Profile 2015 by Shelby County Newsmedia, Inc.

2015

Dad behind the law

Father champions change for victims of rare disorder

Dogs on duty Four-legged officers combat crime

Person of the Year Dr. Judy Merritt leaves a legacy of service A special publication of Shelby County Newspapers, Inc.

Driven to succeed

Student overcomes homelessness

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CHELSEA Profile2015.indd 2

In Chelsea, it’s all about family. And here’s why… ▪ Shelby County’s Family-friendly City ▪ Variety of Residential Communities ▪ Top-tier Schools ▪ Convenient Shopping & Dining ▪ Family Park & Playground ▪ Lighted Sports Park ▪ 24/7 Fire Department ▪ Strong Leadership ▪ Public Library ▪ A Clean & Green City

…and we’re just getting started! cityofchelsea.com

205-678-8455

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Thanks to our $9 million investment, he’s breathing a little easier. Our recently completed $9 million upgrade to our North Shelby Water Resource Reclamation Facility has dramatically reduced the amount of phosphorus in the clean water we return to the Cahaba River. That means we haven’t just met or surpassed all state and federal health standards. We’ve also helped lower the likelihood of algal blooms, which rob wildlife of life-giving oxygen in the water.

And that’s just one of the ways we’re working to make ours a better, healthier community, along with supporting organizations like Big Brothers Big Sisters of Shelby County, and SafeHouse of Shelby County, among many others. Our pledge to you: we’ll keep working for a healthier river, and a healthier community. Which means we can all breathe a little easier.

To learn more, visit CleanerCahaba.info

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very year, the staff of the Shelby County Reporter spends countless hours preparing to tell the best stories our great county has to offer through our annual Profile publication. Through this magazine, we will take an in-depth look at the people, places, history and organizations that make Shelby County such a wonderful and unique place. This year’s Profile represents a variety of stories I hope will inspire all of us to become more involved in the places we live and work. uOur person of the year this year is the late Dr. Judy Merritt, who served as president of Jefferson State Community College for 35 years before retiring in June 2014. Dr. Merritt passed away in October, leaving a legacy of selfless service to all she came in contact with. uRebekah Koen is a freshman at the University of Montevallo, and has overcome significant hardships in her life to reach the level of success she enjoys today. uCall Pelham High School wrestler

Hasaan Hawthorne a competitor, enthusiastic and tough, but don’t call him different. The fact that he is missing both of his legs from the knee down means nothing. Once on the mat, everyone has strengths they must capitalize on, and weaknesses they must protect. uThe saying “Farming is a way of life” might sound cliché, but it holds true for the Baker family in Harpersville. For the past 115 years, Old Baker Farm has served as a source of food, a way to make a living and, more importantly, a home for the family for generations. u Ever wondered what it’s like to spend your days soaring through the skies of Alabama and beyond? For a group of pilots based at the Shelby County Airport, owning and flying an aircraft is much more than just a hobby – It’s a way of life. As you can see, our county has plenty of fantastic stories to tell. We hope you enjoy getting a more in-depth look at our county, but more than that, we hope you are inspired to make Shelby County a better place for all. n

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Shelby County EDITORIAL Graham Brooks Molly Davidson Baker Ellis Jon Harrison Emily Sparacino Neal Wagner CONTRIBUTORS Jon Goering Drew Granthum Amy Jones PRODUCTION Jamie Dawkins Layken Gibbs Robyn Holm Amanda Porter MARKETING Kristy Brown Emily Connell Ashley Duckett Daniel Holmes Nicole Loggins Denise McDonald Rhett McCreight Meagan Mims

Neal Wagner, Managing Editor

Kim McCulla

Neal.Wagner@ShelbyCountyReporter.com

Kari Yoder

on the cover UM student Rebekah Koen takes a break from her busy life at the university. Cover design: Jamie Dawkins Photography: Jon Goering

ADMINISTRATION Tim Prince Katie McDowell Mary Jo Eskridge Laurel Cousins Hailey Dolbare

Shelby County Newspapers, Inc. P.O. Box 947 Columbiana, AL 35051 205.669.3131 4

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inside

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PERSON OF THE YEAR Dr. Judy Merritt dedicated her life to Jefferson State Community College and generations of students

FRATERNITY OF FLIGHT Shelby County pilots spend their days in the skies

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PERSON OF THE YEAR Dr. Judy Merritt dedicated her life to Jefferson State Community College and generations of students

DUTY AND SERVICE Chris Curry leaves his mark on the Shelby County Sheriff ’s Office

LEADER OF THE PACK Hawthorne’s drive leads Panthers

BUILDING A DREAM Residents establish public library in Mt Laurel

SERVING A SCHOOL SYSTEM Aubrey Miller reflects on role of Shelby County Board of Education President

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THE RAILS RUN THROUGH IT Shelby County’s railroads still play a significant role

FINDING HER CALLING Lee reflects on journey to becoming district attorney

FINDING A WAY HOME UM student overcomes hardships to help others

DOGS ON DUTY A look at Pelham’s K-9 Unit

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FRATERNITY OF FLIGHT Shelby County pilots spend their days in the skies

CARLY’S DAD The man behind Carly’s Law

ON THE WINGS OF HOPE Nafe battles opponents, illness

FAITH, FAMILY AND A WAY OF LIFE 115 years and six generations of farming in Shelby County

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Dr. Judy Merritt Person of the Year

Story by EMILY SPARACINO Photographs CONTRIBUTED

r. Judy Merritt was the type of person that would readily break the silence in an elevator to ask a stranger how his day was going. Merritt started many conversations with people she didn’t know, and people she did know, on the elevators at Jefferson State Community College, where she served as president for 35 years before retiring in June 2014.

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Merritt’s love for others and her commitment to seeing Jefferson State and Alabama’s community college system succeed were evident in the work she did until she passed away in October at the age of 71. Though Merritt rarely talked about herself or acknowledged her title – she constantly insisted people call her “Judy” instead of “Dr. Merritt” – her colleagues and friends made up for lost time, candidly singing her praises as a person and a professional. “She lived and breathed Jeff State,”

ABOVE: Former Jefferson State President Judy Merritt (third from left) meets with then Alabama School Board Member David Byers and Jefferson State graduates during a reception at graduation. RIGHT: Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley (left) visited Jefferson State in 2012 and met with former Jefferson State President Judy Merritt at the ShelbyHoover Campus. Profile 2015

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CLOCKWISE FROM ABOVE: Former Jefferson State President Judy Merritt (left) meets with a construction crew. Under her leadership, the college grew from one campus to a total of four campuses in Jefferson, Shelby, St. Clair and Chilton counties. Former Jefferson State President Judy Merritt (left) presents student Alicia Hafner with Jefferson State’s Ambassador of the Year Award during the 2011 Honors Conv ocation. Long before she became president, Judy Merritt was among the initial employees at Jefferson State when the college began in 1965. Judy worked in enrollment services where she helped students every day. Former Jefferson State President Judy Merritt (right) speaks with NFL great Bart Starr.

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Libby Holmes said of Merritt. “This is all she ever knew and all she lived for, really.” Holmes, the Student Services Specialist in the Office of Community Outreach at the Jefferson State Shelby-Hoover campus, knew Merritt long before she started working at the college. “I’ve known her all my life,” Holmes said. “My family knew her for probably 40 years.” Holmes’ father worked in financial aid at Jefferson State when Merritt worked in admissions, and Holmes’ great uncle was influential in Merritt later becoming the college’s president when he was chairman of the state board of education, Holmes said. According to her obituary, Merritt started her career in higher education as a counselor of admissions at Jefferson State Junior College in 1965, the opening year of the college. She served as Vice-President of Student Affairs at Florida International University. In 1979, she returned to Alabama when Gov. Fob James appointed her as president of Jefferson State Junior College, making her the first woman to be

named president of a two-year institution in Alabama. “She was a pioneer for so many women,” said Vicki Hawsey Karolewics, president of Wallace State Community College in Hanceville. “She entered the presidency when it was difficult for any woman to be successful in that high-profile position. She did it calmly and successfully.” Merritt later became the first female corporate board member for Energen Corporation, the only female board member on the South Trust Board of Directors and the first woman to chair the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce. “Judy may have been the most powerful woman in the history of Alabama, at least not one tied to a husband ... She had a network of presidents and legislators and CEOs that was remarkable, and I think it was unrivaled,” former Alabama State Board of Education member David Byers said of Merritt at a memorial service held for her on Oct. 24, 2014. Karolewics said Merritt was a mentor to her and had worked closely with her ever since Karolewics became Wallace State’s president 12 years ago. “For me, she exemplified the meaning of Profile 2015

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leadership,” Karolewics said. “I’ve always said that leaders have to be courageous, they have to demonstrate character and they certainly have to be competent. She was all of those, and I certainly aspire to lead as effectively as she did, and I think she helped me do that.” Merritt, the only daughter of educators, began her “lifelong love of the opportunities afforded by advanced education” when she entered the University of Alabama as a student, her obituary said. She eventually earned her M.A. and Ph.D. at UA. “She actually entered the university at age 16, and this launched her passion for helping others through higher education,” Alabama Community College System Chancellor Dr. Mark Heinrich said of Merritt at the memorial service. “She would say that her most important decision during her years at the university came when she met her future husband, Thomas E. Merritt, Jr., about whom she frequently spoke. She ... always described him as her best friend and the love of her life.” Karolewics said Merritt attributed her success as president largely to her late husband, who helped her strategize and brainstorm about issues Jefferson State and the community college system was facing at any given time.

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“They were just inseparable,” Holmes said of the couple. “When he died, I think definitely a part of her died.” Though she never veered from her post in the Alabama community college system to a career in politics, Merritt often displayed characteristics that made her well suited for such a role. “She was a master at making things happen,” Holmes said. “She was wonderful at bringing certain people together across party lines for the common good of a certain goal. That’s why they always wanted her to go into politics, but she saw her role as being most effective here, and she loved what she did.” Karolewics described Merritt as an “outstanding negotiator” and “absolutely fearless.” Keith Brown, Jefferson State’s interim president, got to know Merritt when he was a student at the college about 25 years ago. “She was always so supportive of everything that the student groups did here,” Brown said. “You always knew that she cared about the students and their success. She wanted everyone to have access to education and the opportunities that stem from that.” Brown came back to Jefferson State as an employee in 1999. He later served as dean of the college and was appointed interim president July 1, 2014, after Merritt

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LEFT: Former Jefferson State President Judy Merritt (left) greets Shelby County Commissioner Lindsey Allison during Jefferson State’s 2010 Honors Convocation. RIGHT: Former Jefferson State President Judy Merritt (right) and Birmingham Mayor William Bell speak with media during a press conference.

retired. “One of her best qualities aside from her heart and her care was her vision,” Brown said. “She pursued our expansion into Shelby County ahead of the population growth of Shelby County. She understood that little things like expansion out to Pell City or to Clanton – 40 miles to a single mother who’s dealing with childcare issues and is trying to work too – that’s a difference.” Jefferson State now has four campuses: the Jefferson, Shelby-Hoover, St. Clair-Pell City and Chilton-Clanton campuses. As Byers reflected on Merritt’s work during her memorial, he jokingly referred to her as “a hater,” who would intensely oppose any person or group she felt didn’t serve the best interests of Jefferson State or higher education. Byers said she hated because of what she loved – Jefferson State and its students, access to education for people with challenges and opportunity for everybody, not just the privileged. “She hated anybody that was out to get the two-year — Vicki Hawsey Karolewics, president of college system,” Wallace State Community College in Hanceville Holmes said. “She hated anybody threatening the opportunities for our kids. She had a heart for the underserved and the underprivileged. That’s why she stayed in the community college system.”

