October 2024 | Volume 13 | Issue 1
Sun HOOVER’S COMMUNITY NEWS SOURCE HOOVERSUN.COM | STARNESMEDIA.COM
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Haunted Hoover Residents prepare to mystify for Halloween
John Slavek, a representative for the Kroll financial risk and advisory firm, goes over a forensic audit of the city of Hoover's Finance Department and city finances with the Hoover City Council. Photo by Jon Anderson.
By EMILY REED
I
Hoover city finances under the microscope
t was a combination of his need for creativity, his love for the holiday, and his wife, Regina, that prompted Paul Young to begin the journey of over-the-top Halloween decor at his Hoover home. “To put it simply, we do Halloween pretty big around here,” Young said. “I am a tax accountant by day and very regimented at work. I just need a creative outlet, so this is definitely my creative outlet.” Paul Young said his wife often thinks up a particular theme or idea and serves as the inspiration for a lot of the scenes that they have created over the years at their Bluff Park home at 140 Caliente Drive. Once the couple decides what they are going to do, he turns the visions into reality. “Over the years, we have had some pretty fun creations,” Young said. “When my wife and I start discussing these things, it is like a Congressional discussion we are having. One year, we thought it would be fun to create a display as sort of a joke because many of the yards in Bluff Park had been torn up so they could put the fiber optic cables in, so we created a display of skeleton workers dressed as construction workers, and it was a hoot. Everyone got a big kick out of it.” Other past displays include runaway mine cars assembled to look like a train; the garden of good and evil; cowboys and aliens; a haunted tour; a “Jaws” display; attack of the spiders; and haunted fish.
Above: Heather Skaggs, known as “The Mystic of Bluff Park Acres” at Halloween, entertains a child on the porch of her home. Left and below: the yard of Paul and Regina Young at 140 Caliente Drive on previous Halloween holidays. Photos courtesy of Heather Skaggs and Paul Young.
By JON ANDERSON The results of a recent forensic audit conducted on the city of Hoover’s finances has some residents calling for an outside investigation by other governmental authorities. But Hoover Mayor Frank Brocato said that he’s already shared the city’s financial reporting problems with state officials and that people raising a red flag are doing so for political purposes with a city election coming up next year. At issue are the findings of a forensic audit requested by Hoover’s new chief financial officer, Jennifer Cornett, after she was hired at the first of this year and noticed irregularities. The mayor, through the city attorney, hired Kroll, a New York-based company that was hired to find Saddam Hussein’s hidden financial assets and helped Enron restructure after its accounting fraud scandal. Kroll’s task was to look into Hoover’s unbalanced transactions, unreconciled accounts, delayed financial reports, IRS penalties and missing financial records and to determine if funds were misappropriated.
See HALLOWEEN | page A18
See FINANCE | page A16
INSIDE
Sponsors...........................A4 City.....................................A6
Schoolhouse................... A10 Business...........................A12
Real Estate.......................B5 Events................................B8
Sports...............................B12 Community......................B14 facebook.com/hooversunnews
Election Guide
Home & Garden
Tips for voting in the Nov. 5 general election
Discover area businesses that specialize in keeping your home and garden at their best.
See page A6
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See page B1