HAMILTON - The Hamilton Area Chamber of Commerce will be hosting the 14th Annual Buttahatchee River Fall Festival on Saturday, Oct. 26, in downtown Hamilton.
The fall festival, which will officially kick off at 9 that morning, is a family-friendly event and there is no charge for admission.
This year’s festival will be as jam-packed with fun for the whole family as it has been in the past, according to Hamilton chamber president Lacy Williams.

WINFIELD - The Winfield City Council voted to approve a 25 cents per-hour raise for all Winfield city employees  at the council’s Tuesday, Oct. 1, meeting. The raise affected all full-time and part-time employees and went into effect the next pay period.
City administrator Mike Watkins presented the city’s 2019-2020 budget to the council for approval which factored in the raise.
Winfield Mayor Randy Price chose to hold two separate votes on the raise and the budget approval.

GUIN - The Guin City Council held a work session before the start of the regular council meeting on Monday, Oct. 7, in the Guin City Hall.
The council members were given copies of statements that showed what bills were paid and what money was received in the month of September.
During the work session, Guin City Councilmen Roger Agnew and Jerry Gann requested that more detailed financial bank statements should be supplied to council members.  

HAMILTON -  Double-homicide suspect Jimmy Cooper is back in the Marion County Jail in Hamilton after returning from a nine-month stay at the Taylor Hardin Secure Medical Facility in Tuscaloosa.
Marion County Sheriff Kevin Williams confirmed with the Journal Record that Cooper was booked back into the jail on Thursday, Oct. 10.  

HAMILTON - Hamilton seniors and youth will soon be utilizing the E.T. Sims Jr. Neighborhood Facilities building, as the large $3-million renovation project has finally been completed.
Hamilton Mayor Bob Page told the Journal Record that Lynn-based contractor Jerry Dyar, of Dymac Contracting, handed the city the keys to the recreational center on Wednesday, Oct. 9.

HAMILTON - Five streets in Hamilton have received the go-ahead for a new layer of asphalt—a project valued at more than $316,000.
The Hamilton City Council unanimously voted at its meeting on Monday, Oct. 7, to accept a bid by S.T. Bunn Construction in Tuscaloosa for $316,728 for the work.
The city will designate $116,728 out of the its general fund to fund the improvements.

HAMILTON - The Marion County Board of Education approved its fiscal year 2020 budget during its monthly meeting held on Thursday, Sept. 12.
FY 2020, which officially began Oct. 1, will operate with a $33,979,451 expense budget.
The school system expects to collect a total of $34,756,115 in federal, state and local revenues, leaving $910,450 in excess funds. This is a significantly larger stopgap than last year’s $115,600 in excess revenues.

WINFIELD - Fifty years ago, Robert “Bubba” Carothers was working in production control at Continental Conveyor in Winfield when he received a call from his brother, Russell, at Citizens Bank in Winfield.
“Russell asked if I would like to come up to the bank and work with the family and I said, ‘Well, let me think about it.’”
Carothers consulted his wife, Rebecca , about the job offer.
“My wife said, ‘You need to go up there.’ So, it didn’t take me too long to think about it,” Carothers said, laughing.

WINFIELD - The Winfield City Board of Education has voted to lease 100 iPads directly from Apple Inc. for the price of $10,280 per year for three years.
The decision was voted on unanimously at the board’s Tuesday, Oct. 8, meeting.
Apple is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, Calif., that designs, develops, and sells consumer electronics, computer software, and online services.

GUIN - “This is exciting and this is a big deal!” Guin Elementary School Counselor Jessica Johnigan exclaimed after watching U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos announce that her school is the recipient of the coveted Blue Ribbon School award.
Johnigan, along with reading specialist Angie Jefferies and principal Joshua Weatherly, were all overjoyed as they watched DeVos make the announcement via an internet video message in the school’s main office on Thursday, Sept. 26.

HAMILTON - A Hamilton High School student has selected Blake Shelton’s team on NBC’s reality singing series The Voice.
Josie Beth Jones, 17, a Hamilton junior, appeared on national television on Monday, Sept. 30, on The Voice’s season 17, performing Julie Roberts’ “Men & Mascara.”
Jones is the daughter of Danny and Juli Jones of Hamilton. She has an older sister, Danni Brooke, and a younger brother, Jesse Luke.
A clip of Jones’ blind audition on The Voice’s Facebook page has collected 1.9 million views.

