LOCAL, PAGE A6
SPORTS, PAGE B1
Tallassee High School homecoming spirit reps inside
Tigers return to action with region play
ALABAMA’S BIGGEST WEEKLY HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL EDITION INSIDE
The Tallassee Tribune DEDICATED TO THE GROWTH AND PROSPERITY OF THE GREATER TALLASSEE AREA
TALLASSEE, AL 36078
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October 3, 2018
TALLASSEETRIBUNE.COM
VOL. 119, NO.40
City passes budget, cuts IDB funding
By CARMEN RODGERS Staff Writer
The Tallassee City Council voted to pass the 2019 fiscal budget during last Tuesday’s regular meeting with no opposition. It also agreed to include an extra holiday for city employees this year. When planning the budget, the finance committee was working with just under $9.5 million in revenue and $9.3 million in expenditures, leaving a
New incentive program fights absenteeism
small balance. Some of the largest expenditures include about $1.8 million for administration costs and $1.75 set aside for public safety. One thing that will not be on the 2019 fiscal budget is an appropriation to the Tallassee Industrial Development Board. The council made the decision to cut funding for a number of reasons. According to Mayor Johnny Hammock, the IDB is a separate entity from the city and is in sound financial standing.
“At this time the city council feels that the Tallassee IDB is financially sound and can sustain itself,” Hammock said. “That is based off of a review of the 2016 IDB financials that showed the IDB had $1,089,000 in cash and CDs.” In addition, Hammock says the city council did not receive a formal request for an appropriation for the 2019 fiscal year from the IDB. Despite cutting funding to the IDB, Hammock says the city council hopes to maintain the partnership with the board
and the appropriations that were cut can still be revisited should the need arise. “The city has removed the $50,000 line item from the budget and added it to our local economic development line item,” Hammock said. These funds can be utilized for a number of reasons, including appropriating funds for the IDB if needed. “The city council still wants to work unilaterally with the IDB in the future,” Hammock said.
Lake Thurlow could soon be back to normal pool
The Tallassee High School 2018 Homecoming Court poses for a photo with ‘Tally the Tiger.’ Pictured are, from left, Ivri Russell, Kennede White, Miriam Bird, Iyana Parker and Emma Grace Coyle. Special / Suzannah Solomon Wilson
By CARMEN RODGERS Staff Writer
Because student attendance plays an important role in a school’s annual State Board of Education report card, the Tallassee Board of Education has created an incentive program that is really paying off for students with perfect and near perfect attendance. “One of the areas on our report card is chronic absenteeism and that is an issue across our state, across our system, across the country,” Tallassee Board of Education Superintendent Wade Shipman said. “We created an incentive program where we reward the school with the highest attendance record $100 every week to use in that school,” he said. The school system is in week three of this incentive program and thus far the middle school is leading the race for perfect, or near perfect, attendance. “This is the third week that the middle school has had the greatest attendance,” Shipman said. Now that the incentive See ABESENTEEISM • Page A2
By CARMEN RODGERS Staff Writer
Tallassee homecoming week full of fun By CARMEN RODGERS Staff Writer
It’s homecoming week in Tallassee and the celebration is set to begin Thursday with a candlelight ceremony and bonfire from 6 to 8 p.m. on the high school campus. Friday the fun starts early with a pep rally scheduled for 8 a.m. The class of 1999 will
host the pep rally and a reception for returning students and their family will be held afterward. Residents will line the street for the homecoming parade, which is slated for 2 p.m. The parade will follow the traditional route, from THS to the East Tallassee Shopping Center. The 2018 homecoming queen will be crowned at 6:30 and the Tallassee football game will follow at 7 p.m.
Today’s
Mollie Beth’s MDA walk set for Oct. 20 at the Montgomery Zoo By CARMEN RODGERS Staff Writer
On the outside, Mollie Beth Preston looks like a typical 8-year-old girl. But on the inside, she is battling an illness that affects almost every aspect of her tiny body. Mollie, of Slapout, has Hashimoto’s disease, an autoimmune disorder that can cause the immune system to attack the thyroid, causing hypothyroidism or underactive thyroid. Without enough thyroid hormones, many of the body’s functions slow down. She also suffers from juvenile dermatomyositis, an inflammatory disease of the muscle, skin, and blood
vessels that affects about three in one million children each year. The cause is unknown. The primary symptoms of JDM include muscle weakness and skin rash. Mollie has been plagued by these devastating illnesses for almost three years now. “When she was 6 years old she became very sick, out of nowhere,” Mollie Beth’s mother Jessica Preston said. Last year Mollie Beth was able to escape the limits of her disease when she attended Alabama’s Special Camp for Children and Adults, better known as Camp ASCCA, on Lake Martin. See WALK • Page A2
Alabama Power’s Joel Johnson spoke to members of the Tallassee Rotary Club Thursday about the ongoing work on Thurlow Dam’s spillways. Johnson also announced that the project’s 2018 work season is coming to an end. This is good news for those who live along Lake Thurlow and those who fish its waters. Earlier this summer local anglers who frequently fish Lake Thurlow complained about the low water level leaving them without access to the lake’s only public boat ramp, but now that the 2018 work season is coming to an end, the boat ramp could soon be accessible once water levels return to normal pool. However, anglers should take advantage of this because water levels will be lowered again when the 2019 work season begins. According to Johnson, the 2018 drawdown is tentatively scheduled to end Oct. 31, with water levels returning to normal pool level. A similar See THURLOW • Page A2
Weather
88 68 High
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THURS: HIGH 90 LOW 68
Submitted / The Tribune
Mollie Beth’s MDA walk is set for Oct. 20 at 9 a.m. at the Montgomery Zoo. Mollie Beth, 8, encourages everyone to join her as she brings awareness and raises money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association.
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