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia, while

Cobia is an in-state addition who originally committed to LSU. Cobia graduated from Tuscaloosa County High School last spring but waited until he was fully recovered from injury before signing.

The Auburn swimmers will make their 2022 debut on Saturday, Jan. 8 when they host Georgia Tech for a dual meet. The first event is scheduled for 10 a.m. CST. The divers will be in action next week at the Tennessee Diving Invitational.

The four-day meet features six events and will run from Monday to Thursday.

2022 MID-YEAR ENROLLEES

JOSH COBIA Hometown: Northport, Ala. High School: Tuscaloosa County Club Team: Crimson Tide Aquatics Stroke: Freestyle/ Backstroke ANASTASIA MAKAROVA Hometown: Pushkino, Russia High School: Gymnasium No. 1 Stroke: Breaststroke LEWIS TREGGIDEN Hometown: Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia High School: Marymount College Club Team: Bond Swimming Club Stroke: Freestyle/ Backstroke

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B8 Jan. 6, 2022

Feel, See, Smell and Hear The Cold of Winter

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.” Ecclesiastes 3:1.

I

visited my son, Gus, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, this Christmas. And yes we had a beautiful white Christmas season with snow. Even though it was very cold to this Alabama gal, my son and I went on field trips to walk his dog Bear and let me see the sights of winter. Gus pointed out many things that he thought would be interesting for young children and families. I gleaned a lot from our walks on what I could share with the readers back in Lee County where we do

see snow sometimes.

We do feel the cold of winter each year in our region. I picked up some new ideas to share and reviewed some field trip lessons that I have shared in the past.

After the business of seasonal activities, it is so good to settle down into winter learning. I love the way early childhood teachers create a “Winter Wonderland” of learning in their classrooms. “No two snowflakes are alike” is applied in realizing that no two children are alike.

Each child is unique in

their own way. Teachers do a wonderful job of integrating winter into their reading, language arts, math and science lessons.

The purpose of this article is to pass on to parents, grandparents and caregivers ideas that your young children will truly enjoy. Let’s take a wintertime field trip. Nature’s handiwork can still be observed during its dormant state as well. You can divide your outdoor adventure into four mini field trips.

Grab your coat, a pencil and paper to record your findings.

A listening field trip is done simply by walking quietly and listening for: The wind blowing through trees Birds Chirping Squirrels scurrying Leaves rustling and crunching under foot Ice breaking Rain falling Sleet falling.

A seeing field trip is a lot of fun as you can make several observations: Shapes of clouds against the majestic blue sky Colors of nature during the winter Angles the sun is peeping through Counting the varieties

of animals and birds Count the many bright stars in the winter sky as well as looking at how the moon changes shape Comparing what trees retain their leaves and which ones don’t Observing buds that have not yet opened Invest in an inexpensive outside thermometer so your children can actually see how the temperature goes down during these winter months.

Your feeling field trip, of course with safety in mind, can include feeling: Moss on a tree or rock Snow, ice Rocks Soft sand or soil Rough tree bark Smooth stones Sun shining on your face Wind blowing on your face Prickly pine needles, pine cones and leaves Your smelling field trip includes: Fire burning in a fireplace Pine trees

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Cedar trees or wood Mulch The different smells that the wind blows in.

Throwing pieces of bread out to the birds can create a bird sanctuary in your yard. Hours of looking, observing and comparing is a science lesson that could last for several hours. One of my favorite bird feeders is a pine cone feeder. Gently pick up a pine cone, put small spoonfuls of peanut butter in between the small cone leaves and sprinkle bird seeds in the peanut butter. This makes a bird feeder that your child will enjoy all winter. Just hang the pine cone bird feeder by a piece of yarn or string and observe the birds flying in over time. This is an idea that I shared at Christmas as well.

January is National Soup Month. On those icy, rainy, cold, yucky days outside, call all your little chefs to the kitchen. Children can decide what kinds of foods that they would enjoy putting into their soup. I love to

read “Stone Soup” by Jan Eliot to my classes year after year. Take a winter field trip to the library to check out this book, then make a delicious crockpot of soup to share the smells and delicious tastes of warm foods.

Other children’s favorite winter foods are chili, spaghetti and pizza, in which cooking lessons in the kitchen can teach math lessons on measurements, lessons on health and safe cooking habits, as well as cleanup time.

It may be cold and rainy outside but don’t forget the car picnic. It will be warm and toasty inside your car as children enjoy their favorite foods and visit their favorite sights. Talk to your child about what they like the most about winter. Their observations and insights might surprise you of what they see in God’s beautiful world during this season.

Beth Pinyerd Classroom Observer

L ee County & A labama Politics

B9

Nov. 24, 2021

Thursday, Jan. 6, 2022

Inside the Statehouse

appy New Year. It is election year in the good ole Heart of Dixie.

Alabama, like a good many southern states, has our monumental political year in what the nation refers to as the off-year or midterm election year cycle. This reference is, of course, to the presidential election being the main political event. Thus, the last presidential race being 2020 and the next main presidential race being 2024.

Most states have their gubernatorial election year at the same time as the presidential contest. We are different, we have our big year in off-years.

This new year of 2022 will see our constitutional offices up for election, including governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, agriculture commissioner, state treasurer, secretary of state and state auditor.

Not only does the governor and all constitutional offices run this year, but so do all 67 sheriffs and all 140 legislative and state senate seats.

The governor’s race has historically been the premier political race in Alabama politics. It is the pinnacle or brass ring of our political world.

Therefore, we old time political folks refer to this year as the gubernatorial year.

Qualifying began Jan. 4 and ends Jan. 28. The GOP and Democratic Primary elections will be May 24.

The runoff election is set for June 21. The winner of the Republican Primary will be elected governor.

Winning the GOP nomination for statewide office in Alabama is tantamount to election. No serious candidate would run as a Democrat.

It was thought that Gov. Kay Ivey would coast to reelection with only token opposition. After all, polling reveals that she is one of the most popular incumbent governors in the country. She has done a good job as governor and will be tough to beat.

See FLOWERS, page B13

BY MICHELLE KEY PUBLISHER

During Tuesday night’s Opelika city council meeting, Mayor Gary Fuller honored Opelika’s Chief Building Inspector, Jeff Kappelman, and Andy Bell, building inspector, with an “Atta Boy Awards.” These awards are given out to city employees to recognize them for going the extra mile in their day-today responsibilities.

Kappelman was recently award the Mentor of the Year award during the Code Officials of Alabama Association (COAA) meeting in August.

Bell was nominated in part for his work co-authoring a training manual that was published by the ADECA Energy Division and for his contributions to the Energy Code Inspection Checklist used by

PHOTO CONTRIBUTED BY CITY OF OPELIKA

H

STEVE FLOWERS

However, in recent weeks two viable candidates have announced that they are running for governor.

