2015 Wetumpka Herald Offensive Player of the Year: Nathan Rourke. See Sports, pg. 8. Wetumpka, AL 36092
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SATURDAY-SUNDAY • JANUARY 9-10, 2016
THEWETUMPKAHERALD.COM
VOL. 11, NO. 2
Same-sex marriage law challenged by Moore No marriage licenses to be issued out of Elmore County By KEVIN TAYLOR Copy Editor
Contributed / The Herald
Judge Ensley refuses to issue any marriage licenses from the Elmore County Probate Office.
A day after Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore issued an executive order for all probate judges in the state to stop issuing same-sex marriage licenses, Elmore County Probate Judge John Enslen stopped issuing any marriage licenses.
Supreme Court that Alabama probate judges have a ministerial duty not to issue any marriage license contrary to the Alabama Sanctity of Marriage Amendment or the Alabama Marriage Protection Act remain in full force and effect.” With that, some probate judges have ignored Moore’s order, but not
Moore’s order comes on the heels of different state district courts trying to punch holes in the landmark Obergefell v. Hodges case, which allowed for same-sex marriages. On Wednesday Moore ordered that “until further decision by the Alabama Supreme Court, the existing orders of the Alabama
Marbury teacher arrested on sex charges
See MARRIAGE • Page 2
Human remains identified from 2009 discovery Remains originally discovered near Possum Trot Road
Wesley charged with having sex with a student By KEVIN TAYLOR Copy Editor
A Marbury High School teacher was arrested Thursday and charged with one count of a school employee engaging in a sexual act with a student, according to Millbrook Police Chief P.K. Johnson. Brian J. Wesley, 30, of Millbrook was Wesley arrested in the Elmore County circuit clerk’s office Thursday in Wetumpka. Wesley is listed as a social studies teacher at Marbury High, according to the school’s website. See ARREST • Page 2
By KEVIN TAYLOR Copy Editor
Kevin Taylor / The Herald
Just before the Thanksgiving break, Cheyanne Barrett’s sixth-grade students began working on developing an app to enter in the Verizon Innovative App Challenge. It was the top app among 1,200 entries in the state earning the school a $5,000 grant as well as new tablets for each of the students who participated.
It has been nine years, but now family members of Richard Wayne Adams can be at peace. Elmore County Sheriff Bill Franklin said the state department of forensic sciences contacted his office earlier in the week to positively identify Adams, whose decomposed body and skeletal remains were found near Possum Trot Road in the Deatsville community Feb. 25, 2009. At the time when Adams’ remains were found about 40 yards from the banks of Lake Jordan, forensic sciences could not identify the remains. Franklin said Adams’ skull was sent to Louisiana State University and later to the University of North Texas. DNA was retrieved and put into the Combined DNA Index System. “They got a hit and were able to positively identify the remains,” Franklin said. “We then contacted his relatives.” Adams was from the Verbena community in Chilton County, See REMAINS • Page 2
Student innovators win grant Holtville students excel in Verizon app challenge By KEVIN TAYLOR Copy Editor
A group of seven Holtville Middle School students is hoping to raise an additional $15,000 for their school after collectively designing a new smartphone app. Just before the Thanksgiving break Cheyanne Barrett’s sixthgrade students began working on developing an app to enter in the Verizon
Innovative App Challenge. The students came up with the app “Money Management For Me and You.” “We have a goal-tracker, games, a holiday function to offer tips for saving and avoiding money issues before and after the holidays. We also have a jingle for the app,” said HMS student Brooke Carrico. “We made the app to look kid and adult-friendly.”
Their idea was an award-winner. It was the top app among 1,200 entries in the state to earn the school a $5,000 grant as well as new tablets for each of the students who participated. “I was on my way to school when I got Mrs. Barrett’s email. I was almost in tears when I read it,” team member Hope Nelson said. Now their app idea is in contention to win the national See HOLTVILLE • Page 2
School bus routes, numbers constantly evaluated By JOHN W. PEELER Managing Editor
To a 10-year-old, any amount on the school bus may seem like a long time, but Elmore County Public Schools Transportation Coordinator, Ray Mullino, said evaluating bus routes and the capacity of every bus is a constant and ongoing process to make sure students arrive at school and back home safely. Mullino said the longest routes are under two hours, even though the drivers may be on the road as early as 6 a.m. Drivers must have the students at their respective schools no later
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than when the tardy bell rings at 7:30 a.m., he said. “For instance, the Redland drivers don’t start picking up kids until 6:20 (a.m.),” Mullino said. “So, if you go to Redland, then you go (straight) to Redland School. If you are in seventh and eighth and up, then … they are picked up and go to the middle school and high school.” Redland community is a growing community, he said, and has buses committed only for Redland Elementary School students and after those buses are checked out at the See BUS • Page 2
Elmore County Public Schools Transportation Department constantly monitors transportation routes and the numbers of students that ride the buses and make any adjustments that may need to be made. John Peeler / The Herald
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