THE
TUESDAY SPORTS, PAGE 11
Lighting the way for Alexander City & Lake Martin since 1892 March 26, 2019 Vol. 127, No. 60
Generals’ fast start too much for Reeltown
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ACPD: Slow down for work zone Traffic crosses the River Bridge which is currently a work zone while contractors work on drainage and resurfacing Highway 280 in the area.
Officers writing many citations during River Bridge construction By GABRIELLE JANSEN Staff Writer
Alexander City Police Department officers issued 22 speeding citations between Wednesday and Monday morning on U.S. Highway 280 where there are construction crews at the River Bridge Alexander City police chief Jay Turner said the police department started monitoring the area after city crews told him they were having a hard time with speeding vehicles.
“When the construction crews are in the area and workers are present and actually working, the signs are posted, the speed limit drops down to 45 (miles per hour) through the construction zone,” Turner said. Turner said construction crews have been also dealing with distracted drivers. “You name it, people will do it while they’re driving and it will make those construction zones a lot more dangerous when there’s workers out there,” Turner said. See CONSTRUCTION • Page 9
Cliff Williams / The Outlook
Unemployment rate falls locally State sets record low unemployment rate of 3.7 percent STAFF REPORT TPI Staff
Cliff Williams / The Outlook
Visitors look over a demonstration by ‘Tennessee Militia’ at Horseshoe Bend National Military Park on Saturday.
205 YEARS:
By CLIFF WILLIAMS Staff Writer
Blood was shed 205 years ago in the Battle of Horseshoe Bend and an entire group of people was forced from their homes to Oklahoma. Descendants of the Muscogee warriors who battled Andrew Jackson’s army joined others Saturday to honor those warriors and remember how people lived in 1814. Muscogee Nation tribal historic preservation officer Corain Lowe-Zepeda’s ancestors are from the area. She was at Horseshoe Bend National Military
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LACEY HOWELL 256.307.2443
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See UNEMPLOYMENT • Page 3
Locals remember Hank Williams as a drunk seeking refuge during famous stay at lake By RON COLQUITT For The Outlook
T
he handsome and impeccably dressed Hank Williams who wore a white cowboy hat and strummed a guitar into country music legend was a sad, lonely drunk off the stage, Alexander City residents who knew him said. Williams stayed in Alex City about four months before his 1953 death and was arrested for public drunkenness and disorderly conduct. He also wrote the song “Kaw-Liga” during his stay here and the first draft was composed on a small tablet, according to Chester Parks, 77. “I know that’s true because I was sitting there with him,” said Parks, who said he was about 11 when he got to know Williams during Williams’ stay at a cabin
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Park to help remember the battle that occurred March 27, 1814, and her forefathers through speeches and demonstrations of life at the time. “I am descendant of Nuyaka,” Lowe-Zepeda said. “It was just across the river.” Lowe-Zepeda described how her ancestors fought Jackson’s army and after defeat made their way across the U.S. to Oklahoma. “They barricaded themselves in the bend here building a wall across the open end,” she said. “Jackson’s men and allies came See HORSESHOE • Page 12
‘He didn’t look famous’
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Visitors remember the Battle of Horseshoe Bend at annual anniversary event
Alabama reached a new record low unemployment rate in February and Tallapoosa, Coosa and Elmore counties also saw their unemployment rates drop, according to the Alabama Department of Labor. Alabama’s preliminary, seasonally adjusted February unemployment rate was 3.7 percent, down from January’s 3.8 and below February 2018’s rate of 4.0. “We’ve shattered employment records for nine months in a row now,” ADL Secretary Fitzgerald Washington said in a release. “People are continuing to join the labor force with the expectation that they will get a job — and they’re getting jobs. “More than 27,000 Alabamians are working now than a year ago and they’re bringing home more money in their paychecks, which is great news for our economy.” Tallapoosa County’s unemployment rate fell from 4.6 percent in January to 4.3
See WILLIAMS • Page 3
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Ron Colquitt / For The Outlook
Fred Dobbs, above, shows a photo of the family cabin at Kowaliga on Lake Martin where Hank Williams stayed in 1952. Williams is pictured after his arrest in Alex City in 1952 on charges of public drunkenness and disorderly conduct. Williams died a little more than four months later at the age of 29.
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