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LOCAL, A7
Ladorian Leonard uses poetry as escape from football
Downtown sidewalk precedes streetscape project
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THE WETUMPKA HERALD Elmore County’s Oldest Newspaper - Established 1898
Wetumpka, AL 36092
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WEDNESDAY • JANUARY 9, 2019
THEWETUMPKAHERALD.COM
VOL. 121, NO. 2
ECSO crime stats beat averages By AMALIA KORTRIGHT Bureau Chief
Amalia Kortright / The Herald
Above: Boy Scout Watson Perdue simulates lighting the Eternal Flame, a monument at the Arlington National Ceremony, in honor of local soldiers listed as prisoners of war or missing in action. Below: Fireworks lit up the sky for the first 15 minutes of 2019. Because the Christmas on the Coosa fireworks show was postponed due to weather, both that and the New Year’s Eve show were combined.
City celebrates 2019 By AMALIA KORTRIGHT Bureau Chief
Despite a light downpour and the threat of more rain, dozens of locals gathered in downtown Wetumpka on New Year’s Eve to ring in the beginning of 2019. According to organizer Gardner Perdue, Wetumpka’s annual New Year’s Eve festivities were started by resident Jack DeVenney and have been held for more than three decades. “Jack believed in giving back to his community, so he started many activities in Wetumpka. One of these was the New Year’s Eve celebration,” Perdue said. The events began at 9 p.m. with a ceremony See 2019 • Page A3
The Elmore County Sheriff’s Office’s crime and clearance rates for 2018 were well above state averages, according to a report released on Dec. 28. In 2018, Elmore County Sheriff Bill Franklin said 139,289 calls for service or actions were taken by ECSO deputies while out of the office. Because the population in Elmore County is growing, Franklin said the crime rate is increasing along with it. “That is slowly creeping up each year, by about 5,000 to 6,000,” Franklin said. “The county’s (population) is slowly growing. I know back in 1990, we had 49,210. We’re probably bumping about 90,000 right now.” Of the 1,244 crimes handled by the ECSO, Franklin said 802 are considered solved. The ECSO’s overall crime clearance rate is 64 percent, compared to an average of 24 percent from all law enforcement agencies in the state. “What we try to do as an investigative unit is strongly encourage that (deputies) stay above the statewide average,” Franklin said. Franklin said the results were the best he has seen during his tenure and attributed the ECSO’s success to the work of its employees in all positions and support from outside entities. “These good numbers that we’ve got can be attributed to everything from the dispatcher doing their job collecting all the data that they can on the calls they receive to the patrol deputy that actually goes out and works that call and collects the data and does a good narrative,” Franklin said. “They present that to the investigative division, who then goes out in the field and does their best to try to resolve the case. Over the years, we’re hiring better applicants. That’s through the Elmore County Commission working See CRIME • Page A2
Council transfers $240,000 for economic development project
State report card says county schools earn B
By AMALIA KORTRIGHT Bureau Chief
By AMALIA KORTRIGHT Bureau Chief
The Wetumpka City Council made several decisions regarding economic development projects during a brief city council meeting on Monday. The council unanimously voted to transfer $240,000 to the Wetumpka Industrial Board for an undisclosed economic development project. The council took a vote after holding a first reading and agreeing to suspend the rules in order to move See COUNCIL • Page A2
According to the results of the annual statewide report card released by the Alabama Department of Education, most public schools in Elmore County have improved over the past couple of years. Elmore County Public Schools Superintendent Richard Dennis said he is proud of what faculty, staff and the more
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Elmore Public Schools received an overall score of 82 from the Alabama Department of Education for the 2017-18 academic year.
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