Lynda “Lyndy” Blanchard and Tim James are attempting to outflank her on the right. These two are viable candidates for one reason – they have individual wealth, which allows them the ability to acquire name identification and voter approval.

Lyndy Blanchard launched a campaign for our open senate seat in early 2021. However, by year’s end she flipped a switch and moved to the governor’s race. Her only claim to being qualified to run for governor is that she bought an ambassadorship to Slovenia in the administration of former president, Donald Trump. Her only hope for the governor’s race is that she can wish for Trump to endorse her.

Although this would probably not be enough. As a lame duck, who has been out of the White House for over a year and who’s popularity is waning, his nod may not be as important as once thought. Blanchard’s only calling card is that she flashed $5 million on her senate campaign filing reports. It remains to be seen if indeed she spends that much of her own money on an uphill race for governor.

Tim James is making his third race for governor. He is the son of two time governor Fob James. Tim is a likeable fellow, is extremely conservative and harps on fringe social issues like outlawing Yoga in schools. He like Blanchard possesses the main ingredient to make himself a viable candidate. He has some personal wealth and if he indeed spends some of his money, he can garner a certain segment of the vote.

If Ivey sticks to her knitting, stays home and governs and looks gubernatorial and does not beat herself, she will more than likely prevail.

The big question is can this full field of candidates, including James, Blanchard, Stacy George and Dean Odle, force Kay Ivey into a runoff or will she defeat the field without a runoff like she did in 2018?

That question will be answered on May 24.

The power of incumbency will be omnipotent in the other statewide constitutional offices. Lieutenant Governor Will Ainsworth will be reelected with no or token opposition. The same applies for Attorney

Building Inspection Officials Honored at Opelika City Council

Alabama building inspectors.

Both men were recognized for being leaders in their field.

IN OTHER BUSINESS • The council approved expense reports from various departments.

• The council approved change order no. 1 to contract with Incapsulate, LLC. • The council voted to authorize a project agreement with The Estates HOA for a sidewalk project on Academy Drive.

• The council voted to

establish compensation of presiding municipal judge, municipal judge, assistant city prosecutors and public defender.

These positions have not been granted a pay increase in the last three years. The increases will go into effect Feb. 1 and are as follows: The part-time presiding municipal judge shall be paid at the rate of $2,450 per month for professional services.

The part-time municipal judge shall be paid See OPELIKA, page B13

Auburn Purchases Equipment for Dinius Park; Postpones Redistricting

BY HANNAH LESTER HLESTER@ OPELIKAOBSERVER.COM

The Auburn City Council voted to purchase playground equipment for Dinius Park Tuesday night.

The council approved the contract with GameTime for over $59,700 for the equipment. Some playground equipment has already been installed at Dinius Park.

“Since the opening of the park, heavy use of the equipment has been noted,” the city’s e-packet said. “Staff anticipates heavier use once the pavilion is installed.”

The equipment will

include a solo spinner, an ionix play-structure and an arch swing.

REDISTRICTING: The city of Auburn voted to postpone the vote on its redistricting plan for a second time Tuesday night during the Auburn City Council Meeting.

The vote was postponed after several local branch #5038 NAACP members spoke out against the city’s plan for redistricting in December.

A branch-hired cartographer, Tabitha Isner, from Montgomery, put together, with the branch, a plan that would include two

minority-majority districts in the city.

Census data shows that the city of Auburn grew by more than 22,000 since the last count. Auburn’s total population is 76,143 and the goal is for each district to have about 9,518. In 2010, Auburn’s population was 53,380 with each district ideally having about 6,672 residents.

“Redistricting occurs after each decennial census so that political representation reflects population growth and change,” the city of Auburn website said. “The Code of Alabama 1975, See AUBURN, page B13

Paid for by Friends of Tim Aja LLC

Questions? ward3@ajafinancial.com

“I would like to say THANK YOU to everyone I had a chance to meet, and for taking the time to provide me your thoughts on our great city. I am very excited for our future and Opelika’s continued success!

I would also ask all members of WARD 3 to please let your voices be heard on January 11th! Brave the cold, cast your ballot, and ensure Opelika’s future is bright. EVERY VOTE COUNTS!”

“Any final thoughts for the January 11th election?”

B10 Jan. 6, 2022

Mo Brooks Seeks a Loftier Political Perch: the U.S. Senate

GREG MARKLEY

A

t 7:09 EST on June 14, 2017, shots rang out at a baseball stadium in Alexandria, Virginia, in a case of domestic terrorism.

That morning, 24 Republican congressmen were practicing for a charity game against Democrats.

Six people were injured, most seriously House Majority Whip Steve Scalise.

A former star high school baseball player from Huntsville, Alabama, used his belt as a tourniquet to stop bleeding for a congressional staffer who had been shot in the calf.

Mo Brooks, of Alabama’s 5th Congredssional District, applied pressure to stanch the blood flow. Scalise went to the hospital and all the wounded

survived (the shooter died on-site). He was from the Far Left and his “assassinations list” contained Brooks’ name. The incident confirmed what Brooks knew: always guard against extremists and seize opportunities that arise.

“I came into politics and especially this Senate race for a number of reasons,” Brooks told me recently in the house he and his wife Martha designed. “Reform free entitlements and stop socialism, fix the southern border and cut federal spending. We need to stop the socialism that is rampant in the Democratic Party.”

Now in his sixth term, Brooks is a member of the Armed Services Committee and the Committee on Science, Space and Technology. On the latter committee, he is second among the Republicans in ranking. He said Huntsville has grown because of the teamwork with Sen. Richard Shelby, who serves as chairman of the powerful Appropriations Committee.

Brooks has been

consistent in advocating for less expenditures in the federal government and fewer wasteful programs.

In July, he asserted that “Washington Debt Junkies can’t kick the habit. They continue to continue to push financial insanity to new heights by adding $480 billion to America’s debt limit. America’s debt will soon blow through the $30 trillion mark. That is roughly $90,000 in debt for every man, woman and child in America.”

It is unusual, where every candidate in this four person Republican Primary generally race plays the Trump card. Three search for a formula separating them from the rest, not in as a Trumpist but in another way (Senate staff experience — Kaite Britt; military background—Mike Durant; and a key 2nd Amendment endorsement — Jessica Taylor). Meanwhile, there have been medium-size disagreements with the only Trump-backed one, Mo Brooks.

The media and House investigators

are intrigued that Brooks confirmed he was wearing body armor when addressing the crowd at the Capitol on Jan. 6.

They say he suited up knowing that the maddening insurrection would occur — that he was part of the scheme.

What short memories! Remember that Brooks himself was on the “hit-list” of the attempted assassin at the baseball practice in Virginia, just three-plus years before. If that disturbed man was targeting Brooks, a well-known and sometimes controversial figure, what other madman or woman might be there?

