1-11-16 News

1-11-16

Anniston fatal

An Anniston woman died in a two-vehicle crash Friday morning in Talladega County, according to Alabama State Troopers.

The accident happened at 7:25 a.m. on Priebes Mill Road six miles south of Oxford.

38 year old Faleica Renay Moore,  died when her 2004 Chevrolet Impala collided head-on with a 2014 Honda Odyssey driven by 75 year old Joan Ward Eason, also of Anniston. Moore was pronounced dead on the scene.

Eason, along with an 11-year-old, was taken to Anniston's Regional Medical Center. The accident is under investigation.

1-11-16

Sylacauga robbery

A Sylacuaga man is being held on a $50,000 bond after being charged with robbery in the first degree.

20 year old Matthew Morris Carr,  was arrested Friday morning, according to Talladega County Sheriff Jimmy Kilgore. Carr is accused of robbing Lucky’s Food Mart on Alabama 21 South with a machete.

The robbery was reported Oct. 18 just after 7 p.m. In addition to the machete that he threatened the cashier with, Carr was allegedly wearing a black hood, dark sunglasses, a multicolored bandanna and gray glove.

After committing the robbery, which netted him around $200, he fled into a wooded area, where investigators recovered the clothing items listed above as well as a black backpack and a pair of binoculars allegedly belonging to the suspect.

The investigation remained ongoing until deputies located Carr on Friday morning and took him into custody.

According to Talladega County Jail records, Carr was also being held for failure to appear in a theft of property in the second degree case. Records indicate Carr lived just up the street from Lucky’s.

1-11-16

Law enforcement grants

The DeKalb County Drug Task Force and the Cherokee County Major Crimes Unit received law enforcement grants from the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs, Gov. Robert Bentley recently announced.

The awards total $50,000 to each agency.

Mike O’Dell, district attorney for the Ninth Judicial Circuit, said it was the only circuit in the state to receive multiple grants.

O’Dell said competition for the grants was intense among similar units across the state, and involved in-depth discussions on personnel, goals, policies and procedures.

1-11-16

Auto theft suspect arrested

Attalla police arrested a man Saturday who probably should have checked the backseat before he tried burglarizing a vehicle.  A Preston Avenue woman had placed her 9-year-old daughter and her purse in her vehicle Saturday afternoon, then went back inside to get her younger son. While she was gone, the little girl heard the car door open and assumed it was her mom. However, when she looked up, she saw a man going through her mother’s purse. She yelled at him and he withdrew from the car. The mother came out, and saw the suspect walking away.  Police were called and 18-year-old Colton Gibbs was arrested. He’s been charged with unlawful breaking and entering of a vehicle. Gibbs was released from the Etowah County Detention Center on $2,500 bond.

1-11-16

RMC expansion

Annistons Regional Medical Center has submitted an application to the Alabama State Health Planning and Development Agency for a $34.8 million project to expand its intensive care and surgery services.  Officials say that once complete, the project will help the hospital serve more patients and increase revenue.

1-11-16

Talladega coach killed in wreck

A Sylacauga man was killed early Saturday morning when his pickup left the roadway and struck a tree.

33 year old Andrew "Andy" Miles Blair wasn't wearing a seat belt and was pronounced dead at the scene, according to Alabama state troopers.

Blair was the baseball coach at Talladega High School.

The crash occurred at around 4:30 a.m. on Old Fayetteville Road, four miles southwest of Sylacauga. Blair was driving a 1990 Chevrolet pickup truck.

1-11-16

Sylacauga man arrested

A Sylacuaga man is being held on bonds totaling $90,000 in connection with a variety of charges stemming from a series of crimes in the Fayetteville area.

29 year old Brandon Scott Acklin, has been charged with criminal mischief in the first degree, criminal trespass in the first degree, breaking into and entering a motor vehicle, and at least three counts of misdemeanor criminal trespass. He has also been charged with public intoxication and has more charges pending.

The felony criminal mischief charge involves an incident Sept. 20 on Southview Road. According to Talladega County Sheriff Jimmy Kilgore, Acklin allegedly began beating on the door of a residence there and, when the resident responded, Acklin is accused of pointing a flare gun at her. The flare gun was recovered by deputies that night.

1-11-16

Blue bell fires back

Blue Bell Creameries is hitting back at what it is calling media misstatements regarding Listeria in its ice cream manufacturing plants.  The announcement comes as the company is still working to overcome a Listeria outbreak that killed three people and brought its production to a halt last summer.  On Thursday, Blue Bell released a statement on heightened safety procedures in its plants. The statement said Blue Bell has "identified locations where suspected Listeria species may be present, and they continue to extensively clean and sanitize those areas and make additional enhancements to the facility and our procedures based on the environmental test results."  The company went on to say that no products had tested positive for Listeria. The company maintains that it tests "every single batch of ice cream" before it is sold.  According to an agreement last year with the Alabama Department of Public Health, state officials will have full access to all testing of Blue Bell products, and will be notified if any test results show Listeria in ingredients or test samples. The state also will be notified of how the company expects to respond to any positive test results, and regular product testing will take place before anything is shipped or sold. Blue Bell signed similar agreements in Texas and Oklahoma, the other states where it has production plants.The Justice Department is currently investigating what management at Blue Bell knew about potential hazards at its plants prior to the Listeria outbreak last year. Blue Bell, which is currently rolling out a return to markets in 15 states over the next month, has not commented on the story.

The reported illnesses stretch back to January 2010. Three of the victims died, all in Kansas. None of the documented cases involved ice cream manufactured in Sylacauga.