City Ousts Kids' Home, Orders Vehicles Parked
In two surprise decisions, the City Council voted to throwing a children's home out of Piedmont, and has ordered all city vehicles to be parked on city property at night, except police and fire vehicles.
Councilman Bill Baker told the council he had complaints from the city schools concerning the behavior of some children from the Mountainview facility located in the old Southside School building. He said the children were responsible for "extreme behavior," fighting and other misconduct. He requested that the city terminate the lease on the property and set a deadline for the operation to vacate the property.
"I don't think this program is working out as I hoped it would," Baker said. He said he had most of the council's backing.
After hearing the report, Mayor Charlie Fagan asked, "Why can;t the schools control the children? We're only talking about 9 or 10 kids. What's the problem with the school system handling the situation on their own?"
Baker responded by saying he was concerned that there were enough children from the local area "that we have to deal with. We don't need problem children from other areas."
The children in the facility have been removed from their homes by the state Department of Human Resources because of parental abuse, not for misconduct.
Fagan asked what the action would accomplish if Mountainview were offered a private facility. Baker said that would be a private matter over which he would have no control.
Fagan pointed out that it would take from $50,000-$75,000 per year to maintain the building if it were vacated. Despite the mayor's warnings, the proposal passed with Councilman Eddie Baldwin casting the lone dissenting vote.
Prior to Mountainview taking over the facility, it had stood vacant for years. The city made some improvements, but the company has spent large sums making renovations. No indication was given as to when the lease would be terminated and the eviction order issued.
Councilman Ed Hanson, followed Baker's example, and read a prepared motion. This proposal was to keep all city vehicles parked on city property at night. The lone exceptions are police and fire vehicles. Hanson said the measure was in response to the higher gas prices, and said the council had decided to support this issue outside any regular meeting.
Fagan objected to the action, explaining he had studied the situation in the past. He said he was opposed to employees taking vehicles home until he looked at both sides of the issue. "Now I know who much it would cost the city.
The mayor pointed out that there had recently been a large increase in the cost of the city's health insurance. He added that the new wage schedule was not yet in place to offset this cost, and advised the council that not allowing employees to take cars home would be removing a valuable asset.
When asked, City Clerk Bill Fann reported that none of the city's departments were operating in excess their budgets.
The council passed the action, with Baldwin and Councilman Kevin Fagan voting against the issue. Even members of the audience objected to the decision.
According to the new policy, all electric, water, gas and sewer vehicles will be on city property at night. In the event of an emergency, the employees, including department heads, will have to come to town, get the vehicle and respond to the call. For these trips, they will receive no mileage or other compensation.
The council passed an ordinance approving the annexation of 37 acres that adjoin Nances Creek Industrial Park on its southern border. This will increase the size of the park to nearly 150 acres.
City Clerk Bill Fann presented the panel with a list of property that is no longer needed by the city. The items included several used vehicles, some equipment and a few office supply items. The council unanimously voted to declare the items surplus, and they will be sold at a later date.
Billy Studdard, an officer in the local Disabled American Veterans Chapter appeared before the council with a photo of flagpoles and concrete monuments to be installed in Veterans Memorial Park. He said the cost would be about $5,200 and would take 8-12 weeks to complete. The financing comes from a special fund that includes donation for the park work. The council approved the purchase.
The only other business passed by the council was approving paying $239,029.56 in municipal bills. Of this amount, $132,399.51 was for electrical energy and 3$30,046.84 was for the water, gas and sewer utility operations.

City's Patriotic Celebration Is In "Currents"
Piedmont's Fourth of July activities are showcased in the September/October edition of Currents magazine.
The magazine, published by the Alabama Municipal Electric Authority, highlights events and community projects of its members.
The recent edition features the third annual July Fourth celebration sponsored by the City of Piedmont and held at the Clyde H. Pike Civic Center.
The front page story by Ben Singleton describes the various activities provided free of charge for area residents.Piedmont Journal-Independent were used for the front cover.

