Hartselle students to attend Boys State Page A-3
Lady Tigers cruise to another area title Page B1
Hometown newspaper of Curtis Slaten - since 1933
Hartselle Enquirer
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WEDNESDAY, MAY 8, 2024
VOLUME 91, NO. 19
Planned Hartselle library already piquing interest By Jean Cole For the Enquirer
PHOTO BY JEAN COLE
Sarah Laughmiller, left, children’s librarian at Hartselle library, visits with library patron Amanda Appleton at the library. Appleton visits the library routinely and cannot wait for the new library to be built.
After 13 years underground, the cicadas are here By Wes Tomlinson For the Enquirer Millions of local cicadas have emerged from a 13-year underground hibernation, and farmers are concerned about the impact the creatures could have on their fruit trees. Alabama has over 20 species of annual cicadas that appear every summer, but this year the state will experience the emergence of periodic Brood 19 cicadas. Morgan County Regional Extension Agent Jayne Luetzow said Brood 19 have hatched in Alabama and residents should expect millions of the bugs. Luetzow said the last time Alabama experienced the emergence of a cicada brood was in 2011, when this year’s Brood 19 cicadas hatched and burrowed underground. They will be here up until mid-May. Meredith Schrader, an entomologist with the extension agency, said Brood 19 cicadas have red eyes, dark bodies and clear wings with orange veins and are three-quarters of an inch long, smaller than most annual species of cicadas that
Alabama sees each year. They’re also loud. Their collective songs can be as loud as jet engines and scientists who study them often wear earmuffs to protect their hearing, according to The Associated Press. Schrader said the brood, high in protein, is harmless and there should be no concern if household pets or even children consume them. Indeed, they are included in some cuisine. Audubon Insectarium in New Orleans serves a green salad with apple, almonds, blueberry vinaigrette — and roasted cicadas. Luetzow said cicadas do not fly more than 50 meters from where they emerged and so they will not travel across the state. “So the cicadas in Morgan County, you’re not going to see them in Lawrence County because they cannot fly that far,” Luetzow said. Luetzow said the cicada’s purpose for emerging is to mate and lay their eggs into young trees, with their preferred birthing place being fruit trees. “They don’t like trees or See CICADAS, page 5
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Hartselle library patron Amanda Appleton might find it appropriate that the city’s proposed new library will be built on land once home to a medical center. She already thinks of the library as a medical center of sorts. “I love it here,” she said of the existing William Bradford Huie Library at 152 Sparkman St. N.W. and the library staff. “They are not medical doctors, but they are good medicine when you need it.” Appleton became an avid reader in 2021 when she discovered that helped her deal with anxiety, she said. These days she’s drawn to
42 Hartselle students a part of 30 plus club
SPECIAL TO THE ENQUIRER
The Tiger ACT Wall of Honor at Hartselle High School shows the photos of 42 students who have scored a 30 or above on their ACTs. One student is not pictured.
Staff Reports
• Ricky Lindsey • Dolly B. Holmes • Cornelia Anne Walker • Leslie Clark
For full obituaries, see page A-2
• Jennifer Joy Anders • Devin Holmes • Mason Cain Holmes
See LIBRARY, page 5
High scorers
Hartselle High School is celebrating 42 students for earning a score of 30 or above, placing them in an esteemed category among high school students nationwide. According to act.org, a student earning a score of 30 on the ACT surpasses 93 percent of the 1.3 million test-takers in the United States. Every junior in Alabama public schools must take the state-man-
Obituaries
outgrown the space,” Blaylock said. “We are extremely limited in most of our spaces for new materials, programming, patron seating, displays, storage, maintenance and work areas for employees.” The current library has 4,042 square feet of usable space, she said, excluding the maintenance room and storage areas. The new library, which will be at 413 Sparkman St. N.W., will have 7,500 square feet — almost double what it has now — and will be located less than a quarter of a mile from the current location. The new library and the adjoining 13,500-square-foot event center that is planned will be erected
HARTSELLE HIGH SCHOOL
By Rebekah Yancey rebekah.yancey @hartselleenquirer.com
The May/June issue of Hartselle Living is out now. Pick up a copy at select businesses around town or at the newspaper office located at 206 Cedar Street.
murder mysteries and thrillers. “I used to hate reading as a kid; now it will be a part of life forever. It’s almost like therapy. It takes you away from your troubles.” Appleton often checks out books to read and says she cleans her house to the tune of the library’s audiobooks. With limited space and repairs too costly at its current location, the planned $2.5 million library will hopefully meet the city’s needs well into the future, said Michelle Blaylock, library manager. Built in the 1960s as a bank, the current library on Sparkman Street cannot be renovated to make it larger, officials said. “It needs repairs and updates that are not feasible considering we have
There will be a groundbreaking for the future $7.16 million Morgan County Event Center at noon May 14 at Luker Road and Union Hill Road, across the street from the District 4 tool shed in Cotaco. The 34,627-square-foot center will be on 24 acres. It will include two 10,360-square-foot gymnasiums, a 1,102-square-foot multipurpose room and an upstairs walking track. District 4 Commissioner Greg Abercrombie said the center should be open in 18 month, depending on good weather, subcontractors and acquisition of materials. Hartselle’s Limestone Building Group is heading up the project.
dated ACT during the spring but students can take the test as early as sixth grade. The higher the score, the more scholarships are offered if a student chooses to go to college. Those students in the 30 plus club are Jackson Boyd, Dylan Dean, Noah Der, Aubrey Garrison, Noah Gibson, Alex Hatfield, Lauren Maxson, Ethan Mendendorp, Emilee Mock, Elijah Pinion, Aidan Rosendall, Brooklyn Stiles, Mallory Temples, Eleanor Vest, Noah Yates, Caleb Ekema, Miller McLeod, Riggs McLeod, Zeke Pri-
ola, Landon Robinson, Mary-Elizabeth Estrada, Riley Thompson, Jackson Adams, Lakelen Crider, Alyssa Dobbs-Langford, Jamison Hill, Porter Kusta, Logan Moore, Lily Norris, Andrew O’Leary, Braxton Wallace, Coy Waynick, Abigail Winslett, Elizabeth Aymett, Kynan Hogan, Laura Lundy, Alivia Wiley, Emily Wells, Kaydence Chandler, Harrison Daigre, Anna Rogalksi and Bryant Shaw. Boyd, Dean and Der, all seniors, See SCORERS, page 5