“She was a pioneer for so

many women. She entered the presidency when it was difficult for any woman to be successful in that high-profile position. She did it calmly and successfully.”

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Holmes said Merritt was so adamant about extending education opportunities to everyone that she often recruited potential students at places like the grocery store. She would encourage them to ask about scholarships and to tell the desk employees at Jefferson State that “Judy” sent them, but she wouldn’t tell them she was president of the college, Holmes said. “She couldn’t stand titles,” Holmes said. “She couldn’t stand being called ‘doctor.’ She was just Judy.” Holmes said Merritt dealt with certain things privately and did not tell Holmes, or anyone else, that she was ill until shortly before she died. “She taught me so much about life, about leadership, about love, about caring for other people, about putting other people first, about fighting for the greater good,” Holmes said. “I hope she’s remembered for the unequal dedication that she had for this college and this community. I don’t know of anyone who worked as long and as hard and as much of her life that she did for Jeff State and the community college system as a whole.” Brown said Merritt was present for the announcement of his appointment as interim president and, in some of her last public remarks, gave those gathered at the college the following advice: “Love each other.” “She truly loved people and wanted the best for them,” Brown said. “It was just apparent in everything she did.” Brown said Jefferson State is a family because of the culture Merritt cultivated there. “We were able to come together and recognize that Judy has left us so much,” Brown said. “She lives on here at the college, and in our hearts and in our minds. She’s still here with us in so many ways.” n Profile 2015

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Duty and service Chris Curry leaves his mark on the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office Story by MOLLY DAVIDSON Photographs by JON GOERING

hris Curry first stepped foot in the Shelby County Sheriff ’s Office in 1973 to get a pistol permit. “One day I came down to Columbiana to get a pistol permit. For some reason, I asked if they had a volunteer deputy program,” Curry recalled. “Next thing I knew, I joined as a volunteer deputy.” “I remember when he told me he was going to be a reserve,” Pam Curry, Sheriff Curry’s wife, said. “I just looked at him and said, ‘Where did that come from?’” Curry rose through the ranks of the Sheriff ’s Office, from a volunteer deputy to his election as Shelby County Sheriff in 2002. After serving the agency for more than 40 years and three terms as sheriff, Curry retired from the Sheriff ’s Office in January 2015, but his legacy will continue through the example he set and in the functioning of the agency. “He hired me because I was a law enforcement professional, but in the 12 years (I’ve worked with the Sheriff ’s Department), he’s taught me how to be sheriff,” Former Deputy Sheriff John Samaniego, who was elected in 2014 to replace Curry, said. “He 14

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PAGE 14: Sheriff Curry at John Samaniego’s June 4 primary election victory party. Curry asked Samaniego to join his staff when he took office as sheriff in 2003. LEFT: Chris Curry has served three terms as Shelby County sheriff, he was elected in 2002 and entered office in 2003. RIGHT: Chris Curry worked closely with former Shelby County District Attorney Robby Owens to provide evidence and carry out court orders throughout his career as sheriff.

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professional relationships with each employee at the inspired me to carry on the tradition of the Sheriff ’s Sheriff ’s Office, taking personal interest in career Office. He gave me invaluable advice that allowed development and success of each individual, from the me to go forth and work with the people of Shelby newest deputies to the most senior captain. County.” Curry’s investment in each individual begins when The Alabama Constitution states that the sheriff is they are hired to work at the Sheriff ’s Office. responsible for attending to the court and executing “When I sat down and interviewed prospective court orders, maintaining the county jail and carrying employees, I never hired a deputy. I hired someone out law enforcement duties. Curry took a “servant with the potential to be… even a sheriff,” Curry said. approach” to the office of Sheriff, placing excellent Every deputy is given training service to the people of Shelby County through the Alabama Peace Officers as the agency’s top priority. Standards and Training Commission. “We were going to operate with a Beyond that, they are given the servant approach and we were going to opportunity to develop skills and assist serve the citizens,” Curry said. “(This outside agencies on missions through involved) being accessible and doing participation in task forces. things that enhance the quality of life.” “He puts a great deal of value on There is no typical day in the life of After serving the Shelby career development,” Shelby County the Shelby County sheriff, as each day County Sheriff’s Office for more than 40 years Sheriff ’s Office Sgt. Clay Hammac is directed by serving and responding and three terms as said. “Every opportunity a deputy is to the needs of the citizens of Shelby sheriff, Chris Curry given here, you can see that Sheriff County, Curry explained. retired in January 2015. Curry is investing in the future “There is no such thing as a regular leadership of this agency. Knowing that your boss day,” Curry said. “It invariably changes by either a radio call, phone call or a person arriving in the office genuinely wants you to succeed is a good feeling.” Hammac formerly worked in the business world as saying, ‘I need to see the sheriff.’” a financial statement accountant for a Fortune 500 “He’s part of the community, people feel like he company. He joined the Sheriff ’s Office in 2004 as a is their advocate,” Samaniego said. “Hundreds of “rookie deputy working the night shift on the road.” people come through that door to speak with him Since that time Hammac worked on numerous personally.” special assignments, including work with the Secret In addition to a personal connection to the Service Electronics Task Force. people of Shelby County, Curry also fostered

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“I was able to bring my forensic accounting there,” Hammac said. Hammac cited Curry as a main draw to his decision to work for the Sheriff ’s Office. “I saw that Shelby County was moving in a positive direction, and I wanted to be a part of that,” Hammac said. “(Sheriff Curry’s) command staff gave me opportunities to stretch and grow.” Samaniego also said Curry was a determining factor in his decision to join the Sheriff ’s Office in 2003 as deputy chief. “I have never worked for a better boss,” Samaniego said. “Working for him and with him has been the highlight of my career.” Curry’s investment in quality personnel and career development throughout his tenure as sheriff has created a marked professionalism throughout the agency. This professionalism has not only improved working relationships with county agencies such as the District Attorney’s Office, it has also paved the way for important partnerships with federal and state agencies. “He changed the nature (of the agency) to a professional sheriff ’s office as opposed to a county sheriff ’s office. He began an education effort, which really helped in how paperwork was prepared and how evidence was presented,” former Shelby County District Attorney Robby Owens said. “When you step up on that level, when you gain trust, things work better. Chris did that almost across the board.” The Shelby County Sheriff ’s Office has worked hand-in-hand with numerous other agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Alabama Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Agency, the U.S. Marshals and Immigration and Customs. Profile 2015

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BELOW: Being sheriff entails more than enforcing the law. The Alabama Constitution says the sheriff must also carry out orders of the court and maintain the county jail.

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“Relationships are based on a 50-50 give and take,” Curry said. “You cannot build a relationship unless each party meets each other on a 50-50 basis.” Shelby County Sheriff ’s Office personnel have assisted on numerous extra-agency task forces and missions. The relationships have in turn benefitted the Sheriff ’s Office as well. “It’s like a force multiplier… those resources are invaluable,” Samaniego said, recalling a 2008 quintuple-homicide of five Hispanic men in an apartment off of U.S. 280. With just “a phone call,” the ABI, FBI, DEA, U.S.

Marshals, Immigration and Customs and ATF came to Shelby County “with any and all resources” to assist in an investigation that “stretched from the Mexican border into Europe,” Curry recalled. “We were making arrests in five days,” Curry said. “It was pretty amazing.” A self-admitted “adrenaline junkie,” Curry said he will miss working in law enforcement and will miss the daily interactions with the citizens of Shelby County and colleagues at the Sheriff ’s Office. But he is looking forward to spending “uninterrupted” time with his family and traveling with his wife, and he said they have already planned a trip to Europe. “He has been working 24/7 for the last 24 years,” Pam Curry said. “When he retires, he will be 68 years old, and it’s his time to spend the rest of his life doing whatever he wants to do.” Looking back on his many accomplishments during his career and tenure as sheriff, Curry said he is most proud of the personnel the office has attracted. “The highlight for me is to see the development and professionalism in the people that work here,” Curry said. “We have people who could be the sheriff of any county, who could be the police chief of any municipality. We’ve gotten people to succeed beyond their expectations.” n

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Leader of the pack Hawthorne’s drive leads Panthers Story by DREW GRANTHUM Photographs by JON GOERING

ou can call Pelham High School wrestling star Hasaan Hawthorne many things when it comes to how he prepares for his sport. You can call him a competitor, as he’s known to be tough on the mat, giving no quarter to any opponent he faces. You can call him enthusiastic, as the junior has been wrestling since he was in sixth grade, working and refining his technique for each match. You can call him tough, because he’s had to overcome quite a few obstacles on his way up. Just don’t call him different. Because he’s not. In his eyes, the fact that he is missing both of his legs from the knee down means nothing. Once on the mat, everyone has strengths they must capitalize on, and weaknesses they must protect. NO EASY TASK

LEFT: Pelham wrestler Hasaan Hawthorne has become a leader for the Panthers, through his wins on the mat and his work ethic off it. Profile 2015

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It’s a competitive spirit his father, Demond Hawthorne, said Hasaan has always possessed. “He’s been pretty athletic since he was a boy,” he said. “He’s always loved sports. He played baseball until he was 12. He’s kind of done it all.” All the while playing on two prosthetic limbs. Hasaan was born with a rare condition known as tibial hemimelia, which causes babies to be born without shinbones. When he was 14 months old, both of Hawthornes’s legs were amputated at the knee. While some might take it as a setback, Hasaan never slowed down, pursuing a love of baseball, track

and swimming. His life changed, however, when he was introduced to the sport of wrestling at 12. “A couple of my really good friends wrestled,” Hasaan said. “I tried it out and fell in love with it.” While Hasaan expressed a love for the sport early on, he admitted learning it wasn’t easy. He had to figure out a technique that best suited him, which got difficult as he first started in the sport. “It was mostly trial and error,” he said. “I learned from losing the first few years, doing it my own way, like (learning) a poem and putting it in your own words.” While they knew he was learning a sport he loved, watching Hasaan struggle early on wasn’t easy for his family. “He lost a lot at first,” his mother, Felecia, said. “Because he’s so competitive, he wanted to get better.” Demond agreed. “It bothered him,” he said. “He had to learn to use his body, his arm strength. Wrestling is a mental sport. He struggled (because) he’d get so frustrated.” Then again, for a guy with a drive and competitive nature like Hasaan, losing wasn’t exactly a joy to be a part of, either. His drive to be the best took over. He began to study the sport, watching documentaries on great wrestlers and taking tips from them and modifying them to work for him. He worked hard in the gym on his technique, and took his losses in competitions as learning experiences. Hasaan said one of the most important realizations he had to come to early in his career was that his struggles would eventually lead to bigger things. 21

