OPINION: PARKS FACE UNCERTAIN FUTURE, PAGE 4.
THURSDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL
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BRHS, Coosa play key gridiron games, Page 10.
Lighting the way for Alexander City & Lake Martin since 1892 October 9, 2015 Vol. 123, No. 202 www.alexcityoutlook.com
Officials probe double homicide in Goldville By Mitch Sneed Outlook Editor
Stevens Mitch Sneed / The Outlook
A lab mix guards the door of a mobile home on Pate Road where investigators say Dean Carl Stevens, above, killed Robert Wayne Mitchell and his sister Dianna Mitchell Sharpe Thursday afternoon.
Two people are dead after a Thursday afternoon shooting at a secluded mobile home in the Goldville community in northeast Tallapoosa County. Tallapoosa County Sheriff Jimmy Abbett confirmed that two adults, a male and a female, were found dead in a trailer at 424 Pate Road Thursday afternoon.
Preliminary investigation revealed that Dianna Mitchell Sharpe, 48, and Robert Wayne Mitchell, 50, were found in the residence located at 424 Pate Road which carries a Cragford mailing address even though it is in Tallapoosa County. Both victims had sustained gunshot wounds that resulted in their death, Abbett said. The discovery of the bodies came after Dean Carl Stevens, 50, responsible turned himself in at New Site Town Hall and led investigators to the See HOMICIDES, Page 3
‘Rally Flowers signs ‘Of Goats and in the Governors’ Alley’
AG issues statement on local gun law complaints
By Cliff Williams Outlook Staff Writer
“The South has had the most colorful politicians,” Political columnist and author Steve Flowers told a group gathered at the Adelia M. Russell Library Thursday. “It has been our entertainment in the absence of professional sports.” Flowers was in town promoting his book “Of Goats and Governors.” “I love small communities,” Flowers said. “In small towns like Alexander City, that is where my readership is.” Flowers gave a few samples from the book based on his knowledge of state politics. “I have always had a love of politics,” Flowers said. “I started out as a page in the state house.” Flowers recounts some of the those stories as
By Mitch Sneed Outlook Editor
The Alabama Attorney General’s office investigated two complaints concerning possible unlawful prohibitions of firearms by a school and two public parks in Dadeville. Thursday Attorney General Luther Strange released information of his findings, saying Councill Middle School had the right under state law to ban guns, while McKelvey Park and Creation Plantation Park failed to comply with state law by erecting signs banning firearms. In the case of signage at the parks banning firearms, a call to the city attorney appeared to address the problem. “After the Attorney General communicated with the city attorney, the City of Dadeville removed the signs prohibiting weapons See GUNS, Page 3
See FLOWERS, Page 3
Cliff Williams / The Outlook
A large crowd took in MainStreet Alexander City’s ‘Rally in the Alley’ downtown Thursday. The event is part of the group’s Chairish Alexander City festivities. The crowd was estimated at about 200 people.
Cliff Williams / The Outlook
Political columnist and author Steve Flowers talks with Debra Jones at a book signing at the library Thursday.
Kiwanians get history lesson from Dadeville’s own Barbara Cole By David Granger Outlook Staff Writer
Dadeville’s Barbara Cole grew up under unique circumstances. Cole, who will turn 80 in February, was born and grew up among the 28 families of Martin Dam Village, perhaps the only village in Alabama in its time to feature most of the conveniences of modern life – many long before they were offered anywhere else. On Thursday, she told the weekly gathering of the Dadeville Kiwanis Club of her experiences there. “We had everything that you have in this town today,” Cole said of the village which was originally built for the people she called “the bigshots” (doctors, nurses and construction supervisors) during the construction of Martin Dam. “We had a store with everything we needed. We had a clubhouse. Now Playing:
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We had a guesthouse. We had electricity. We had indoor plumbing. We had garbage pick-up. We had streetlights. We had it all.” The village also had telephones, but only one long-distance line. And, apparently, a nosy operator. “I can remember when I was dating my husband,” Cole said. He called one day and said, ‘Barbara, I really don’t think that I can make it.’ And he couldn’t make it because we had dirt roads. And the operator said, ‘Oh, you can make it if you just go up by so and so.’” The village featured two- and threebedroom houses. Families without children or with a single child lived in the two-bedrooms. Families with two or more children lived in the three-bedrooms. Cole was born in one of the two-bedroom village homes in 1936 and lived there through World War II until she left for college (Jacksonville State) in 1952.
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Dadeville’s Barbara Cole speaks to the Kiwanis Club Thursday, sharing personal stories of the area’s rich history and the way things once were. David Granger / The Outlook
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Linda Shaffer, REALTOR® C: 256.794.4641 • W: 256.329.5253 shaffer@lakemartin.net 5295 Highway 280, Alexander City, AL
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