Isn’t that reason to protect yourself, not because you expected a riot?

All this should not downplay that nearly disastrous day for our republic.

Recall that leaders such as Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall made it clear they were not fans of the violence.

“I condemn, in the strongest possible terms, the actions of those who today attempted to storm the Capitol, where

passionate but peaceful protestors had gathered and lawmakers debated inside,” he said.

Brooks himself later that day minced no words describing the situation and the miscreants.

“The violence at the U.S. Capitol today is despicable, un-American, and tears at the fabric of our great republic.

As a strong supporter of the rule of law, and as a former target of Socialist Democrat gunfire myself, I don’t care what political views motivate the violence.”

In a poll released Dec. 13, the Senate race was tightening as Britt was tightening the contest with 26 percent compared to Brooks’ 31 percent. Further bad news for the congressman was that those polled preferred a political outsider over a seasoned politician, by 68 percent to 12 percent. Yet Brooks had been delayed in his “retail” (or grass roots) campaign, because of congressional obligations in Washington, DC. An open U.S.

Senate seat comes along rarely and there is usually fierce competition for such a coveted position (far more than for a U.S. House seat.)

Candidates should work hard but relax consistently. Brooks daily plays table tennis for two hours with a senior staff member.

For these two men, an “attacker” is a player who uses a large amount of attacking shots. As seen in the July 2017 shooting, in baseball an attack can be violent; you are lucky if Mo Brooks is around to help you recover from your injuries.

Later, Katie Britt and Mike Durant will be profiled. Contacts: @MoBrooks on Twitter; www.mobrooks.com; www. facebook.com/ mobrooksforsenate.

Greg Markley first moved to Lee County in 1996. He has Masters’ in education and history. He taught politics as an adjunct in Georgia and Alabama. An award-winning writer in the Army and civilian life, he has contributed to the Observer for 12 years. gm.markley@ charter.net

from a young age. With his mom as a teacher and his dad as an electrical engineer, his parents expected him to study and excel in his pursuits, which he did.

After he graduated from Grissom High School in Huntsville, Brooks attended Duke University where he graduated in just three years with a double major in political science and economics, with highest honors in economics. While at Duke, he met Martha and they were married in 1976. They are the proud parents of four children and 10 grandchildren.

After graduating from University of Alabama law school, Brooks worked as a prosecutor in the Tuscaloosa DA’s office, where he built a solid “tough-on-crime” reputation. He obtained guilty verdicts in all of the 20-plus jury trials he prosecuted. He returned to Huntsville to clerk for presiding Circuit Court Judge John David Snodgrass.

Following his clerkship, he decided to practice business law and continue in public service– as an elected official. Brooks won election to the Alabama House of Representatives in 1982.

At the time, he was just one of 11 Republican legislators out of 140

total) and the only elected Republican legislator north of Birmingham.

He was reelected to the Alabama House in 1983, 1986 and 1990.

In the state legislature, Brooks was elected Republican House caucus chairman three times and was ranked the number one legislator by Alabama Taxpayers’ Defense Fund to protect family incomes from higher taxes.

Brooks was then appointed as Madison County district attorney in 1991. He was appointed special assistant attorney general for then Attorney General Jeff Sessions from 1995-96, and was appointed special assistant attorney general for then Attorney General Bill Pryor from 1996 to 2002.

In 1996, he ran for the Madison County Commission, unseated an eight-year incumbent Republican and won the general election.

He was reelected to the Commission in 2000, 2004 and 2008.While in the legislature and while on the Madison County Commission, Brooks held a second job in private legal practice.

And he “pinch-hit” as a fill-in radio talk show host for WVNN in 1990 until the new host arrived: a skinny kid named Sean Hannity.

About Mo Brooks COURTESY OF BROOKS FOR U.S. SENATE STAFF

e t VTerryo Hanners for

on Jan. 11 Paid Political Advertising by Terry Hanners

Mo Brooks is serving Alabama’s 5th Congressional District, the Tennessee Valley of North Alabama.

Since his election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2010, he’s been leading the charge for a sustainable, balanced Federal budget, ending illegal immigration, maintaining a strong national defense, and a sound economic environment.

In Congress, Brooks serves on the Armed Services, Foreign Affairs and Science, Space and Technology committees. He co-chairs the Space Subcommittee and is past chairman of the Research and Science Education Subcommittee. Brooks was a founding member of the Freedom Caucus, a group of fiscal and social conservatives.

Brooks’ record as a proven conservative leader in Congress has been recognized by leading conservative organizations, among these: Heritage Action (94% rating); NRA (“A” lifetime rating); Club for Growth (86% lifetime rating); and many more.

Growing up in Alabama, it was Brooks’ parents who taught him the value of hard work — instilling in him foundational conservative principles

B11 Jan. 6, 2022

Ward 3 Candidates Make Final Pitch to Opelika

BY HANNAH LESTER HLESTER@ OPELIKAOBSERVER.COM

Meet Tim Aja — one of Opelika’s four contenders for the empty Ward 3 City Council seat.

Aja is a reserve Navy commanding officer who joined right after college through officer candidacy school.

After a couple of deployments, Aja came to Auburn to teach from 2008-2011 and completed his Master’s during that time.

Following his time in higher education, Aja completed two more deployments, in Afghanistan and in San Diego for his final year.

In 2014, however, Aja left active duty.

He spent a couple of years working for Pricewater House Coopers as a consultant in financial services.

Aja was called back to active duty in 2016 and deployed to Africa where he ran the only permanent U.S. Airfield there.

When he returned, he began a career in personal finance, which gave him more time with his family

and more freedom.

Now — he’s looking to enter the political world by running for the Ward 3 council seat.

“Arriving in 2008, we have seen the fantastic growth that Opelika’s experienced,” he said “Downtown, the transformation, everything just seems to keep getting better and better and I really just want to be a part of that. I want to ensure that Opelika stays on this great track that we’ve been on.”

Aja said he has admired the way Opelika has been

able to grow — to utilize large industries— but also keep the charm of the city “They did it really smart over the last decade,” he said. “… We haven’t outgrown ourselves, it’s been done really, really well. I just want to make sure we keep doing things well.”

One of his goals would be reinvesting in the community, Aja said, citing Floral park as an example.

“We use Monkey Park all the time … in Ward 3, I love it,” he said. “My See AJA, page B13

BY WIL CREWS SPORTSCREWS@ OPELIKAOBSERVER.COM

Editors note: The Observer was unable to obtain an interview with Mr. Winford L. Ashmore prior to Tuesday night’s special election community forum. The following is a summarization of his talking points and the platform with which he spoke upon.

As an Opelika native and educator, Winford L. Ashmore is looking to make a difference in his community by running for the Opelika City Council Ward

3 seat in the Jan. 11 special election.