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“In the beginning (I had to understand) not being frustrated with losing,” he said. “I hate losing, (but I was) learning what I could do. I had a couple of coaches that taught me a different way.” In time, things began to click for Hasaan. Matches that he tended to lose began to get a lot closer on the scoreboard, to the point he began winning more than he lost. A FORMIDABLE OPPONENT Opponents stopped seeing him as an inspirational story, and started seeing him for what he wanted to be seen: A very formidable opponent who could take on anyone. “It started when I started winning,” he said. “Winning a lot of matches. I’m not giving anything, (and) I got a lot more serious. I had a target on my back.” Of course, with every target comes some very painful arrows from opponents, and ones not necessarily on the mat. As he began 22

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CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Hawthorne sizes up a teammate during a practice drill. Hawthorne was born with tibial hemimelia, a condition that causes babies to be born without shinbones. At 14 months, both of his legs were amputated. Hawthorne has been wrestling since the sixth grade. After losing a great deal early in his career while learning the sport, Hawthorne has worked his way to a 50-win season during the 2013-14 season. “A couple of my really good friends wrestles,” Hawthorne said. “I tried it out and fell in love with it.” to start winning and winning often, it wasn’t uncommon to hear whispers or even out loud comments from opposing fans — and even coaches — about his legs: Whether it be that his opponents lost not because Hasaan beat them fair and square, but because they “let” him beat them by not being ready, or worse, that he had an unfair advantage by not having legs. “People don’t get to see it every day,” Felecia Hawthorne said. “Unfortunately, they don’t appreciate it. It saddens me that people can’t see past (their) competitive nature.” While it stung, Hasaan said he let his drive take the insults and Profile 2015

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turn them into fuel. “I mostly let it drive me,” he said. “It hits deep. It makes me wrestle harder, honestly. I kind of laugh at it. It comes with the territory, and I stopped caring.“ While the barbs from opposing fans still come sometimes, there’s no denying that Hasaan has become a top-notch wrestler. After posting 50 wins during the 2013-14 season, Pelham head coach Eric Pollard said Hasaan has cemented himself as one of the key leaders of the Panthers’ program. “He’s strong, he’s smart,” Pollard said. “I wish everyone had the exact same drive he has — Hasaan Hawthorne day in and day out. He’s a key leader on the team. He’s extremely hard working (and) no different than anyone else.”

“It was mostly trial and

error, I learned from losing the first few years, doing it my own way, like (learning) a poem and putting it in your own words.”

LEADING BY EXAMPLE

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Hasaan said he just wanted to be known as a leader by example, as he knows how important team morale and teamwork is in wrestling. “It plays a very big role,” he said. “One match could win you the duel. (I want to be) a good teammate and serious leader, telling them it’s not a game, and you shouldn’t be okay with losing.” As he entered his junior year, Hasaan faced a few more bumps. Surgeries to his shoulder and leg forced him to sit out until early December, but Hasaan said he was focused on getting back on the mat and working hard. He also said he’d given thought to wrestling on the next level. “I’d love to go collegiate, but it just depends on scholarship,” he said. While the future awaits, one thing is for certain: Whatever it holds, Hasaan Hawthorne’s drive will get him to it and over it. Maybe that’s what you can call Hasaan: Driven. He’s not a double-amputee that happens to wrestle for something to do, he’s a wrestler who happens to be a double-amputee. He’s not on the mat to overcome adversity; he’s there to be the best. “I’m serious (about wrestling),” he said. “I don’t like to lose. I wrestle very hard, 110 percent. (I’d like) to be considered a good wrestler.” n

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dream

Building a

Residents establish public library in Mt Laurel Story by EMILY SPARACINO Photographs by JON GOERING Profile 2015

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Ann Price played a major role in the creation of the Mt Laurel Public Library. As chairwoman of the Friends of Mt Laurel Library group, Price spearheaded efforts to raise money and support for the construction of the library. 31

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CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Located between the grocery and Double Oak Community Church in Mt Laurel’s town center, the Mt Laurel Public Library serves the Dunnavant Valley region of Shelby County. The library offers paperback and hardback books, lendable eReaders, magazines and various news publications. The library’s community room was named for John Freeman. At a dedication event for the room in July 2014, Jim Stephens, chairman of EBSCO’s board of directors, commended Freeman for “his business skill, construction skill and his humanity.” 32

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he story of how the Mt Laurel Library was established isn’t written in the pages of the books lining its built-in shelves. The library’s story can be found with the people who saw a need for it and worked tirelessly to have it built. More than a decade ago, residents of Mt Laurel and the Dunnavant Valley area started down the path toward a vision they shared of building a permanent public library in their community. They formed a non-profit group and board of directors called Friends of Mt Laurel Library, which spearheaded fundraising efforts, rallied support for the project and orchestrated temporary library locations until the permanent building could be completed. The Mt Laurel Library opened its new building and permanent location in late June last year, just six

months after a groundbreaking ceremony signaled the beginning of the building’s construction. With the library approaching its one-year anniversary of opening the new building, residents involved in the project looked back at the milestones that marked its progress and the potential the Mt Laurel Library holds for current and future generations of local residents. PUTTING DOWN ROOTS Nestled between the grocery and Double Oak Community Church in Mt Laurel’s town center, the Mt Laurel Library serves the Dunnavant Valley region of Shelby County. “I think building a library is another piece in the patchwork of building a community,” said Ann Price, chairwoman of Friends of Mt Laurel Library. “It’s a very important element in having a viable Profile 2015

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community and supporting a high quality of life.” The library is the product of numerous people’s time, labor and monetary donations, from efforts from the youngest elementary students to larger contributions from local businesses and corporations. “It was a real grass-roots effort,” Price said. “Different people did so many different things.” The original concept for a library in Mt Laurel was envisioned by town founder Elton B. Stephens Jr., shortly after the town was established in 1998, library board member Ward Tishler said. “Soon after I moved to Mt Laurel in 2002, Mr. Stephens asked me if I would like to volunteer to help build a library in Mt Laurel,” Tishler said. “With the assistance of Mr. Rip Weaver, the landscape architect for Mt Laurel, I put together a small group of volunteers who would develop a plan to build a public library in the town.” Tishler said a preliminary conceptual drawing of a proposed library was completed with the assistance of an architect who volunteered his time and with input from other volunteers. Then, Friends of Mt Laurel Library was formed. The first board of directors included John Floyd, president, Mt Laurel; Pam Kinnebrew, Greystone Crest; Brenda Church, Holly Brook Lake; Lori Pruitt; Elton B. Stephens, Jr., Mt Laurel town founder, Mountain Brook; Tishler, Mt Laurel; Steve Gregory, Mt Laurel, legal advisor; Weaver, EBSCO Advisory; and Carol Farr, then director of the North Shelby Public Library. “Since the Mt Laurel Public Library was located in the jurisdiction of the North Shelby Public Library, we requested to become a branch of that library,” Tishler said. “This request was granted with a pledge ‘of full support.’ This support included staffing, computers, books, maintenance, daily operating expenses and furniture. Becoming a branch of the North Shelby Public Library also provided non-profit status that would be needed for fundraising.” The project’s progress was chronicled in “The Mt Laurel Connection,” a newsletter “for and about the Town of Mt Laurel.” In October 2013, John O. Freeman, Sr., general manager of the Town of Mt Laurel and vice president of EBSCO Development Company, awarded the deed to the property to the Friends of Mt Laurel Library board of directors and North Shelby Library, a newsletter said. The land for the library was a “generous gift” to the Friends of Mt Laurel Library organization and North Shelby Library from EBSCO Industries. Moss Rock Building Company, Inc., a division of EBSCO, constructed the library on a non-profit basis at cost. During the planning stages, Price said, Freeman oversaw the activities of Moss Rock Building Company and worked closely with the Friends organization. “A library in Mt Laurel has been a dream for the community for a number of years, and EBSCO has shared this vision with the Friends of the Library on so many levels from the beginning, and later on with the leadership and support of Jim Stephens, chairman of the EBSCO Board of Directors, in the final phase of Profile 2015

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the project,” Price said. Price said EBSCO also donated digital services to the library. “They have really useful educational databases,” she said of EBSCO. “They’re just a respected leader in the field, and they’re generously letting us use those services.” The library’s community room was named for Freeman. A dedication event for the room was held in July 2014 with EBSCO officials and Freeman’s family in attendance. In his presentation at the event, Jim Stephens, chairman of EBSCO’s board of directors, said he wanted to honor Freeman for “his business skill, construction skill and his humanity.” The interior of the 1,664-square-foot library building and outside landscaping were designed and completed by Mt Laurel residents, who volunteered their professional services. David Brush of David N. Brush Landscape Architecture handled the landscape design. Kristin Prickett of Olivia Charles Antiques served as the primary interior designer. Craftsman-style light fixtures from Meyda Tiffany, Daniel Tiffany and Symthe Craftsman companies hang from the ceiling inside. The community room can also be used for events or as a second reading room. The children’s room features a tree mural hand-painted by Mt Laurel resident Rorie Scroggins and a log seat resident The interior of the 1,664-square-foot Sandy Bishop made library building and outside landscapfrom a fallen tree in the ing were designed and completed by neighborhood. Mt Laurel residents, who volunteered their professional services. The front entryway of the library is filled with commemorative bricks purchased by individuals who donated funds. Furnishings and light fixtures were among items on a “wish list” for which funds were raised separately over and above construction costs. “Libraries are an integral part of the community,” Branch Manager Kate Etheredge said. “This location provides a central location of a library over the mountain for this community. Nowadays, we’re tied into where we live, and we don’t venture out.” In addition to Tishler and Floyd, Price commended other board members who contributed to the project: Monie Allen, Brenda Haire, Virginia Randolph and Bob Esper. “They carried out the vision that was created earlier by the original library committee and board,” Price said. Katie Guerin, director of North Shelby Library and Mt Laurel Library services, noted the positive impact Price’s leadership had throughout the project.

1,664

LEFT: Those who visit the Mt Laurel Public Library can relax with a book or magazine in one of its reading rooms. Profile 2015

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ABOVE: Sara McCutchen is one of the librarians at the Mt Laurel Public Library. RIGHT: The children’s room in the library features a tree mural painted by Mt Laurel resident Rorie Scroggins and a log seat resident Sandy Bishop made from a fallen tree in the neighborhood. “You have to have a leader; Ann really was that person,” Guerin said. “Ann has such a strong tie to this community and Dunnavant Valley. She got people ... around the project. She saw it through to the end.” HOME SWEET HOME What started temporarily as one shelf of books in Jimbo’s Soda Fountain, followed by one room in another Mt Laurel storefront, is now a fully functioning library with its own address: 111 Olmsted Street, Mt Laurel. “It started when a group of residents in Mt Laurel had a vision to have a library in the community, along with churches, shops and businesses,” Price said. Tishler said the library is “a good example of people coming together and working cooperatively to build and operate a facility that benefits the whole community.” “Residents and businesses in the North Shelby Library district are assessed a library fee each year to support library services in the area,” he said. “Some of these fees are applied to support the Mt Laurel Public Library.” In addition to paperback and hardback books, the library has lendable eReaders, magazines and news publications, along with Wi-Fi, story times, author 36

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signings, book club meetings and summer reading programs. “We’re adding more, and we’re also listening to what people want,” Guerin said. “The whole atmosphere we wanted to give people was they feel like they can make this their home away from home.” For more information about Mt Laurel Library, including hours and upcoming events, visit Mtlaurellibrary.org or call 991-1660. Also, follow Mt Laurel Public Library on Facebook for photos and updates. “Education and learning are crucial to the betterment of people’s lives and to the communities in which they live,” Tishler said. “I believe a library provides a place and an opportunity for education and learning. It means something more, though. “There is a feeling, a spirit to a library and helps define the spirit of the place in which it is located. It enriches the community and draws people to it.” n CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Rain chains near the front door of the Mt Laurel Library carry rain from the roof to underground pipes. Chrissie Humphrey is one of the librarians at the Mt Laurel Public Library. The inside of the 1,664-square-foot library building and outside landscaping were designed and completed by Mt Laurel residents that volunteered their professional services during the project.

