THE THE FOURTH, 5
THURSDAY
Lighting the way for Alexander City & Lake Martin since 1892
See photos from Alex City Celebrate Freedom
July 5, 2018 Vol. 126, No. 132 www.alexcityoutlook.com 75¢
SPORTS, 10 Locals to host fishing tourney in memory of Mitch Sneed
Council hears thoughts on lodging tax increase By CLIFF WILLIAMS Staff Writer
The Alexander City City council held a public hearing on the possibility of raising the lodging tax at Monday’s meeting. Central Alabama Community College’s Brett Pritchard believes an
increase to support the creation of a tourism entity is a good thing and would bring more events and people to town. “I spoke to you a few months ago about supporting the Bassmaster Elite Series tournament,” Pritchard said at the public hearing. “I think it was a tremendous success.” The city has supported events in the
past. “Over the last three years we have had three of the largest tournaments through the BASS organization – high school, college series and the Elite series,” Pritchard said. “It really is unprecedented that we get an Elite tournament that quickly. It was because of the support from everyone.”
There has already been discussion about creating an entity for tourism but no vote was held Monday night. “We have not decided what that lodging tax will be or if we will have an increase,” council president Tommy Spraggins said. “We are having a public hearing and I don’t see anyone See COUNCIL • Page 9
MainStreet Alex City decorating downtown in Sneed’s memory
New Site council makes progress on clinic project
By DONALD CAMPBELL Staff Writer
In memory of Outlook editor Mitch Sneed, the MainStreet Alexander City organization will be placing ribbons throughout downtown. “We were wanting a few white ribbons to place in downtown,” MainStreet’s Bre Smith said. “He was a huge Georgia Bulldogs fan, so we wanted to do white ribbons with red and black.” Smith said the tribute began Monday by placing one such ribbon on the front bench of the courtroom in the old city hall, marking the seat Sneed always occupied during Alexander City City Council meetings. Since then, Smith has been working to grow the tribute to include the entire downtown area. “We want to put them on light poles or, if the businesses will allow us, put them in the windows of these businesses,” Smith said. “He was a good man and he contributed a lot to our organization. A tribute like this is the least we can do.”
Cliff Williams / The Outlook
A University of Georgia colored ribbon marks the spot where Mitch Sneed always sat while covering and live streaming the city council meetings.
By DONALD CAMPBELL Staff Writer
The plans for bringing a medical clinic to the town of New Site are one step closer to fruition, after the New Site Town Council held a special work session in addition to the regularly scheduled council meeting Monday night. At the work session, New Site Mayor Phil Blasingame said getting to this point has been the culmination of more than a year of hard work and dedication from a lot of people. Blasingame brought plans for what the clinic building could look like, both a more traditional style or a modular structure similar to the Tallapoosa County Board of Education building in Dadeville or MainStreet Urgent Care in Alexander City. One key issue in bringing the facility to New Site is funding. Blasingame and others involved in the process have been in conversation with representatives of the East Alabama Planning Commission about trying to get grant funding to construct the building. At the same time, the council felt it would be a good idea to look into ways the project could be funded if the town did not obtain any grant money. “We need to look at both options (grant money and alternate sources) if we do move forward,” Councilman Michael East said. “We need to be careful with what we do,” Councilman Billy Daniel added. “We will have plenty of opportunities to come up with alternate options,” Blasingame said. “The deadline for turning See CLINIC • Page 3
‘FREEDOM lies IN being
BOLD’ — Robert Frost
Photos by Kenneth Boone All across the Lake Martin community people gathered to celebrated Independence Day in their own way. Numerous boats were decorated in patriotic regalia and some unique as ‘The Banana Boat,’ above, at Russell Marine’s annual boat parade that began at Kowaliga and went to Children’s Harbor Wednesday morning. For photos from Alexander City Celebrate Freedom Tuesday night and more from the boat parade, see Page 5 inside. Friday’s Outlook will feature photos from the fireworks at The Amp Wednesday night and more.
County schools’ summer arts enrichment program draws to successful close By DONALD CAMPBELL Staff Writer
Throughout the month of June, elementary school students at all three facilities in the Tallapoosa County system took part in the annual summer arts enrichment camp. Last Thursday morning, these students presented the productions they spent their mornings working on, showcasing their artistic and dramatic talents to the community. Dadeville Elementary campers put on a stage production of the iconic story “Annie,” Horseshoe Bend performed a
Today’s
special piece called “Songs and Legends of the American Frontier” and Reeltown Elementary staged a performance of “Grease.” All three performances were well attended, and drew plenty of positive comments from those watching the show. Under the guidance of director Alicia Peters, participants at Dadeville Elementary performed their version of the hit 1970s musical that has since become one of the most famous stories ever written, having been adapted into multiple film versions and seeing several stage revivals on Broadway. Singing such iconic numbers See ARTS • Page 9
Lake Martin
Weather
Lake Levels
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490.51
High
Reported on 07/04/18 @ 1 p.m.
Low
Donald Campbell / The Outlook
Annie (Kahlia Wilson) and the other orphans are confronted by Miss Hanagen (Addison Caldwell) over the stray dog Sandy (Kameryn Mayton) during the Dadeville Elementary School Summer Arts Enrichment Camp’s production of “Annie.”
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