INSIDE, PAGE 2: RIVER AND BLUES MUSIC & ARTS FESTIVAL SCHEDULE Meet Gene, Elmore County’s Pet of the Week
Powell sees growth early in WHS hoops tenure
SPORTS, PAGE A7
244-7778
LOCAL, PAGE B5
THE WETUMPKA HERALD Elmore County’s Oldest Newspaper - Established 1898
Wetumpka, AL 36092
50¢
WEDNESDAY • JULY 19, 2017
THEWETUMPKAHERALD.COM
VOL. 119, NO. 29
Justiss is city’s newest city council member By DAVID GRANGER Managing Editor
David Granger / The Herald
Lynnes Stowe Justiss is all smiles as she takes her seat on the Wetumpka City Council for the first time after being approved to fill the vacant seat of Rebecca Thornton by a 3-0 vote with one abstention. City Clerk Treasurer Candy Masters, Councilman Steve Gantt and Mayor Jerry Willis look on.
Lynnes Stowe Justiss is the newest member of the Wetumpka City Council, approved at Monday night’s council meeting by a 3-0 vote with one abstention and sworn in by Mayor Jerry Willis immediately thereafter. Justiss, 41, is the daughter of former county and municipal judge Thomas Stowe Jr. and the granddaughter of former Wetumpka City councilman Tom Stowe. She is a 20-year employee of the Elmore County Board of Education, where she works
as Title I/ESL (English as a Second Language) coordinator at Wetumpka Middle School. “I am a 41-year resident of District Three,” Justiss wrote in a letter to Willis asking that she be considered for the council seat. “Rebecca Thornton accomplished much and I would like the opportunity to serve District Three to continue this service.” Justiss will serve the remaining three years of the term for which Thornton was elected. In the work session prior to the meeting, Barbara Sims addressed the vacancy, saying she would like to see a general election held
to fill Thornton’s council slot, allowing citizens to get to know candidates and what they stood for. “With the resignation of Rebecca, people in the district are concerned,” Sims said, “I don’t know the rules of order for (filling the council vacancy), but if that (a general election) can be done, I’d like to see that done,” Sims said. “In the event it falls to the City Council, I ask y’all to pray and search your hearts.” Willis explained the process
Main Street receives grant
Commission Chairman holds first town hall and talks of more
$27k granted to help businesses cope with streetscape work
By COREY ARWOOD Staff Writer
Elmore County Commission Chairman Troy Stubbs is active in county government and active as well within his district as a local businessman and supporter of downtown revitalization. Serving in a number of roles locally he took to his district, District Three, and the service hall of Mulder Methodist Church last week to hold what was his first town hall – and possibly the first town hall among commissioners. He introduced himself to the upwards of 30 people there for what turned into a nearly two-hour event. “This is something that I personally have chosen to organize and put together, and I’ve done this because I sincerely want to get to know the citizens of the district and of the county and hear your concerns,” said Stubbs. “There are obviously things that we need to do in the county. There are things that we want to do in the county. There are things that we may be doing that we shouldn’t be doing. A lot of these things you’ll find that I’m pretty well aware of and, hopefully, after this meeting you’ll understand that there are a lot of efforts being put See STUBBS • Page A3
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See JUSTISS • Page A2
STAFF REPORT TPI Staff
Submitted / The Herald
The INT League Wakeboard Tournament takes place Saturday and Sunday at Gold Star Park.
INT wakeboarding tourney kicks off Saturday By EVAN DUDLEY Sports Editor
This weekend the Wetumpka River and Blues Music and Arts Festival will take center stage, but long before the music and art get started, there’ll be some action on the slick waters of the Coosa River. The INT League Stop 3 & 4 Wakeboard, Wakeskate and WakeSurf Tournament is this Saturday and Sunday at Gold Star Park begin-
ning at 9:30 a.m. with check-in and on-site registration at 8:30 a.m. and riders meeting at 9:15 a.m. There are various age groups for each of the three events and awards for the top three finishers in each category. Also known as the “Little League of Watersports,” the INT league began in 1993 in Washington and has more than 250 events per year in 27 states. It has maintained its See WAKEBOARDING • Page A3
Main Street Wetumpka recently received a U.S. Department of Agriculture grant for $27,000 to use for marketing downtown businesses during the upcoming streetscape, expected to begin later this year. Main Street Wetumpka is an independent non-profit organization dedicated to revitalizing downtown Wetumpka. The organization has been working closely with the City of Wetumpka to help select and provide benches, receptacles, trees and other items to complement the city’s federally funded streetscape and the grant will provide additional funding to help downtown businesses maintain foot traffic during work on the city’s streetscape. The grant will incorporate a targeted marketing See GRANT • Page A2
New learning approaches coming to WES By DAVID GRANGER Managing Editor
Wetumpka Elementary School will be implementing new learning approaches this year, thanks to a grant from the Alabama State Department of Education for a new play-based kindegarten program and a new SPARK Academy STEM program, said Bonnie Sullivan, principal at the school. “The grant was open to any elementary school, it was an open grant. They posted it and we applied for it thinking, ‘hey, we can get some extra money for our classrooms,’ which is what they need.” With the grant funds, the school
will purchase resources and teacher training aimed at the play-based kindergarten program. “We had heard about play-based kindergarten,” Sullivan said. “It’s more like a hands-on approach to learning. Reading and math are still going to be the same, the same kind of instruction – the teachers providing instruction, pulling small groups, those kinds of things. But for centers and other parts of the day the students can have choices of where they want to go. Like they can have a writing center, they can have a cooking center, they can have a make-believe center, like
Flea Market & Antiques 5266 U.S. Hwy. 231 • Wetumpka, AL (Winn Dixie Shopping Center • Behind KFC)
OVER 100 BOOTHS Everything from odds & ends to fine antiques
David Granger / The Herald
John Weis (red shirt) rolls an inflatable globe to a Wetumpka Elementary teacher during training Weis, an education specialist with NASA’s educator professional development collaborative, conducted with several WES teachers on Monday. The training from Weis will be ongoing as part of the WES SPARK See SPARK • Page A8 Academy.
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