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Shelby County Alabama

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Serving a school system Aubrey Miller reflects on role of Shelby County Board of Education President

Story by GRAHAM BROOKS Photographs by JON GOERING

ome people shy away from being in the spotlight or having to make big decisions, but Shelby County Board of Education President Aubrey Miller has had his fair share of both instances throughout his career. The places he’s been and the careers he’s led have taken him all over the southeast, but the one place Miller calls home and is most thankful for is Shelby County. “This is the most wonderful privilege I’ve ever had,” Miller said in regard to becoming president of the Shelby County Board of Education. “The Shelby County education system has given this state so much and given me so much. It has educated our children, it has provided a livelihood and a place where my wife practiced her profession in education and leadership, and I’ve been a beneficiary of all of these great things.” Miller grew up in Birmingham, where he graduated from Woodlawn High School and then received a bachelor’s degree from Samford University. From there, he obtained his master’s degree from the University of Alabama. After his education, his varied career took off. Miller and his wife moved to Jackson, Miss., where Miller was working with a broadcast media company that eventually became Time Warner Cable Company. Miller went into the company’s management-training program. Miller spent most of his years in the southeast in places such as Houston, Texas; Memphis, Tenn.; Profile 2015

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and Jackson, Miss. The majority of his time has been spent in Alabama, specifically in Shelby County, where he and his family have resided since the mid 1980s. “When we returned here from Houston, the first thing we wanted to do was to get out of the hustle and bustle somewhat,” said Miller. “We lived in the northwest corner of Texas, and I commuted to the southeastern part of the state, and my commute was like an hour and a half or two hours every morning, and evening and it was bumper-to-bumper traffic. When we moved to Shelby County initially, it was like the end of civilization back in the mid 1980s. It was the middle of nowhere, and all of a sudden here comes (U.S.) 280. That goes crazy over the past 10 or 11 years, but back then it was peaceful, quiet and where we wanted to be.” Miller is married to his wife, Beverly, who recently retired as the principal at Vincent Elementary School. “I met her in the third grade, so she was truly a childhood sweetheart,” said Miller. “We have two daughters, one lives in Los Angeles and is a writer and our older daughter lives in Houston and has two toddlers.” To say Miller has lead a varied career would be an understatement. Miller, who is the executive director of the Alabama chapter of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, has worked in broadcast and print journalism, economic development, human resources, non-profit work and as a state tourism director, where he helped in advertising and sales

LEFT: Aubrey Miller has lead a varied career path that has lead him all over the southeast. He has now established a home in Shelby County where he is the Shelby County Board of Education President. 41

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ABOVE: Surrounded by friends and family, Aubrey Miller celebrates the announcement of his victory over Anne Glass in the Shelby County Board of Education Place Two run-off election on Tuesday, July 13, 2010, at a residence in Indian Springs Village.

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with Southern Living magazine. “My first job both in college and out of college was in broadcast media. I worked through college as a booth announcer and then an anchor at Channel 6 back then,” said Miller. “Then I went from there to the Alabama Radio News Network out of Montgomery and did that for a bit, and from there I decided to go to graduate school. I went to graduate school and then worked on-air for Alabama Public Television, and I did that all the way through grad school while working part–time at a country music radio station. During the week, I’d work the country station in Tuscaloosa and then weekends I’d work at a rock station in — Birmingham.” On top of performing his regular jobs, Miller has found time and enjoyed being the role of a pastor at his church. “My other role, that I’ve had since I was 19, was

as a pastor at the United Methodist Church,” said Miller. “We actually have begun a new ministry and church plant out on Lakeshore Parkway, and we’re growing a church there. It’s an interdenominational church now, and we’re not affiliated with the Methodist church. We’re in a close relationship with the Birmingham Baptist association. “My life really revolves around my family and my two grandchildren, my work at JDRF and my work with the church,” Miller said. “I love to travel but I don’t get to do it often. I really like civic involvement, golf and whitewater rafting whenever I get a chance to do those things.” Miller has been on the on the Aubrey Miller Shelby County Board of Education for the past four years, and was recently elected president. Miller said he has faced challenges in the past, but said people on the board have helped him to be successful.

“They care

about their neighbors, and they care about the future of their families.”

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“We have a great team, and I’m serious when I say this: We all get along,” said Miller. “I mean, anything that is a conflict or a controversial issue we have enough opportunities to communicate prior to the meeting, and by the time the meeting comes around, we’ve resolved anything that could be a conflict. This is the only year in the past four years where we haven’t had critical economic challenges in the state, and our board, our system, fared well during all of these times.” Miller made it a point that while he loves the Shelby County area, what really makes it great for him are the people that make up the county. “The theme at our church is real faith, real people, real worship and the part that we know is true about Shelby County is that they are all real people,” Miller said in regard to what makes Shelby County great. “From the judges to the commissioners to the average person walking the street, I have not yet met a person who is just an absolute jerk. They care about their neighbors, and they care about the future of their families.” n LEFT: Beverly Miller and her husband, Aubrey Miller, attended Beverly’s retirement ceremony at Vincent Elementary School after she spent 30 years as an educator.

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The

RAILS RUN

through it

Photographs by JON GOERING

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CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: For many, the railroad is a sign of an era in the past. Maybe nowhere else in Alabama is this more apparent than in Shelby County, which hosts the Heart of Dixie Railroad Museum in Calera. And although trains are no longer widely used as a method of public transportation, the railroads of Shelby County still play a major role in many of the countyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s cities and towns. Old, unused track sits near the Heart of Dixie Railroad Museum in Calera. Retired trains rest outside of the Heart of Dixie Railroad Museum. Train tracks span a river in Shelby County. A railroad crossing in Wilton is lit by the setting sun. An old train car rests in Calera.

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CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Heart of Dixie Railroad Museum President Jim Garnett walks through a train. A Shelby County train bridge is seen from the sky. Discarded train track parts sit beside a track in Calera.

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CLOCKWISE FROM ABOVE: A Norfolk Southern engine rests on the tracks in the Shelby County town of Wilton. An old train car rests in Calera. The Cahaba River runs under a train bridge in Helena.

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Finding a way

home

UM student overcomes hardships to help others Story by AMY JONES Photographs by JON GOERING

ebekah Koen is simply driven to succeed. Rebekah, currently a freshman at the University of Montevallo, was a top-20 student every single year at Gardendale High School before attending UM as a member of the University Honors Program. She founded GirlTalk, an outreach program for girls ages 10-14 at the Montevallo Girls and Boys Club. She’s joined the National Guard. She personifies work — hard work. She also spent much of her teenage years in homeless shelters, along with her family, which includes her mother, Crystal, 12-year-old Joshua, 15-year-old Rachel and 20-year-old Saraih. Now Rebekah’s mission is one crystal-clear vision: “My goal in life is to never be homeless again. I don’t want my kids to ever go through that.” THE PATH OF A FEW YEARS

RIGHT: Rebekah Koen, once homeless as a high school student, is now a student at the University of Montevallo. 52

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In September 2011, Rebekah and her family lived in the projects in Birmingham’s Brookside area. Her mother, Crystal, was working at McDonald’s, and saw her scheduled work hours decline. The family got behind on bills, and was eventually evicted from their apartment. At that point, the family tried staying with friends, but one person changed the locks to his house after the family had been there a weekend. Another

man became manipulative and abusive, and would sometimes kick Rebekah’s family out, forcing them to spend nights in the family car. Rebekah and Saraih stayed with school friends whenever possible. Eventually, after Christmas 2011, the family moved in with an uncle and his fiancée, who wasn’t happy to have five new people crammed into a two-bedroom, one-bathroom house that lacked heat and hot water. “There was a lot of tension. Eventually she just wanted us out, and she would tell us she wanted us out,” Rebekah said. That spring, Crystal began looking for another place for the family to live. She found a homeless shelter, where the family moved in April 2012. Unfortunately, life in the shelter was often just as difficult as it had been before. A 5 p.m. non-negotiable curfew meant that Crystal had to quit her job, as she couldn’t work the shifts needed. The children also couldn’t participate in any extracurricular activities. They were forced to attend Bible studies every night for hours, and couldn’t leave for any reason — not even to study. Shelter officials found ways to get families kicked out of the shelter if they didn’t abide by every rule, Rebekah said. “They were doing more than enforcing the rules. They were lording it over us,” she said. Finally, around Christmas 2012, Rebekah’s family was kicked out of the shelter after the family declined Profile 2015

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ABOVE: Rebekah Koen founded GirlTalk, an outreach program for girls ages 10-14 at the Montevallo Girls and Boys Club.

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to move Rebekah and Saraih from Gardendale High School to the local school. “This meant that my sister and I would have to transfer from Gardendale High School in the middle of her senior year and my junior year. We didn’t comply with the rule because we didn’t think they’d actually enforce it,” Rebekah said. “And once we saw that they would, we knew that if we complied with this rule, then they’d just keep coming up with new things to hold against us until we had no choice to leave.” They soon moved into a local hotel, where they stayed until February 2013. At that point, the family went into a different shelter, YWCA Interfaith Hospitality House. “They were much better than the other place. It was happier. They helped us look for apartments. Our car had broken down, and they helped us get another car,” Rebekah said. The family stayed at the Interfaith Hospitality House until May 2013, at which point they were able to move into a house in Tarrant — which shelter officials helped them find. The shelter also helped the family purchase furniture and pay the first month’s rent. The two shelters were also markedly different in how officials handled occupants’ money, Rebekah said.

