SPORTS, PAGE B1
TALLASSEE WRESTLING SEASON CONCLUDES IN STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS
LOCAL, PAGE A2
LOCAL, PAGE A7
INSIDE:
THIS WEEK’S OBITUARIES, PAGE A2
Meet this week’s Pet of the Week
Harassment charge against councilman thrown out
Tallassee, AL 36078
$1.00
February 23, 2022
TallasseeTribune.com
VOL. 124, NO. 8
Hammock remains on PSC ballot
By CLIFF WILLIAMS Staff Writer Tallassee Mayor John Hammock traveled to Birmingham prepared to defend why he should remain on the May 24 Republican primary ballot for Public Service Commission (PSC) Place 1. But the trip to Birmingham to meet with the Alabama Republican Party candidate committee at the party’s state
meeting was not needed. “I did not talk to [the committee],” Hammock said. “The person who challenged me did not show up.” Hammock said he was supposed to meet the committee after 5 p.m. Saturday but he waited for more than two hours. “The committee was running behind,” Hammock said. Hammock paused going on the cam-
SUBMITTED / THE TRIBUNE
John Hammock poses outside a room where the candidate committee of the Alabama Republican Party was meeting Saturday. Hammock is showing the liner of his jacket printed with boxing gloves.
paign trail after an arrest in Baldwin County with bond conditions having him wear an ankle monitor and limiting his movement. Hammock has a bond modification hearing next month, where he hopes his ankle monitor will be removed, which will allow him more freedom to campaign. “I have a meeting with my [campaign] team next week to discuss what the next steps are,” Hammock said.
Commission gets more freedom with COVID funds
County BOE sees robotics in schools first hand By CLIFF WILLIAMS Staff Writer CLIFF WILLIAMS / THE TRIBUNE
The Elmore County Board of Education met last week at Millbrook Middle School in the STEM room to see what students are doing with robotics and coding and to conduct a regular meeting.
The Elmore County Board of Education left its home office to visit with the robotics programs at Millbrook Middle School before a recent meeting. The idea was to let board
members see the success of elementary aged students in programs such as robotics and coding and to share that success with the public. Elmore County superintendent Richard Dennis said the idea is to let students all the way into first grade begin to experi-
ence various pathways the system has for students to generate interest early on. “You are going to have visitors come in and look at how it is impacting students and what they are able to do,” Dennis told
By CLIFF WILLIAMS Staff Writer The Tallapoosa County Commission now has a little more freedom in how it can spend nearly $8 million from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) from the federal government. Tallapoosa County administrator Blake Beck said the new guidance means a little more freedom in how the county can use the funds. “The guidance allowed for revenue recovery, but originally we were not going to benefit [there],” Beck said. “We did not show a loss under that guidance at the time. Fast forward to the current guidance, any entity can transfer up to $10 million to the general fund.” The commission approved the measure but there is still paperwork to be done to satisfy the federal government on the spending. “There are still some restrictions – you wouldn’t necessarily have the same freedom,” Beck said. “It really lifts the restrictions of the initial guidance.”
See ROBOTICS, Page A3
Rodent infestation spurs Family Dollar recall By SIRI HEDREEN Multimedia Reporter Family Dollar issued a product recall across hundreds of stores in the southeast Friday following a warehouse inspection that turned up “live rodents, dead rodents in various states of decay, rodent feces and urine, evidence of gnawing, nesting and rodent odors throughout the facility, dead birds and bird droppings,” according to statement
from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). An initial FDA alert Friday warned products purchased Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri and Tennessee since Jan. 1, 2021 could be affected. Family Dollar followed with a voluntary recall affecting 404 stores including 14 Alabama stores; nearby Dadeville, Eclectic and Millbrook locations were not on the list. “The recall does not apply to other stores,” the
See COMMISSION, Page A3
company stated. The FDA-regulated products listed in the recall include foods, supplements, cosmetics, pet food, toiletries and overthe-counter regulations, all originating from Family Dollar’s West Memphis, Arkansas distribution facility. According to the release, the FDA began an investigation in January in response to a consumer complaint and found that
CLIFF WILLIAMS / THE TRIBUNE
The Tallapoosa County Commission discusses an item on its Monday agenda.
See RECALL, Page A3
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