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Former Century Mayor Benny Barnes died early Tuesday morning and is being remembered as a person who loved the city and especially loved the children who grew up in the community. Barnes, 86, served on the Century Town Council from January, 1985 until January, 1989. He was appointed to filled the unexpired term of Mayor Eddie Ross, who died while serving as the city's mayor. Barnes went on to serve as Century's mayor from January, 1990 until December, 2003, when he decided not to run for re-elec...
Flomaton Police Chief Chance Thompson has tapped Jonathan Hill, pastor of Little Escambia Baptist Church, Alvin Bethea, pastor of Flomaton Pentecostal Church, and Henry Hawkins, pastor of Damascus Baptist Church as the three chaplains for the police department and first responders. Chief Thompson brought the idea of the chaplains to Mayor Dewey Bondurant, Jr., several months ago. The idea was presented to the council and approved. The only expense to the town will be to provide workman's comp...
Benny Barnes. Love him or hate him, but the one thing you can say about him is that he loved the city of Century and did what ever he could to move the town forward. Barnes died early Tuesday morning at the age of 86. The last time I saw him was last year at the Sawmill Festival in Century right down the street from his house. Barnes rubbed some people the wrong way. He rubbed me the wrong way on many occasions. We yelled at each other a few times, but deep down he knew he had a job to do and...
Escambia County (Ala.) School Superintendent John Knott said he and the school board knew it was going to happen. They knew when school started, COVID-19 would appear within the walls of the schools in the system. Three employees at Flomaton High School tested positive and the school acted quickly. They got the students out of the old middle school wing, moved them to the auditorium on a Thursday and told them not to come back until Monday. Thursday afternoon and Friday the building was cleaned...
A Montgomery woman has been arrested on intentional murder charges in the death of her 26-year old mentally handicapped sister, whose badly decomposed body was discovered in Atmore March 26, with accusations that the victim lived without food, water and electricity while her sister cashed her Social Security disability checks designed to take care of her sister, Vandoren Dailey. Josephine Dailey Gaines, 34, who also had an address listed as 1350 Armstrong Road, Monroeville, was arrested Aug. 9...
The Big 10 and the PAC 12 have pulled the plug and cancelled the 2020 football season, the SEC and the ACC are still on go and Flomaton High School head football coach Doug Vickery said he's very optimistic that high school football will be played this fall. "Football means a lot in the south," Vickery said. "I think the south will play football." Scheduling may take detours along the way, but Vickery said he's confident they will be playing. Flomaton was scheduled to open the season Aug. 21...
Raymond Wiggins has returned as the full time chairman of the Escambia County (Ala.) Commission following the resignation of Chairman Karean Reynolds and an announcement Monday by Commission Vice Chairman Brandon Smith that he was not in a position to take the full time position. Wiggins is currently in his 12th year on the commission and will begin his fourth term following the November General Election, where he is running unopposed. He also served as chairman from 2016 to 2020. Each year, the...
Flomaton High School graduate James Bagwell never imagined that a ring lost on a trip to the creek with friends in the summer of 1987 would be returned 33 years later through the kindness of a stranger in California. Bagwell had gotten his class ring in the summer of 1987, just before his senior year in high school. His parents had just bought the ring for him. He was wearing it he and some friends went to the creek on a Saturday night to have some fun. As the night grew late, the five friends...
Kay Wagner said she entered the race for the District 4 council seat in Flomaton because she wants to bring positivity to the table to help continue moving the town forward. Wagner, 80, previously served three terms on the Flomaton Town Council and four years as the town's mayor. Flomaton's municipal elections will be held Aug. 25 at Flomaton Town Hall. “I believe positivity breeds solutions and negativity breeds problems,” she said. “No is a negative, yes is a positive and it breeds succe...
Voters in Century and Jay will turn out this Tuesday, Aug. 18, for the Primary Election, but the ballots will look very different, as Century voters will vote for mayor and one council seat, while Jay voters will decide if they want to allow alcohol to be sold in the town limits on Sundays. Jay The Santa Rosa County ordinance reads: 'The hours for the sale or purchase of alcoholic beverages which are legal to be sold in Santa Rosa County shall be 7 a.m. to 2:30 a.m., each day of the week. It...
The Flomaton Town Council approved four resolutions Monday afternoon to declare council members Charlie Reardon, Lillian Dean, Jim Johnson and Roger Adkinson as re-elected to new four-year terms after none of the incumbents received opposition for the Aug. 25 municipal elections. Flomaton voters will go to the polls on Aug. 25 to elect a mayor and a council member from District 4. Incumbent Mayor Dewey Bondurant, Jr., is being challenged by Chris Burnham and Kevin Knowles. Incumbent District 4 C...
Flomaton Councilwoman Lillian Dean asked her fellow council members to either write a letter or pass a resolution to show that salaried employees with the town were not entitled to overtime pay. The issue stems from when former Police Chief Bryan Davis retired and then demanded overtime pay from the town. Councilman Buster Crapps said he agreed and asked how the town got into that situation before. Mayor Dewey Bondurant, Jr., said the handbook covers salaried employees and said had the town...
The judge of probate, tax assessor, tax collector and sheriff of Escambia County (Ala.) will likely see a raise next year after the county commission passed a resolution Monday asking the county's legislative delegation to pass a bill to give the raises to the elected officials. Vice Chairman Brandon Smith said the move is to try and get the compensation for those elected officials in line with other counties similar to Escambia. County Clerk-Administrator Tony Sanks said the commission did not...