Officials Say County Road Work Is At All Time High
According to two area officials, there have been more road improvements in northern Calhoun County since 2000 than in the past half century. There have also been five bridges repaired.
State Rep. Lea Fite and Calhoun County Commissioner Rudy Abbott visited Piedmont recently to inspect a proposed road to provide better access to Nances Creek Industrial Park property.
While here, the two recalled Fite's last two years as a county commissioner and discussed the continuing work since Abbott took office in 2003.
Abbott had prepared a list of roads paving projects that showed 11 area roads that will receive work this fall. The list indicated the contracts for the work had already been signed. Another part of the list contained the names of 32 roads that have had work completed.
To this, there are 56 roads that have been or will be repaired by the end of the year. They are all in the Piedmont-Nances Creek-Roy Webb area.
According to the figures supplied Fite was responsible for more than $935,000 in his last year in office, and Abbott has sponsored $3,331, 218 during his term.
The bridge repair includes spans on Dailey Street, the Old Gadsden Highway, Ball Play Bridge Roy Webb Bridge and Century Road Bridge. The total of the work comes to $2,571,091.
The total spent on north Calhoun bridges and roads since 2000 is $5,837,848.
Abbott said he was happy to have been responsible for the work. "I was born and raised in Anniston, but Piedmont tugs at my heart every day. It's because of what happened to my brother, Earl." Earl Abbott was one of the victims of the Palm Sunday tornado. "If I live to be 100, I will never repay the kindness extended to those of us who lost loved ones in that tornado. The city wrapped its arms around us...took care of us. That happened over 10 years ago, and I still have great difficulty talking about what happened.
Abbott described his brother as "my best friend," and says he sympathizes with everyone who still cares the sadness caused by the tornado.
Turning to the topic of roads, Abbott said, "We are slowly, but surely getting our roads and bridges in great shape, as the figures show. The amount of money we have spent reflects the commitment made to this area when I ran for office in 2002."
Abbott says he faces some opposition in getting funding for area projects. "While I am satisfied that the county is doing all it can, there are those who want to take the two-cent (tax) money and put it into their budgets for salaries...even though this money was set aside for roads and road problems only."
He said he would continue his efforts to secure funding for improvements throughout the northern section of the county.
"We still have a lot of roads in the Piedmont area that need paving. I feel badly that we haven't been able to pave some of the long roads like the Old Gadsden Highway and the Roy Webb Cutoff. It would take our entire budget to pave only one of those roads."
The commissioner said neither of the roads were heavily traveled, adding, "but they are important to the ones using them to get to work every day. It will take a while, but we will pave all of the roads in the county."
Abbott took time to explain the difference in financing for roads and bridges. "Bridge money is not something we get in our budget. We have to find money for these projects, and we have a great engineer in Charles Markert. He helps us find funds. We have been able to tap federal, state and forestry budgets for the bridges."
Referring to another source of funding, he said, "The Garvey Bond (state) money really helped us, and the money we got from the federal government allowed us to replace Ball Play Bridge." That funding was due to the incinerator being established in the area.
Abbott says there have been changes in the kind of paving area residents expect. "Before 200, the county depended on the state for paving money, so we did not get a lot done. If the county paved a few roads during the year, that was pretty good. Mostly, country efforts centered around putting down tar and gravel. People are tired of tar and gravel and dirt roads. We are working to get rid of all dirt roads, and as we go along, we will update the tar and gravel roads to asphalt.
Under Fite's and Abbott's leadership, county crews have assisted the city in a number of projects from helping clear and develop industrial property to paving roads that serve businesses and homes just outside the city limits.

Strictly Personal
After A Weekend Visit To Mobile..
Over the weekend, I had the opportunity to spend a few hours in Mobile. Most of that time was spent in a meeting, but I did have a chance to drive around the city. There are some things I have to report that are a little different than you see on TV.
