At Annual Meeting
City Will Renew Efforts On Fiber Service For Schools
In last week's edition, details of the schools' report to the City Council were listed. The meeting was set for yesterday evening, and the school superintendent said his report would be a "state-of-the-schools" address. This week one official listed the topics to be covered in the city's presentation to the schools.
As has been the custom for several years, the School Board, superintendent, mayor, City Council and city clerk have met in a joint session to discuss mutual problems and work out programs. This year's meeting was Tuesday, and the city's top consideration will be including all schools on the fiber-optics communication system.
City Clerk Bill Fann said the project had already been studied and planned, and the fiber was in place in some cases.
Fann added that the city had reserved enough lines to easily accommodate the schools' needs. Once the system is in place, there will be significant savings.
"We will have to examine the schools' monthly usage bills before we can make an exact determination on the savings," Fann said. The change to the fiber-optic system is not yet complete among all city operations, but the clerk said the city's phone bill had been reduced by $700-800 per month.
He explained tat there were currently "analog" lines serving the administrative office, police department and other municipal facilities. It is the city;s plan to replace all these in the coming months to increase the savings.
The city will enlist the aid of students in improving the city's industrial and commercial recruitment programs. Piedmont High School's telecommunications equipment was recently featured in a Journal-Independent story. Several students have become quite accomplished in the equipment's operation. Fann said they will be requested to assist city and development officials in preparing new video presentations.
The presentations will include demographics, local attractions and available residential commercial and industrial sites. Fann said two presentations would be necessary, one for industrial and commercial use and the second for prospective residents and tourists.
A third topic will be a detailed review of procedures for requesting work from the city and other agencies.
Fann said he would not be at the meeting, but he had discussed the agenda with the mayor. While the main topics had been listed, there may be others added before the session.

City Natural Gas Rates will Drop This Month
Natural gas rates are coming down. That's the word from City Hall, and comes at a time when temperatures were below the freezing mark for several days.
City Clerk Bill Fann said the wholesale cost for a decatherm of natural gas has dropped to $7.24, and is the lowest price for this year. A decatherm is the amount of natural gas needed to generate 1,000 BTUs of heat.
As 2006 opened, the price had skyrocketed to nearly $16 per decatherm, but it had dropped to about $8.50 by early February.
Fann said the lower price had not yet been adjusted to be fed into city computers for billing, but he said the price for natural gas will be less than last month.

Old Cemetery Is Target Of JSU Archeologists
More than two years ago, the city discovered an old cemetery just west of Old Ladiga Road. This newspaper featured the site in a story, but no concrete information was obtained.
This week, however, the city announced that an archeology team from Jacksonville State University will soon be working at the site.
At the present time, it is impossible to tell how many graves are located on the site, but City Clerk Bill Fann work will soon begin to determine the cemetery's boundaries. He said Dr. Harry O. Holstein, director of the Jacksonville State University Archeological Resource Laboratory, will move into the area.
Fann said the city had received one report that the site was an Allison family cemetery. Other experts in the field agree that the Allison family was in the Piedmont area prior to the turn of the century, but there are no records available on a private cemetery.
According to a letter form Holstein, the work will include a "delineation of the site, mapping, photographs, background research and a final report for approximately 25 unmarked graves."
The work is to beginwithin five days of the team's receiving written notice to proceed. Fann sent that notice last week, and the work is to be complete within 30 days.
The cemetery is locate directly behind Piedmont Equipment and Hydraulic.

