Hartselle students hold Good Character expo Page A-5
Top ranked Tigers heading to championship Page B1
Hometown newspaper of Andrea Wright - since 1933
Hartselle Enquirer
50 CENTS
WEDNESDAY, MAY 15, 2024
VOLUME 91, NO. 20
Northern lights visible from north Alabama By Eric Fleischauer For the Enquirer
The northern lights, a rare sight in Alabama, as seen Friday night in an edited photo by Justin Powell in Falkville.
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The aurora borealis, rarely visible from Alabama, could be seen this past Friday night in Morgan County. According to The Associated Press, an unusually strong solar storm hitting Earth is producing northern lights in the U.S. this weekend and could potentially disrupt power and communications. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued a rare severe geomagnetic storm warning when a solar outburst reached Earth on Friday
afternoon, hours sooner than anticipated. The effects were due to last through the weekend and possibly into next week. NOAA alerted operators of power plants and spacecraft in orbit to take precautions, as well as the Federal Emergency Management Agency. “For most people here on planet Earth, they won’t have to do anything,” said Rob Steenburgh, a scientist with NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center. The storm could produce northern lights as far south in the U.S. as Alabama and Northern California, according to NOAA. But it was hard to predict and experts stressed it would not be the dra-
matic curtains of color normally associated with the northern lights, but more like splashes of greenish hues. “That’s really the gift from space weather — the aurora,” said Steenburgh. He and his colleagues said the best aurora views may come from phone cameras, which are better at capturing light than the naked eye. Snap a picture of the sky and “there might be actually a nice little treat there for you,” said Mike Bettwy, operations chief for the prediction center. The most intense solar storm in recorded history, in 1859, See LIGHTS, page 5
Students, teachers move into new Crestline Elementary
By Staff Reports A longtime industry in Hartselle will close its doors in August. A Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) notice filed May 6 shows Linamar Structures USA, formerly Mobex Global, is planning to lay off 152 workers at its Hartselle location beginning Aug. 15. WARN Act notices, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, are designed to make sure com-
panies give advanced notice in situations of mass layoffs. Linamar is an advanced manufacturing company. The Hartselle facility, located on Thompson Road, is a CNC Machine facility that produces parts for Honda, BMW, John Deere, GM and others.
SPECIAL TO THE ENQUIRER
Special to the Enquirer Mark your calendars for the Spring-Time Market Day sponsored by Decatur CocaCola. This lively event is set to take place May 18 from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. promising a day packed with fun-filled activities and local delights for residents and visitors alike. The heart of downtown Hartselle will come alive with the sounds of live music by Andy Lyle Hall. Whether you’re a seasoned artisan or just looking for a day of family-friendly entertainment,
this event has something for everyone. For those with a taste for farm-fresh goodness, the Hartselle Farmers Market will kick off the day at 7 a.m., offering an array of locally grown produce. One of the highlights of the day is the much-anticipated photo scavenger hunt, which will lead participants on an adventure through downtown Hartselle. Starting at Railroad Street, explorers of all ages can put their detective skills to the test as they search for hidden gems and capture memorable moments along the way.
By Staff Reports Students and teachers at Crestline Elementary School will finish the 2023-24 academic year in a brandnew building. The first official day in the newly completed school building was May 8. The $36 million dollar project that began in October 2022 was completed just a week before by Bailey Harris Construction. The new school features room to grow with 65 classrooms including a pre-K wing, a larger sensory room and a storm shelter. It is located beside Crestline’s existing building at 600 Crestline Drive S.W., on the property’s south side. Crestline Elementary Principal Karissa Lang said between 725-750 students from pre-kindergarten through fourth grade are expected to enroll this fall at the 105,000-squarefoot school, which has a maximum capacity of 1,000 students. The former school is 75,000 square feet with 41 classrooms and was nearing capacity with 600 students. “We now have room to expand programs such as robotics, drones,
By Wes Tomlinson For the Enquirer
Don’t miss our annual special section shining the spotlight on area graduating seniors inside this edition. Extra copies can be purchased at the newspaper office at 206 Cedar St., Hartselle.
Obituaries • Dorothy Mae ‘Dot’ Whitton Burns • Yudell Moore • Tony Ray Legg • Kenneth Albin Erickson • Dewitt W. Miller, Sr. • Mary Winton
For full obituaries, see page A-2
• Samuel Dawson Tune • Ronnie Richardson • Eric Russell
Several agencies were outside of Hartselle on Friday afternoon recovering the body of a man the Morgan County Sheriff’s Office said was killed in a plane crash behind a house after flying out of the Hartselle-Morgan County Regional Airport. Morgan County Coroner Jeff Chunn on Friday afternoon said the victim was 75-year-old Douglas Chapman of Decatur. According to the Sheriff’s Office, the crash occurred behind a house at the end of Beard Road, located west of the airport. Chunn said the crash occurred about 300 feet into the woods behind the house. Chunn said Chapman was
green powers cars, additional STEM room for coding, and a new outdoor classroom that will accommodate our growing student population,” Lang said. “The teachers love their rooms with all the new furniture and of course everyone loves the expansive cafeteria, beautiful library and awesome gym.” The new building will consolidate existing, overcrowded pre-K programs at Barkley Bridge Elementary and F.E. Burleson Elementary. Lang said teachers from those programs will also move to Crestline. Hartselle City Schools pre-K Principal Dena Mayfield said having all pre-K programs in one school will present greater opportunities for collaboration among staff. She said pre-K enrollment in Hartselle’s three elementary schools totals 162 students, but she anticipates an additional 20 students will by this fall. Lang said the pre-K wing consists of 10 classrooms, 800 square feet each, and they’ll have 18 students in each of them. Lang said the car line for the pre-K wing will be separated from the main car line, something she hopes will cut
the only fatality and the only individual on the plane. Morgan County Sheriff ’s Office spokesperson Mike Swafford said deputies were notified of the crash at approximately 9:10 a.m. and the crash happened shortly before that. He said the pilot was pronounced dead at the scene. Chunn was on scene with airport director Stoney Powell and another airport employee. He said the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board, who were also on scene Friday, are investigating the crash. The crash occurred 3,000 feet from the airport, according to Chunn. Chunn and Powell confirmed the pilot was flying in an ultralight aircraft, a small one- or two-seat airplane
down on traffic in front of the school. “We are still not doing drop off in the mornings like it will be in the fall. A parking loop and additional parking lot for pre-K and tiger teams will be constructed once the old school is demolished,” she said. “When this is complete, this will allow buses to drop off in the front, pre-K and tide students to enter through the side entrance with their own area and drop off for kindergarten through fourth grade students in the back. We are currently utilizing the back road for drop off and it is great, allowing more cars in at one time. Afternoon pickup at the new building, according to Lang, has been great so far. We have been able to decrease our car line by more than 10 minutes. We can use two lanes in the back and 20 cars are loaded at a time. By having the lane in the back, it allows cars to get off Crestline Drive. Previously, traffic was backed all the way down Frost Street and typically spilled over onto Highway 36. Lang said a new playground was See CRESTLINE, page 8
SPECIAL TO THE ENQUIRER
Multiple agencies respond to the scene of an ultralight plane crash near crash May 10 near Hartselle. The pilot, Douglas Chapman, of Decatur, was killed in the crash. often weighing less than 300 pounds. They do not require a pilot license to operate in the United States, according to the FAA. “With an ultralight, the investigation is a little bit different than with a commercial built airplane,” Chunn
said. Powell said not many ultralight aircraft use the airport, and this was the first one he has seen in a while. “People will buy an ultralight kit and put it together in their shop themselves,” Powell said.