MONTGOMERY - The Alabama Supreme Court has upheld the December 2017 ruling of former 25th Judicial Circuit Judge John Bentley that went in favor of five Marion County municipalities.
Winfield, Guin, Brilliant, Gu-Win and Twin sued the Marion County Commission in 2015 over the manner in which the commission began redistributing a two-cent sales tax. On Dec. 18, 2017, Bentley, now retired

HAMILTON - A Hamilton High School senior has been awarded Scouting’s highest honor.
Will Sims, 18, Haleyville, Whitehouse Community, a senior at Hamilton High School, was awarded the Eagle Scout Rank at his Eagle Scout Court of Honor held on Sunday, Aug. 26,  at the Whitehouse Church of Christ.
Sims, son of John and Susie Sims, was recently awarded the Medal of Merit by the National Court of Honor of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) for his lifesaving actions in March 2017, when he discovered his brother, David, having a severe asthma attack.

HAMILTON - Seth Armbrester, 18, Hamilton, has been awarded the rank of Eagle Scout.
In earning the rank, Armbrester has completed an Eagle-Scout trifecta,  joining his two older brothers, Adam and Aaron, who have both obtained Scouting’s highest honor as well.
Armbrester, son of Hamilton United Methodist Church Pastor Jeff Armbrester and Lisa Armbrester, was presented his Eagle Scout pin, badge and medal at his Eagle Scout Court of Honor, which was held on Aug. 12 at the Methodist Church.

BRILLIANT - Brilliant resident Jason Wilds, along with his family, attended the Wednesday, Aug. 22, town council meeting to see if the council would de-annex their properties from the town limits.
The Wilds first brought up this request at the Wednesday, July 25, town council meeting, where Jason Wilds told the town council that, because Brilliant had not provided them access to town water, their properties should be de-annexed from the town limits.

HAMILTON - Hamilton’s old Town and Country Plaza Shopping Center, which has been deemed an eyesore and on the verge of condemnation for a number of years, has been bought.
According to The Ramp Chief Financial Officer Samuel Bentley, The Ramp purchased the seven-acre shopping center complex from developer Tony Struyk of San Diego, Calif., on Tuesday, Sept. 18.

WINFIELD - Taylor Ryan Bloodgood, 25, Winfield, was arrested on Tuesday, Sept. 18, and charged with five counts of possession of child pornography and one count each of sexual abuse of a child under the age of 12 and enticing a child for immoral purposes.

HAMILTON - Recordings of closed faculty meetings have shed light on a number of issues previously left publicly unaddressed  and unanswered by officials at Bevill State Community College (BSCC) and the Alabama Community College System (ACCS).
According to statements made during these meetings, the allegation by House District 18 Rep. Johnny Mack Morrow, D-Red Bay, that BSCC President Dr. Kim Ennis fabricated a study to justify closing three career technical programs at the BSCC Hamilton Campus is a misunderstanding.

• Shelton State sues for reduced salaries

The Hamilton City Council has decided that Retail Strategies should no longer represent the City of Hamilton.
The council voted 5-1 in against renewing its agreement with the Birmingham firm at its council meeting on Monday, Sept. 17.
Hamilton Mayor Bob Page was the lone wolf to vote in favor of Strategies; councilors Tami Lewis Williams, Gene Sanderson, Bobby Joe Irvin, Kenneth Cochran and Herb Winsett all gave the firm a thumbs-down.

I could not disagree more with their recent decision to not renew the city’s three-year partnership with Retail Strategies.

WINFIELD - The Winfield Pirates fell behind early 14-0 and fought back to go into halftime trailing only 21-20. The second half, however, was all about the Pirates, who scored 26 unanswered points to soundly defeat the Lamar County Bulldogs 46-21 on Thursday, Sep. 20, in Winfield.
The win improved the Pirates to 5-0 on the season and 3-0 in Class 3A, Region 4 play.

