November

Rededication service held at historic cemetery

An old cemetery local residents have worked to restore for about 18 months was rededicated Nov 3.

Descendants, friends and neighbors of those buried in the Old Rasberry Family Cemetery in Chilton County’s Mulberry-Isabella community were invited to attend a rededication service in the cemetery at 2 p.m.

After the service, Trevor Cofer, one of the primary volunteers behind the cemetery restoration project, received his Eagle Scout badge in an Eagle Court of Honor ceremony.

Cofer, 17 of Isabella, chose the cemetery as his community service project for becoming an Eagle Scout.

Cofer and his family live minutes away from the cemetery, and a few years ago, he helped a man named Benny Harris and his mother find the cemetery.

“I’m kind of a student of genealogy, and I learned there was a place called the Old Rasberry Family Cemetery,” Harris said. “I had ancestors buried in that cemetery.”

Harris said the last time the cemetery was cleaned up was in 1981.

“The cemetery was basically abandoned, and it really grew up into a jungle,” Harris said.

Traffic death case headed to grand jury

The lawyer for a Montevallo woman charged in September with murder and reckless driving in North Chilton County waived a preliminary hearing Nov. 6, sending the case to a grand jury that will meet in February.

The 31-year-old Montevallo woman was charged with murder, driving under the influence and reckless driving in conjunction with a head-on collision Sept. 6 that resulted in a fatality.

Hearing held in Verbena stabbing

District Court Judge Rhonda Hardesty ruled Nov. 6 there was enough evidence for a case involving a September stabbing incident in Verbena to be sent to a grand jury.

A 37-year-old man appeared in court Nov. 6 for a preliminary hearing after being charged Sept. 27 with assault in the first degree for the stabbing of his brother.

Hardesty denied the man’s request to lower the bond amount of $20,000.

Man sentenced to 40 years for producing child porn, sex abuse

A Clanton man was sentenced to 40 years in prison Nov. 12 on six counts of charges including four counts of sexual abuse of a child less than 12 and two counts of possession of child pornography.

Chilton County Judge Sibley Reynolds sentenced the man in court at 9 a.m. to 20 years for the four counts of sex abuse charges of a child less than 12, which is a Class B felony.

The sentences will run concurrent with each other and concurrent with any sentence issued in Autauga County for similar charges.

Reynolds also sentenced the man to 10 years for each count of child pornography, a Class C felony, to run consecutive with each other and consecutive with the time given on the sex abuse charges.

The man pleaded guilty in May to the charges and was held in the Chilton County Jail under a $3,275,000 bond until his sentencing date.

Student helps keep woman from oncoming traffic

A Chilton County High School student helped avert a potentially disastrous situation Nov. 13 in Clanton.

Blake Hudson was talking to Faye Collins, his former seventh grade teacher at Clanton Middle School, outside Cornerstone Fitness and Wellness when they heard yelling and noticed a woman walking down a busy Highway 145.

“I thought maybe she was just walking across the road or something, but then I saw there were nurses on the other side of the road yelling back at her,” Hudson said.

The woman apparently was leaving the Katherine Vickery Home, where care is given to adults with special needs.

Patients at the home aren’t under court orders to remain there, Clanton Police Chief Brian Stilwell said, but the woman was causing an immediate threat to the safety of herself and motorists.

Hudson ran out to the woman at the same time that a nurse had grabbed hold of her, but the woman broke free and continued walking down the road.

“It was pretty clear that she wasn’t going to come off of the road,” said Hudson, who stayed with the woman, to try to protect her from oncoming traffic on the dark road, while the nurse called the police.

Hudson said the woman told him that she wanted to end her life and looked to be making an effort to place herself in front of oncoming vehicles. She resisted Hudson’s help, even striking him with her purse, though no injury was caused.

Commissioner Tim Mims passes after fight with cancer

Maplesville native, former businessman and Chilton County Commissioner Tim Mims died Nov. 14 from a battle with cancer.

Mims, 53, was originally born in Dallas County on June 3, 1960, but spent the majority of his life in Maplesville.

“He loved Maplesville and Maplesville loved him,” Maplesville Town Clerk Sheila Haigler said. “He always had the town of Maplesville and Chilton County’s best interest at heart.”

Many throughout the community shared different memories of Mims on Nov. 14 as they learned the news of his passing, including close friend and Chilton County Commission chairman Allen Caton.

“Tim was one of my best friends,” Caton said. “He was more than a commissioner to me. We have always shared different things going on in our lives and everything that went on we talked about together.”

Longtime SPAN counselor retires

Students and staff at the SPAN Program of Chilton County invited community members to celebrate the retirement of one of the program’s counselors Nov. 14.

Randy Strattis was a longtime fixture of the program, serving as a counselor for 17 years.

Established in 1996 as the City Program, SPAN (Special Programming Achievement Network) offers academic, social, behavioral and employability skills training for high-risk teenagers in the county.

“It has been a wonderful journey,” Strattis said to colleagues, family, friends and students. “Through it all, we’ve kept our focus on the kids, and it’s been very successful. The work I’ve done here—I can leave satisfied.”

Strattis has seen the program develop through two moves and a name change.”