Sun Neighborly news & entertainment for Hoover
Artistic dreams
Volume 3 | Issue 10 | July 2015
Using every minute
Hoover High graduate Jeremy Martin wants to turn his talent into an artistic career. Read more inside.
See page B14
Moving on up
Kayla Perry (far right) and her family have used her pediatric cancer diagnosis as a chance to raise funds for cancer research and increase awareness of children’s cancers. In a year, the Perry family raised more than $460,000. Photo by Ron Burkett.
By ERICA TECHO Two former Spain Park students were drafted into Major League Baseball. Read more inside.
See page B12
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Sports ................B12 School House ....B15 Calendar .............B18
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Kayla Perry has helped raise $465,620 for pediatric cancer research in less than a year. When a doctor told Kayla she should experience all she hoped to experience before cancer took her life, the 20-year-old Hoover resident decided to dedicate her time to raising money for research.
“Obviously I have a pediatric cancer, so it’s close to my heart because of that,” Kayla said, “but I’ve also had lots of friends who were waiting for a trial to open up and passed away, or waiting for some piece of the puzzle to come in to it to get a certain drug. And it’s heartbreaking to see that there are potential answers out there, but the funding for research isn’t there.”
Kayla’s mother, Christen Perry, said it takes a special person to put others first when they’re going through what Kayla is going through. “She really knows that that study most likely won’t help her, but moving forward will help other people,” Christen said. In 2013, Kayla was diagnosed with
See RESEARCH | page A20
Ross Bridge welcome center closes By ROY L. WILLIAMS When the Ross Bridge Welcome Center opened in June 2005, the community was just drawings on paper with residential lots being cleared. Ten years, a luxury hotel and 1,300 homes later, Ross Bridge has become one of Hoover’s most successful residential developments, setting the stage for change at the welcome center. The Ross Bridge Welcome Center, located at 2101 Grand Ave. at the main entrance to the community, closed June 30, when developer Daniel Corporation’s
See ROSS BRIDGE | page A23
Max Harbuck, a Ross Bridge resident serving on the advisory committee, hopes developer Daniel Corporation can attract a restaurant to the former Welcome Center building behind him. Photo by Roy L. Williams.