“The biggest difference between the two shelters was that at the first one, they took part of your paycheck and you’d never see it again. At the second one, they’d take part of your paycheck, but it would go into a special savings account and you would get it all back when you left,” she said. The family has left the Tarrant house now, but they’ve all gone on to good places. Saraih lives in an apartment in Birmingham, while Crystal and the two youngest children have moved to Tennessee, where Crystal has a good job. Rebekah lives in a dorm on the UM campus. PASSING ON LIFE LESSONS When it came time for Rebekah to decide on the path she would take after high school, she found herself in a quandary. Originally, Rebekah planned to go into the Air Force. Her mother was in the Army, and her grandfather was in the Air Force, so she felt she was destined for a military life. Her mother had other ideas, however. “My mom said, ‘You’ve missed out on a good portion of your childhood. I don’t want you to miss out on your college experience, too,’” Rebekah said. Soon after, she heard about the social work program Profile 2015

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at UM, and was intrigued by the idea. She also started hearing a lot about this liberal arts university in Shelby County. “Once I heard about Montevallo, it seemed like all of a sudden everyone was talking about it,” she said. After Rebekah started her college career in the fall of 2014, she was drawn to the Montevallo Boys and Girls Club. She started going to the Boys and Girls Club in the seventh grade, and found that she wanted to make a difference for girls that age in the Montevallo club. From there, GirlTalk was born. During GirlTalk events, Rebekah leads discussions on such topics as positive body image and friendship. “That’s a point in time when you feel like you have to change to get people to like you. It was a difficult age for me, and I didn’t really fit in,” Rebekah said. “Every time I came back to the Boys and Girls Club, everybody supported me and made me feel better.” THE AFTERMATH As an excellent student, Rebekah has scholarship money to pay her tuition through the rest of her freshman year. She said that academic success was always a major goal of hers, especially after her family was homeless. “I thought, ‘If I can do this when I’m homeless, then I can do it when we have a house. I can do it at college. I can do it anywhere,’” she said. The National Guard will pay for the rest of her schooling, while also offering her an opportunity to experience military life. After Rebekah’s freshman year at UM is complete, she’ll take a couple semesters off for National Guard training, then return to UM. After graduation, she hopes to work with veterans. Rebekah said her mother should have been able to get help with finding housing because she is a veteran, but she was never made aware of such programs. Rebekah wants to help make sure other veterans don’t struggle with the same thing. Rebekah said she’s become “a lot more secretive” since her family’s struggles with homelessness. “When I don’t analyze it, I feel like we came out fine, but there are things we’re paranoid about,” she said. For example, Rebekah always has snacks close at hand, because she knows what it’s like to go hungry. She pays strict attention to the rules, because of the consequences of breaking rules while living in shelters. She also said she’s struggled with breaking the habit of living by a curfew. She’s also seen firsthand how people can be cruel. “It wasn’t like we were looking for a handout, but there were people who could help us, even family, and they pretended they didn’t see, or they blamed my mother,” she said. However, the experience did have one welcome consequence. Rebekah’s family has a bond that will never break because they weathered those storms together, she said. “Home for me is my family. If I’m going to see my sister, I’ll say, ‘We’re going home’ — even though I’ve never spent the night there,” she said. “My family really became my home. I guess home is love.” n Profile 2015

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Fraternity of flight

Shelby County pilots spend their days in the skies

Story by NEAL WAGNER Photographs by JON GOERING

arry Harris paused a conversation with his pilot friends as the five men’s heads uniformly followed a small, single-engine plane as it quickly ascended from the Shelby County Airport’s runway. “He really got on that one,” Harris said with a smile as his friends nodded in agreement. About 20 minutes later, Chris Roberts climbed out of his Piper Warrior II plane along with Jack and Tai Smith, 9-year-old Alabaster residents who joined dozens of other children at the airport on the sunny fall day. “How was it?” their mother, Tanya Smith, asked the boys. Profile 2015

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“It was awesome!” Tai responded excitedly. For Roberts, seeing the kids’ excitement for flight served as a fitting reward for the years he spent learning the intricacies of safely taking humans into the skies. “Anytime I get to see a kid excited about flying, it’s just amazing,” Roberts said as he took a break from Young Eagles Day at the airport. “Flying has been such a big part of my life. I want to pass that along to the next generation.” The local pilots spent the Young Eagles Day fostering a love of flight to about 100 potential nextgeneration personal, commercial and military pilots as they gave many of the children their first taste of flying in a small aircraft. “He is the reason we came out here today,” Tanya Smith said of Tai, who she and her husband recently

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adopted from Taiwan. “He is our airplane lover.” Should Tai grow up to be a pilot in the Birmingham area, the contingency of pilots based at the Shelby County Airport would gladly welcome him into what many of them contend is the tightest-knit group in the county. “It’s a brotherhood, there’s no doubt about that,” said Ken Miller, a pilot who runs the Champion Flyers aircraft maintenance shop at the airport. “Pilots have a special air about them, pun intended. When something happens to one of us, it happens to all of us.” WINGS ACROSS GENERATIONS No two pilots at the airport have the same story to tell, and they come from all walks of life. But when they all gather together in the spirit of flight, their differences seem to fade quickly. Although Larry Harris, vice president of the Shelby County chapter of the Experimental Aircraft Association, got his start in flying much later than most of the other local pilots, he had no trouble fitting in when he started taking off and landing from the Shelby County Airport. “You run into a lot of great guys out here,” Harris said. “And the county runs the airport very well.” Harris, now in his 70s, has only been flying since 2006, and did not obtain his personal pilot license until 2009. By the time he was able to take to the skies by himself, he had been through a lengthy ordeal. “I had always thought I would like to try (flying). The week I turned 62, I told myself ‘You’ve just got to do it now if you’re going to do it,’” Harris said. Harris then took the same first step many pilots

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CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: Charles Weldon’s 1939 Piper J3 at the Shelby County Airport. Charles Weldon with his Aviat Husky seaplane. Charles Weldon with his Piper J3 Cub.

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take in their quest for a license: A discovery flight. During a discovery flight, potential pilots fly with a licensed pilot trainer to get a feel for controlling a plane in the air. After the discovery flight, Harris was hooked. However, an unexpected trip to the doctor put his plans on hold. “I got a cancer diagnosis. And when that happens, they take your medical (authorization) back because instant incapacitation is a big concern when you’re flying a plane,” Harris said. “I had surgery early The number of hours in 2007, and I got my of flight time a new medical back.” pilot must log before he Though he was cleared or she can earn their private pilot license. to continue his pilot training, Harris was unable to devote much time to practicing, as his parents became sick. “In 2009, I was finally able to take my check ride,” Harris said of the final step needed to obtain a personal pilot license. “I passed it. Today, I am 70 years old and I can still pass (the) medical (requirements).”

BASE OF OPERATIONS Harris and his growing number of pilot friends have meant good things for what started out as a small rural airport in the mid-1960s. For the first several decades the airport was in operation, it was a privately owned facility. In the mid-2000s, the Shelby County government saw the

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“Planes are like tattoos. If you get one, you’re going to get another, and then another.” — Ken Miller

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potential in the airport, and assumed management of the facility. “The county took it over in late 2006,” said Airport Manager Terry Franklin. “We had about 90 aircraft based here then, and we are a couple short of 120 now.” Over the past few years, Shelby County has made a significant investment at the facility, funding a terminal expansion, 40 new airplane hangars and a large enclosed hangar. “They are filling up as fast as we can build them,” Franklin said of the hangars. The airport accelerated its pilot growth a little more than two years ago when it issued a call for pilot training schools interested in coming to the airport. When the bids were in, the county gave the Over the Mountain Aviation flight school the go-ahead to operate at the airport. Today, the flight school is combating what Over the Mountain instructor Barry Franks said is a major concern for the aviation industry moving forward. “There is a real pilot shortage on the horizon,” Franks said, noting military aviation cutbacks and an aging corps of commercial pilots are contributing to the upcoming shortage. “If anyone wants to get into aviation, now is the time to do it.” On paper, a new pilot must log 40 hours of flight time before he or she can earn their private pilot license. But in reality, it usually takes much longer, Franks said. “Very few people do it in 40 hours,” Franks said. “It really depends on how often you are able to train. “The average time for a person to earn their private pilot license is about three months.” The Over the Mountain Aviation School has seen a steady influx of those interested in becoming the next generation of pilots, and their ages range from teens to retired adults “It’s exciting, because we don’t see just one group of people who are interested in learning to fly,” Franks said. “It’s a good mix of folks.” Included in the younger demographic of flight school students is 25-year-old Mel Ambrose, who said he will never forget the first time he taxied from the Shelby County Airport on his first solo flight. “I had a lesson that morning. It was right after my parents found out I was taking flight lessons, so they had come to the airport that day to watch me,” Ambrose said five days after he received his private pilot license in October 2014. “I had been doing touch-and-goes (on the runway) all morning, and then my instructor stepped out and said ‘Go give it three more.’ “That was exciting, and I didn’t really think about it enough to be nervous,” Ambrose added. “I do remember the plane being a lot lighter when I took off.” Ambrose, like many who learn to fly, had to balance his personal and professional life with the time he spent taking to the skies. He earned his personal pilot license in only a few months because he dedicated about an hour-and-a-half to flight training CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: Larry Harris with his 1979 Grumman Tiger aircraft. Austin Landry, a lieutenant colnel with the Civilian Air Patrol’s Central Alabama Senior Squadron, with his Cessna 182. Charles Weldon with his Aviat Husky seaplane. Profile 2015

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every day each week. Ambrose said his desire to be challenged led him to flight school. After trying activities such as skydiving, learning to fly provided the adrenaline rush and challenge he was looking for. “I love it because you’ve got to be in control. You’ve got to react to the things that happen up there,” Ambrose said. “Learning to land was the hardest part for me.” BROTHERHOOD OF THE SKIES

ABOVE: Larry Harris with his 1979 Grumman Tiger aircraft. PAGE 63: Charles Weldon’s Aviat Husky seaplane. 62

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On any given day – especially on weekends – the airport and the skies around it are filled with pilots of all ages and skill levels. It’s not a common scene at all airports, the pilots were quick to point out. “No matter where we come from or what we do, we’ve all got something in common,” Franks said. “We get together and have cookouts often. It’s like a big family, and not all airports are like that.” Many of the pilots work with other pilots to build

and co-own planes stationed at the airport, which also serves to strengthen the bond between the group. “If you’ve got a good partner, it makes all the difference in the world,” Ward said as he showed the Smith children his 1946 Air Coupe. Sometimes, the airport family includes some highprofile visitors. Because of its proximity to the Oak Mountain Amphitheatre, a major performance venue about 10 miles north of the airport in Pelham, the airport sometimes welcomes nationally known performing artists. “We’ve had some pretty cool people fly in here, like Eric Clapton and Kid Rock,” Franks said. “They keep it real low-key, though. Usually, their jet touches down, the limo pulls around and they get in and drive off. “Nobody knows they’re here, usually,” he added. As in most families, the local pilots have their fair share of good-spirited jabs at each other. Profile 2015

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Although he now uses computers in his plane, Miller makes it known to his colleagues he doesn’t rely on them. “When I started flying 40 years ago, we had a map, a compass and a stopwatch,” Miller said with a laugh. “Computers are great, but you don’t want to rely on them, just in case the battery goes dead.” Miller also had no qualms about picking on himself. “Planes are like tattoos. If you get one, you’re going to get another, and then another,” Miller said. “I’ve had 10 or 11 planes over the years, and I’ve been partners on two others. “There aren’t a lot of new planes out there. Some of them are 80 years old,” Miller added. “But an 80-year-old plane, if you take care of it, is in better shape than an 80-year-old collector car.” Sometimes, the airplane bug is evident even in those who aren’t old enough to drive a car yet. “He told me he wants to buy a (Boeing) 747 when he grows up,” Tanya Smith told Ward as Tai Smith climbed into the Air Coupe and began moving the flight yoke. “Don’t we all,” Ward said as he smiled and looked at Tai. n LEFT: Charles Weldon’s 1939 Piper J3 at the Shelby County Airport.

