Elmore County trio lands spots in All-Star showcase. Sports, Page 8.
Wetumpka, AL 36092
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SATURDAY-SUNDAY • MAY 21 -22, 2016
THEWETUMPKAHERALD.COM
VOL. 11, NO. 20
‘Vehicle of interest’ identified in mill fire
By COREY ARWOOD Staff Writer
A sport utility vehicle fitting the description of a dark colored Chevy Tahoe or GMC Yukon has been identified as a vehicle of interest by the agencies working on Tallassee’s Mount Vernon Mill fire. And a state fire official said the main point of interest is the vehicle’s lighter
colored hood. The contrasting hood color was said to be the important detail about the SUV, captured from surveillance footage taken near the area of the Mill on May 4, the night of the fire. A public information officer with the State Fire Marshal’s Office, Steve Holmes, said investigators think the lighter color, described as a primer grey
or white, indicates the hood has not been painted yet. The vehicle is thought to be a middle-sized GM product, Holmes said. Tallassee Police Chief Jimmy Rodgers said the images emerged from surveillance video taken around the time the first 911 calls were received and the fire reported. Rodgers said they knew there were at
least two people in the vehicle. The “vehicle of interest” status was a matter of the time and place, and the images in the press release are from police department footage, he said. However, Rodgers said, there is no evidence, such as a plate number, to indicate where the SUV or its driver and See MILL • Page 2
Statewide school spending cuts will hit Elmore County
Elderly Millbrook woman shot twice, husband found dead
By COREY ARWOOD Staff Writer
By COREY ARWOOD Staff Writer
Millbrook police said an elderly white woman was shot twice Thursday and the woman’s husband, the suspected shooter, was found dead at the residence from what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Chief P.K Johnson said they responded to the house that morning and found the woman with gunshot wounds to her torso. The woman was taken to a Montgomery hospital where Johnson said she was in stable condition. He said there are both ongoing death and attempted murder investigations, while some media reports are labeling the incident a “murder-suicide.” After being shot, the woman, believed to be in her late 70s, was said to have made her way to a neighbor, who then called for help around 7:16 a.m. Johnson said there was “no doubt” the husband shot the wife. She was described as lucid, and was said to be able to communicate with police when they arrived. The neighbor confirmed the woman’s accounts, Johnson said. He said the shots came from a handgun, and the incident took place somewhere in the 200 block
Cuts to state education programs hit Elmore County with a loss of more than $50,000 for a reading initiative program in elementary schools, however Superintendent Andre Harrison said it could have been much worse had local school boards not intervened. Almost all of the over $300,000 worth of funding the county receives for the Alabama Reading Initiative was at stake for a majority of its elementary schools, Andre Harrison, said. A Public Information Manager with Alabama State Department of Education, ALSDE, Malissa ValdesHubert, said they were funded $7 million less by the Legislature this year for the ARI program. She said they had to make the decision where the cuts would fall. It was decided to decrease the amount for the districts based on need and factors like whether local funds were present, or how low the district’s reading proficiency level was. Harrison said he received a call on May 9, from the state interim superintendent, Phillip Cleveland, who said Elmore County was going to lose some degree of funding for the program because the schools were scored overall above the state benchmark. See SCHOOLS • Page 2
Cliff Willams / The Outlook
Max Vaughn with Goodwyn, Mills & Cawood, Inc. speaks at the Wetumpka Area Chamber of Commerce’s luncheon Thursday about the Wetumpka Streetscape project. Vaughn said he anticipates the project to begin later this summer or early fall.
DOWNTOWN DO-OVER
Moving forward the theme of Chamber luncheon By WILLIAM CARROLL Managing Editor
The message was loud and clear at the Wetumpka Area Chamber of Commerce’s luncheon Thursday. Wetumpka is moving forward in renovating its downtown district. Speakers Max Vaughn of Goodwyn, Mills & Cawood, Inc. and Dennis Fain of the Wetumpka Downtown Association gave the assembled guests a vision of the future of Wetumpka. According to Vaughn, that future will include vastly improved roads and walkways downtown. The Wetumpka Streetscape project is phase two of an anticipated three-phase project to improve downtown Wetumpka. The first
See SHOOTING • Page 3
phase, which involved a Community Development Block Grant, was the downtown water, sewer and drainage project started in 2015. According to Vaughn, the project’s goal was to rehab the area underneath downtown in anticipation of this new project. Vaughn said that while the project finished a little later than expected it did finish under its $800,000 budget. Vaughn said the streetscape project would help to revitalize the city. “This is a very exciting project that is going to make a big improvement on downtown,” he said. Vaughn said the project serves a number of functions. See CHAMBER • Page 3
Lifesaving bloodhound breeding facility coming to Wetumpka By WILLIAM CARROLL Managing Editor
Submitted / The Herald
Just one over over 200 dogs who have come from the 832 K9’s Deputy Dogs program. These dogs are being used all around the country to assist law enforcement in solving a variety of different crimes.
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Area resident Donna Wilson is bringing a successful breeding operation to Wetumpka, which has saved numerous lives over the last 15 years. The Kody Snodgrass Memorial Foundation, Inc., 832 K-9’s Deputy Dogs, is relocating its breeding facility from Inverness, Florida to the Wetumpka area in the next few months. 832 K9s is based in Homosassa, Florida and is the brainchild of Duke Snodgrass and Angela Snodgrass, who created the organization to remember their son Deputy Kody H. Snodgrass of the Lake County (Florida) Sheriff’s Office. Snodgrass’ badge number 0832, is part of the organization’s title. Duke Snodgrass said the organization was actually an idea his late son had after rescuing a suicidal 13 year old boy.
“The boy had been gone five or 6 hours when they called Kody,” Snodgrass said. “Kody had an old bloodhound that he had been assigned as part of the unit.” Snodgrass said that initially no one in the K-9 unit wanted the old dog. “Kody loved dogs,” he said. “They had no one who wanted to run that dog, we worked on that old dog and got him ready. The work of the bloodhound in tracking the child saved the boy’s life. “The night he found the boy he called me and said ‘Dad you got to help, we have to do something for these kids, we have to bring them home,” Snodgrass said. He said that he began discussing the idea with his son, suggesting that Kody run the program as Snodgrass said he was too old for such an endeavor. “I didn’t want to be working, little See BLOODHOUND • Page 8
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