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The
THURSDAY • NOVEMBER 17, 2016
TheWetumpkaHerald.com
Vol. 27, No. 46
Faulk resigns District 4 commission post By DAVID GRANGER Staff Writer
Joe Faulk, who has agreed to plead guilty to the charge of use of his official position or office for personal gain, on Monday resigned his position as Elmore County Commissioner for District 4, a source told the Herald. Faulk’s resignation was effective at midnight on Monday night, the source
said. With Faulk’s decision, the Elmore County Commission will eventually consist of five new members. The other four members – Kenny Holt, Mack Daugherty, Troy Stubbs and Earl Reeves – will be sworn in at a ceremony scheduled for this morning. According to Sonny Brasfield, executive director of the Association of County Commissioners of Alabama, Faulk’s
replacement will be appointed by Gov. Robert Bentley to serve a two-year term before a new election for Faulk’s current post would be held in 2018. The winner of that election would then serve another two-year term so that all commissioners would then be on the same four-year election cycle and up for election again in 2020. Faulk was arrested Oct. 25 on the charges, which resulted from an Alabama
Ethics Commission investigation. According to the documents filed with the Circuit Court of Elmore County, Faulk will enter his plea to the current “non-capital felony offense” before Judge Glenn Goggans Faulk on Dec. 1. See RESIGN • Page 3
Rodgers resigns from Tallassee PD
Newest member sworn in for school board
By WILLIAM CARROLL Managing Editor
By WILLIAM CARROLL Managing Editor
Mayor Johnny Hammock announced during Monday’s Tallassee City Council meeting that Police Chief Jimmy Rodgers, is resigning form the force. “Tallassee’s Director of Public Safety, Jimmy Rodgers has decided to resign from employment with the city,” Hammock said. Rodgers has been with TPD for more than 20 years. While TPD Rodgers has been the focus of half of his lifespan, he understands that life is full of unknowns. “It has been just over two decades, or approximately half my lifetime, since I began my career with the Tallassee Police Department,” Rodgers said. “I intended for this to be a step to something else in life, but God had other plans.” Rodgers says it’s time to turn his position over to next police chief. “So now we are here over 20 years later, so many blessings and friendships have come along the journey,” he said. “Now it’s time to pass the torch, so to speak. I feel that the time is now for God’s hand of release on this season.” Rodgers said he is grateful for the good times and stronger for the hard times endured throughout his years on the force. “I leave a department battered, but full of perseverance. They have been
A new member was sworn into her seat on the Elmore County Board of Education Monday afternoon, as Leisa Finley took her oath of office administered by Elmore County District Judge Patrick Pinkston. Finley, who defeated long-time incumbent school board member Larry Teel, represents the Wetumpka/Redland area. In the board’s first meeting of its new term, Michael Morgan, who was not present at the meeting, was elected the new board chair and Dale Bain was elected the board’s vice-chair. Elmore County Schools Maintenance Coordinator Gary Gregory spoke with the board about the district’s reroofing project for several area schools. Gregory said that the schools are in pretty good shape countywide, but noted that a couple of buildings still needed some remedial work to bring their roofs up to the level of other buildings in the county. These two buildings are the 700 building at Stanhope Elmore High School and the number four building at the Career and Technical Center. Gregory said that he believed the work on Stanhope could be done over the Christmas break
See RODGERS • Page 3
David Granger / The Observer
Darrell Doucette, left, thanks Master Sgt. Carl W. Patillo for his 17 years of service in the U.S. Army. Patillo was one of two speakers at Eclectic’s Veterans Day celebration last Friday.
VETERANS DAY Town of Eclectic honors veterans with ceremony By DAVID GRANGER Staff Writer
Approximately 60 people gathered in front of the seven sections of granite that bear the names of more than 900 veterans from the Eclectic area on Veteran’s Day to hear from two speakers representing the eager and the tested among our nation’s soldiers. The event, sponsored annually by Eclectic the Beautiful, also featured patriotic music from “Hattie Mae,” made up of guitarist Aaron Brooks and vocalist Mark Miller, and an opportunity for veterans and
others to gather and share memories of their own military careers or those of their family members. Featured speakers at the event were 2nd Lt. Conner Reagan Coombs of San Antonio, Texas, and Master Sgt. Carl W. Patillo, a native of Eclectic, both soldiers in the U.S. Army. Coombs, the grandson of Harold and Patty Dunson of Eclectic, is a recent graduate of Texas A&M in College Station, Texas, and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in May. After an armor basic leadership course at Fort Benning, See VETERANS • Page 3
Last week for Operation Christmas Child donations
Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. hosts elder care workshop By WILLIAM CARROLL Managing Editor
The sisters of Zeta Phi Beta sorority hosted an elder care workshop Saturday morning at Rogers Chapel AME Zion church, which covered a variety of topics from elder care resources to recognizing and reporting elder abuse to caring for the caregiver. The sorority’s invited guests included Michael Bryant with 211 Connects
Alabama/HandsOn River Region, Tonia Bell with the Alabama Department of Human Resources, Michelle Wood with the Elmore County Department of Human Resources, Lindsey Solomon with the Central Alabama Aging Consortium and La Tonya Porterfield a Medicare open enrollment representative. 211 Connects Alabama is a service provided to Alabama See WORKSHOP • Page 2
By CARMEN RODGERS Staff Writer
Submitted / The Herald
Michelle Wood (right standing), director of the Elmore County Department of Human Resources speaks to those gathered at Rogers Chapel AME Zion church regarding her agency’s handling of issues relating to elder care and abuse. Also pictured from left to right are Tonia Bell, program manager with the Alabama Department of Human Resources, Michael Bryant with 211 Connects Alabama/HandsOn River Region, Lindsey Solomon with the Central Alabama Aging Consortium and La Tonya Porterfield.
Today’s
Weather
79 50 High
Low
pka m u t e W
Flea Market & Antiques
2016 Open House • Sat. November 26 • 9AM - 6PM
$200 Gift Certificates Every 2 Hours! FOOD AND DRINKS PROVIDED • 10-60% OFF
334-567-2666
5266 U.S. Hwy. 231, Wetumpka FRIDAY: HIGH 78 LOW 53
See SCHOOL • Page 2
Winn Dixie Shopping Center • Behind KFC
This is the week that Elmore County residents will transform empty shoeboxes into gifts of hope filled with school supplies, hygiene items, and notes of encouragement and fun toys, such as a doll or soccer ball. Operation Christmas Child, a project of Samaritan’s Purse, will deliver these shoebox gifts to children overseas living in See CHRISTMAS • Page 3