Village Living neighborly news & entertainment for Mountain Brook
Volume 6 | Issue 5 | August 2015
Spartan spotlight
Crestline grows up
What can you expect from the upcoming Mountain Brook High School football season? Read our preview inside to find out.
Sports page B1
Tailgate time
Construction and school stats show families are choosing to stay in the area long term By OLIVIA BURTON
Kick off tailgate season early at Boiling N’ Bragging this month. Find details on this and other events in the area in this issue.
When Laura Canterbury moved from Homewood to Crestline in 2007, she imagined her family staying in the area for about 10 years. Now, she said, they plan on staying closer to 20. “What really made us change our minds
Melanie and Chris Couch and their children, Eleanor and Jack, play with the giant chess set in front of City Hall in Crestline Village. Like an increasing number of families in the area, the Couches, who moved to Crestline in 2013, plan to stay as their children grow up. Photo by Keith McCoy.
was being so close to the village and getting used to walking everywhere,” she said. “Once we got so close to Crestline Village, it was hard to think about moving anywhere else.” With families staying longer in the neighborhood and larger homes replacing the more traditional cottage-style houses in Crestline, the area is losing its reputation as being almost
exclusively for starter homes. “Crestline has always had younger families,” said RealtySouth agent Langston Hereford. “But I think that younger families are staying in Crestline longer. It used to be that you might stay in Crestline for the first two
See CRESTLINE | page A22
Community page A17
INSIDE Sponsors ............A4 City ......................A5 Business ............A12 Community .......A14
School House .....B8 Sports .................B11 Faith ....................B13 Calendar........... B14
All in one place Center for children with autism celebrates 10-year anniversary By MADOLINE MARKHAM
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At age 2, Mitchell Meisler’s parents noticed he wasn’t speaking or making eye contact. The diagnosis they received was autism. What they also found was that Mitchell could spell out words like “Sports Illustrated” and “Capri Sun.” Experts told his parents, Nancy and Allen, he had a photographic memory. Following the diagnosis, the Meislers began to take Mitchell to a psychologist, an occupational therapist and a speech therapist for therapy in different locations across Birmingham. The more they learned about autism, they more they learned what services weren’t available in Alabama and how great a demand there was for a center for children on the spectrum. Public
See MITCHELL | page A19
Nancy and Allen Meisler founded Mitchell’s Place a decade ago in honor of their now 20-year-old son, Mitchell, pictured in the middle at the center’s playground. Photo by Keith McCoy.