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Faith, family

and a way of life

115 years and six generations of farming in Shelby County Story by GRAHAM BROOKS Photographs by JON GOERINGS

he old saying farming is a way of life might sound cliché, but for Jerry Baker and his family, the 220-acre Old Baker Farm has served as a farm, a way to make a living and, most importantly, a home. Baker is 62 years old and he’s been on the property since he was born. His father was born in the big house on the property, and he died in 2010 after living to be 101 years old. Baker is married to his wife, Pam, and they have three daughters and 11 grandkids who plan on continuing the farm’s legacy after Jerry and Pam retire. Old Baker Farm is located in Harpersville, not too far from the hustle and bustle of U.S. 280. But once Profile 2015

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someone visits the farm, it’s as if time slows down and rushing and worrying about problems becomes an afterthought. Established in 1899, Old Baker Farm is a family farm with generations of history. One hundred and fifteen years and four generations later, the farm has now evolved into more than a just a traditional farm. Livestock, crops, cotton, pumpkins, a Christmas tree farm, fall events such as Western Cowboy Day, Cotton Pickin’ Celebration and Living History Day are just a few events that make Old Baker Farm special. One thing that is special to Baker is the chance to interact with school children and show them what farming is about and why it’s important. It’s a cool, crisp fall morning and Baker is all

ABOVE: Baker takes some children on a nature tour around the farm. 73

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smiles as a number of elementary schools are visiting for the day to learn about the basics of farming and to see the animals. Old Baker Farm has been hosting agricultural tours since 1988 when classes first started coming to Old Baker to visit the Christmas tree farm. When asked about educating the younger generations about the importance of farms and knowing where their food comes from, Jerry thinks it’s imperative that kids are knowledgeable. “I think it’s very important,” said Baker. “Because if they don’t know, we may not take care of the farmers we have left. And if they all disappear, then we’re going to be dependent just like we seem to have been on other countries for our food sources and clothing. So it’s a very important part and important that the children know because they’re the generations to come.” Jerry is seen roaming the property doing everything from feeding the animals to helping carry lunch boxes up to the hayloft in the old barn that was built in 1919 by his granddaddy. “Planks were sawed here by a mule-driven saw mill and my granddaddy and a friend of his built,” said Baker. “It’s built from heart pine, he gave the people all the planks except the heart pine that he built this out of. In 1943, my daddy bought the farm from my granddaddy and he pulled the wood shingles off and put tin on it and really saved it. It’s a unique barn and it has a 74

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A boy gazes out at the Old Baker Farm landscape while taking a hay ride. stairway to the loft. I don’t know of any old barn this old that’s still standing.” When describing the origins and history of the farm, Jerry’s face lights up as he describes in a slow Southern drawl all the hidden secrets and background history that has made Old Baker Farm special. The farm has a rich history dating back to 1899 when it was established, and over the last 115 years technology and times have changed. But the values and beliefs that make up Old Baker Farm have remained the same. “There’s a lot of living history here,” said Baker. “There’s two creeks that run down through the land here through this farm and there’s 14 springs. This is one of the reasons there were a lot of Indians in this area. The Indians called this place and the surrounding area here ‘The Dipper of the Universe’ in their native language because there’s so many springs.” In addition to being a farmer, Baker is also a pastor at one of the oldest churches in Shelby County at Old Chapel Church. “I was pastor at Old Chapel Church for 14 years, and then they moved me in the Methodist church down below Alex City,” said Baker. “I stayed there for six years and so this is my fourth year back at Old Chapel.” What immediately draws someone to Jerry and the Old Profile 2015

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CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Baker looks on as children play in the water on a hot summer day at the farm. Baker takes a time–out to talk to kids who are on a tour of his farm. Thousands of school children have visited the Old Baker Farm annually since 1988. At the Old Baker Farm, children get the opportunity to feed farm animals and learn more about what it means to be a farmer. Several kids inspect some corn that has been grown on the farm as Jerry’s wife Pam looks on. Baker Farm is the friendliness and values that are in the make-up of the Baker family. “Being close to the land because of my faith really draws me closer to God,” Baker said. “That and the fact that I am able to give people something that they don’t have and that they may not ever get to see. Seeing the smiles on their faces and seeing them having fun and — enjoying it, knowing that what we did here through prayer and through God has been a blessing.” Old Baker Farm was one of only 12 farms featured in the USDA

2000 calendar titled “Millennium Celebration of Century Farms.” Although Baker has enjoyed the success of the farm, he has also put things into perspective and has given thanks to the Lord for answered prayers. “I’m a preacher. I preach the gospel and we hope that what we do here we will be able to testify to people about life in general and the goodness of God,” Jerry Baker said Baker. “God’s the one that opened this up for us. We prayed a lot about it, it didn’t just happen. If it hadn’t of been for answers of prayers, we wouldn’t be doing this.” n

“There’s

a lot of living history here.”

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Finding her

calling

Lee reflects on journey to become district attorney Story by EMILY SPARACINO Photographs by JON GOERING

hen listening to Shelby County District Attorney Jill Lee talk about her job, two things are clear: Lee loves what she does and considers it her calling. Lee, 51, has served as the county’s district attorney since Oct. 1, 2014. Gov. Robert Bentley appointed Lee to fill the position after longtime Shelby County District Attorney Robby Owens retired in late 2014. Although she has worked in the office for nearly two decades, Lee said she is adjusting to her new role as its leader. “The biggest change is that the buck stops with me,” Lee said. “Even though I’ve taken a lot of responsibility over the years, now it is my ultimate responsibility to make sure this office

is functioning as it should be as far as budget, as far as responding to the needs of the public, and to law enforcement. You don’t know how much responsibility that will be and how that will feel until you’re actually there.” Lee started working at the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office as a law clerk in 1991. “I just asked for a job as a law clerk and got it, and then I stayed,” Lee said. “I loved it.” After nearly a year, Lee took and passed the bar exam, but decided to try working in insurance. “I went to work elsewhere,” she said. “I guess I wanted a change of scenery.” Shortly thereafter, Owens called and asked her to come back to the office to be an assistant district attorney, Lee

LEFT: Lee started working at the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office as a law clerk in 1991 and became an assistant district attorney in 1995. Profile 2015

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said, and she did in 1995. “I ultimately said ‘yes,’ and I’m glad I did,” she said. “I’m not the only person who came here, and came back. I attribute that to Robby Owens because he made it a good place to work. “He brought us along, taught us what we need to know and taught us how to look at the job we do. It all has to do with people and people’s lives.” Lee worked primarily with traffic, misdemeanor and juvenile courts. “We kind of learn from others,” Lee noted. “There were some very seasoned — Robby Owens attorneys here that I learned from, and Robby (Owens) was a great attorney.” Owens worked with Lee for about 20 years and said she was the person he wanted to be his successor as district attorney. “If I hadn’t been comfortable with her getting the job, I would have had to rethink it,” Owens said.

“Choosing her to replace me was not a difficult choice. She was very wellprepared for it and made good decisions.”

“Choosing her to replace me was not a difficult choice. She was very well-prepared for it and made good decisions.” Owens listed characteristics Lee possesses that he deemed crucial for being district attorney, such as knowledge of the court system and good judgment. “One of the things you look for in a good district attorney is somebody that has experience,” Owens said. “She has spent time in every court. She made good judgment. She wasn’t afraid to stand up when she needed to stand up.” Owens described Lee as “intelligent” and respected by those she works with in the district attorney’s office as well as in the judicial and law enforcement fields. “When you garner that kind of respect, you can manage the district attorney’s office,” Owens said. “She cares about people and how life affects people. She’s a good, Christian person.” Lee served as an assistant district attorney for about eight years before she became a chief assistant district attorney, her last position before stepping into the district attorney position. “We’re fortunate here that we have great law enforcement in this county, and I’m fortunate in that this staff is very, very good,” Lee said. “I can

Your Shelby County Circuit Clerk’s Office

Mary H. Harris Circuit Clerk

Functions of Your Circuit Clerk’s Office

The Shelby County Circuit Clerk’s office serves as the backbone of our local judicial system. This office processes and maintains court records for nine divisions of court. This office is responsible for collecting all money for the local court system,including filing fees, criminal fines, court costs, judgments and court-ordered payments. More than 36,000 new cases were filed in 2014 through this office, all performed by a staff of 18 full and part-time employees, including Circuit Clerk Mary H. Harris.

Mary H. Harris has held the position of Circuit Clerk of Shelby County since January 1999, and has been employed with the office more than 42 years. Prior to being elected Circuit Clerk, Ms. Harris held numerous positions, including Deputy Clerk, Chief Magistrate and Absentee Election Manager. She also worked in each of the nine divisions of court. Her knowledge and experience benefit the citizens of Shelby County and the judicial system as a whole. Ms. Harris promotes the integrity of the Circuit Clerk’s office by adhering to high morals and strong ethical standards.

MISSION STATEMENT The mission of the Shelby County Circuit Clerk’s office is to serve the citizens of Shelby County and the participants of the judicial system in a timely, efficient and ethical manner, and to act in accordance with all court rules and state laws. Everyone who comes through the office door is treated with dignity and respect.

205.669.3760 • 18jc.alacourt.gov 80

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count on them to do their job, to do the right thing by people and to do it ethically, and that is important to me.” Lee said her office handles thousands of felony, misdemeanor and traffic cases each year, along with “a large number” of juvenile cases. “That’s at least one of the places we try to make a difference,” Lee said of the juvenile cases. “That court balances punishment and rehabilitation. If we can catch a problem when someone’s young, or someone has taken a wrong turn and we can right it, then that’s what we want to do.” Lee said Shelby County also has mental health, veterans and drug courts. “Our prisons are crowded, and rather than everyone going to prison these days, we try to right the path and do what we can,” she said. “People that work in those courts, along with the court system and other agencies, try to get people back on the path they were meant to be on. That’s a real important part of our work.” Though being district attorney requires Lee to divide her time among many tasks every day — and, as she puts it, “there’s no ‘typical’ day” — she makes a conscious effort to keep track of the office’s cases and work in court when she can.

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“We have court almost every day,” she said. “On any given day, I could be going to any one of those courts. I try really hard to keep up and to have a basic knowledge of all cases. “Our assistants work hard, but they can only be in so many places. I feel like if I don’t go to court and don’t do what they’re doing occasionally, I’ll lose touch, and I don’t want to lose touch.”

ABOVE: Lee and others who knew and worked with former Shelby County District Attorney Robby Owens exchanged laughs and reflected on fond memories at his retirement party in September.

