INSIDE TODAY “Trump following history of seduction.’
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Wetumpka Elementary gives and receives!
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THE WETUMPKA HERALD Elmore County’s Oldest Newspaper - Established 1898
Wetumpka, AL 36092
50¢
WEDNESDAY • APRIL 20, 2016
THEWETUMPKAHERALD.COM
MAKING AN IMPACT
VOL. 118, NO.13
Council hears update on downtown Plans for the next stage in revitalization effort presented By COREY ARWOOD Staff Writer
Mitch Sneed / The Herald
Craterfest packed the park Saturday By COREY ARWOOD Staff Writer
Crowds jammed close to the stage to hear Colt Ford Saturday, above. The Puckett family waited and watched as their daughter, Lauren, patiently sat for her turn in the face-painting booth along Wharf Street at Craterfest.
Craterfest exploded in Wetumpka Saturday with five musical acts performing to thousands of festivalgoers who mingled throughout Gold Star Park’s river walk, and a vendor-packed Wharf Street. There was an estimated roughly 10 to 12,000 people that attended the annual CRATERFEST event which was a collaboraMEMORIES tion between the Wetumpka Area Chamber of Commerce, For more photos see The City of Wetumpka and a page B4. local businesses including, See CRATERFEST • Page 3 Corey Arwood / The Herald
Lake Jordan cleanup effort set for Saturday By COREY ARWOOD Staff Writer
A Lake Jordan cleanup day is scheduled for Saturday, April 23, with the efforts of a local group, The Lake Jordan Home Owners and Boat Owners Association and Alabama Power. A member of the group said since 2000, there has been roughly 65 tons of trash removed from the lake, and recently 6,000 tons were removed in one year alone, in what was called one of the worst years on record.
“You name it, it’ll go in there,” said Barbara Dreyer, who was the group’s first president when it started, around 1992. She said some of the items taken from the lake have been, mattresses, microwaves, t.v.’s, toilet bowls, refrigerators and even a stolen commercial vending machine. During the cleanup, Dreyer said boats would enter the lake at the Bonner’s Point launching area and scour the surface of the 12 areas it was divided into. “We welcome any and all help,”
Dreyer said. “Anybody that’s interested, (in) keeping lake Jordan beautiful can just come on.” The cleanup is scheduled to begin just before 8 a.m., and Dreyer said a videographer was going to be there to document the event. She encouraged anyone planning to go to bring chest waders, if they owned them, and said both smaller fishing boats and pontoon boats could be used. The group’s president Gerald Hartley said Alabama Power would have boats out as well in the collection effort.
The city showed off the plans for the next stage in the downtown revitalization effort in a special presentation held at the Wetumpka Civic Center in connection with Monday’s City Council meeting. Building Department officials took comments from residents and downtown business owners and explained the proposed changes to the downtown street system and sidewalks. Maps and conceptualizations of the project were provided and explained by members of the architect and engineering firm Goodwyn, Mills, Cawood out of Montgomery. There were three goals listed by GMC’s Jeff Fennel. See DOWNTOWN • Page 3
Historical marker set for segregated Wetumpka school site By COREY ARWOOD Staff Writer
A group is preparing for the April 23 unveiling of a new historical marker for what had been a segregated school in Wetumpka from 1963-1970, W.B. Doby High School, and is now Wetumpka Elementary School. The group, known as the Select Committee – Historical Marker for W.B. Doby High School, is made up of 16 graduates from the school and is led by Winfred Wise, who led the efforts to get the site deemed a historical landmark. Wise said there would be a marker placed at the location detailing its past and a 1966 graduate of the school would be the keynote speaker for the unveiling of the marker. The school was built by the Board of Education to replace what had been another segregated facility. “Back in 1962 this is during the segregation See LANDMARK • Page 3
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