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A Brewton man faces a possible prison sentence of life without the possibility of parole after an Escambia County jury found him guilty of sodomy I and sexual abuse of a child less than 12 years old for molesting a 4-year old girl. Christopher Lance Burtram, 34, whose last known address was listed as 865 Travis Road, showed little or no emotion when the jury returned its verdict last Thursday. After several days of testimony, the jury deliberated about three hours before retuning the verdict....
A three to four month undercover operation by the Brewton Police Department resulted in the arrest of seven Brewton residents July 26 on drug charges and police are continuing their search for three more. According to information released by the police department, narcotics investigators and police officers made multiple purchases of illegal narcotics that included cocaine, marijuana, Ecstasy and synthetic cannabinoids (spice). The operation resulted in arrest warrants being issued against 10...
At an emergency meeting of the Century council Monday night, the council approved to transfer $65,000 from the water department with the authority to transfer up to $15,000 each month for August and September as needed to cover the natural gas department's payroll and payroll taxes. Councilwoman Ann Brooks read a letter that all council members received from Town Clerk Kim Godwin that the gas department did not have the funds to pay its payroll or payroll taxes. “General and water were able t...
The city of Brewton hosted the Battle of Burn Corn Creek Saturday at Jennings Park. Despite the heat people showed up to have free hamburgers and see the battle. For more, see our Photo Gallery...
The Jay council held a public meeting last Thursday, July 25, to in form residents of the status of a grant application with the USDA Rural Development Program and how the town is addressing the water distribution system's replacement project. Technical assistance provider Mary Gavin, from Southeast Rural Community Assistance Project and Jeff Archer, area director of the USDA Rural Development Program out of Crestview are working with Jay Operations Manager Eric Seib to address the sources of...
Ella Hart, center, of T. R. Miller High School was named the 2020 Distinquished Young Woman to represent Escambia County (Ala.). First Alternate went to Malin White, left, of Flomaton High School, and Second Alternate went to Sarah Aaron, right, of W. S. Neal High School....
Jay Elementary School is currently undergoing renovations that include the addition of six new classrooms and the demolition of an old building that hold many fond memories for many students to make way for new classrooms. The Santa Rosa County School Board of Education recently approved a survey of Jay Elementary School which determined that several buildings needed to be demolished due to age. Several of the buildings were constructed as early as 1926, according to the survey, and were recomme...
A single vehicle crash at 8:42 p.m., July 18, has claimed the life of an Atmore woman. Victoria Skye DeSilvery, 28, was killed when the 1997 Ford Mustang she was riding in left the roadway and struck a tree. DeSilvery was airlifted to University Hospital in Mobile where she died from her injuries on July 23. The driver, Chad Houston Alverson, 33, of Atmore and an unknown female passenger were uninjured in the crash. The crash occurred on Booneville Road, 18 miles north of Atmore. Nothing further is available as ALEA Troopers continue to...
The Atmore Police Department is investigating the death of an 84-year old man as a homicide after his body was discovered inside his home July 26 with an apparent gunshot wound. Atmore police were dispatched after receiving a call from 425 Jacksprings Road at 11:06 a.m. in reference to a dead person and discovered the body of Willie Ankum. Atmore Police Chief Chuck Brooks said the call to report the death came from Ankum's son. In reports released by the police department, it stated that...
The Escambia County (Ala.) Board of Education approved to look at revising several board policies that effect the general grade scale, honors, advanced placement, dual enrollment and dual credit grade scale and Valedictorian and Salutatorian status of students. The new policy for grading to be approved is: in grades nine through 12, numerical grades in honors, AP and dual enrollment anddual credit courses (approved by the board and, or superintendent) will be weighted by adding 10 points (used...
A Jay woman who was sitting in a running vehicle at a grocery store in Cantonment was arrested and charged with felony drug possession and suspended license last Thursday when police searched her vehicle and found drugs and paraphernalia. Lisa Ann Fitzpatrick, 38, 2897 Highway 4, was approached by law enforcement who noticed her sitting inside a running silver Cherolet Impala in the corner of the parking lot at Winn Dixie in Cantonment last Thursday, according to an Escambia County Sheriff's...
An inmate from Fountain Correctional Facility in Atmore was reported missing from a job site in Brewton Wednesday morning but was quickly recaptured without incident. According to Bob Horton, public information director for the Alabama Department of Corrections, Jamie L. Vaughn, 48, was reported missing about 9:50 a.m. Agents from the Alabama Department of Corrections were dispatched to the job site and located Vaughn behind the facility where he was assigned to a work detail. The location of...
Scott Lunsford, Escambia County Tax Collector, has partnered with the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles to bring the Florida Licensing On Wheels (FLOW) mobile office to Century on Tuesday, August 6, 2019 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Billy G. Ward Century Courthouse, 7500 N. Century Boulevard. FLOW is a standalone mobile office with technology to provide most motorists’ needs. The mobile unit provides a convenient method to renew a driver license, obtain a replacement driver license, conversion/reciprocation of o...
