Fords Valley water situation improving

Fords Valley & Highway 278 Water Authority Manager Kenneth Helms said water conditions looked a little better for the system Wednesday morning.

Crews were out all night Monday and throughout the day Tuesday looking for a possible leak suspected as the cause of a drop in the community’s water supply.

Helms said Tuesday that the tank was down to a quarter-full. Wednesday morning, he said, the tank level was better and the authority was using two pumps to try to draw more water into it. The authority buys water from Hokes Bluff.

Helms said he believed people had heeded the cautions about water use, and that helped.

He said there are questions now as to whether there actually was a leak. It’s believed the low level of water could have been the result of heavy water usage alone.

When the tank gets back to normal levels, he said, and water usage goes back to normal, system operators may know more about the cause of the water level drop.

As crews continue to investigate the shortage, the Gadsden-Etowah County Emergency Management Agency asks that people still limit usage.

Gambling Poll

A study commissioned by the Alabama Jobs Foundation, which supports a constitutional amendment to bring the lottery to Alabama, supports Sen. Del Marsh's efforts to allow Alabamians to vote on whether to legalize gambling.The poll found that 89 percent of Alabamians want the right to vote on whether to allow gambling in the state. A representative of the AJF said there's no real difference across party lines, according to the study, which found that 92 percent of Republicans, 88 percent of independents and 88 percent of Democrats want to see a vote on the issue.

Etowah Republicans recommend Jody Willoughby be appointed as new District Attorney

Jody Willoughby

Members of the Etowah County Republican Party Executive Committee voted Tuesday evening to recommend that the governor appoint Jody Willoughby as Etowah County District Attorney.  With a number of county and municipal law enforcement officers in attendance, the executive committee held a brief emergency meeting, asking for nominations for the appointment.  Willoughby, a Southside High School graduate who has partnered with George Day in legal practice in Gadsden, thanked his fellow committee members and those present for their support.  He serves as municipal judge in Southside and in Glencoe.

Friday, the governor activated supernumerary district attorney James Hedgspeth and appointed him to serve as interim district attorney until a permanent appointment is made.

Hedgspeth said Jimmie Harp had made his wishes regarding the office known to him and to Chief Deputy District Attorney Marcus Reid before his death.

Talladega District Attorneys office investigating K-9 attacks

Over the past month, residents in one Talladega community said that five people in their area have been mauled by a police K-9 dog.  The Talladega District Attorney’s office is conducting an investigation into an incident involving its police K-9 unit that left a man in bad condition.  The Talladega Downs apartment community is fed up.  Chris Altwyman said he was coming from a friends house before he encountered police and its K-9. He was allegedly mauled by the K-9 dog and ended up in ICU for four days.  Altwyman said, “After he sprayed me, he put his mace up and completely started beating me in my face in my back.”  No one was in the dark area behind the apartments but the officer and Altwyman, except for an 11-year-old boy up past his bed time who saw the scene from his window.  Cameron Dubose, the eyewitness, said, “I saw a black figure just go by and I just heard some commotion and I just went upstairs, and looked out the window, and I saw the police man turn his flashlight on one time, then he turned it off then I saw him just beating him in the head.”

The incident left Altwyman with 24 staples in his head. Chief Jason Busby with the Talladega Police said, “There was a K-9 apprehension. We did look at it internally and due to the injury involved, we decided that instead of investigating it in-house, we have reached out to the Talladega County District Attorney’s office for them to conduct the investigation.”

 There’s body cam footage of this incident that is not yet being released due to the investigation.

The K-9 will be off the streets during the investigation, and the officer remains on duty.

Ford Valley water customers asked to conserve

A water leak has forced officials  to ask Customers of the Ford’s Valley and Highway 278 Water Authority to conserve water because the water leak has depleted the supply.  Workers are continuing to search for the leak. The system is down to a quarter-tank of water.  The authority serves about 1,825 customers and has about 200 miles of water line.  The water authority serves people in the outskirts of Hokes Bluff — the U.S. Highway 278, Ford’s Valley, Croft Ferry and Alford’s Bend road areas.  Officials ask if any customers discover a leak, or see a patch of ground along water lines that is much wetter than the weather conditions should allow, they should notify the water authority.  Etowah County Chief Deputy Michael Barton said the sheriff’s office would have its community response team on standby if customers should be left without water in the area. There likely are to be some people in the area who need water and are unable to acquire it without assistance.  Barton said the water supply is a big concern because of farms and livestock in the area.

Anniston delays school consolidation

The Anniston Board of Education Tuesday reversed its earlier decision to save money by closing two schools.

The board cited delays in receiving federal approval and insufficient time to prepare parents before students returned to class in August as why it voted to rescind its May decision to close Cobb Elementary and Constantine Elementary. School officials said they expect to quickly revise the consolidation plan and have the board vote again in the coming months to close the two schools next year.

Superintendent Darren Douthitt said during Tuesday’s regular meeting he also was disappointed that consolidation could not proceed this year. Douthitt said he'd have a schedule prepared in a couple of months on how the schools could be consolidated and when next year so the board could quickly revote and get the process started.

The board had discussed consolidating the system for the last two years before voting to close the two schools in May to save money in the face of declining enrollment. The plan was contingent on a U.S. District Court judge's approval though.

Approval is needed to ensure the school system is complying with federal desegregation requirements. Anniston has not yet achieved unitary status, which would take it out from under federal oversight of its enrollment-related operations.

The board's attorney said in a meeting earlier this month that by the time a federal judge approved the closing plan, there wouldn't be enough time to fully inform parents where to send their kids before the school year started.