Issuu

LOCAL, PAGE B6

LOCAL, PAGE A5

SPORTS, PAGE B1

CHECK OUT OUR ALL-COUNTY SOFTBALL TEAMS

Tallassee, AL 36078 TallasseeTribune.com

Dadeville suspects indicted on 145 charges

Jazz Fest to hit the stage this week

INSIDE:

SEE RECENT ARREST REPORTS, PAGE A2

$1.00

JUNE 7, 2023

VOL. 125, NO. 24

Resident seeking help for shot dog By CLIFF WILLIAMS News Editor Tallassee resident Sunny Ward and Lake Martin Animal Sanctuary’s Jennie Zinn are scrambling to help a dog that was hit by gunfire Saturday night in Ward’s yard as she let her dogs out before going to work. “Within five to 10 seconds of letting him out, this Black guy was walking

next to the road behind my house,” Ward said. “I heard him yelling out at this pit and another neighborhood dog that likes to chase people.” Ward gave chase to the animals in the Burnt Springs Mobile Home Park on Gilmer Avenue but heard four gunshots. She quickly turned around and went back inside. “I told myself that I needed to go check on the dogs — I needed to see

SUBMITTED THE TRIBUNE

who did this,” Ward said. “I saw a Black male run through my neighborhood.” Ward said she didn’t know who the man running through the neighborhood was and she called 911. Officers with the Tallassee Police Department responded. “They said there wasn’t anything they could do at this time and there was

Sunny Ward poses with BamBam in her home Sunday. According to Ward the animal had taken up at her house about a week ago and was shot three times Saturday night.

See DOG, Page A6

‘Strongest of us all’ Family of Dadeville shooting survivor celebrates reunion By CLIFF WILLIAMS News Editor

ANOTHER GENERATION SWIMS AT

THE TALLASSEE POOL By CLIFF WILLIAMS News Editor

renda Fincher wouldn’t share her age, but the grandmother shared her childhood in East Tallassee on Monday. Fincher, now a Prattville resident, returned to the Tallassee Municipal Pool with her grandchildren as it opened to the public for the first time since

2019. It is a memory she shared with her grandparents when they lived in Carrville. “I remember coming to this pool when I was a little girl,” Fincher said. “I had some cousins whose grandparents lived right down the road from here. We could walk. That was a long time ago.” Fincher brought along Collier See POOL, Page A6

Fincher, now a Prattville resident, returned to the Tallassee Municipal Pool with her grandchildren as it opened to the public for the first time since 2019. CLIFF WILLIAMS | THE TRIBUNE

Collier Ashmore, 10, of Wetumpka throws a ball at the Tallassee pool Monday, the first day the pool has been open to the general public in almost four years.

KD Heard moved across the Dadeville High School’s Tiger Stadium one final time last Thursday night, a familiar place for a football player like himself. His family described the moment as a blessing as he nearly died just a month earlier. Heard was one of many gunshot wound victims from the April 15 mass shooting. The 18-year-old graduated from high school Thursday and as he accepted his diploma, the chant “KD Strong”

echoed throughout the school’s stadium. His grandmother, Sharon Ware, described the mantra as appropriate given Heard’s release from the hospital less than a week prior. Until May 20, Heard had been recovering in the hospital from gunshot injuries sustained during the Dadeville mass shooting. Ware has prayed for his homecoming every day since the tragedy. “It’s a blessing. It’s been a long and hard journey, but we are so happy for him to be home,” she See SURVIVOR, Page A5

WILLIAM MARLOW | THE TRIBUNE

KD Heard embraces his family with joyful glee during his homecoming parade in late May. Heard was one of the survivors of the mass shooting in Dadeville.

Tallassee resident joins ranks of self-employed By CLIFF WILLIAMS News Editor It’s part of every version of the American dream — providing for yourself to live a better life. It often involves working for one’s

self or giving up the stability of a steady paycheck in effort to move ahead. Tallassee’s Zach Kelley made the leap of faith into the self-employed world in May. See RESIDENT, Page B3

Today’s

Weather

88 65 High

Low

THURS: HIGH 87 LOW 60