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Although we weren't sold on face masks in the beginning we've learned to accept them. To not only protect ourselves but to protect others. Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey issued a mandatory face mask order for people in public. We see some with masks, we see others without. We know some stores won't let you in the door without a mask and others that don't care. School bells for the Escambia County (Ala.) School System are still set to ring next Friday, they say we're playing high school and college football and everybody seems to think things are back...
We have tried our best to keep everyone informed on the developments of COVID-19. Granted, sometimes our figures may not match up with numbers you see posted on Facebook or other social media outlets. We made a decision at the beginning to base our reporting on figures we received from the Escambia County (Ala.) Health Care Authority. Jason Daniels, director of public affairs and marketing at D.W. McMillan Memorial Hospital, said from day one figures may be different depending on where someone gets tested. Tuesday's numbers showed Escambia Coun...
We applaud the Escambia County (Ala.) Commission for passing a 'continuity of government' resolution that will allow the county government to continue to function in the event the board does not have a quorum to make decisions. Other local governments need take a look at that policy as well. Back in March, when the COVID-19 pandemic was spreading like wildfire and things changed not only daily, but hourly, decisions had to be made. The commission passed a state of emergency resolution to allow the chairman, vice chairman and administrator to...
Yes, the voting polls will be open Tuesday, July 14, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. across Escambia County, Ala. We're not electing anybody to any office. What we are doing is having runoffs on the Republican and Democratic tickets to help pick a nominee to be on the November General Election ballot, which is where we actually elect people to office. On the Republican ticket you will choose between Jeff Sessions and Tommy Tuberville for the U.S. Senate and between Jerry Carl and Bill Hightower as the nominee for the U.S. House of Representatives....
In the song labeled 'Henry the VIII' it repeats the line saying the second verse is same as the first. It's a song that can drive you crazy. But as we enter the Fourth of July weekend we want to remind people of something we put in this spot every time the Fourth of July come around. Fireworks are small bombs. Over the past several years we've have people seriously injured, some who have lost fingers due to fireworks. Fireworks are great; we all love them. But we must also realize that one-second loss of judgement can mean serious injury or...
Just about every health official predicted it, and now their predictions are becoming true. COVID-19 cases are increasing at a rapid pace after our so-called opening. We've all been out and about, there is no real social distancing, people are acting like the virus never existed. Folks, this thing is far from over. Our gut feeling is it will get worse before it gets better. We get a report from the Escambia County (Ala.) Health Care Authority every Tuesday and every Friday. From last Friday to this Tuesday there were 35 new confirmed cases of...
We'll give Tommy Tuberville credit for either being a great politician or surrounding himself with people who know about politics. As a football coach he studied the playbook of his opponents and as a candidate for the U.S. Senate he stole the playbook from President Trump and Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey. Trump ran as an outsider who wanted to drain the swamp of career politicians. Tuberville did the same. Gov. Ivey ran her campaign by staying away from the microphone and wouldn't debate her Republican challengers in the primary or her Democratic...
Too often we are accused of 'sensationalizing' bad news to sell newspapers. Granted, drugs, sex and violence sell more newspapers than other stories, but is that a reflection on us or on you, the reader? We talked to a group once and said we could have a story that General Motors was opening a plant in Escambia County, Ala., and would employ 5,000 people and our rack sales would drop. If we run a story about a preacher abusing a little boy, we'll run out of papers. We try our best to give a balance. This week is a perfect example. In today's...
We didn't know Trayton Gage Adams. What we know now is the 6-year old Flomaton resident died last Thursday afternoon when a four wheeler turned over with him as a passenger. You didn't have to know Trayton for your heart to sink when you heard the news. He had just completed kindergarten at Flomaton Elementary School. We reached out to Principal George Brown and Trayton's teacher Brittany Brown. They knew him, they knew his smile, they knew his big heart and they knew the hugs he loved to give. “I'm extremely heartbroken,” Mrs. Brown said. Tea...
As expected, Monday's Memorial Day event on the front lawn of the Escambia County Courthouse in Brewton was a touching ceremony. To be honest, we were a little surprised to see so many people there as we continue to battle the coronavirus. But most of those attending had lost relatives or friends fighting to give us all the freedoms we enjoy today. Many wore red, white and blue and held small American flags. The joined in singing 'God Bless America' and stood with their hands on their hearts for the 'Star Spangled Banner' and to recite 'The...
It appears we are slowly creeping back to normalcy in wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. More and more things are opening. In-person court hearings such as district court and municipal court have resumed. Libraries are opening their doors and yes, you can go to the probate judge's office and get your boat registration renewed for another year. But all of the openings still come with restrictions. The courthouse is limiting the number of people who can go into an office at one time; the libraries are not only limiting the number of people they are...
The town of Century and the town of Flomaton are both experiencing problems with water pumps. Both are about to spend a lot of money to fix those problems. The town of Flomaton voted Monday afternoon to go to its line of credit and borrow $117,680 to fix the problems with the well on Highway 113. Century is also looking at ways to fix the problem of the well that feeds Century Correctional Institute. Those could have been critical issues, but both towns did a good job reacting and were able to tie in to adjacent water systems to meet the...