Noted Leader Passes Away Wednesday
One of Piedmont's long time business leaders and community supporters died in Anniston Wednesday after a short illness.
Elsie Jan Doyal, 76, was born in Rome, Ga., but was a lifelong resident of Piedmont. She was employed by Bennett Lumber company in Piedmont for a number of years. In 1960 she began employment with Guttery Insurance Agency as a personal assistant to W.K. "Ken" Guttery. She became a licensed agent in 1960 and eventually became the sole owner. She semi-retired in 2002, but remained active.
"She was not just a boss to me," said Trudy Loy. Mrs. Loy went to work for Ms. Doyal and later assumed the management of the agency. "She was a real friend. She was good to me and my family. She was almost like another mother to me."
In referring to her work, Mrs. Loy added, "She was the most professional person I have ever known."
That thought was echoed by Lane Weatherbee, editor and publisher of The Journal-Independent. "I met Elsie Jan in 1963 when I was an insurance adjuster in Anniston. I was sent to Piedmont to handle a claim and I called on Guttery Insurance," he said. "Our company handled claims for a lot of agencies, but all the agents weren't familiar with coverages. When I first met Elsie Jan, it took only a few minutes to learn she was a knowledgeable professional.
"A couple of years later when I joined my dad at The Piedmont Journal, I renewed our acquaintance, and I enjoyed working with her on a number of projects throughout the years. She was particularly active in the Piedmont Chamber of Commerce and held several offices in that organization. She was always interested in improving Piedmont's business and industrial community and worked hard in those areas.
"Through it all," Weatherbee said, "she worked with a smile on her face and a dedication and love of her community in her heart.
In addition to her chamber activities, she served on the centennial celebration committee.
She was a 1947 graduate of Piedmont High School and attended Jacksonville State University. She was a member of the Frances E. Willard and Piedmont High School Alumni Association and was a member of the Piedmont Educational Trust.
In 1987 she helped establish and was a charter member of Insurance Professionals of North East Alabama. In 1994 she received the Small Business Leader of the Year award. In 2005 she received a Lifetime Achievement Award and Insurance Woman of the Year Award. She was a lifelong and very active member of the First United Methodist Church where she had served on the worship committee, finance committee, was the recording secretary of the administrative board, the church treasurer and served on the pastor-parish relations committee. She was a member of the Piedmont Arts Council
She was and mid sports fan, never missing a Braves game or a NASCAR race.
Services for Ms. Doyal were Saturday at 11 a.m. at Thompson Funeral Home with Dr. Harris Hand and the Rev. Mike Spivey officiating. Burial followed at Highland Cemetery. The family received friends from 6-8 p.m. Friday evening at the funeral home.
Survivors include a daughter, Carol Jann Doyal of Anniston; two sons, Larry Doyal of Montgomery and Don Doyal and his wife, Dona, of Piedmont; a granddaughter, Amanda Bangs and her husband, Randall, of Piedmont: two great granddaughters and an uncle.
Pallbearers were Rick Marshall, David Loy, Paul Daniels, Phillip Todd, Clark Davis and Jim Wilson. She was preceded in death by her parents. Henry and Irene Kimberly Little, a sister, Faye Gaines, and a brother. Jackson T. Little. Flowers may be sent or memorial contributions may be made to the First United Methodist Church, 100 N. Main Street, or Piedmont Rescue Squad. P.O. Box 113.

Strictly Personal
A List Of Topics For Discussion This Week...
There are several topics I would like to mention this week, and heading the list is the passing of Elsie Jan Doyal.
I called her "E.J." most of the time during our friendship that spanned more than four decades. She was a truly special person and I agree with her family in saying she was "vivacious" in all of her activities. I was her customer and she was mine, but as friends, we would often stop and simply chat about happenings around town. She had a marvelous personality, spiced with a wonderful sense of humor.
Her love for her family, her friends her community and her profession was boundless. Though she wasn't active in civic projects during the past few years, she will go down as one of the people who cannot be replaced. In addition to putting in some hard work in a number of organization, she was often the cement that held groups together and smoothed ruffled feathers.
I offer my sincere condolences to her family, and assure them that her army of friends is sharing their grief at her loss.
On to another subject, aren't you glad something is being done for those people buried in the unnamed cemetery. I have often thought that there has been no record of their life or their passing. Even Susan Fann, the foremost expert I know on area cemeteries, can find no record of the cemetery. Maybe the JSU archeologists can not only map the boundaries of the small resting place for these former community members, but can discover some records of who is buried there.
Even if they can't find accurate records, the area will be cleaned and tended as other cemeteries in this area.
Finally, lets take a look at Montgomery. Can you tell it's an election year? I remember Bob Riley four years ago saying there was no need for more taxes in Alabama. He had repeated that stand in the U.S. House of Representatives. Yet, four years ago was an election year. After about a year in office, Riley and his cabinet concocted the most sweeping tax package in the history of the state. There were some areas that could have been adopted, but the whole proposal was tied together in one unworkable, unfair package. It failed miserable.
So here we are in 2006, another election year. Predictably, Riley will be on the ballot, and he has sponsored a tax cut. The House struck it down, and there isn't much hope for its resurrection in the senate. However, our governor is back on the campaign trail and will be preaching hi
s tax cut. You really don't need a calendar to keep track of election years. All you have to do is listen to Riley. Riley the candidate opposes taxes. Riley the governor tries to increase taxes at an unprecedented level.
Our Legislature is currently patting itself on the back for passing the education budget. It is the most expensive budget in the state's history, it gives teachers raises and adds five more days to the school year.
The cost of everything is rising, but I can't quite get a grasp on the necessity for five more days in school. Will the kids really learn more? Couldn't our teachers cover the small percentage of instructional time in the current number of school days? Anyway our legislators think this is a great step forward.
Before you begin agreeing with them, I remind you that the Legislature is the same bunch that has again denied this state a new constitution. The bill to ask the voters about drafting a constitution died in the house, with the representatives hopelessly deadlocked. The issue will no go to the Senate which is notorious for inaction, so we might as well give up all hope for a new state constitution for this legislative session.
The present constitution is the longest in the nation, it is out-dated and is expensive to the taxpayers. In short, it doesn't serve the people of this state. That makes it somewhat like the Legislature.