FLORENCE - Hackleburg blew out Class 1A, Region 8 opponent the Shoals Christian Flame 52-8 to pick up the Panthers’ first win of the year on Friday, Sept. 21.
The Panthers improved to 1-4 overall and move into a tie with longtime rival Phillips of Bear Creek for fourth-place at 1-2 in the Region 8 standings. The loss dropped the Flame to 1-4 overall and 0-2 in Region 8 play.

GUIN - Marion County defeated Brilliant in three sets to win the Northwest Alabama Conference Volleyball Tournament on Saturday, Sept. 8.
The Lady Tigers, who fought their way to the championship game after suffering a loss to Berry in the first match of the tournament, won the first set 25-22.
The Lady Raiders fought back to win the second and third set by scores of 25-19 and 15-10 to win the NAC crown.

REFORM - An unsuccessful extra-point attempt and a blocked field goal made all the difference in the world on Friday night, Sept. 21, as Marion County fell 7-6 to the Alabama Sports Writers Association’s Class 1A’s ninth-ranked Pickens County.
The loss marked the first setback for Marion County this season as the Red Raiders dropped to 4-1 overall and 2-1 in Class 1A, Region 6. The Tornadoes improved to 3-1 overall and 3-0 in Region 6 play.

CORNER - In a game almost identical to last week’s encounter with Dora, the Aggies gave a lackluster performance after trailing 20-0 at the end of the first half.
The Aggie faithful hoped to see their team get back into the game in the second half, but that resurgence never happened.
The homestanding Yellow Jackets continued their onslaught and rung up another 26 points en route to a 46-0 win.

BRILLIANT - Brilliant suffered its first shutout of the season at the hands of Lynn in a 44-0 contest on Friday, Sept. 21.
The loss dropped the Tigers to 1-3 overall and 0-3 in Class 1A, Region 6. The victory improved Lynn’s overall record to 2-2 and its region record to 1-2 while snapping a two-game losing streak.
Head coach Brian Gunnels saw areas where his Tigers needs to improve, including competing for the entire game.

Winfield held firm as the only school in Marion County ranked in the Top 10 of its respective class.
The Class 3A squad stayed put at No. 6 after thumping Class 3A, Region 4 foe Holt 42-7. The Pirates led the Ironmen 42-0 at halftime as Winfield picked up its fourth victory on the season.

Non-region action moves to the forefront in this week’s slate of games.
After three weeks of playing region contests, county schools finally venture out to play some non-region opponents in some fun matchups.
The county’s longest-running rivalry happens at Estes Hudson Stadium this Friday night when the Hamilton Aggies visit the unbeaten Winfield Pirates for nothing more than bragging rights.

No one really likes to be in pain. And we don’t really think of pain as our friend...more like our enemy.
Like this morning, when I felt a sting and looked down to see an ant biting my foot...I wasn’t a fan.
In my time at Dr. Brent Boyett’s clinic, Hamilton, where he assists patients with recovery from opiate addiction (pain pills) and chronic pain, I heard Boyett tell a story many (many) times and it never left me.

Cigarette smoking is the number-one risk factor for lung cancer (Time Health, Spring 2018).
Cancer and other smoking-related diseases kill about 40,000 Americans every year, accounting for 1 in 5 deaths in the U.S., with a worldwide yearly death count of 7 million.
In early August my husband, Glen, had his routine cardiology checkup with the conclusion by the nurse practitioner, “I’ll see you in about three months. Say, why don’t we have you go in for a pulmonary exam?”
So we went to have this done.

When one is 14 years old they often feel very grown-up. At least that was the case for Glen Alfred Harris and me during the summer of 1952.
We were too young to date…just ask any conservative parents of the time. However, as with children the world over, there are ways around many parental rules.

WINFIELD - Winfield City Council members Anthony Hallmark, Chris Ballard, Jimmy Hayes and Rusty Barnes clashed in a fierce argument over the council meeting time change that rescheduled future meetings to take place at 5:30 p.m. instead of 5:00.
At the previous meeting, the council voted to change the time for the Monday, Sept. 17, meeting to 5:30, along with future meetings, although some council members voiced that they were unaware they were agreeing to change the time of future meetings as well.

