In February of 2005, a man was arrested for providing cocaine to some teenagers, including his own daughter. Now that is so far out that most of us can’t even understand how it could happen. The truth is that it happens more often than we realize.
For everything bad that we hear, we also hear of something good. In the same issue of the newspaper, an announcement was made of more than 40 churches that were banding together to form a community choir. Now nothing is more beautiful than a good sounding choir and we, in this area, have some very good singers. That would not be me, but I do love to hear some good singing.
Children were being registered for Head Start. This is a program that has gotten many children on the road to a good education.
There was much talk around town about the possibility of building a new middle school for the Brewton city school system. The big question was as to if we needed it and if so, where would it be located. There was much discussion about it and we all know now how it turned out.
There was an article about Dofin Fritts and his business of building gyroplanes at the airport. For those of you who don’t know about this hometown business, it is very interesting. Fritts builds and helps others build these flying machines which look for all the world like a big bug. When I think about it, I can’t believe that I actually took him up on his offer of taking a ride in one. We took off and circles the airport while I hung of for dear life. He warned me to hang on to my camera and I, of course, told him that I was holding to as much as I possibly could. I won’t say that I would do it again, but I do have a little bit of adventure in me.
Another story of the time was one of Hurricane Ivan. Five months had passed since the storm hit us and Sheriff Grover Smith reported two cases of FEMA fraud. It seems as if there is always someone trying to take advantage, even something as big as that storm was. The city was dealing with troubles of getting storm debris off the streets, even after five months. All of us who lived here during that time can remember just how long everything was messed up.
Rain contributed to a two-vehicle accident on Alabama 31. A six-year old child was taken to Sacred Heart Hospital as a result of the accident. Wet roads often contribute to wrecks, so all of us need to be extremely careful on the roads and highways.
Students at Jefferson Davis Community College came up with an interesting way to raise funds for heart disease and raised $600 for the cause.
A routine traffic stop resulted in the Drug Task Force confiscation of a large amount of drugs. Good for them. I do, and I believe that I have said so before, I hate drugs on the street. Drugs have ruined so many lives, and not just those who take the drugs. It affects all of those who surround them. That is my soap box and I proudly stand on it.
There was an earlier version of “Looking Back” in 1955 that told the story of an idea to raise money for the Red Cross by using goats. It was a funny story of bringing goats to downtown and leaving them until the funds were raised. Publicity was all over this story and that is just what its purpose was all about. More than $4,000 was raised and the goats went back to the farm. No doubt about it, someone was using his imagination.