I want you to understand that I did not go to Bayou LaBatre, Dauphine Island or other areas along the coast. From the reports I heard, there is some severe damage there. The city, however, looks better than I had expected.
I guess I'm like most folks when they see disasters reported. They think the damage is more widespread than it usually is. I am not trying to say that the damage in Mississippi and Louisiana was minimal. It was horrible. All I'm saying is that Alabama's port city was not devastated.
As I drove around town, there was some serious damage. I saw a couple of motels and at least one commercial building that had windows and roofs damaged. Almost everywhere, there were signs that Katrina had visited, but the people of Mobile were doing a great job of cleaning up.
The streets were lined with piles of limbs and leaves and bags of rubbish that had been cleaned from yards and roadways. The City of Mobile will be busy collecting the mountains of trash for some time, yet the people were getting their houses back into shape in relatively short order.
There may have been some heavier damage in other sections of the city, but from what I saw, Mobile and its people rolled with the blow and have come up swinging.
There was one type of damage that I have not seen reported on the vast news coverage. If you've visited Mobile via I-65, you will remember the long concrete bridges that span the wetlands just north of Alabama's southernmost metropolis. For sever miles you ride on these bridges, then finally cross a huge, very high bridge that completes the span over water.
The scenery along this ride is usually spectacular. Many of the trees are evergreens of a variety unfamiliar to me. There are some pines and other trees, many decorated with gently waving Spanish moss. This heavy vegetation, I'm told, provides a wonderful habitat for a number of creatures. Sure, there are some snakes and gators, but there are a lot of birds and other wildlife that call that area home.
This time, however, the scenery was not as pretty as usual. The trees had lost a lot of their vegetation. It looked as if someone had a giant aerosol can of acid and had sprayed all the trees.
No one had mentioned it in the coverage of the storm, and I began asking some of the locals. The answer was quite simple. During the storm, there was a huge surge from the Gulf of Mexico that came inland and raised the level of all the waterways. The hurricane force wind hurled water...salt water that is, inland and sprayed the trees. This accounted for the leaves, even the evergreens, turning brown.
Some of the trees may come back, while thousands of others may be lost. I never realized how the wind and water could combine to bring this kind of damage so far inland.
There is another form of life that had no trouble surviving the storm. Any of you who are familiar with the Gulf Coast will probably remember the "love bugs." Folks, I am no entomologist. I know bees, ants and scorpions sting. Stink bugs stink when they are crushed, and I can testify to the hardness of a beetle's shell when you hit one riding a motorcycle. Moths are dangerous to clothes, and flies are pesky and nasty.
Aside from a few comments about roaches, that's all I know about insects, but the love bugs should stay where they are. We have enough varmints in this part of the state.
The insect to which I refer is black with an orange head, much like our lightening, but smaller and without any light. They seem to live while being permanently attached to another of its species. They are joined a the tail. The dominant one flies rather well and drags his passenger through the air without much trouble.
I have seen no real purpose for this bug, but I can testify as to the contents of their small bodies. I began hitting them 70-75 miles north of Mobile. At the Flomaton exit, I stopped for gas ($2.59 alongside the interstate) and had to clean my windshield. Each pair of love bugs deposits a white spot about the side of fingernail on the front of your car or on the windshield. Since they normally fly in swarms, they can really foul up a car.
I was in a hurry on the way back and didn't take time to clean the windshield when I stopped at a gas station. That was a mistake. By the time I got back, I was having to look through the white spatters just to see where I was going.
I should tell you that I left my car door open while pumping gas. This gave some love bugs an opportunity to hitch a ride. I discovered most of them before we left the gas station, but on the highway, we spotted two pair enjoying the ride. I took care of one set, and my passenger got the other two.
When we arrived home, we carefully searched the car for any pests we might have missed, but there were none. Sure, it took some time, but if a pair of those things made it to Piedmont, there would be hundreds, maybe thousands in the area before winter hit. This number would skyrocket next spring. I wouldn't want to be the person responsible for messing up every windshield in north Alabama.