“I want to be your next councilman because I want to be a person who is out among the individuals, doing whatever is best for the constituents of Opelika, not just Ward 3 but the entire Opelika.”

The youngest of seven siblings, with a mother who was unable to work due to his brother’s disability, Ashmore said his “good morals” were instilled him at a young age.

“I worked at the sheriff’s office at age 14,” Ashmore said. “It let me know that I

BY HANNAH LESTER HLESTER@ OPELIKAOBSERVER.COM

Terry Hanners is getting his second chance to run for Opelika City Council.

Hanners wanted to run for the last election but decided against it. Now he is running for the empty Opelika Ward 3 seat.

“I had considered running last election but I knew of Mr. Loftin and felt he would be a good councilman so I didn’t run,” he said. “Unfortunately, he had to resign for health reasons so after talking with friends and family, I was encouraged to go ahead and enter the election.”

Hanners is an Opelika native who graduated from Opelika Tech in 1975 with an HVAC degree.

“Immediately upon graduation, I enlisted in the U.S Navy,” he said. “After my service, I entered the HVAC field. I worked for several HVAC companies and finally started my own business in 1993. I’ve always enjoyed my work and meeting so many people along the way has been an added blessing.”

One reason Hanners said he’s running for council is he sees a gap between the citizens and their city government.

“Some of it is poor services in some areas and also large sums of money spent on large projects that were failures that citizens are not happy with and had no say in or ill-deceived,” he said. “Smoke and mirror tax hikes are not fair to the citizens and I want to make sure the people are heard. At my age now and experience, I have more time to spend on the council and be a good representative for all citizens. As a city grows, often there comes a large divide between city government and the people they are suppose to serve.”

Hanners said that, if elected, he plans to try and

get to know the job first.

Additionally, he said he wants to create a Facebook page so that citizens have a way to contact him.

“I have a separate line already set up to answer calls with any needs Opelika citizens may have,” he said.

“I want to take time to win the confidence of Opelika citizens meet more citizens and to get more citizens involved with our government. When contacted by citizens, I promise to get them in contact with who is the one to deal with their situation, or I will bring it up at council or whichever city department they need.

I’m not holding to anyone so Opelika citizens can be reassured, I will be unbiased and will do what I can to service their needs.

My long term goals will be to make the city council more transparent to all citizens.”

Hanners said he will work to make sure citizens are aware of all projects the city takes on.

“There are a lot of people who want the city to fund various projects and they will have their experts speak and rush a vote,” he said. “Citizens don’t know or don’t have their chance to hear of it. The city will learn I’m not just a ‘yes person’; I believe that large special building projects,

additions, expansions, etc., citizens should be aware and have time to voice their opinions. If its good for the city and citizens then I see no reason to rush.

“We are in a very unstable time with COVID, high inflation, low supplies and, with that in mind, some projects need to come when the economy gets back to normal. If its worth having, it’s worth waiting on.”

Some of Hanners’ concerns included the rental property ordinance and what is best for citizens, city streets and traffic, preserving the heritage of the city and more.

“I encourage our citizens to vote for me because my voice will be their voice,” he said. “I have already done my best to serve the citizens of this city with my business. Ive always been fair, honest and willing to help anyway possible … In my business, I have donated heating and air systems to habitat for humanity and I started a ministry to loan window units to people who have been put on hospice and don’t have air-conditioning … Customer service isn’t just for private business, it also applies to our local city government and on my seat I promise to make sure we all get great See HANNERS, page B13

BY WIL CREWS SPORTSCREWS@ OPELIKAOBSERVER.COM

Opelika native Sherri Reese graduated from Opelika High School in 1991, served in the United States Army for 24 years and is now running for the Opelika City Council Ward 3 seat in the city’s special election on Jan. 11.

“Serving my country and my community has been, and continues to be, a foundational aspect of my character,” Reese said. “After retiring from the army and returning home to Opelika, civic participation seemed like a natural next chapter for me. I believe strongly in local representation, where all residents’ voices are heard, and where the prevailing opinions of a community help to shape policy decisions. I believe I am well-prepared to represent and voice the views of my neighbors in Ward 3. I believe my presence on the city council will add further depth to all discussions and deliberation.”

Since announcing her run for office, Reese has been busy on the campaign trail.

“In the course of my campaign canvassing, I have knocked on over 2,500

doors in Ward 3, and I have not heard any major concerns that are not currently on the city’s radar,” she said.

If elected, Reese said she would continue to build on the legacy of her predecessors, and make herself readily available to all her constituents.

“People in Ward 3 appear to be generally satisfied with the state of our city, which reflects the thoughtful stewardship being provided by city leadership and their predecessors,” Reese said. “I plan to continue my tenure in the same spirit, making sure that I am accessible and responsive to any citizen’s concerns as they arise.”

As a potential councilmember, Reese said she has been spending much of her time “studying” the intricacies that she believes would benefit her in that position, and would continue in that vein if elected.

“I will continue to broaden my knowledge of the city’s organizational structure, departments, services, boards and commissions and its’ ordinances,” she said. “I will spend time building relationships with my council colleagues, mayor and city administrator in order to transition

had to do the right thing.”

The 56-year-old has overcome growing up in public housing to earn a bachelor’s degree from Troy University in systems/vocational business education and mathematics, a master’s in mathematics education and educational leadership/ administration and an education specialist degree in mathematics education and leadership administration.

He is also now pursuing his doctorate.

Ashmore has taught for over 25 years across five different state. He returned to Opelika in 2015.

If elected, Ashmore said he would focus on serving the elderly and the youth, and ensuring safety in the city.

“We know that the young people, we need to support them, help guide them … career guide them … so that they are headed in the right direction.”

At the forum, Ashmore said that being available has been the most important action during his campaign in terms of reassuring his neighbors that he is the man for the job.

“I’m available, being to the extent that I am transparent,” See ASHMORE, page B13

smoothly into the role of councilperson. I will commit the time necessary to build relationships with Ward 3 constituents and stakeholders, in an effort to clearly demonstrate my willingness to be a collaborative partner. I will achieve this through phone-calls, one-on-one meetings and regular ward meetings.”

A retired military service member, assistant for the Opelika Track & Field team and a member of the Lee-Russell Transportation Board, Reese is confident she can dedicate the time necessary to fulfill her duties as a councilmember.

“The time commitment required to serve on the Lee-Russell Transportation Board is manageable,” she said. “I will continue to assist Coach [Jimmy] Johnson with track and field because I love those kids and I care about their future. I am fully retired, so time management will not be an issue for me.”

Reese describes her leadership style as “inclusive and collaborative,” stating that “no one person is an expert on all the issues that may come before council.”

Furthermore, Reese said, as a councilmember, she would be “accessible and ready to listen” and that she will “seek out advice and counsel when necessary in order to make informed decisions.”