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Lee is the daughter of Mary Julia Hall and the late Robert Hall of Chilton County. “My parents and my grandparents emphasized education,” Lee said. “I’m one of three children, and they made sure we had every bit of education that we wanted or that we could get.” Lee majored in English at the University of Montevallo. She worked briefly and then went to the Cumberland School of Law at Samford University. Lee said she didn’t aspire to be an attorney as a child, and her siblings didn’t understand why she chose a path “in the public eye.” “I think that when I went to law school, maybe I didn’t think this is what I wanted to do,” Lee said. “Once I got here, I realized, wow, what an awesome thing to do. God just kind of takes you where you don’t expect sometimes.” Lee has lived in Shelby County for almost 20 years. She and her husband, Matt, have three children, Maddy, Morganne and Hale. “She’s an amazing lady,” Matt said of his wife. “She’s got a big heart. I could talk for hours about what a Shelby County District great mother and family Attorney Jill Lee worked person she is.” with Robby Owens for In her spare time, Lee 20 years. Owens said Lee was the person enjoys riding horses and he wanted to be his going to the lake with successor as district family. attorney. “I love horses. My daughter rides, and I love being at the barn,” Lee said. “I’m one of those people that appreciates the smell of a barn. That’s my place where I can rest my mind.” Lee said she even enjoys watching certain television shows that portray the court system. “It’s good entertainment; that’s all I can say for it,” Lee said, laughing. “Some of it’s accurate. Some of what they portray would be really cost prohibitive on a day-to-day basis. We have to think about money, but in every case, we would love to do all the fancy things they do.” The work Lee and her colleagues perform is far from what their Hollywood counterparts do on the flashy sets of television shows. “You think about defendants and victims and victims’ families that we serve,” Lee said. “It’s one of

LEFT: After nearly 20 years of working in the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office, Jill Lee became the district attorney in October 2014. 82

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the hardest parts of the job, but my favorite part of the job is dealing with victim families because they’re at their lowest point, and they need somebody. Sometimes, we’re it.” Lee’s workday doesn’t always end when she leaves the office. “I have gotten better at leaving it, but there are just certain parts of it you can’t leave,” she said. “To some degree, it changes how you look at the world. I can look at my kids and know my kids view the world differently than other kids.” Lee assigns equal care to all parts of her work. “I take every case and every person seriously, whether it’s the theft of the weed eater or a murder case,” she said. “I take it seriously because it’s important to someone somewhere.” Lee is involved with Owens House, which was

started by Owens and provides services for the prevention and intervention of child abuse. She is also a graduate of Leadership Shelby County, a member of Shelby County Drug Free Coalition and her church. “I like to volunteer my time with Wings of Hope organization,” Lee said and added that the organization provides support services for families with terminal or chronically ill children. “We’re kind of like family here,” she said. “We hold each other accountable, but we support each other when we need support.” Her job isn’t always easy and enjoyable, but Lee said she hopes to stay where she is – where she feels she is supposed to be – for a long time. “If it’s what you love doing and what you feel like you’re called to do, it’s a lot easier,” Lee said. n

Get more for your money. Purchase four movie tickets — or 52 weeks of Shelby County’s best local news coverage for $42.12. To sign up today, email “MORE” to subscribe@ shelbycountyreporter.com, or call 205.669.3131.

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The Pelham K-9 Unit prepares for training at the Pelham K-9 Unit training center near Pelham City Park. 84

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Dogs on

duty

A look at Pelham’s K-9 Unit Story by MOLLY DAVIDSON Photographs by JON GOERING

n Sept. 13, 2013, the Pelham Police Department and K-9 unit responded to a drug-related call at the Oak Mountain Lodge on Pelham Parkway. K-9 officer Zenna caught the scent of crystal meth and alerted the police to a room, and then a bathroom in the motel, revealing an operating meth lab. “(The suspect) took two shake and bake meth pots and dumped them into the toilet,” Pelham Police Department Sgt. Steve Johnson said. When Zenna alerted and her handler opened the bathroom door, the “fumes overwhelmed them.” The discovery led to the arrest of four individuals, but also sent Zenna, her handler and three other officers to the hospital. Like any other police officer, K-9s face the possibility of injury in the line of duty. The drugs the dogs are trained to locate can be dangerous, as can be the criminals they track. “They’ll do different things to try and hurt the dog… or kill the dog,” Johnson said, recalling an incident when his K-9 partner Bizzy ingested rat poison placed out by a criminal. “It’s something to be cognizant of.”

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SPECIALIZED TRAINING At first glance, Bizzy and Zenna look like any happy, well-cared-for and very well behaved dogs, but they are anything but ordinary. They are the two highly trained narcotics dogs that, along with their handlers Johnson and Pelham Police Officer Mike Morris, make up the Pelham Police Department K-9 Unit. K-9 dogs are selected and trained by specialists from a young age. The Pelham Police Department got yellow lab Bizzy when she was 1-year-old from Auburn University’s K-9 training program. Zenna, a 4-year-old malinois, was trained by expert K-9 trainer Ricky Farley at the Alabama Canine Law Enforcement Officers Training Center in Northport, Ala. Narcotics dogs are trained to identify and alert to the smell of The amount of currency Bizzy a range of illicit helped seize for the DEA by drugs. The most alerting on traces of drugs found on the cash. common drugs Bizzy and Zenna come across are heroin, meth and marijuana, but Johnson said there has also been a rise in synthetic marijuana and a form of Ecstasy called molly. “They’re trained on seven or eight different drugs, we’re going to add LSD to it,” Johnson said, noting a recent rise in LSD finds. Bizzy and Zenna are not only able to identify present drugs, but their sensitive noses can also detect if someone has recently used drugs or locate where drugs have been. Johnson explained that Bizzy once helped seize $314,000 in currency for the DEA by alerting on traces of drugs found on the cash.

$314k

LEFT: Pelham Police Department Sgt. Steve Johnson and longtime K-9 partner Bizzy. RIGHT: Johnson rewards Bizzy with her red ball, the prize she gets every time she successfully locates drugs.

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CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: Zenna, a 4-year-old malinois, stands at attention waiting to be called out of her speciallydesigned police cruiser. Pelham Police K-9 officer Mike Morris stands with his specially designed police cruiser. Morris and his K-9 partner, Zenna. The two have been working together for the past year. Zenna watches and waits at attention as Morris shows her what area she is commanded to search.

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“If you want to do hotels or a parking lot, you can’t beat them,” Johnson said, noting Zenna narrowed a hotel search down to the exact door narcotics were behind. REPORTING FOR DUTY Bizzy and Zenna report to work each day with their handlers at the Pelham Police and Court building, and patrol a beat in a specially designed K-9 patrol car fitted with a more-than-$4,000 seat insert which includes a built-in water bowl and $1,000 air vent system to keep them cool. “They stretch their legs and move around a little bit, then they hop in the car and patrol with us,” Johnson said. “They ride around with us for the shift and we deploy them if someone needs us.” Bizzy and Zenna are often called in to assist other officers, and even outside agencies, in cases where drugs are suspected. These calls range from routine traffic stops and tractor-trailer searches to school locker and hotel searches. Morris estimated Zenna gets deployed at least three times a week, although this ranges. In August 2014, Morris and Zenna performed searches in 26 separate cases and on Saturday, Oct. 25, Morris said he and Zenna were called in for eight drug searches. “Three cases wouldn’t have been made without the dogs,” Morris said. Zenna and Bizzy are especially useful to officers in traffic stops where drugs are suspected, Morris explained. If a dog alerts to drugs in a vehicle, the police are legally allowed to search, even if the suspect does not give consent. In addition to working a beat, Bizzy and Zenna run training exercises throughout the day in order to keep

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ABOVE: Bizzy and Johnson search a replica training home for drugs. RIGHT: Zenna and Morris perform a car search during a training session.

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them sharp, accurate and motivated. “A good portion (of the day) is spent on training the dog, exercising and maintaining the dog,” Johnson said. The Pelham Police Department has a training facility at Pelham City Park complete with sedans, a minivan and school lockers, but Johnson and Morris said they like to train “any and everywhere” at a variety of locations. “We try to move around and throw different environments at them,” Johnson said. “We’ll try to find places they haven’t seen before to keep them on their toes.” “I used Metro Mini Storage last week,” Morris added, noting varying training locations ensures the dogs will be ready for any situation. To train, Johnson and Morris hide drugs in various locations. One at a time, the dogs are brought into the location and given the command to search, in English for Bizzy and Dutch for Zenna. The K-9 and handler then perform a search until the K-9 locates the drugs and gives a final response. Searches are fast-paced, so it is important for the handler to recognize the dog’s alerts. Johnson explained Bizzy gives her final reponse by sitting or looking back at him. When she does this,

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she expects to be rewarded with her special toy, a red rubber ball. When Zenna alerts to the location of narcotics, she freezes, her body tenses and she will not move from the location until Morris throws her toy, a white piece of PVC pipe. “When she smells odors, she’s not going to come off it,” Johnson said. Johnson and Morris log every detail of each training session, what drugs were used, how long the drugs were in place before the dogs searched, how long each dog searched and what each dog alerted to. “Everything the dogs do, we document (for court),” Johnson said. “They want to see the proficiency of that dog. If we get a false, we have to figure out why and we have to correct that and document it. If I don’t smell anything, but she gives me a good alert, we have to figure out why.” As the younger of the two dogs, Zenna now bears the brunt of the workload as Bizzy nears retirement. At 9-years-old, Bizzy has actively worked with the Pelham Police Department for eight years. “She’s about done, we’ll probably work her one more year,” Johnson said of his partner in October 2014. “She’s paid for herself several times over. She’s been a fantastic dog.” n

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Carly’s dad

The man behind Carly’s Law Story by MOLLY DAVIDSON Photographs by JON GOERING

arly Chandler is a happy 4-year-old girl with an older brother, a baby sister and two loving parents. She is also the inspiration behind Alabama’s recent groundbreaking legislation allowing research into Cannabidiol, a derivative of the cannabis plant. Carly Chandler suffers from CDKL5, a debilitating neurological condition that causes her to experience multiple seizures every day, for which there is no cure. Carly’s Law was a result of her father, Dustin Chandler’s, effort to help his daughter. “I remember telling Carly, ‘I’m going to do the best I can to let her live to the potential God gave her,’” Dustin Chandler recalled saying to his infant daughter as she lay in the hospital between medical tests. “I told her right then and there that she’s going to touch lives some day.” Although she may never be able to walk, talk or feed herself, Carly Chandler has touched the lives of numerous families across Alabama and changed the course of medical research through Carly’s Law. Carly’s Law calls for the medical study of CBD, a very low THC-derivative of the cannabis plant, in the treatment of severe seizure disorders, such as Profile 2015

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CDKL5. Additionally, the law allots $1 million for research into CBD oil at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Gov. Robert Bentley signed House Bill 104, or Carly’s Law, into law on April 1 after months of work and grassroots campaigning by Carly’s father and Dustin Chandler. This bill united the Alabama House of Representatives and Senate, as both unanimously passed it on March 20, 2014. The story of Carly’s Law started on Feb. 12, 2011, when Carly Chandler experienced her first seizure at eight weeks old. “I was actually holding her in my arms when she started jerking,” Carly’s mother, Amy Chandler, recalled. Carly Chandler’s condition puzzled doctors, and she was sent in for a more-than-24-hour EEG scan. The results indicated she had epilepsy. The diagnosis shocked Dustin and Amy Chandler, as neither had a family history of the neurological condition. “It was a shock, that was the first reality that something was wrong,” Dustin Chandler said. “Telling us she had epilepsy was a shock to the system.” Doctors reassured the Chandlers that Carly’s epilepsy could be controlled by medication,

LEFT: When she was diagnosed with CDKL5, Dustin Chandler promised his infant daughter Carly that she would touch lives. Now a happy 4-year-old girl, Carly has touched people across the state through Carly’s Law and the new all-inclusive playground project, Carly’s Clubhouse. 93

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LEFT: Dustin Chandler with Colton and Carly. Colton is a typical 5-yearold boy. Carly too was a typically developing baby until she experienced her first seizure at eight months old. RIGHT: The whole Chandler family played a role in the April 1, 2014, passage of Carly’s Law, attending rallies and traveling to Montgomery to lobby the state legislature.