HAMILTON - A Marion County jury has issued a “not guilty” verdict for a woman accused of assaulting her then-boyfriend with her vehicle.
According to court documents provided by Marion County Circuit Clerk Denise Mixon, on Tuesday, Sept. 10, in 25th Judicial Circuit Court held in the Marion County Courthouse in Hamilton, Stacey Nicole Harris, Hamilton, was found not guilty on all of her charges. Those included first-, second- and third-degree domestic violence and first-, second- and third-degree assault.

HAMILTON -  The Marion County Commission has approved its 2020 budget and signed four resolutions that result in $264,751 to be cut from the General Fund for the 2020 Fiscal Year, effective Oct. 1, 2019, during a regular meeting on Monday, Sept. 30, in Hamilton.
In attendance during the meeting were Marion County Commissioners Bobby Burleson, Dale Holt, chairman Tim “Ears” Estes, Kenneth Cochran and Keith Nichols.

HAMILTON - Former Auburn University head football coach Tommy Tuberville will be in Hamilton on Saturday, Oct. 12, as a candidate for Alabama U.S. senator.
Tuberville will be speaking at the Marion County Republican Party’s monthly meeting at J&V Ole Smokehouse on the corner of Highway 17 and Steele Street.
Attendees will begin gathering around 8:30 a.m. for breakfast, which will be available for purchase. The meeting will begin at 9.

HAMILTON - Fred’s Xpress Pharmacy in Hamilton will be re-opened as Express Rx.
Fred’s Xpress, located at 1360 Military Street South, should not be confused with Fred’s Pharmacy, which is owned by Cole Sandlin and located at 797 Military Street South.
Fred’s Xpress pharmacy technician Merdith Dudley Jones of Hamilton announced the development via Facebook on Friday, Sept. 27, saying that the local pharmacy location will be an Express Rx beginning Nov. 1. The store will continue operating under the “Fred’s Xpress” branding until then.

MONTGOMERY - Beginning Saturday, Oct. 12, all local calls made within the Alabama 205 Area Code will have to be placed using the 10-digit telephone number (area code plus the seven-digit telephone number).
Calls that are currently local will continue to be local, even though 10-digit dialing will be required.
A six-month grace period began on April 13, 2019, to give consumers adequate time to adjust to the changes.
During that period, local calls were able to be made with either seven or 10 digits.

HAMILTON -  Hamilton Elementary School held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the opening of its new playground on Monday, Sept. 23.
The project to build the playground began in November 2018 with retired Hamilton Elementary principal Lynda Hall, HES Booster Club President Paula Wood, club member Melissa Hughey and Hamilton architect Andrea Harbison.
 Hall expressed her thanks to the many individuals involved, stating that the project was a community effort.

HAMILTON - Billy Wade Rollins, 93, and Austin Adkins, 76, both of Hamilton, two influential bankers and businessmen associated with First National Bank, have passed away within days of each other.
Adkins passed away on Saturday, Sept. 21, at Brookwood Baptist in Birmingham. Adkins worked as chief executive officer for First National Bank from 1988 to 2015.
Rollins died on Tuesday, Sept. 24, at North Mississippi Medical Center-Hamilton.

HAMILTON - The Marion County Board of Education has adopted the 2019-2020 school year county supplements.
At its Thursday, Sept. 12, meeting, the board of education approved $187,688 in supplements and fringe costs for coaches and directors across its five high schools in Bear Creek, Brilliant, Guin, Hackleburg and Hamilton.
Chief school financial officer Clint Green told the board new coaches in the Marion County School System will be given a one semester grace period to obtain a bus driver’s license.

HAMILTON - Marion County’s sales tax for education experienced one of its steepest year-comparison declines on record in August.

The following garbage pickup schedules have been announced in connection with the Columbus Day holiday on Monday, Oct. 14:
• Marion County Solid Waste will collect the Monday, Oct. 14, garbage  on Tuesday, Oct. 15.
• The Town of Brilliant will be unaffected.
• The Guin Street Department will be collecting the garbage one day behind during the week of Columbus Day, beginning Tuesday, Oct. 15. The regular garbage schedule will resume on Monday, Oct. 21.
• The Hamilton Street Department will be delaying its Monday, Oct. 14, garbage pickup until Tuesday, Oct. 15.