LOCAL, PAGE 5
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Trade Day is coming up on April 13
Photos of local Vietnam veterans sought
SPORTS, PAGE 9
2-out rally gives ECHS win in area tune-up
Eclectic Observer The
WEDNESDAY • APRIL 3, 2019
TheWetumpkaHerald.com
Vol. 30, No. 14
Vernon arraigned in federal court STAFF REPORT TPI Staff
A Kellyton man was arraigned in federal court March 26 on charges of kidnapping, carjacking and firearm possession, according to an announcement by U.S. Attorney Louis V. Franklin Sr. Shane Anthony Vernon, 28, of
The crimes are alleged to have been committed in Elmore County in November 2017. Vernon escaped from the Coosa County Jail in November 2017 and went on to commit robberies, burglaries and kidnapping in Coosa and Elmore counties, authorities said. Vernon was apprehended in DeKalb
Kellyton was arraigned on eight felony charges, including one count of kidnapping, two counts of carjacking, two counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm and three counts of possessing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, according to a release Vernon by the U.S. Attorney’s office.
‘I thought I was going to die too’
County, Georgia, three days later where authorities there charged him with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, possession of marijuana less than an ounce, possessing an open container and giving a false name. Then-Coosa County Sheriff Terry Wilson said it appeared an electrical malfunction at the Coosa County Jail See VERNON • Page 2
Dustin Taylor, left, and Mason Kassian stand by the ‘No Swimming’ sign at Gold Star Park in Wetumpka where they went into the Coosa River to save a man and a 2-year-old boy from drowning. They said the sign was covered by water that night and the water marks are visible on it. Jimmy Wigfield / The Observer
By CARMEN RODGERS Staff Writer
Heroes describe saving boy, man after plunging into river
Cars began to line up early on March 27 when the Eclectic United Methodist Church served 150 families with the help of the Montgomery Area Food Bank’s mobile pantry. “This is their ministry called Mobile Food Pantry, where they take fresh produce and deliver it to local organizations, usually churches,” EUMC’s Terry Kalichak said. According to Kalichak, the church and the MAFB distributed about 12,000 pounds of food to approximately 150 families. More than 20 volunteers from the Eclectic community worked together to load boxes of groceries into vehicles as participants drove through. “We had stations set up and people could drive through and stop at each station and we would fill them up,” volunteer Jennifer Moore said. See CHURCH • Page 2
By JIMMY WIGFIELD Managing Editor
M
ason Kassian and Dustin Taylor couldn’t believe what they were hearing and seeing in the rapidly gathering dusk. They were sitting at a picnic table with a couple of girls and playing with some dogs at Wetumpka’s Gold Star Park on the idyllic evening of March 21. Nearby, a man with a rod and reel was filling his cooler with fish off the end of the boat ramp. Kassian and Taylor were thinking of walking back to Creed Gym to lift weights but suddenly heard sirens piercing the air, signaling the beginning of frenetic, life-changing moments fraught with peril in which they would be engaged in the workout of their lives in the cold and stygian waters of the Coosa River. See HEROES • Page 3
Today’s
Weather
74 49 High
Low
THURS: HIGH 75 LOW 60
Eclectic United Methodist Church feeds 150 families
Going once, going twice, still going Folks flock to Eclectic auction barn for bargains, fellowship By RON COLQUITT For The Observer
Good, old country folks converge on the auction barn in Eclectic on Friday nights to buy, sell and trade everything from tomatoes to tools but mainly it’s just a good excuse to mingle with friends and friendly folk, according to the man known as Hutch. Hutch is Richard A. Hutchinson, the 58-year-old man who leases the cavernous metal building where the auction is held. He serves as auctioneer and clearly enjoys it. Once you get past the big black bear holding a man’s head in his left paw and a lunch box in the other paw, it gets strange. But the people seem happy and quickly make newcomers welcome. See AUCTION • Page 5
Ron Colquitt / For The Observer
Auctioneer Richard ‘Hutch’ Hutchinson works the crowd at the Eclectic auction barn. ‘We can't sell guns and we don't sell livestock but other than that we sell anything,’ Hutchinson said. ‘We don't sell chickens but we sell some stuffed ones.’
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