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and they began treating her with trileptal, but medication only made the seizures worse. Carly was then put on what doctors called “the end-all and be-all with seizures,” klonapin, but it did nothing to stop the infant’s constant seizures. Stumped by the failure of tried-and-tested seizure medications for Carly, doctors performed an extensive series of tests on the infant. Carly underwent MRIs, spinal taps and blood tests to pinpoint what was behind her constant and uncontrollable epileptic seizures. Throughout the tests, doctors returned numerous diagnoses of vision problems and developmental delays to the Chandlers, and finally the diagnosis of CDKL5. “You’re getting all these diagnoses at one time, and then you get the bad one of CDKL5,” Dustin Chandler said. At the time of Carly’s diagnosis in 2012, there were only 600 documented cases of CDKL5 worldwide, and very little medical research had been done of the condition. Dustin Chandler began research into possible treatments to halt Carly’s seizures. He stumbled upon CBD oil, which had been successful in stopping seizures with symptoms similar to Carly’s in other states. “It seemed to me like your zip code determined what medication you could try, and that’s not fair,” Dustin Chandler said. And the idea for Carly’s Law

was born. “I got a phone call one night, and a guy introduced himself as Dustin Chandler,” State Rep. Allen Farley, R-McCalla, said. “(I said,) ‘What’s going on, what’s on your mind?’ And that’s how it all started.” The ensuing months were an uphill battle as Dustin Chandler began pitching his idea for Carly’s Law to Montgomery legislators. Twice a week, Dustin Chandler made the nearly hour and a half drive to the state capitol to walk the halls of the State House knocking on doors. “I had to burn all of my time off, but it was worth it,” Dustin Chandler said. Dustin Chandler continually received the same response, that it was a “tall order,” especially during an election year in a conservative state. However, two men said yes to the challenge, Farley and state Rep. Mike Ball, R-Madison. “Dustin and I, we just clicked,” Ball, a former state trooper and ABI agent said. “It was like working a case together.” With the help and guidance of the lawmakers, Dustin Chandler began to draft the bill that would become Carly’s Law. But writing a bill is only half the battle. In order for a bill to become a law, it needs support. Carly’s Law began to gather momentum in Montgomery and in the news, and on March 1, Profile 2015

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Dustin Chandler organized a rally at the Pelham Civic Complex and Ice Arena. “The rally was an overwhelming success,” Pelham Mayor Gary Waters said. “The place was full.” From the rally in Pelham, the families traveled to Montgomery to the State House, to lobby the legislators and plead their case for Carly’s Law. “People come to the State House lobbying the Legislature all the time, but this time was different,” Ball said. “Their very presence changed the atmosphere, it was unlike anything I’ve ever seen.” Carly’s Law was scheduled to come before the Alabama House of Representatives on March 19, behind the controversial Birmingham water works bill. “The Democrats were filibustering,” Farley recalled. “We were number seven on the calendar, but number seven is like number 700 when they’re filibustering.” At 2 a.m., it was finally time for Carly’s Law to be presented to the legislators. “The atmosphere in that place went from contentious to spiritual,” Ball recalled. “It was 2 a.m., I go to the podium, I’ve got my notes under my arm. All of a sudden, they start chanting, ‘Vote, vote, vote,’ the whole house,” Farley said. “Everybody was on their feet, clapping.” Carly’s Law passed At the time of Carly’s diagnosis through the Alabama in 2012, there were only 600 documented cases of CDKL5 House of Representatives worldwide. unanimously. Then, it passed through the Alabama Senate unanimously on March 20, and Gov. Robert Bentley signed Carly’s Law on April 1. Since the passage of Carly’s Law, a team of doctors from UAB’s neurology department have been designing a study to test the impact of CBD oil on individuals with seizure disorders for whom other treatments have failed. “It may work for Carly, and it may not,” Dustin Chandler said. “If it helps Carly, that’s awesome and it’s an answered prayer, but if it helps someone else, that’s another answered prayer.” Carly’s Law is just the beginning for Dustin Chandler. He continues to fight for his daughter by raising awareness and funds for CDKL5 research and breaking down barriers for the special needs community through projects such as Carly’s Clubhouse, an all-inclusive playground. “Whatever inspires him, I’m in awe of him,” Waters said. “I can’t wait to see what’s next for Dustin. It’ll be something phenomenal, I know.” But for Dustin Chandler, it’s still all about Carly. “Families were actually touched by my daughter,” Dustin Chandler said. “It’s really her, but it’s through me. Just knowing that’s taking place, it’s just special.” n

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On the wings of

hope

Nafe battles opponents, illness Story by DREW GRANTHUM Photographs by JON GOERING

first glance at Hope Christian School head football coach Tony Nafe reveals a man who, by all accounts, looks like a prototypical football coach. A steel-eyed, gravely voiced man with a hard-

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nosed approach to the game, Nafe is equal parts fearless leader and father figure, leading his team with a combination of toughness learned from a military career and warmth of people skills from years in the media relations field. What first glances don’t reveal is a man who — in his own words — has “lived three lifetimes,” as a family man, TV man and as a humble, soft-spoken Profile 2015

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man fighting not only the best in eight-man football in the state of Alabama, but — quite literally — for his life. BEST DECISION OR WORST While Fridays in the fall find Nafe manning the helm on the sidelines for the Eagles, it’s been a long and interesting road to coaching. In fact, Nafe said he never thought he’d be involved with the occupation. Yet, he took over as the athletic director for Hope and in 2012, when longtime coach Mark Rettig stepped down, Nafe found himself in trouble. “When coach Rettig stepped down, I couldn’t get anybody,” he said. “I decided (to) do it for one year, even though it was a terrible idea.” “Football is short,” he said. “Whether (a) game was won or lost, five years from now is not going to be significant. What (players) take from our program will be.” Standards such as a no profanity rule Nafe Profile 2015

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carries not just for the players, but for the coaches as well, have established Hope as a team that is relient on discipline and execution. “He’s always encouraged us,” former HCS player Houston Daily said of Nafe. “He’ll get on you, but we like it. He won’t cut you any slack. He’s going to tell you the truth.” Hope Christian quarterback Reid Allen agreed. “He’s just a great, Godly man,” he said. “He’s the first one I called when I tore my ACL.” CHANGING THE GAMEPLAN By his own admittance, Tony Nafe took one of the most unorthodox routes to becoming a high school head football coach. Originally a TV news anchor for Channel 31 in Huntsville, Nafe left reporting to join the Army and from there, went on to work for an ad agency, flew helicopters commercially and then for the DEA and FBI, was director of marketing for three European firearm manufacturers and hosted a hunting show. All before even thinking about coaching a

CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: Hope Christian School head football coach Tony Nafe joins his players on the sidelines. Nafe congratulates his assistant coaches after a Hope victory. Nafe showcases the school’s dozens of trophies. Nafe gives his life’s credit to God. 97

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football game. So when he took over as athletic director in 2007 and eventually as head coach in 2010, Nafe took it on with the same passion and planning that he brought to all the rest of his endeavors. Shortly after his first season at the helm of the Eagles, however, a sharp pain in his midsection changed the gameplan for a man used to being in control of his own life. “I had been doing some film projects out in Texas and Oklahoma, and I had just horrible stomach cramps, and I thought it was probably my gallbladder,” he said. “(Then) I woke up at 4 o’clock in the morning, and the pain was excruciating. I had my wife take me to St. Vincent’s.” After a CAT scan, doctors found that Nafe had a tumor causing a complete blockage of his small intestine. An emergency surgery followed, with Nafe having several feet of his small intestine removed. For the next two years, Nafe went back to calling his own plays and making his own decisions. Until the one afternoon, the pain returned. Nafe kept the pain to himself. After all, he made a commitment, and as a man of his word, he refused to not fulfill it. “I didn’t want to leave the boys — Tony Nafe without a coach,” he said. With a week left to go in the season, the pain finally got to be too much. He went in to get the pain checked out, and left with a haunting prognosis: The cancer had returned in the form of neuroendocrine carcinoid tumors — the rarest form of cancer. Another surgery was performed to remove more intestine, but the surgeons didn’t touch the ones in Nafe’s liver. Another doctor’s appointment three months later revealed that the tumors had grown 30 percent. Nafe said his doctor looked at him and gave him devastating news. “He told me I had six months to a year, probably six good months and then downhill,” he said. “It was gut-wrenching. It takes your breath away.’” Nafe said he fought back his initial fears, and prepared to take the diagnosis just like he had everything else in his life: Head on.

“It takes a toll, but

it’s a price I’m willing to pay. It’s worth it to me. I believe that Hope Christian football saved my life.”

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“My initial reaction was almost a panic attack, but I pushed that back down and then I just said ‘No. I’m going to accept that,’” he said. Nafe, along with his wife Sandra, began forming a battle plan. Immediately, Tony sought out experts and other options, including neuroendocrine expert Dr. James Yao at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. Nafe was then placed on the drug Everolimus, which is designed to help organ transplant recipients’ bodies not reject the new organ. Doctors warned Nafe that the drug would only stabilize the tumors for a few months and side effects included a devastated immune system. ‘I’LL CHERISH EVERY MINUTE’ Nafe expected to feel some side effects in the months after starting Everolimus and chemotherapy treatments, and waited on the impact it was going to have on his immune system. Much to his surprise, as of today, he’s still waiting. His pharmacologist called him a ‘poster boy’ for how the drug is supposed to work, he said. With that in mind, Nafe was quick to point out his faith wasn’t so much in the doctors, but in something bigger. “I put my faith in that God put those doctors in place to take care of me. I think faith is a powerful thing…I also believe that God put medicine and doctors on this world for us.” Two years later, not only is Nafe still here, but he said he feels in the best shape of his life. Not only does Nafe feel physically better, but stronger mentally and spiritually. That said, being the head coach of a football program is a tough job for anyone, as is undergoing chemotherapy treatments. The two of them together makes for a trying time in the fall. “It has a cumulative effect,” Nafe said. “The first two-to-three weeks are not that bad, but by the fourth or fifth week it starts getting harder.” Sandra said she noticed the positive impact coaching had on him. “With the medicine, they told him it’ll make him really tired,” she said. “Those boys get him up and going. He really loves them.” While there are aches and pains, Nafe said at the end of the day, the thought of simply awaking to another morning makes him excited. “I don’t wish one minute of my life away,” he said. “I’m grateful for today. And tomorrow, I’ll be grateful for tomorrow. I’m looking forward to who the new kids that will be playing next spring will be. And I’ll enjoy and cherish every minute of it.” n Profile 2015

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