The first thing I noticed in the newspaper for the last week of October of 1989 is the similarity of what is happening today, 25 years later.
There was a lot of space devoted to the upcoming Miller-Neal football game. Just as today, it was on the minds of most residents on both sides of Murder Creek. There was an article retelling the story of how this particular game came into being in 1946.
In 1946, the local hospital was located on Douglas Avenue on the corner of Rankin Street. In more recent times the site has been known as the Holley House, housing a number of the elderly.
At that time, in 1946, there was a great need for funds at the hospital. It was decided to have a charitable football game played between T.R. Miller and W. S. Neal with the proceeds going to the hospital. Both T.R. Miller and W. S. Neal had teams but they were not playing each other at the time, and the Battle of Murder Creek was born.
Whatever happened to Octoberfest in Brewton? In 1989, Belleville Avenue and Henderson Street were closed off and street vendors were on hand with plenty of good eats and entertainment. One of the main activities was the “boats with wheels” race held on Belleville Avenue.
As most of you know, it is against the law in Brewton to ride your boat in the streets of downtown. This law stems from 1929 when the boats on the flooded streets caused the windows of the stores to break. It seems that Mayor Ted Jennings relaxed the law for the day of Octobertfest. The Kiwanis Club won first place in the race while Bob and Cochrane McMillan won the father-son race.
I also read that T.R. Miller cheerleaders, along with an attorney showed up at the school board to get the school’s permission for their use of some new stunts they wanted to perform, which they received.
I learned something from that article. I didn’t know the cheerleaders had to get permission to do their stunts. I thought they just decided to do some new stunt and went out to perfect it before trying it out on the field. I guess it does make since that the school board wouldn’t want them to try stunts that were dangerous to those involved.