TOY DRIVE, PAGE 11
SPORTS, PAGE 12
Tallasee basketball teams have a triumphant weekend over LAMP.
Tallassee Police and Fire Department deliver toys to more than 65 children.
OPINION
TOP 10 STORIES, PAGE 2 Reviewing The Tribunes’ best
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December 30, 2015
TALLASSEETRIBUNE.COM
VOL. 116, NO. 52
Rain has area on water watch
Current, past rainfall keeps flood concerns fluid
Progress continues on opening roads
By JOHN W. PEELER Managing Editor
With the rainfall over the Christmas holiday and the resultant flash flooding, officials of Elmore County are continuing to work on getting roads back open amidst the continuing rainfall. “What we’ve got is the roads that are close … the city crews and county crews have been assessing those, and checking other infrastructure to make sure we don’t have any other problems anywhere,” said Eric Jones, Emergency Management Agency director for Elmore County. “We are trying to get what we can reopened, but of course with this round of rain and severe weather, it’s slowed us down. The thing we have to watch now is flash flooding off of this band of rain as it moves through the county right now.” Jones said although the rain since Christmas caused problem flash floods in the area, reports of massive flooding causing businesses and residents to evacuate the area were not accurate. “They (news reports) were not accurate,” Jones said. See FLOODS• Page 7
By JOHN W. PEELER Managing Editor
Heavy rains hit on Christmas Eve, more rain ahead By COREY ARWOOD Staff Writer
It was a warm and stormy Christmas with temperatures that stopped just short of the 80s and rainfall that closed in at 10 inches for some parts of the Tallassee area. But even for the South, the weather was unusual. One meteorologist
called the nearly weeklong weather pattern in the area “unique.” “Typically we do get heavy rain events in the state but generally a lot of times it’s somewhat related to a tropical system,” said Jason Holmes Corey Arwood and Cliff Williams / The Tribune of the National Weather Service in Birmingham. A bridge on Hayes Mill Road was underwater, top, and motorists found driving difficult in Tallassee Monday afternoon See RAINS • Page 7 as 4-plus inches of rain prompted flooding around the state.
The outlook for opening up more of the roads closed due to the flash floods that swept across Elmore County Christmas Eve is positive, but there are still roads left to be assessed. “I think we are close to opening two of the three sites that are closed,” said Richie Beyer, Elmore County engineer. “County roads … Holley Mill Road will stay closed indefinitely … we’re still doing damage assessments and costs on that.” Holley Mill Road between Landers Swink Road and state Route 63 will remain closed indefinitely due to a portion of the road being completely gone. Old Rifle Range Road, once some of the water has receded and clean-up work done, will reopen at some point. “The little bit of closure we had over on Old Rifle Range Road was caused by the river swelling and backing up on the dirt road and we haven’t really had any problem with that,” Richie said. “Once the See ROADS• Page 2
Tallassee was filled with headlines in 2015 By WILLIE G. MOSELEY Tallassee Tribune
Once again, the perusal of the front pages of a year’s volume of the Tallassee Tribune indicates that the most interesting local stories from 2015 were a combination of important/“hard” news and upbeat/positive events. As has been the case in previous articles in previous years, several similar stories that occurred in 2015 have been combined into one citation on the list. The selections are listed in no particular order, except the first two: • CONRADS PLEAD GUILTY TO SEX CHARGES: Stephen and Brandy Conrad had been arrested in 2013 and were charged, respectively, with 105 counts and seven counts of child abuse and underage sex crimes. On Jan. 26, Brandy Conrad pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual abuse of a child less than 12 years old, and was later sentenced to ten years in prison.
Former Tallassee assistant Chief of Police and his wife Kelli Miles walk into the U.S. District - Middle Alabama in Montgomery, Alabama Tuesday where he Miles pleadd guilty to one count each of obstruction of justice, deprivation of rights and distribution of marijuana. Photo by Carmen Rodgers
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On Aug. 27. Stephen Conrad pleaded guilty to three counts of sex abuse with a child less than 12 years old and one count for first-degree sex abuse. He was later sentenced to 16 years in prison. • FORMER ASSISTANT POLICE CHIEF PLEADS GUILTY: The huge disparity between the number of original charges against Stephen Conrad and the four charges to which he pleaded guilty was due to the majority of the charges being dropped because of inappropriate interrogation of Conrad by then-Assistant Police Chief Chris Miles. Miles would later resign after being arrested on burglary and theft charges in Macon County, as well as theft of evidence from the Tallassee Police Department. He was also charged with two counts of obstruction of justice and deprivation of rights in the questioning of Conrad. See TOP • Page 2