I understand that people are innocent until proven guilty but if Josephine Dailey Gaines is convicted of basically leaving her mentally retarded sister to starve to death in Atmore while she cashed and spent her sister's Social Security disability checks, prison is too light a sentence – she should have a special place in Hell. Back in March when Atmore police officers found the badly decomposed body of Vandoren Dailey inside a home at 71 Jones St., I remember talking with Atmore Police Chief C...
The test of whether or not we will get back to some sort of normalcy began last week when the Escambia County (Ala.) School System opened its doors for students. A lot of churches and other organizations have decided to see things go in schools for a few weeks before they decide to open their doors during the COVID-19 pandemic. A little normalcy did take place with football players back on the field and bands rehearsing their halftime shows. But what is our definition of normal? We personally do...
Flomaton High School's new head baseball coach Coy Campbell, Jr., has been indicted and arrested on nine felony counts, stemming from allegations he stole money and forged receipts while employed at W.S. Neal High School. Escambia County School Superintendent John Knott had no comment on Campbell's status as a teacher and coach in Flomaton saying with an on-going investigation, he could not comment. Campbell, 50, 9046 Munson Highway, Milton, Fla., turned himself in Tuesday at the Escambia...
Escambia County (Ala.) Commission Chairman Karean Reynolds announced that he will be resigning the chairmanship effective Aug. 9, but will remain on the commission as the District 5 representative. "I would like to thank my fellow commissioners for placing their trust in my ability to lead the commission," Reynolds posted on his Facebook page. "This resignation weighs heavy on my heart as serving the citizens of our county remains one of my main priorities." "I would like to personally thank...
Brewton attorney and assistant District Attorney Todd Stearns took the oath of office July 31 and officially became Circuit Judge Todd Stearns on Aug. 1 after Gov. Kay Ivey appointed him to fill the unexpired term of retiring Circuit Judge Dave Jordan, who stepped down on July 31. Stearns, 55, will fill Jordan's unexpired term on the bench. The circuit judge position will be on the 2022 ballot and Stearns said he will seek a full six-year term on the Republican ticket at that time. "It's an...
Those who knew Dorothy 'Dot' Weaver Ptomey knew her for her sense of humor and most called her a 'walking history book'. Ptomey, 98, died July 29. Although she was born Dorothy Oreve Weaver in Pine Hill, Ala., in 1922 she spent most of her life in Flomaton. She also has the distinction of being the first female ever elected to the Flomaton Town Council and her father Luman Dewey Weaver served as the town's mayor from 1956 to 1964. But it's her mind and her love of Flomaton that comes to life...
“I just care about the town I grew up in,” is what Kevin Knowles said made him decide to run for mayor of Flomaton in the upcoming Aug. 25 election. “I just want to do my part for those of us still here and love Flomaton,” Knowles said. Knowles, 39, is a 1999 graduate of Flomaton High School and wants to make the town better so more Flomaton residents can stay home or return home. “I'm beyond excited for the opportunity to run for mayor of this great town,” Knowles said. “The world is chan...
Escambia County (Ala.) Sheriff Heath Jackson said the death of an inmate in the detention center on July 23 was not related to COVID-19 but did confirm 10 to 13 inmates in the Brewton facility had tested positive for the coronavirus. Jackson said jail staff was conducting a cell check on July 23 when they found the unresponsive inmate. “The inmate was pronounced deceased at the scene from what appeared to be natural causes,” Jackson said. Jackson also said as normal protocol for all in-...
Chance James, 18, was a member of Flomaton High School's 2018 championship football team, but the 2019 FHS graduate had other mountain's to climb, which included his love and devotion to Jesus Christ. This past Saturday, James put a cross on his back and began a walk from the Atmore Country Club to the parking lot of Flomaton High School. He said he didn't realize it at the time, but the walk down Highway 31 from Atmore to the high school was 17 miles – the number he wore as a member of the H...
Walnut Hill resident Ed Hudson spent 34 years in law enforcement and was an investigator trailing Century resident Freddie Crow and his marijuana-smuggling operation from Belize in Central America to the Florida gulf coast which helped lead to arrest of Crow and others. A friendship developed between Hudson and Crow after Crow's conviction which prompted Hudson to write a book. Entitled 'As the Crow Flies, a Redemptive Story of an International Drug Smuggler' will be released on Sept. 1. After C...
To be honest, I don't think I'd ever heard about 'Black Lives Matter' until George Floyd was killed in Minneapolis and a white police officer named Derek Chauvin was arrested after numerous videos showed the officer kneeling on Floyd's neck while Floyd screamed he could not breathe. But I did learn that the Black Lives Matter movement first began in 2013 after George Zimmerman shot an unarmed 17-year old black teenager named Travon Martin in February, 2012. But I do wonder what Black Lives...
When voters in the incorporated areas of Escambia County (Ala.) go to the polls Aug. 25 for their municipal elections, East Brewton residents will get to stay home because all six candidates who qualified face no opposition. However, there will be races on the ballots in Atmore, Brewton and Flomaton. In East Brewton, incumbent Mayor Terry Clark and incumbent councilmen Ned Siebert, Kenny Hultz, Ludon Simmons and Bob Arrant drew no opposition as the 5 p.m. Tuesday deadline passed to qualify for...
