suspected 50th Christmas celebration coming to Wetumpka

By CLIFF WILLIAMS Staff Writer

Jack Devenney is credited with starting the Christmas parade in Wetumpka in 1972.

Now 50 years later, Devenney’s parade has evolved into an all-day event — Christmas on the

Coosa. This year being held all day Dec. 10 in Goldstar Park and downtown Wetumpka.

“We wanted to make it a big deal and remind everyone we have been doing this for 50 years,” City of Wetumpka special events coordinator Valencia Johnson said. “This is the 50th

By Jake Arthur Chief Videographer

Police were dispatched to the parking lot around 10:45 p.m. for a “shots fired” call. Once there, they found Centell Winston, 42 of Tallassee, dead of a gunshot wound in the driver seat of his vehicle.

year. It is what inspired our theme — ‘A Golden Christmas.’”

According to Wetumpka police chief Greg Benton, this was not a random shooting.

Last year was Christmas on the Coosa’s first night parade and it returns this year. Johnson said the slight change was to give the event an extra spark to encourage participation and attendance.

“This was not random, not a random act,” said Benton. “We believe the victim and the perpetrator knew each other.”

This is the first homicide in Wetumpka in over three years. The last homicide in the city took place in 2018.

“We wanted to change it up a little bit,” Johnson said. “After a while you have to change it a little to make it exciting again. You do it to attract people to come out again. We wanted to try something different and it worked. Last year

“It’s not a good way to start out the new year,” said Benton.

Benton didn’t want to speculate on the