Entries from August 2008 ↓

Powerful Hurricane Gustav threatens Alabama’s coast

Residents, visitors of Alabama beaches keeping eye on Gustav

As Gustav heads north, Baldwin County officials declare local emergency

BALDWIN COUNTY MANDATORY EVACUATION

Foreclosures haven’t hit local condominium associations as much as their peers in some states, but that may change as new assessments are sent out to help pay for insurance.

There are 13,169 condo units available for lease in Gulf Shores, Fort Morgan and Orange Beach, according to the Alabama Gulf Coast Convention and Visitors Bureau. All have a condo association and many of those associations are managed by local rental agencies.

The condo dues at the Gulf range from $200 per month to more than $1,500, depending on the size and age of the unit, managers said.

“We’ve had very few foreclosures, and the ones we had were in trouble before the market” slowed down, said Linda Moore of Kaiser Realty in Gulf Shores, which manages numerous condo associations. Most owners who did have problems had several units in different complexes, she said.

Local condo boards hold their own in foreclosure crisis

Keep hands clean by washing thoroughly with soap and water or using an alcohol-based hand sanitizer is at the top of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s list of steps to take to prevent staph infections.

That is one reason some Spanish Fort residents have raised questions about whether the city’s high school has adequate practice facilities.

The Toros’ field house is essentially two portable buildings, which do not include rest rooms, showers or sinks, school officials said. Two portable rest rooms and hand-sanitizer stations, however, are available near the practice field, according to Baldwin County Public Schools spokesman Terry Wilhite.

Staph raises debate over field house

More than 50 people gathered in Spanish Fort on Thursday night to voice opinions about the Baldwin County Board of Education’s proposal to address overcrowding at Rockwell Elementary.

School board officials said Wednesday that the purpose of the meeting was to gather public input on a plan to move from 75 to 100 children from Rockwell to nearby Spanish Fort Elementary. School board spokesman Terry Wilhite said Spanish Fort Elementary has some empty classrooms and Rockwell is over capacity. Many classes at Rockwell are held in portable buildings.

Baldwin County Board of Education Assistant Superintendent JaNay Dawson said there is no plan in place for rezoning and that gathering public input was the first step in a process that could take a year to complete. Any approved zoning changes would not take effect until the 2009-10 school year, Wilhite said.

Officials gather input for rezoning

With Gustav ambling toward the Gulf of Mexico on Friday, the City Council voted unanimously to repay its catastrophe fund the $3.45 million it withdrew last month to refinance a land deal.

The council had decided in late July to withdraw that amount from its $6.8 million disaster fund to pay off a loan that had come due.

The original $3.45 million was borrowed from Vision Bank in 2007 and used to pay for about 2cm HALF acres at the northern terminus of Alabama 161.

City Council repays disaster fund

A Silverhill Town Council member who lost his seat in Tuesday’s election was arrested Friday after a neighbor said the official attacked him after vote results were announced, authorities said.

George Michael Allegri Jr., 44, was booked into the Baldwin County Corrections Center at 4:04 p.m. on a charge of third-degree assault, according to jail records. His bail was set at $2,500.

Baldwin County deputies responded to a call on Silverhill Avenue on Tuesday night that Allegri and Mark Crowson were fighting, according to a Sheriff’s Office statement. Silverhill police had first been called to the scene, but asked the county to handle the case because the incident involved a municipal official.

Silverhill councilman arrested on assault charge

Two men robbed a teller at a United Bank in Lillian and used a customer’s car as their getaway vehicle this afternoon, authorities said.

Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Maj. Anthony Lowery said the robbery occurred at 4:50 p.m. at the United Bank branch on U.S. 98

Two men, who were wearing masks, held a teller at gunpoint and received an undisclosed amount of money, Lowery said. The men then stole a customer’s green Mazda, model unknown, that was parked out front and drove toward Escambia County, Fla., on U.S. 98, Lowery said.

Lillian United Bank robbed by gunmen who stole customer’s car

Daphne police on Thursday arrested a Fairhope man in connection with a stolen vehicle after the suspect reportedly returned to the scene of the crime.

Wilmer Coleman, 56, was charged with third-degree burglary, possession of burglary tools, first-degree receiving of stolen property, possession of drug paraphernalia and reckless endangerment, Detective Lt. Jud Beedy said.

A 4:50 a.m. alarm at Daphne Mazda prompted patrole units’ response, when police encountered a vehicle leaving the business, according to a news release that said Coleman was captured after a high-speed chase that ended on Papermill Road in Mobile.

Man arrested on car theft

The candidates in the mayoral and City Council Place 2 runoffs will be competing for the votes cast in favor of their opponents, as well as trying to turn out those registered voters who didn’t make it to the polls on Aug. 26.

Of the candidates facing each other in the mayoral runoff, Mayor Tim Kant spent more than twice as much in campaign funds than challenger Dean Mosher.

But both candidates start nearly equal with remaining campaign funds at the start of the runoff campaign period.

Kant outspends challenger 2 to 1

Two Elberta men have been accused of removing a 40-foot construction barge from its moorings, loading the vessel onto a trailer and taking it to the home of one of the men, officials said Friday.

Benjamin Lewis Hamilton, 38, and John Joshua Lay, 26, were arrested Thursday and charged with first-degree receiving stolen property, Lt. Alex Smith of the Alabama Marine Police said Friday.

The barge, worth about $49,000, had been taken Sunday from its mooring spot on Long’s Bayou on the Intracoastal Waterway, Smith said.

2 charged in barge theft

Long believed to be dead, the Mandolay Beach resort project is back on life support, and along with it the prospect of this south Baldwin County city getting its first municipal beach.

The City Council today extended for 60 days the zoning that allows developers to build a 40,000 square-foot convention center, 412-room hotel and 208-unit condo tower on 14.5 Gulf-front acres at the base of Alabama 161.

Plans for Orange Beach resort, Mandolay Beach, revived by Canadian firm

“Shipwreck! Treasures from the SS Republic” will be on display at the Baldwin County Heritage Museum in Elberta, Alabama, beginning Sunday, August 31. The discovery of the wreck, the high-tech exploration and the recovery efforts undertaken have all garnered worldwide media attention, such as an hour long National Geographic program. “Shipwreck! Treasures from the SS Republic” exhibit will also showcase these efforts, along with the vessel’s rich history and the wealth of artifacts and coins recovered.

Baldwin County Heritage Museum opens “Shipwreck” exhibition

Baldwin County Public School officials want to move some students from one elementary school to another to help ease overcrowding.
They’re asking the public for feedback.

School system administrators said they’d like to move about 75 to 100 students from Rockwell Elementary in Spanish Fort to Spanish Fort Elementary, about five miles away.

Terry Wilhite with Baldwin County Public Schools said, “When you have growth, you have to accommodate growth and sometimes you have growing pains. At Spanish Fort Elementary there are empty classrooms, some, and then at Rockwell Elementary, its (filled) to the gill.”

Proposed Zoning Changes For Baldwin County Schools

Police were led on a high speed chase through two counties Wednesday night. The chase began in Daphne and finally ended in Mobile with the arrest of Wilmer Coleman. Police say Coleman stole the car he was driving. Coleman was finally arrested at the Old Scott Credit Untion on Papermill Road in Mobile.

High Speed Chase Ends with Arrest