INSIDE TODAY
City makes impression on KBF head man, fishermen
Changing up the roster! New coaches announced!
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SPORTS, PAGE B1
OPINION, PAGE A4
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THE WETUMPKA HERALD Elmore County’s Oldest Newspaper - Established 1898
Wetumpka, AL 36092
50¢
WEDNESDAY • MARCH 1, 2017
THEWETUMPKAHERALD.COM
VOL. 119, NO. 9
Community unites for Boys and Girls Club By COREY ARWOOD Staff Writer
Dozens of residents flanked by local broadcasters packed the pews of a Wetumpka church in a meeting to raise awareness to the plight of the local Boys and Girls Club and hear a revelation. Key community leaders, officials and organizers spoke to the more than 30 gathered Thursday night at Rodgers Chapel AME Zion Church. A city council member, class members
of Leadership Elmore County and the regional director of the River Region Boys and Girls Club spoke to the audience. to update residents on the future of a club with a reported attendance of over 300 local children per year after its prospective closure was announced at receiving zero funding from the city in its latest budget. Leadership Elmore County Class of 2017 student and the Department of Homeland Security employee Michael Waters spoke at large on his own
investigations into the club. “We all need to be advocates for our kids, for their future, if we don’t look out for them who will?” Waters said. He also talked about his efforts organizing with Juvenile Judge Patrick Pinkston, who sits as chair of the Alabama Children’s Policy Council for Elmore County. An entity of the Alabama Department of Early Childhood Education, the council annually publishes a needs assessment for the county and regularly atop the list
sits the continuation of the Boys and Girls Club. While the body has no legislative capacity to enforce its recommendations, Waters said Pinkston has pledged $2,000 from his office to the club. Waters revealed at the meeting an inconsistency in a comment from Mayor Jerry Willis made in a WSFA segment when he said he had never heard of the council or its needs assessments.
See BOYS AND GIRLS • Page 2
Crowds jam Gold Star Park, downtown for Mardis Gras
Commission hires new county attorney By COREY ARWOOD Staff Writer
By DAVID GRANGER Managing Editor
The Elmore County engineer announced he will appear in Washington, D.C., as a panelist before two House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittees on the way federal grant money is disbursed to counties. Highway Department Director Richie Beyer made the announcement at the recent county commission meeting, saying he was asked by Rep. Gary Palmer, who was newly made the chair of Intergovernmental Affairs Subcommittee, to speak at the National Association of Counties Legislative Conference. “I’m going to be talking about federal highways and disasters,” said Beyer, who went on to say. “...but it’s very frustrating when you can – if it was just strictly local money and didn’t have all the strings attached – you can do one and a half to two times the work and that’s what this committee’s after is figuring how to get the money to the projects quicker.” He said two committees were meeting on the topic, The Subcommittee on Intergovernmental Affairs and the Subcommittee on the Interior, Energy and Environment. When asked if it would See COMMISSION • Page 3
a k p m u Wet
KAYAK KEEPERS River specialist Ball uses lake strategy to take Kayak Bass Fishing’s Best of the Best
By DAVID GRANGER Managing Editor
Matt Ball, who prefers fishing rivers to lakes, used a spot he found prefishing Lake Jordan the day prior to Kayak Bass Fishing’s Best of the Best competition pitting KBF national champion Ball against KBF angler of the year Jay Wallen to become the best of the best in the growing sport of kayak bass fishing. “I sort of ran away with it,” Ball said. “The fishing was tough, but when I could, I went back to that one spot on the lake and stayed there and that helped me put the See FISHING • Page 3
See MARDIS GRAS • Page 3
Submitted / The Herald
Top, Matt Ball, winner of the first-ever Kayak Bass Fishing Best of the Best competition, held Friday through Sunday on the Coosa River and Lake Jordan, shows off on of his catches from Friday’s fishing in the Coosa. Above, Ball paddles the Coosa River early Friday morning in his successful quest to become Kayak Bass Fishing’s Best of the Best.
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Hundreds of people browsed more than 70 vendors’ booths in Gold Star Park Saturday morning and still more lined the streets of downtown Wetumpka early Saturday afternoon for the Order of Cimarron’s fifth annual Mardi Gras festival and parade. “Everything went extremely well,” said Griffin Pritchard, 2017 parade chair for the Order of Cimarron, who also reigned over the festivities as King Lachlan V on Saturday with Queen Sehoy V, Jessica Shaw. “We had our largest turnout to date. We had 30-plus entries in the parade, which is more than ever. Anytime we can add floats or other participants, we’re happy. It was a really good parade and people seemed to enjoy it. “Again, we had more than 70 vendors and we’re to the point for the first time this year that we were able to add an information booth on Cimarron. We hope to do even more with that in the future, as well.”
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David Granger / The Herald
Young Mardi Gras revelers Tyce, left, and Tyler Maynard enjoy snow cones prior to Saturday’s parade.