With the election just days away, Reese hopes her work on the campaign trail has been evident, and that her dedication to the city is unquestioned.

“I have canvassed all of Ward 3, knocking on over 2,500 doors,” she said. “I have engaged in hundreds of conversations with neighbors and constituents, stating my position, and humbly asking for their vote. I have initiated meetings with a variety See REESE, page B13

B12 Jan. 6, 2022

Elect Elect Sherri Sher ri Reese Reese

on Jan. 11

City Council Ward 3 Homegrown.

Your neighbor, Your Voice.

Boots On Ground!

Paid for by the committee to elect Sherri Reese, Opelika, AL 36801

B13 Jan. 6, 2022 The Lee County Cooperative Extension System and the Saugahatchee Beekeepers Association will be conducting their 15th Annual Beginner Beekeeper Course, beginning on January 11, 2022 and continuing for the next seven Tuesdays. All sessions will run 6 to 7:45 p.m. at the Lee County Extension, 600 S. 7th St., Opelika, and will end around 8 p.m. The cost will be $60, which is a family household fee.

Registration will be on the first meeting night. Please notify the Extension System office at 334-749-3353 or the main instructor at damonwallace.beeman@gmail.com.

This course is designed for individuals with no beekeeping experience but may want to get started in the excellent hobby.

FLOWERS >> FROM B9 General Steve Marshall. He will be reelected to another four-year term unscathed. Interestingly, Ainsworth and Marshall are from the same North Alabama County of Marshall.

Agriculture Commissioner Rick Pate will escape opposition and will be reelected to that important state post for another four-years.

State Treasurer Young Boozer will coast to reelection, probably

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AJA >> FROM B11 daughter’s also been enjoying it for the last seven years of her life, but she’s going to start to outgrow the stuff there and we’ve got this giant space, three times the size of Monkey Park that we just don’t utilize. I mean, it’s utilized for a dog park, which [has] a lot of softball fields and those things that nobody seems to use so I think we create a better use for

HANNERS

>>

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that space.”

Other goals would include expanding financial literacy for citizens, he said, and renovating the Indian Pines Golf Course well.

“I bring a diverse background and that background has taught me a few things,” Aja said. “Number one, it’s taught me that as a federal employee now for almost twenty years, I think the less the government’s involved in citizen’s and businesses’ bullying and assaults.”

Outside of politics and work, Hanners is a member of one of the local Church of the Highlands, the NRA, OMS Missions and spends time volunteering.

“I have been able to provide assistance and donations to many animal rescue groups and funding adoption of dogs and cats for those that can’t afford to adopt,” he said.

He is married to his wife, Denise Hanners, a retired nurse and the two have seven children.

“If citizens have any questions please feel free to message me on Facebook and I will respond promptly,” he said. “Most importantly, I appreciate your vote on Jan. 11, 2022.”

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day-to-day-lives, the better. “ … I think that the government has an absolute purpose, at the local, state, federal, national level, but government doesn’t run the show. The citizens, and specifically, it’s the local citizens in towns like ours that should be running the show because we’ve got success here.”

Aja said he’s going to try and hold an open-door policy and is open to citizens reaching out however they will, Facebook,

REESE

unopposed.

The power of incumbency prevails in the Heart of Dixie in 2022. However, we will have a doozy of a contest for our open United States Senate Seat, which we will discuss next week.

See you next week.

Steve Flowers is Alabama’s leading political columnist.

His weekly column appears in over 60 Alabama newspapers.

He served 16 years in the state legislature.

Steve may be reached at www.steveflowers. us.

>>

FROM B11 of city leaders, including

ASHMORE

>>

FROM B11 he said. “People can reach out to me.”

Transportation is another issue within the Opelika community that Ashmore pointed out as something that he would to like to address.

“I know we do have Lee-Russell transportation system, but it’s not enough to guarantee going to the doctor or whatever, they have to call and set up a time in advance and a lot of times that is not feasible for them.”

>>

FROM B9 at the rate of $2,250 per month for professional services.

• The part-time assistant municipal prosecutors shall be paid at the rate of $150 per hour for professional services.

• The council voted to re-appoint Ben Hand as municipal court judge and Jeff Tickal as assistant municipal prosecutor.

• The council approved a request for approval of a special use permit with Dish Wireless at 54 Reeder Road.

• The council voted to amend the zoning ordinance and map to rezone 3.3 acres located at 1200 block South Fox Run Parkway.

• The council voted to authorize a first amendment to the option and lease agreement with Level-Up Towers.

The city and Level-Up Towers entered into the original agreement on Dec. 20, 2020. This amendment is to modify the rent and option term in the agreement.

AUBURN >> FROM B9 Section 11-43A-33 sets forth redistricting procedures that include a process where the City must review and, if needed, redraw the district (ward) boundaries based on the 2020 census population with the purpose of gaining equal representation for each district by having as nearly as possible equal population in each.”

Redistricting must be completed within a set time frame. It occurs six months after receiving Census data and six months before the next municipal election, which for Auburn is on Aug. 23, 2022.

Redrawing city lines to hopefully reach the population goal of 9,518 residents per ward has to be within 5%.

The minority population in the city of Auburn grew from 26.5% of the total population to 36.8% of the total population, said Laticia Khalif, vice president of the NAACP branch.

After two separate meetings where the branch urged the council to postpone the vote, the council obliged on Dec. 21 and took extra time to review information.

However, near the conclusion of the last meeting, City Manager Megan Crouch said that the map that would be presented to the council would still be the original, which included one minority-majority district.

Tuesday night, Crouch informed the council that the city has not completed reviewing the information provided by the NAACP branch and the e-packet from the city recommended the council postpone until Jan. 18.

“I have every reason to believe that we’ll be fully prepared to discuss this on Jan. 18,” Crouch said.

Three citizens spoke during the Jan. 4 meeting and expressed concerns regarding redistricting — related to the city and county’s overlapping lines and polling places and with a consultant hired by the city.

Ward 2 Council Member Kelley Griswold asked if Crouch expected any changes to the map to be presented on or before Jan. 18.

“To date, the map that you have before you is the map the staff has presented,” she said. “At the end of the day, I do not have a full analysis yet of the alternative map to tell you if anybody would advise a change.”

OTHER BUSINESS: - The council presented a commendation to the Auburn High Girls Cross Country Team for winning the 2021 State Championship - The council voted to change the meeting time for the Feb. 5 meeting to 5 p.m.

- The council approved an alcohol beverage license for the Auburn Candle Company.

- The council authorized a grant submittal for the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Five Star and Urban Waters Restoration Grant Program.

- The council approved a contract with Southern Software, Inc., for the renewal of a customer support fee for the Case Management, Computer Automated Dispatch Systems, Narcotics Management System and Mapping Display System for the Auburn Police Division for just under $19,000.