Many veterans are unaware of the services and discounts available to them because of their service to their country, all through the Veteran's Administration. Gene Moore, Veterans Services Officer for Escambia County, Ala., wants all veterans who were discharged (not dishonorably) or retired from the military to know what benefits they have available. “We provide services to veterans who may have had an injury or illness and their family members or dependents,” said Moore. “There are diffe...
The Escambia County (Ala.) Board of Education approved the following personnel changes at its Thursday, July 25 meeting. The changes are as follows: Resignation Miranda Allgood, Instructional Teacher Aide, Flomaton Elementary School, effective July 23, 2019; Nakiedra Johnson, LPN/Special Education Instructional Aide, Flomaton High School, effective July 24, 2019; Amber Waters, Kindergarten Teacher, Huxford Elementary School, effective July 12, 2019; Emmett Williamson, 7-hour Custodian, Pollard McCall Junior High School, effective July 8, 2019;...
At 6 p.m., next Tuesday, Aug. 6, there will be a Back To School Community Prayer Service at First United Methodist Church in East Brewton. Escambia County Sheriff Heath Jackson will be there to lead the Pledge of Allegiance and ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ will be performed live by a soloist. There will be eight local pastors, including Presiding Pastor Mike Breasher and area churches are participating. Guest speakers will be Rev. Bobby Ellisor and Rev. Eric Andrews. School superintendents for both the county and Brewton City Schools will be the...
From the outside looking in, I think it is time for the town of Century to at least begin receiving proposals from companies that might be interested in purchasing the town's natural gas system. I've read a lot of numbers tossed around about how the gas system is losing money so fast it can't count. I've heard reports where people are getting free gas because they don't get bills and hear reports about the town selling less natural gas than they are purchasing from their supplier. I now hear...
They say you learn something new everyday. We learned something new last week when we learned that a person over the age of 21 who is found guilty of certain sex crimes on a child under the age of 6 'shall' be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. We really thought that the only time you could be sentenced to life without was in a capital murder case when the only two options a judge and jury have are death or life without. Last week an Escambia County (Ala.) jury convicted Christopher Lance Burtram, 34, of sodomizing...
Editor's note: The following editorial was published in the July 27-28 weekend edition of the Oxford Eagle in Oxford, Miss. It was written by Managing Editor Anna Gibbs Guizerix, a Jay native and a 2013 graduate of Jay High School. Guizerix can be reached at [email protected] In the last week, Oxford has seemingly been turned on its head as national news outlets converged on our small town to cover the events surrounding the murder of rising Ole Miss senior Alexandria ‘Ally’ Kostial. In today’s world of instant news, it’s easy to...
Governor Kay Ivey’s first legislative session of the quadrennium was very successful. Her prowess at getting things accomplished with this Legislature has been remarkable. She knows what she is doing. It should not be surprising given her background and experience. Kay Ivey has been around state government for most of her adult life. She has dealt with the Legislature for over four decades. Her adroitness in the passage of the Infrastructure package was similar to the legislative success enjoyed by Governor George Wallace in his prime years. L...
After more than two and half years of Russian collusion frenzy, Democrat fervor for this ridiculous hoax is unlikely to fade. But if you understand Democrats, their insane perseverance is predictable. This whole fiasco was never about Russian interference in our elections or Russian collusion to steal the 2016 election. It always was and still is to disrupt, paralyze, and if possible topple the presidency of Donald Trump. Democrats, “never Trump“ Republicans, and power mad federal bureaucrats still reject Trump and resent his effective effor...
History along Butler Street has ebbed and flowed with the coming and going of numerous forgotten communities. Hadley, Vocation, Coley, Steadham are names lost to all but a few who dig into the past. Yet between Old Stage Road and Butler Street the forgotten lore of the Hollinger community beckons us to remember its forgotten past. Today, as tractors and other farm equipment sail across a sea of cotton and peanuts in the quite fields of south Monroe County, a history is slowly being forgotten. Th...
The history of the American Era of Escambia County in Florida is now almost two hundred years old. In the early years it is remembered that a few areas in the northern part of the county grew slowly as remote, self-sustaining woodland communities. Then, after the War Between the States, the population grew dramatically around sawmill communities along the route of two railways which lay on either side of the county, transforming railway stops into thriving boom towns. This period of almost seventy years may be called our great logging and...
I don't remember when I became aware of that far-off-from-Barnett Crossroads, Alabama place, but I knew I needed to see it. The need to "SEE ROCK CITY" way up in Tennessee somewhere stayed on my list of things to do and see. "Bucket list" hadn't entered the lexicon of this little country girl at that time. On top of a mountain near Chattanooga, I planned to tour the “ROCK CITY GARDEN,” “RIDE THE INCLINE,” “SEE SEVEN STATES” and go deep underground at “RUBY FALLS.” I knew that Blue Star Highway # 31 running from Mobile to Chicago went th...
It’s count down time to the beginning of school and the end of summer and you haven’t had a vacation yet! What to do? Perhaps, you are saving up for that dream trip next summer but you’d still like to take a break and have some fun this year. How can your family and you enjoy yourselves without breaking the bank? The answer might be right in your own backyard! Plan a staycation. Rather than traveling out of the area, use your home as base and plan some fun activities – family game time, camping out in the backyard and making s’mores, or running...
