CITY SCHOOLS TO HOST OPEN HOUSE WEDNESDAY, PAGE 5.
THE
SATURDAY FUN Images from Octoberfest, page 5.
TUESDAY
Lighting the way for Alexander City & Lake Martin since 1892 October 13, 2015
Vol. 123, No. 204
www.alexcityoutlook.com
No. 6 Wildcats ready for road trip to Valley, page 10.
Arrest made in 16 area burglaries
City schools see slight decrease in enrollment Numbers up in elementary but down in middle grades By David Granger Outlook Staff Writer
Alexander City Schools’ enrollment for the 201516 school year is down by 32 students from last year, according to average daily measurement numbers released Monday by the school system. Average daily measurement is calculated annually by averaging the total attendance for each of the 20 school days immediately following Labor Day. Perstudent allocations from the state’s Education Trust Fund are based on the ADM total from the last completed school year prior to the legislative session. “We lost some students in the middle grades,” Cooper said. “I don’t know if what we’re seeing there is the Russell effect or what, but we obviously had some students who relocated for whatever reason.” Seventh-grade enrollment is down 13 students, eighthgrade is down five. The biggest class loss was ninthgrade, which fell from 318 last year to 232 this year. “The good news is we’re seeing some growth in lower elementary grades,” Cooper said. “Hopefully, as those kids work their way through our system they’ll offset some of these losses.” Most of the elementary growth is at Stephens Elementary, which saw its enrollment grow fro 435 to 457, largely due to a jump in third-grade enrollment from 207 to 249. Enrollment at the remaining schools decreased. Jim See NUMBERS, Page 9
INTO THE VALLEY
Cliff Williams / The Outlook
D Dadeville Police Officer Rico Hardnett, above left, who is a staff sergeant with the 214 h hugs his children Myleigh, 3, Kaeleigh, 8 and Mykell, 9, while a mother, right, gets one la last gaze into her solider’s eyes at Saturday’s deployment ceremony. Below, the 214th m marches to th BRHS auditorium for the ceremony.
214th deploys again
Authorities believe Alex City man responsible for incidents in the city, Tallapoosa and Elmore counties By Mitch Sneed Outlook Editor
The Alabama National Guard 214th held a deployG ment ceremony Saturday to m reassure families friends and r soldiers that their service does s not n go unnoticed and local authorities want the govera nor n to understand these soldiers are fighting for them d too to while they deploy for the third th time in the war on terror. National Guard Command Sergeant Major Eddie Pike S knows the sacrifices that the k families make. f “Families, I know how hard it is to see your soldier h go,” g Pike said. “I have one in that th group, but I also know how proud you are of your h soldier. I know you are proud s of o what the soldier represents freedom.” fr Pike and the 214th’s commanding officer Capt. Edwin m Eiswerth told the families E
Authorities in Alexander City, Tallapoosa County and Elmore County believe they have a man in custody who has been involved in more than a dozen residential burglaries around Lake Martin. Alexander City Police arrested 37-yearold John Lynn Pons on Sept. 30 on a disorderly conduct charge. That arrest came on the same night as a residential burglary on Lakeview Drive in Alexander City. A short time after his initial arrest, Pons was linked to that incident. “After his arrest we were able to uncover some evidence that linked him to the burglary Pons on Lakeview Drive,” Alexander City Police Chief Willie Robinson said. “We did recover some of the property from that incident. He was charged in that case on Oct. 2. “We continued the investigation and our detectives worked with other agencies and we were able to connect him to three more incidents in our jurisdiction.” Robinson said that Pons was charged on Oct. 8 with two burglaries that occurred onElbert Drive and one that was reported on Wicker Point Drive, all in Alexander City. Through communication with the other agencies, Pons also emerged as a suspect in 16 other similar burglaries. According to court records, Pons plead guilty to third-degree burglary and theft in 2013. Pons burglarized a house stealing guns, jewelry and electronics according to a pleas agreement. He was sentenced to 48 months in
See GUARD, Page 5
See BURGLARIES, Page 9
Community says goodbye for now to troops By Cliff Williams Outlook Staff Writer
Horizons Unlimited learns of Alabama’s monument man By David Granger Outlook Staff Writer
A native Alabamian and Auburn graduate was chiefly responsible for the return to the Belgian government of Jan Van Eyck’s “The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb,” also known as the Ghent Altarpiece, which the Nazi government had stowed away with more than 6,500 works of art in an Austrian salt mine. The recovery of priceless historical works of art pilfered by the Nazis during World War II and the men – known as the Monuments Men – tasked with their recovery and with the protection of other works was the subject of the 2014 movie “The Monuments Men,” in which Bill Murray played a character loosely based on Auburn gradu-
ate and Morris native Robert Kelley Posey, according to Paul A. Harris, a professor of political science and associate director of the Honors College at Auburn. Harris spoke to Alex City’s Horizons Unlimited group on Monday in the Alexander City Board of Education Board Room on “Alabama’s Monument Man: Capt. Robert K. Posey and the Quest for the Mystic Lamb.” Harris detailed Posey’s poor childhood in the Birmingham area and his attendance at Auburn on an ROTC scholarSubmitted / The Outlook ship. The Ghent Altarpiece during recovery from the Altaussee salt mine at the “Actually, the plan was that end of World War II. he would use the scholarship one year and his brother the He added that Posey earned tenant in the Army Reserves. next, but Robert did so well bachelor’s degrees in both archi- Posey received orders from the in school that he stayed until tectural engineering and archi- Army Reserves in 1942 and in he graduated with his second tecture while at Auburn and was 1944 was named monuments degree,” Harris said. See HORIZONS, Page 9 commissioned as a second lieu-
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