- The council approved two appointments to the Board of Zoning Adjustment.

- The council amended the commercial development agreement with Little Acre Properties, LLC.

through the city, etc.

Another way he’s said he’s considering communication is by holding an annual Ward 3 meeting to meet with citizens.

“The biggest way is just going to be people reaching out, phone, email and stopping by,” he said.

Aja said he respected the work of the former two council members to have held the Ward 3 seat and would like to follow the paths they’ve already set in place.

“I’m going to be here to

work for [the citizens],” Aja said. “I do believe that government works best when it stays out of the way and people are running their own lives for sure, but at the same time, if they have any issues, please come to me any time.

“In addition … I’m a fellow citizen as well. I want to see this city succeed. I’ve got a daughter at Southview Primary and I want to see Opelika City Schools just keep getting better and better.

I’ve got a wife that’s a realtor here. I’ve got my business that I’m running here and I want everybody to know, that hey, any decisions that the council makes directly affect us. So I’m going to be feeling anything and that’s how I’m going to view things is as a business owner, as a parent and just as somebody who’s going to be walking down the streets of Opelika and wants this city to be putting it’s best foot forward at all times.”

the mayor, city administrator, councilmembers and department heads, so that they can put a face to

the name. I am a regular at city council meetings. I understand what it means to represent the views of

all people and I possess the energy and enthusiasm to deliver on my motto of ‘Boots on Ground’”.

In term of the city’s safety, Ashmore said he would address the need for sidewalks and the fear of law enforcement.

“Especially for people who look similar to me,” he said. “I don’t think there is a need to be afraid of them, but if you have not been around different types of individuals then it would be a great concern.”

Lastly, Ashmore conjured the ideas for “baselines” and tiered “standards” to encourage businesses and neighborhoods to meet the city’s regulations.

“I would come up with at least three different levels of standards — level one, level two, level three,” he said. “Let’s use gold, silver and bronze. If you are at gold, maybe you only have to be inspected maybe once a year or every six months.

The next level may be half of that. At the lower level, you met the basic.”

With these standards, Ashmore stressed the importance of intrinsically motivating individuals to do better — encouraging them with motivation not punishment.

In closing, Ashmore

thanked those in attendance and gave one final pitch to the community.

“I hope tonight is obviously something that will help you to think, challenge you to think,” he said. “I hope I said something that will cause you to investigate each of us as a candidate and make an important decision. Forget about any personal ties that you have, but look at what is best for the great city of Opelika. I would say to you tonight, if any of you would consider me for your next councilmember, I would really appreciate it.”

B14 Jan. 6, 2022

Longtime Election Official Announces Candidacy for Secretary of State CONTRIBUTED BY ED PACKARD

Ed Packard, a 24-year employee of the Alabama Secretary of State’s office, has announced announced his candidacy for the office of Secretary of State in the 2022 election cycle.

Packard is a Republican, having previously been elected to the Autauga County Republican Executive Committee.

While the secretary of state is assigned many tasks under Alabama’s laws and the Constitution of 1901 — such as those

related to business services, lands & trademarks and adoptions of babies and other young children from foreign countries — perhaps the highest profile tasks are those related to administering elections in our state.

As Alabamians know, the secretary of state is Alabama’s chief state election official.

“Alabama’s voters expect and are due the ability to vote in elections that are free and fair,” Packard said. “Alabamians should not have to be concerned about whether our

elections have integrity and credibility. We election administrators should faithfully implement the rules by which elections are held. And to ensure that is done, the Alabama Legislature should provide for post-election audits of all elections in the State of Alabama.”

The U.S. Supreme Court has stated that voting in elections is the “crucial juncture at which the appeal to common principles may be translated into concerted action.”

“Alabamians should be assured that their right to

vote can be used effectively to choose the men and women who will lead our federal, state, county and city governments,” Packard said.

As Alabama’s chief election official, the secretary of state should lead the charge to remind the Alabama Legislature how important elections are in a representative democracy and should urge legislators to make commonsense and reasonable changes to ensure that elections continue to have integrity and credibility.

“I have worked with

the voting public and our county and city election officials for well over 24 years. I have heard their concerns about recent elections. We have a strong election system in Alabama, but there is always room for improvement, especially reasonable improvements that the voting public insists on,” Packard said.

Packard will be participating in the Alabama Republican Party Primary Election to be held on May 24, 2022. He invites the support of all Alabamians.

PACKARD For further information, please reach out to Packard by phone at 334826-3606 or by email at ed@edpackard.com.

PUBLIC NOTICES NOTICE Janeth Hernandez-Cruz, whose whereabouts are unknown, must answer Oscar Severo's Complaint and Summons. Said Answer must be filed on or before February 06, 2022 or thereafter a judgment of default may be entered against her in Case No: DR202 l-900374.00 in the Circuit Court of Lee County, Alabama.

Done this 8th day of December, 2022.

MARY B. ROBERSON CLERK OF CIRCUIT COURT Lee County, Alabama OF COUNSEL: Ben C. Hand 114 North 8th Street Opelika, AL 36801 334-741-4077 IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF LEE COUNTY, ALABAMA SEVERO OSCAR, Plaintiff, V. HERNANDEZ-CRUZ JANETH, Defendant.Case No.: DR-2021-900374.00 ORDER ALLOWING SERVICE BY PUBLICATION The MOTION TO SERVE

BY PUBLICATION filed by SEVERO OSCAR is hereby GRANTED. The Plaintiff is granted leave to serve the Defendant by publication in accord with Rule 4 of the Alabama Rules of Civil Procedure.

DONE this 18th day of November, 2021. /s/ STEVEN T. SPEAKMAN CIRCUIT JUDGE Legal Run 12/16/2021, 12/23/21, 12/30/21 & 01/06/21 ------------IN THE MATTER OF THE ESTATE OF DOROTHYC. KOLANDER, DECEASED IN THE PROBATE COURT OF LEE COUNTY, ALABAMA NOTICE TO FILE CLAIMS TAKE NOTICE that Letters Testamentary having been granted to Keith R. Kolander, as Personal Representative of the Estate of Dorothy C. Kolander, deceased, on the 2nd day of December 2021, by the Hon. Bill English, Judge of Probate of Lee County, Alabama NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that all persons having claims against said Estate are hereby required to present the same within the time allowed by law, or the same will be barred.

Keith R. Kolander, Personal Representative PREPARED BY: Phillip E. Adams, Jr. Attorney at Law 205 S. 9th Street Opelika, AL 36801 (334) 745-6466 Legal Run 12/23/21, 12/30/21 & 1/6/2022 ------------STATE OF ALABAMA CASE NO. 2021-575 LEE COUNTY PROBATE COURT ESTATE OF MILDRED SMITH BEALS, DECEASED NOTICE OF APPOINTMENT OF PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE Letters Testamentary of said Mildred Smith Beals, deceased, having been granted to Michele R. Smith this 15th day of December 2021, by the Honorable Bill English, Judge of the Probate Court of Lee County, notice is hereby given that all persons having claims against said estate are hereby required to present the same within time allowed by the law or the same will be barred.

