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THE WETUMPKA HERALD Elmore County’s Oldest Newspaper - Established 1898
Wetumpka, AL 36092
50¢
WEDNESDAY • FEBRUARY 22, 2017
THEWETUMPKAHERALD.COM
VOL. 119, NO. 8
Commission backs study on lake impact
By COREY ARWOOD Staff Writer
At the request of a Lake Martin-based non-profit, Elmore County commissioners recently voted to invest in an economic impact study of the area for the information it could provide in attracting businesses, and in ongoing legal battles. Steve Forehand with the Lake Martin Resource Association touted the benefits of contributing $10,000 to its second installment of the Economic Impact Study of Lake Martin. Having been eight years since the initial study,
Forehand said an update was due and was why he was approaching the commissioners for the funds. He said he was travelling to various commissions, petitioning for funds based on the benefits he proclaimed the study and its results could bring. Entities that sponsored the study in the past, Forehand said, were the Elmore and Tallapoosa county commissions, City of Alexander City, Middle Tallapoosa Clean Water Partnership, Lake Martin Area Economic Development Alliance, Russell Lands and LMRA. “So you can see this was a significant coalition of governments, public interest groups and private
industry that have combined to undertake this valuable study,” said Forehand. He said Commissioner Earl Reeves was on the commission at the time of the initial study, which was being conducted by the international retail-consulting firm RCLCO, formerly Robert Charles Lesser and Co. Forehand listed a number of ways the study would benefit the county, and high among those was ongoing litigation between the state, Alabama Power Company and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. “They have sued the Corps of Engineers over a
See LAKE • Page 2
County commissioners assigned focus areas
City to honor, plant trees for four on Arbor Day By DAVID GRANGER Managing Editor
New focus assignments aim to improve office efficiency
The City of Wetumpka will plant four trees on Thursday, Feb. 23, honoring four Wetumpkans who gave much time and service to the city and its people. Peggy Blackburn, former managing editor of the Wetumpka Herald, local physician Dr, Julius Ethelbert “Dr. Beau” Dunn, local landscaper John Raymond Moore and legendary Wetumpka High School football coach W. Jack Ray will each be honored with the planting of a tree at Fain Center on Cotton Street. The event will take place beginning at 1 p.m. After the ceremony, free saplings will be distributed to those in attendance. Blackburn served as the managing editor of The Herald before succumbing to cancer last year. See TREE • Page 3
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By COREY ARWOOD Staff Writer
David Granger / The Herald
Erick Sommers, left, and Tommy Pegues show off four of the five bass that won them the first stop on the 2017 Alabama Bass Trail at Lake Jordan on Saturday.
OFF THE HOOK Local duo wins Jordan stop on Alabama Bass Trail
By DAVID GRANGER Managing Editor
For the second time in the history of the Alabama Bass Trail, Lake Jordan served Saturday as the venue for the kickoff of the trail’s Southern Division’s season, featuring a full field of 225 boats in what may be the
smallest fishery on the entire Alabama Bass Trail schedule. With Jordan experiencing an amount of fishing pressure the lake had likely never seen. Fishing on the lake was not expected to be stellar. But the team of Erick Sommers and Tommy Pegues managed to prove those assumptions wrong. See FISHING • Page 3
Each Elmore County commissioner will now be responsible for a specific detail of county governance through an assignment system, described by the chairperson as an effort to make their office more efficient and effective. District Three Commissioner and chair Troy Stubbs formally proposed the system at the recent county commission meeting. With no opposition from other commissioners the proposal took effect. “In an effort to be more streamlined as a county commission I would like to propose some assignments to each of the commissioners with regards to areas of focus for which they may serve as liaisons to the commission to provide us with efficiency and some continuity in
Cimarron’s fifth Mardi Gras celebration set for Saturday By DAVID GRANGER Managing Editor
The Order of Cimarron will present its fifth annual Wetumpka Mardi Gras celebration on Saturday, Feb. 25, in Gold Star Park. The celebration will begin at 9 a.m. with a variety of vendors on hand selling food and other items. Arts and crafts, jewelry, forged
knives, LuLaroe, Lipsense, Pampered Chef and monogramming will all be available as well as such goodies as fried alligator, kettle corn, gourmet apples, cupcakes and other delicious treats. The Order of Cimarron’s annual parade will begin in the streets of Wetumpka at 1 p.m. The name Order of
5266 U.S. Hwy. 231 • Wetumpka, AL (Winn Dixie Shopping Center • Behind KFC)
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Lake levels on the rise as drought conditions lessen By COREY ARWOOD Staff Writer
File / The Herald
Order of Cimarron will mark Mardi Gras Saturday with See MARDI GRAS • Page 2 vendors, edible goodies and a downtown parade.
Flea Market & Antiques 334-567-2666
See COMMISSION • Page 2
Alabama Power officials said recent rainfall across Tallapoosa and Elmore counties has helped lake reservoirs recover from drought, and if above average wet conditions persist they might be fully recovered by spring. The area manager for See DROUGHT • Page 3