Southside Baseball Coach suspended five days without pay

The Etowah County Board of Education Suspended Southside High School baseball coach Blake Bone without pay for five days Tuesday night.

The action came After an executive session.  Supt Alan Cosby declined to give details about what led to the suspension, but said the action was taken after the investigation was complete.

Bone was not named in November by Cosby when he was placed on paid administrative leave pending a personnel investigation.

However, parents of baseball players said they were told Bone was placed on leave and a Facebook page was created to promote a community rally in support of Bone.

Parents have said the allegations include cursing players. Bone is the school’s health teacher and has been head baseball coach and teacher at Southside High School since 2007

Jacksonville hospital operating without state license

Alabama’s health agency has notified Regional Medical Center that it has been operating Jacksonville's hospital without a license since September due to a paperwork discrepancy.

The hospital is expected to resolve the issue avoiding any possible impact to its services or enforcement action from the state.

The lack of a license is an issue that triggered some of the conflict between the city of Anniston and RMC's board that landed both in court earlier this year.

According to a Nov. 25 letter that the Alabama Department of Public Health sent to RMC, the agency had recently reviewed the status of the license to operate RMC Jacksonville and determined RMC was not in compliance. The letter states that the RMC board merged with RMC Jacksonville in September, but failed to file a change of ownership application with the department to receive a new license. Though the board has owned RMC Jacksonville for almost two years, it has operated the hospital through QHG of Jacksonville, Inc., a nonprofit corporation. The merger wiped QHG from existence, but left its name on the 2014 operating license.

The letter also states that to resolve the matter, the board should file an application, along with a license fee, on or before Dec. 12 to receive a license by Jan. 1.

City officials in recent months have said RMC conducted the merger to circumvent a city ordinance that mandates consent from the City Council before relocating RMC property to an outside facility.

The property in question includes 15 geriatric psychiatric beds. RMC recently applied for approval from the State Health Planning and Development Agency to move the beds from Anniston to RMC Jacksonville at a cost of approximately $3.2 million.

City attorney Bruce Downey has said the lack of a proper operating license could put the board in violation of certain federal regulations, possibly jeopardizing its ability to bill for services through Medicare and Medicaid at RMC Jacksonville.

New Etowah Judge named by Governor Bentley

Joe Nabors

Gov. Robert Bentley has appointed Joe Nabors to fill the Etowah County District Court Judge post that will be left vacant by Judge William Russell’s retirement.

Nabors is chairman of the county’s Republican Executive Committee and is executive director of the Calhoun-Cleburne Children’s Advocacy Center.

Nabors has dealt with the law from the ground up since he was accepted into the  Alabama State Troopers cadet program. Etowah was one of the counties he covered as an Alabama Bureau of Investigations agent, and continued to be as he advanced until his retirement at the rank of captain.

While working with the ABI, Nabors went to law school. Upon his retirement, he began practicing law full time and for a while served as a city prosecutor in Gadsden.  Nabors has served as attorney for the advocacy center, along with his duties as president.

Nabors will assume the post on January 1^st.

Grand Jury to hear Anniston murder case

Russell Lowery Arnold

An Anniston man waived his rights Monday to a preliminary hearing on a murder charge in the beating death of another man in November.

A Calhoun County grand jury will be left to decide whether to indict 26 year old  Russell Lowery Arnold, who was arrested Nov. 8 and charged with murder.

Anniston police allege Arnold beat 53 year old William Canada, of Anniston to death on Nov. 7 at a house on Abbott Avenue.

Police have not said what they believe to be the motive in the killing, but Anniston police Chief Shane Denham said after Arnold's arrest that the defendant and the victim knew one another well.

Calhoun County District Judge Chris McIntyre on Monday appointed Oxford attorney Richard Couch to represent Arnold. Arnold was in the Calhoun County Jail on Monday with bond set at $75,000.

Woman injured in Sunday morning incident at Anniston Nightclub

A woman underwent surgery Monday in a Birmingham hospital after being run over by a car in Anniston while celebrating her 21st birthday Sunday with friends and family.

21 year old Margie Mitchell,  of Detroit, was struck by a vehicle in a parking lot outside the nightclub Ambitions on S. Quintard Ave. at about 3 a.m., according to witnesses.

The woman was struck and run over by a white, four-door Lexus driven by a man whom they did not know. The driver of that car then backed up and ran over Mitchell  again,  before leaving the parking lot. 

Family members said Mitchell suffered spinal injuries, a broken pelvis, arm and ribs, and burns from the vehicle’s tires. Mitchell underwent surgery at UAB Hospital in Birmingham on Monday and was in stable condition.

Woman arrested in Hokes Bluff theft

Hokes Bluff police have arrested a woman for theft after investigating property stolen from a DeSoto Street residence  on Nov. 22.

The investigation began when a resident reported the theft of two pistols and a large amount of jewelry. During the next week,  investigators began checking pawn shops and discovered a Taurus .45-caliber pistol at a Gadsden pawn shop.

Because the state requires people to show identification when they pawn property, the investigators were able to come up with a suspect. When they went to the woman’s house to talk to her, her brother told them she was at work, and that she worked cleaning houses.

Investigators called the property owner to determine if the woman in question cleaned his house. He said he learned the theft victim didn’t have a house cleaner, but that the suspect was a family member.

An Etowah County deputy stopped the suspect’s vehicle on Puckett Street and she admitted taking the guns and jewelry from the relative’s house while baby-sitting their children.

51 year old Wendy Whitten Estes, of Hokes Bluff, was arrested for first-degree theft for the taking of the jewelry, and second-degree theft for taking the guns. She was released Saturday on bonds totaling $7,500.