Michele R. Smith, Personal

Representative Legal Run 12/23/21, 12/30/21 & 01/06/2022 ------------IN RE: THE ESTATE OF: ROBERT W. TENEYEK, Deceased.

IN THE PROBATE COURT OF LEE COUNTY, ALABAMA CASE NO. 2021-708 NOTICE OF APPOINTMENT LETTERS TESTAMENTARY of said deceased having been granted to the undersigned on the 14th day of December, 2021, by Hon. Bill English, Judge or Probate Court of Lee County, Alabama, notice is hereby given that all persons having claims against said estate are hereby required to present the same within the time allowed by law or the same will be barred.

WILLIAM TENEYEK Co-Executor PORCHA HENSON Co-Executor Legal Run 12/23/21, 12/30/21 & 1/6/2022 ------------IN THE MATTER OF THE ESTATE OF BETTY J. BOUCHER, DECEASED IN THE PROBATE COURT OF LEE COUNTY, ALABAMA CASE No. 2021706 NOTICE TO CREDITORS TAKE NOTICE that Letters Testamentary of said deceased having been granted to Steven A. Boucher, on the 13th day of December, 2021, by the Honorable Bill English, Judge of the Probate Court of Lee County, Alabama Notice is hereby given that all persons having claims against said estate are hereby required to present the same within the time allowed by law or the same will be barred.

Steven A. Boucher, Personal Representative Legal Run 12/23/21, 12/30/21 & 01/06/2022 ------------NOTICE OF MORTGAGE FORECLOSURE SALE Default having been made in the payment of the indebtedness secured by that certain Mortgage (the “Mortgage”) dated June 7, 2017 executed by Donna Maria Sullivan, a single woman (the “Mortgagor”) in favor of Joseph and Teri Zaccaro, said Mortgage being recorded in the Office of the Judge of Probate of Lee County, Alabama in Book 4310, at Page 487; and WHEREAS, Joseph and Teri Zaccaro, as mortgagees and holders of the Mortgage, by reason of such default having declared all of the indebtedness secured by the Mortgage due and payable, and such default continuing, notice is hereby given that, acting under the power of sale contained in the Mortgage, holders will sell at public outcry to the highest bidder for cash, in front of the main entrance of the Lee County Courthouse located at 215 South 9th Street, Opelika, Alabama 36801 on Thursday, January 20th, 2022 between the hours of 11:00 am and 4:00 pm, the following described property, commonly known as 1204 Staley Ave, Opelika, situated in Lee County, Alabama, to wit: A certain Lot or parcel of land described as follows: Begin at a point formed by the intersection of the West margin of Simmons Street and the North margin of Staley Street and run West along the

North margin of said Staley Street 100 feet to the point of beginning. From said point of beginning run thence North and parallel with Simmons Street, 70 feet; thence West and parallel with Staley Street, 96 feet; thence South 70 feet to the North line of Staley Street; thence East along the North line of Staley Street, 96 feet to the point of beginning; being the West 96 feet of Lot #1, Block 208, Totten’s Official Real Estate Map of Opelika; together with all improvements thereon and all appurtenances thereunto appertaining. Reference: Deed Book 2168, Page 60. Parcel ID Number: 43-09-01-12-4-002040.000.

THIS PROPERTY WILL BE SOLD ON AN “ASIS”, “WHERE IS” BASIS AND WITH ALL FAULTS. THIS PROPERTY WILL ALSO BE SOLD SUBJECT TO ANY EASEMENTS, LEASES, ENCUMBRANCES, RESERVATIONS AND EXCEPTIONS REFLECTED IN THE MORTGAGE AND ALL MATTERS CONTAINED IN THE RECORDS OF THE OFFICE OF THE JUDGE OF PROBATE OF CHAMBERS COUNTY, ALABAMA. THIS PROPERTY WILL BE SOLD WITHOUT WARRANTY OR RECOURSE, EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, AS TO TITLE, USE AND/OR ENJOYMENT AND WILL BE SOLD SUBJECT TO THE RIGHT OF REDEMPTION OF ALL PARTIES ENTITLED THERETO. Payment terms are cash or cashier’s check (United States Dollars in immediately available funds) made payable to Mortgagee on the date of the public sale.

Mortgagees reserve the right to bid for and purchase the aforementioned property and to credit their bid against the expenses of sale and the indebtedness secured by the Mortgage.

The public sale is subject to postponement or cancellation; contact Benjamin H. Parr at (334) 749-6999 prior to attendance.

This sale is made for the purpose of paying the indebtedness secured by the Mortgage as well as the expenses of collection and foreclosure.

Joseph and Teri Zaccaro Mortgagees ATTORNEY FOR MORTGAGEES: Benjamin H. Parr, Esq. Benjamin H. Parr, P.C. 830 Avenue A, Suite A Opelika, Alabama 36801 (334) 749-6999 LEGAL RUN 12/30/21, 01/06/22, & 01/13/22 ------------FORM OF ADVERTISEMENT FOR COMPLETION LEGAL NOTICE In accordance with Chapter I, Title 39, Code of Alabama, I 975, notice is hereby given that SteelFab Inc., Contractor, has completed the Contract for (Construction) of Opelika Public Library at 1100 Glenn Street, Opelika, Alabama for the State of Alabama and the County of Lee, City of Opelika Owner(s), and have made request for final settlement of said Contract. All persons having any claim for labor, materials, or otherwise in connection with this project should immediately notify SteelFab Inc. (Architect) SteelFab Inc. (Contractor) 5448 Spalding Drive, Bldg 200

Norcross GA 30092 (Business Address) NOTE:This notice must be run once a week for four successive weeks for projects exceeding $50,000.00, for projects of less than $50,000.00, run one time only. Proof of publication is required.

Legal Run 12/30/2021, 01/06/2022, 01/13/2022 & 01/20/2022¬------------IN THE MATTER OF THE ADOPTION PETITION OF TERRY MICHAEL LEE IN THE PROBATE COURT OF LEE COUNTY, ALABAMA CASE NO.: 2021-475 PUBLICATION NOTICE TO: MARK ANTHONY PELLEGRIN JR. Please take notice that a petition for adoption was filed in the Probate Court of Lee County, Alabama by Terry Michael Lee on August 20, 202 l, for the adoption of A.LP. born on August 18, 2008, in Augusta, Georgia to Laura Elizabeth Pellegrin and Mark Anthony Pellegrin Jr. A hearing has been set for the 26th day of January 2022 at I o'clock pm Central time in the Probate Court, Lee County Courthouse, 215 South 9th Street, Opelika, AL 36801.