OK folks, don't be idiots. The state of Alabama and the town of Flomaton have reopened some things that were closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Beaches across the gulf coast are open. We could see cars with tags from north Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia and beyond coming through Flomaton this weekend. Hopefully this is a sign that we are about to reopen everything, but a lot of that will depend on how we act during this 'soft opening'. Mark our word, if beaches get packed to the hilt, they will be closed again; if people take...
It's easy to say Flomaton Police Chief Chance Thompson and Flomaton Volunteer Fireman Hunter White were just doing their jobs last Wednesday when the two saved the life of a 4-year old child caught inside a burning vehicle. They both took their respective jobs to protect the public. That's what they do. But Thompson is not a fireman and White doesn't get paid a dime to be a fireman. There is a 4-year old little boy walking around in Flomaton today because of the actions Thompson and White took last Wednesday afternoon. Had Thompson not been on...
We can all learn a lesson from Danny Cottrell. About a week ago he brought his $2 bill stimulus package back by giving his employees at Flomaton Medical Center Pharmacy, Brewton Medical Center Pharmacy and Cottrell's Pharmacy in East Brewton $200 each in $2 bills. His only instructions to his 30 employees were to spend the money at local stores. Cottrell held his first $2 stimulus package program in 2009 when the nation was in a deep recession and many businesses were laying people off. He called his employees together, some probably felt they...
Flomaton Police Chief Chance Thompson started his 'How Are Ya!' program well before the COVID-19 pandemic hit and people were put in lockdown. Now that we are in a lockdown on a virus that apparently doesn't treat our senior citizens well, its great to have such a program in place in Flomaton. We talked with Chief Thompson and his feeling was there were many senior citizens and other handicapped people who were basically in lock down before the virus hit. Many are home alone with nobody to talk to. Thompson initiated the program where he will...
With children at home, we took a trip back to yesteryear and reached out to the daughter of Philippa Hamilton. Back in the 1980s Miss Philippa, as her students called her, was teaching at Brewton Elementary School. Educating children was her passion and making learning fun was another passion. Ms. Hamilton understood that all children don't learn the same. She began developing games and puzzles for her second grade students that taught them multiple skills while having fun. It started out as a hobby to help her students and later turned into a...
COVID-19 may very well expose another big flaw in this country in addition to the health risk. It probably already has and it certainly will dispel the thought that most people have ready and available access to the Internet. Colleges, high schools, middle schools and elementary schools are closing their doors for the remainder of the school year. Many of those schools are asking students to complete their course work online. That sounds fine and dandy if everybody had access to not only a computer, but to the Internet. There is a big...
You've had to have had your head in the sand if you haven't heard of people hoarding toilet paper in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak. Stores are selling out as soon as a shipment comes in. It appears that the panic is someone will be quarantined for weeks or months without any toilet paper. We guess we can understand that to a degree, but what would be worse is to be quarantined for a month or so with no working toilet. Flomaton Utilities Superintendent Shaun Moye and Jay's Operations Manager Eric Seib are begging people not to flush anything...
As public officials and private businesses make decisions on how to deal with the coronavirus many employees will be allowed to work from home. Many businesses and public entities will have skeleton crews on hand to take care of daily business. But there is a group of people who can't work from home and can't avoid having contact with the pubic. That group includes police officers, firefighters and emergency medical technicians. These are the people we need to be praying for. They will be the ones exposing themselves at a higher risk. During...
The words of John F. Kennedy 'Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country' seem to have been lost since he echoed those words in his inaugural address. Today, too many Americans want the government to solve all of their problems. At Monday night's Flomaton Town Council meeting, Sarah LeMesurier approached the board to say the youth group at Flomaton Pentecostal Holiness Church was ready to make a difference in the lives of people living in the Flomaton community. She talked about not only beautifying public pr...
“It doesn't take long for things to change is a big way” is what Connie Baggett said Wednesday after a storm roared through the middle of Brewton taking down trees and snapping utility poles. Baggett, who serves as director of program management of the city of Brewton, said the storm came and was gone in a matter of 5 minutes leaving destruction in it path. This past Tuesday severe storms and tornados ripped through Nashville, leaving at least 24 people dead across that area. Each June or July, we publish a hurricane awareness tab to rem...
We are as guilty as everybody else by continuously praising police officers, firefighters, emergency medical technicians and other first responder and sometimes lose sight of other public workers who make our lives better. Don't get us wrong, first responders deserve all the credit in the world. Most of us wouldn't have their jobs even if we were paid much less doing it as a volunteer. Towns and churches hold events to honor those men and women. Those events are needed and appreciated. We need to tell them thank you. But we feel that sometimes...
In about a month or so everybody reading this should start receiving mail to fill out the 2020 census. We do this every 10 years. Here's why it's important and here's why we need local volunteers to help with the census count. At the top of the list is the number of members each state has in the U.S. House of Representatives. Alabama currently has seven and Florida has 27 based on population. The new census numbers will tell us whether each of these states gain a representative or lose one. We've read concerns that Alabama may be a state to...
Jeff Deridder, president of the Escambia County Alabama Association of Volunteer Fire Departments, addressed the Escambia County Commission Monday to simply introduce himself and to invite them to the association's annual banquet in May. We think most of us don't realize the importance of volunteer firemen in this county and our surrounding counties. In talking with Deridder Monday he said there are 24 fire departments in the county, five have some paid firemen and 19 are 100 percent run by volunteers. He said currently there are about 300 volu...
