Etowah County Sheriffs Office offering free firearms safety course

Firearms instructors of the Etowah County sheriff’s office will be offering a free Citizens’ Firearm Safety Course Aug. 19 on the campus of Gadsden State Community College.

The course is the latest in a series to teach gun owners the responsibilities of owning and using a handgun, Alabama’s self-defense and pistol permit laws as well as basic safety.

The classroom portion of the course is from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in Room 210 at GSCC’s Joe Ford Center. Participants are asked not to bring their guns to the class. A day at the firing range will be scheduled for those who successfully complete the classroom portion of the course for hands-on firing of their weapons.

Registration is required for the course. To register, email nbarton@etowahcounty.org. Class size is limited to 80 people. Additional classes will be scheduled throughout the year.

Calhoun Democrats call for registrar to step down

Carolyn Henderson, member of the Calhoun County Board of Registrars, said, however, that she won’t step down for doing her job. The executive committee of the Calhoun County Democratic Party has called  for Calhoun county board of registrars member Carolyn Henderson to   resign based on statements she made regarding the number of absentee ballot applications her office had received ahead of the July 15 runoff election between incumbent Calhoun County Commissioner Fred Wilson and challenger James Montgomery. The Board of Registrars received more than 400 absentee ballot applications from Calhoun County Commission District 1, which includes most of Anniston and areas west of the city, as well as Hobson City and a portion of Oxford.  Wilson won the July 15 election and the Democratic nominee for the District 1 chair on the commission by 159 votes. There is no Republican challenger for the November general election.  Montgomery has contested the results of the election, citing uncounted absentee ballots as well as interference from Henderson in the race. Although Montgomery won the majority of absentee votes cast in the election — 171 to Wilson’s 31 — he said more than 200 residents who applied to vote absentee never voted after Henderson said she was alarmed by the high number of absentee applications her office had received. The total number of applicants from District 1 was higher than the total number of absentee ballots cast from the whole county in the June primary election.  Montgomery, and the Calhoun County Democratic Party, said it was not Henderson’s place to make a judgment call on the number of absentee ballots, and said her statements caused many voters hesitation in returning their ballots.  Henderson said Tuesday that raising concerns about potential voter fraud is what she is required to do under the law. Under Alabama law, voters are allowed to vote absentee only if they will be out of town, physically unable to make it to the polls on election day, or are working a 10-hour shift that coincides with open poll hours.  Henderson said she was worried that many residents had been misled, and would lose their right to vote at the polls after requesting an absentee ballot.  Calhoun County District Attorney Brian McVeigh said his office had received a request to look into the high number of ballots. McVeigh said investigators asked a small sampling of residents who sent an absentee ballot application to the county about their reasons for doing so. He said all results of the investigation had been sent to the Attorney General’s Office, and that there was no pending investigation ongoing at the local or state level.

Cherokee Arson Arrest

Cherokee County investigators have arrested a Leesburg man on second degree arson charges.
Sheriff Jeff Shaver said 57 year old Samuel Joseph Johns,  was arrested in connection with a fire at a home on County Road 7.
Shaver said Johns was involved in a verbal disagreement with family members. A short time later, 911 dispatchers received a call on a fire at a residence. Firefighters responding discovered "suspicious burn patterns" and contacted investigators, Shaver said.
Johns was later arrested at a residence on Rocky Ford Road, just across the Etowah County line. He is currently being held at the Cherokee County Detention Center, awaiting a bond hearing.

Gadsden council supports drive to place local golfers in state sports hall of fame

Solomon Hughes

The Gadsden City Council is supporting a drive to put two hometown golfers in the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame.  The council passed a resolution tuesday endorsing the nomination of Solomon Hughes Sr., and Warren Smith.
Hughes,
known as "Gyp," died in 1987, and was a leading figure in the desegregation of the PGA Tour. After several years of attempting to compete, Hughes finally took part in the 1952 St. Paul Open.
He was also a friend of boxing champion and Alabama native Joe Louis, and gave him golf lessons while Louis was stationed at  Fort McClellan. 
Smith, who is a member of the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame and the PGA Golf Professional Hall of Fame, once held a PGA tour record with seven consecutive birdies.
He was named PGA Golf Professional of the Year in 1973.

18 year old rescued from Blount county cave overnight

An 18-year-old man is recovering after falling 50 feet inside a cave in western Blount County Monday night.  Authorities report that the young man fell in a ravine inside of that cave at about 8 p.m. Monday.
Authorities say the 18-year-old was concious when he was taken to a medical helicopter which landed near I-65 and Alabama 160 in Smoke Rise. The chopper took him to UAB Hospital. Authorities say it took about three hours to rescue the boy. It took about a dozen people to get the man out. Several had to repell into the cave and hike along narrow passages to get him out.

Cases against two Jacksonville Teens charged with rape to be presented to Grand Jury

Two Jacksonville teens, accused in the june rape of an Anniston woman will have their cases presented to a Calhoun county   grand jury next month.
Calhoun County District Judge Chris McIntyre ordered both cases to a grand jury Monday.,  One of the two 17-year-olds, charged with raping an Anniston woman June 17, was arrested July 15. He was brought back from Oklahoma the day of his arrest to face the first-degree rape charge
The other minor was arrested June 25. He also is listed in court records as being one of three suspects alleged to have robbed three women at gunpoint in Weaver on June 1, though it was not clear Monday if he is charged with a crime in that incident. In the Weaver incident, two men, a 20-year-old and a 22-year-old, both of Anniston, were arrested by Weaver police July 9, charged with first-degree robbery. A different 17-year-old also was arrested and charged with robbery. Those arrests are in connection with the incident in Weaver, which happened at around 3 a.m. June 1, according to Weaver police.
There are connections between the Weaver and Anniston incidents, police have said, but investigators in both cities and state prosecutors have released little information on the matter, saying that there will likely be additional arrests.