Should you intend to contest this adoption you must file a written response with the attorney for the petitioner, Hon. Lindsey L. Davis, 13251 Old Highway 280, Suite 141, Birmingham, AL 35242 and with the Clerk of the Probate Court of Lee County, Alabama, as soon as possible but no later than thirty (30) days from the last day this notice is published or appear on the date of the hearing as set above to contest said Petition.

Dated on this the 26th day of October 2021.

BILL ENGLISH HON. BILL ENGLISH JUDGE OF PROBATE LEE COUNTY, ALABAMA Legal run 12/30/21, 01/6/2022, 1/13/2022 & 1/20/2022 ------------IN THE PROBATE COURT OF LEE COUNTY, ALABAMA The Estate of William Edward Kelly, deceased Letters of Administration of said deceased was granted to Hon. Margaret A. Mayfield on the 29th day of December, 2021, by the Hon. Bill English, Probate Judge of Lee County. Notice is hereby given that all persons having claims against said estate that they are hereby required to present the same within time allowed by or the same will be barred.

Margaret A. Mayfield Administratix Margaret A. Mayfield Attorney for the Estate P.O. Box 809 Opelika, AL 36803 (334) 745-0333 Legal Run 1/6/22, 1/13/22 & 1/20/22 ------------NOTICE TO CREDITORS ESTATE OF JOHN HENRY MORGAN, DECEASED PROBATE COURT, LEE COUNTY CASE NO. 2021-719 NOTICE TO CREDITORS Take Notice that LETTERS TESTAMENT ARY of the Estate of JOHN HENRY MORGAN are hereby granted to Bonita Morgan Johnson on the 20th day of December, 2021, by the Honorable Bill

English, Judge of the Probate Court of Lee County, Alabama.

Notice is hereby given that all persons having claims against said estate are hereby required to present the same within time allowed by law or the same will be barred.

Bonita Morgan Johnson Legal Run 01/06/2022, 01/13/2022 & 01/20/2022 ------------NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the City Council of the City of Opelika will hold a Public Hearing on Tuesday, February 1, 2022, at 7:00 p.m. in the Courtroom of the Opelika Municipal Court Building, 300 Martin Luther King Boulevard, Opelika, Lee County, Alabama.

PURPOSE The purpose of said Public Hearing will be to consider the adoption of an ordinance to amend Ordinance Number 12491 (entitled “Zoning Ordinance of the City of Opelika”) adopted on September 17, 1991. At said Public Hearing all who desire to be heard shall have the opportunity to speak for or in opposition to the adoption of the following ordinance: ORDINANCE NO. ________ AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND THE ZONING ORDINANCE AND ZONING MAP OF THE CITY OF OPELIKA (KNOLLWOOD PUD) BE IT ORDAINED by the City Council (the “Council”) of the City of Opelika, Alabama (the “City”) as follows: Section 1. FINDINGS. The Council has determined and hereby finds and declares that the following facts are true and correct: (a)Hartbrook Development, LLC, (“Hartbrook”) is the owner of record of that certain property consisting of 17.9 acres located along Crawford Road (Highway 169). (b)Hartbrook heretofore submitted to the City a development plan for a planned unit development (“PUD”) consisting of approximately 17.9 acres, designated as “Knollwood PUD”. (c)The proposed development is a residential development consisting of approximately 47 single-family home lots and two (2) parcels that are reserved for stormwater detention/open space. Access to the development is from two (2) new streets with one on the south border connecting to Crawford Road. The second access to this development will be a connection to Arlee Avenue from a planned stub street connector to be built in Village at Waterford Phase 4 Subdivision. The proposed density is 2.6 dwelling units per acre. (d) The Planning Commission heretofore conducted a public hearing of the proposed development and referred to the City Council its recommendation to approve the proposed development. (e)It is advisable and in the interest of the City and the public interest that the proposed property described in Section 3 below should be developed as a residential planned unit development.

Section 2. APPROVAL OF THE DEVELOPMENT PLAN. The Development Plan as submitted for review is hereby approved and affirmed as

required by Section 8.18(N) of the Zoning Ordinance of the City.

Section 3. DESIGNATION OF A PLANNED UNIT DEVELOPMENT. The official Zoning Map is hereby amended and the zoning classification for the following parcel of land shall be changed from a R-3 District (Low-Density Residential District) to a Planned Unit Development (PUD) on the official zoning map of the City.

Lot 1, 2, and 3 as shown on the ‘San Marco Subdivision, First Addition’ plat recorded in plat book 12, page 134 on November 13, 1986 at the Lee County, Alabama Courthouse The above-described property, containing approximately 17.9 acres, is located along Crawford Road (Highway 169).

Section 4. RETENTION OF COPIES OF DEVELOPMENT PLAN. Copies of the Development Plan shall be maintained in the office of the City Clerk, City Planner, City Engineer and Building Official and shall be open for public inspection.

Section 5. REPEALER. Any ordinance or part thereof in conflict with provisions of this Ordinance be and the same are hereby repealed.

Section 6. EFFECTIVE DATE. This Ordinance shall become effective upon its adoption, approval and publication as required by law.

Section 7. PUBLICATION. This Ordinance shall be published one (1) time in a newspaper of general circulation in the City of Opelika, Lee County, Alabama.

END All interested persons are invited to attend the Public Hearing and be heard. Written comments concerning the above matter may be mailed to the City Clerk at City Hall, P.O. Box 390, Opelika, AL 36803 at any time prior to the Public Hearing and may be further submitted to the City Council at the meeting and Public Hearing.

Please contact Brian Weiss, the City’s Interim ADA Coordinator, at 334-7055134 at least two (2) working days prior to the meeting if you require special accommodations due to a disability.

WITNESS my hand this the 6th day of January, 2022. /s/Russell A. Jones CITY CLERK OF THE CITY OF OPELIKA, ALABAMA Legal Run 01/06/2022 ------------IN THE PROBATE COURT OF LEE COUNTY, ALABAMA IN THE MATTER OF THE ESTATE OF J TEMPLE BLACK, deceased CASE NO. 2019-B-024 In the Matter of the Estate of J TEMPLE BLACK, deceased Letters Testamentary as Personal Representative of the Estate of J TEMPLE BLACK, deceased, having been granted to the undersigned on June 4, 2019 by the Honorable BILL ENGLISH, Judge of Probate of said County, notice is hereby given that all persons having claims against said Estate are hereby required to present the same within the time allowed by law, or the same will be barred.

KATRIN SEXTON Personal Representative Legal Run 1/6/2022, 1/13/2022 & 1/20/202

B15 Jan. 6, 2022

Like Crossword Puzzles? Sudoku?

Play Online at www.opelikaobserver.com/puzzles/

B16 Jan. 6, 2022

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