2014 Year in Review: Part 3

Published 4:29 pm Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Keeping track: Groups of endangered red-cockaded woodpeckers nest near Lake Mitchell. In June, officials visited the nests to band the birds for identification.

Keeping track: Groups of endangered red-cockaded woodpeckers nest near Lake Mitchell. In June, officials visited the nests to band the birds for identification.

Editor’s note: Below is the third part of a four-part series looking back at the top news stories of 2014. This installment covers June through September.

June

Glasscock wins Superintendent of Education seat

Chilton County voters elected a new superintendent of education June 3 in the 2014 Primary Election.

Tommy Glasscock received more than 50 percent of the votes in the superintendent’s race in the Republican Primary Election, which means he will not have to enter a run-off with either Greg DeJarnett or Louise Pitts.

Glasscock received 5,590 votes (about 60 percent of the votes) according to election results, which are unofficial, as provisional ballots have not been counted yet.

DeJarnett received 1,775 votes (about 19 percent of the votes), and Pitts received 2,019 votes (about 22 percent).

Glasscock won the June 3 Primary because there was no opposition in the November General Election.

Ellison wins election for Chilton County Coroner

Aaron Ellison won the office of Chilton County Coroner in the June 3 primary election.

Ellison earned 6,088 votes (about 66 percent of the votes) to top Awlahjaday Agee, who received 3,148 votes (about 34 percent) according to unofficial election results.

Ellison faced no opposition in the November General Election.

Voters approve sales tax increase for hospital

Chilton County voters on June 3 overwhelmingly approved a 1-cent sales tax increase to fund the construction of a new hospital.

The referendum was included on the Primary Election ballots.

Voters approved the measure by a count of 7,853 (79.6 percent) in favor to 2,012 (20.4 percent) against.

“We’ll get the thing up and running as soon as we can,” Sibley Reynolds said.

The Chilton County Health Care Authority, formerly the Chilton County Hospital Board, is an organization that has worked to bring a hospital to Chilton County since the closing of Chilton Medical Center in October 2012.

The proposed hospital would be owned by Chilton County but operated by St. Vincent’s Health System.

“I want everyone to understand that this is going to be as above-board as it can be,” Reynolds said about the Authority’s planned transparency. “We appreciate the support of the people.”

The Chilton County Commission formally ratified a sales tax increase to fund the construction of a new hospital at a special meeting June 4.

All seven commissioners voted unanimously to ratify the vote and set a date of Aug. 1 to begin collecting the tax, which will fund the construction of a new hospital facility to be operated by St. Vincent’s Health System off Highway 145 in Clanton.

A round of applause followed the vote.

“I want to thank the people of Chilton County,” Commission Chairman Allen Caton said. “This shows how our people will come together in a crisis, and we were in a crisis.”

Caton and Commissioner Heedy Hayes also praised the efforts of the Chilton County Healthcare Authority, a group appointed by the commission that has worked to bring a hospital to Chilton County since the closing of Chilton Medical Center in October 2012.

Martin takes back house seat

Jimmy Martin will return to his seat in the Alabama House of Representatives.

As the incumbent in 2010, Martin lost the seat to Kurt Wallace. On June 3, Martin retook the seat with 4,621 votes (50.7 percent) to Wallace’s 4,501 votes (49.3 percent) in the Republican Primary Election.

Martin held a slightly larger edge in Chilton County than in the election overall, garnering 3,554 votes (52.2 percent) in Chilton County to 3.260 for Wallace.

Martin faced no opposition in the November General Election.

Commission votes to hire park manager at Higgins Ferry

A new park manager at Higgins Ferry Park was hired June 9 after members of the Chilton County Commission unanimously voted to offer the position to Jacob Sim.

Sim filled the position previously filled by Frank Atkinson who was the park manager at Higgins Ferry Park.

Atkinson announced earlier in the year he planned to retire and the commission voted to advertise for a park manager at Higgins Ferry Park.

Endangered red-cockaded woodpeckers nest near lake

Lake Mitchell is a place of fun and activity during the spring and summer months, but an area bordering the lake is also home to some residents you might never see.

About 15 groups of the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker make their home in a 2,000-plus acre wooded area bordering the lake. There are only about 250 groups of the woodpeckers in Alabama.

The birds were once considered common throughout the longleaf pine ecosystem, which covered about 90 million acres from New Jersey to Florida to Texas.

But European settlement in the 1700s, timber harvesting in the 1800s and tree farming in the mid-1900s cut the red-cockaded woodpeckers’ habitat to a couple of million acres, decimating the population.

Even with efforts to re-introduce longleaf pines, most of the trees are young, whereas the woodpeckers prefer older trees, and new-growth forests are denied fires to limit undergrowth.

Four different entities own the land at Lake Mitchell where the woodpeckers can be found. Alabama Power owns about 1,500 acres. On June 9, Alabama Power officials accompanied Eric Spadgenske with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on an effort to “band” red-cockaded woodpecker nestlings for identification.