The State of Alabama’s fiscal year begins next week on Oct. 1. Our state’s finances are not the best in the world. However, they got a boost from the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year when the high tribunal ruled that states can collect sales tax on internet sales.
This was one of the most inequitable scenarios I have ever seen. If you went to the corner hardware store or Lowe’s or Walmart to buy a hammer and paint, you paid sales tax. However, if you bought these same items online, you did not. That is not fair to the store or the state.

HAMILTON - The Hamilton City Council will host a public hearing during its Monday, Oct. 15, meeting to discuss the potential closure of three city streets.

The meeting will begin at 6 p.m. and has been moved to the Hamilton Police Department building in the courtroom.
The streets include 1st Avenue Northeast between Highway 43 North and 1st Street Northeast; 3rd Avenue South between 1st Street Southwest and 2nd Street Southwest; and an unnamed alley running north off of Oak Ridge Drive between County Highway 42 and Old Ivie Trail.

HAMILTON - The Hamilton City Council has decided not to renew its contract with its retail recruitment agency, Retail Strategies of Birmingham.
The council voted 1-5  against renewing its contract with the agency, choosing not to make its payment of $40,000 at its meeting held on Monday, Sept. 17, after only one year into a three-year partnership. The only one in favor of rejoining the Birmingham group was Hamilton Mayor Bob Page.
Voting against were council members Tami Lewis Williams, Kenneth Cochran, Gene Sanderson, Bobby Joe Irvin and Herb Winsett voted.

Hamilton Police Department

HAMILTON - The following arrests and activities were reported by the Hamilton Police Department for the period of Sept. 11-17:
Incident, offense cases

HAMILTON

GUIN - To begin the Guin City council meeting on Monday, Sept. 17, mayor Max Maddox asked the council if they were interested in changing the city ordinance that prohibits a lounge from opening within 2,500 feet of a church. Councilmen Troy Hightower, Jerry Gann, and Phillip Garrison said that they were not interested in changing the ordinance. Councilmen Roger Agnew and Bobby Bellew were not present for the meeting.
Moving on to old business, Maddox presented a list of streets around Guin that he said he had viewed that needed repairs.

WINFIELD - In recognition of his decades of service to his community, Olan Cunningham will be honored by friends and community leaders in Winfield.
The retired State Farm insurance agent will be toasted at a public event scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 30, beginning at 1:30 p.m. at the Winfield Community Center. The recognition is open to the public with no admission charge.

HAMILTON - For the 11th year running, Marion County golfers can take up their clubs and head to the Pikeville Country Club for a good cause: Ending domestic violence.
The Marion County Domestic Violence Task Force will be hosting its 11th annual golf tournament on Friday, Oct. 5, and all of the proceeds will go toward the emergency housing shelter that Safeplace, Inc., will open in the county in early 2019.

WINFIELD - Only two special performances of  “The Miracle Worker,” the story of Helen Keller and her teacher, Annie Sullivan, will be performed by Self Express Productions at the Pastime Theatre. Viewers can attend the play on Thursday, Sept. 27, at 7 p.m. and Sunday, Sept. 30, at 2 p.m.
The production, which is co-produced by the Pastime Theatre, is an official Alabama 200th Bicentennial Event, designed to celebrate the 200th birthday of the state, as well as commemorate Alabama native Helen Keller.

HACKLEBURG - The Hackleburg Town Council met on Monday, Sept, 10, to discuss hiring a new police officer, Sonny James Post 165 and to hear the two local school principals present financial information. During a discussion of the town’s financial statement, town clerk Carla Rector notified the council that the town has received $153,000 from govdeals.com. The money came from surplus heavy machinery the town put up for auction. Rector said the money will be used to completely pay for four new Ford Explorer police cruisers the town is making payments on.

WINFIELD - The annual Mule Day celebration in Winfield is only days away.
The festival is scheduled for this weekend (Sept. 21-23) with the Friday portion now highlighted by Mule Night Madness, as local merchants will remain open until midnight offering special sales to local residents and visitors.
While the main focus is still on the Saturday festivities and the annual parade, there is so much for visitors now to enjoy the evening before.