FRANKLIN COUNTY — Marion County Sheriff’s Department Court Liaison Tiffany Lucas Carruth was arrested this past weekend after having her vehicle searched in Vina.
Carruth, 42, of Hamilton, was arrested after being stopped at a driver license checkpoint, according to Marion County Sheriff Kevin Williams.
Williams stated during the stop, Franklin County Deputies smelled an odor of marijuana and conducted a search.
During their search, deputies found marijuana, an open container of alcohol and drug paraphernalia.

GUIN — Federal, state and local officials and business owners gathered at the Holiday Inn in Guin at exit 26 off of I-22 to celebrate the official opening of the Tesla electronic vehicle charging stations located in the parking lot beside the hotel.
Alabama’s Fourth Congressional District U.S. Representative Robert Aderholt was present at the event, along with State Senator Greg Reed and State Representative Tracy Estes. Representatives from the Ag commission and ALDOT were also present, along with numerous other elected officials.

HAMILTON — Hamilton Middle School’s major new gym project is under way as on Tuesday, Sept. 5.
The project, which began pre-construction on Friday, Sept. 1, has a 300 day timeline for completion, making the gym’s completion date at the start of next school year.
“The project was put out for bid in June of this year, and the bid was awarded to the low bidder, Dominguez Design-Build, Inc. from Pensacola, Fla. at the July meeting,” said Marion County Superintendent Ann West.

HAMILTON — Several Hamilton students took part in Hamilton’s Aggie Arts Summer Intensive, which included a performance opportunity at Red Mountain Theatre’s Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat production through July and August.
The Summer Intensive was a partnership with Red Mountain Theatre and Aggie Arts, a support organization for the Arts in Hamilton public schools.
The Summer Intensive was organized by Stacy Hughey Surman.

HAMILTON — The actions of one or a few can have a domino effect on many others. This has proven true for patrons of the Hamilton Post Office the last few weeks. The drive up collection boxes have been blocked due to a theft or attempted theft which occurred on Sunday, Aug. 27, postal inspection officers stated.

The Hamilton Police Department was involved in a high speed chase that ended in a suspect eluding law enforcement on Sunday, Sept. 3, in Hamilton.
According to Hamilton Police Chief Jordan Carter, unidentified suspects attempted to enter Fred’s Pharmacy on the night of Sept. 3.
“Some suspects tried to gain entrance into the business. We had an officer nearby that had initiated a vehicle pursuit,” said Carter.
Carter stated the chase was soon made very difficult due to the speed of the car involved in the attempted theft.

MARION COUNTY — Election season is officially underway as candidates will be gearing up to run for the 2024 elections.
Several positions in the federal, state and county levels will be up for a vote of the people including next year’s major presidential election.
The places up for election at the federal level are U.S. President, Vice President and the U.S. House of Representative.

WINFIELD — The Winfield Public Library is encouraging people to sign up for a library card as part of Library Card Sign-Up month in September. The library has partnered with local businesses who have agreed to give a discount to anyone who presents their library card.
Also during September, the library will be forgiving late fines. Whether the book is five days late or five years late, the fine will be waived. Patrons who come in to update their library card will not have to pay the replacement fee either.

HAMILTON — The City of Hamilton endured quite the weekend as residents were notified of an extreme contamination issue in Hamilton’s water system on Thursday, Aug. 24, at 8:29 p.m.
According to Hamilton Mayor Bob Page, the city’s water and sewer department observed silt in the water, causing a major issue for the treatment plant.
“We found mud in the river—silt mud—it was unexpected,” said Page.
“Someone had a pond dam break, and it flowed downstream and finally reached the river.”

HAMILTON — Hamilton police officers were involved in a high speed chase that lead out to Interstate 22 and involved multiple other law enforcement agencies.
On Friday, Aug. 18, at approximately 1:20 p.m., the Hamilton Police Department receive a report of an irate male at Wells Fargo Bank located on Bexar Ave West in Hamilton.  
Officers began responding and 9-1-1 dispatchers advised officers that the offender got into a silver Toyota Corolla.

WINFIELD — Winfield City Schools are partnering with Marion County Schools to allow students from Brilliant and Marion County high schools to attend career tech classes on Winfield’s campus.
Students will travel to the high school for two periods during the day, and then travel back to their school. These classes are currently meeting at the high school, but will be moved to the new facility located in the old SITEL building once it is fully completed and approved for use.

BRILLIANT — A single vehicle crash caused an RV to spread across both lanes of Highway 47 in Brilliant on Saturday, Aug. 26.
According to Marion County Emergency Management Agency Director Eric Terrell, the RV was traveling from Memphis before the accident took place.
“The RV was traveling from Memphis to somewhere down on the coast. They had a blow out and ran off the interstate,” said Terrell.
Terrell stated the vehicle came to rest across the entirety of Highway 47 in Brilliant.

WINFIELD — Former Winfield City Schools teacher Alexis Rodriguez, 29, has been arrested and charged with committing a sexual act as a school employee and rape in the second degree. He was arrested on Tuesday, Aug. 15, in Winfield.
Rodriguez resigned from his position at Winfield Middle School on July 19.
Winfield Police Department Investigator Lieutenant Justin Cottingham provided the Journal Record with a release, detailing the reason for Rodriguez's arrest.

HAMILTON — The Hamilton Aggie Marching Band has a new leader this year as band director Brandon Owens has taken over following the departure of former director Jack Rudisell.
Rudisell has taken a position at Shades Valley High School.
Owens, who began his work with the Aggie Band on July 17, comes from Harvest.

HAMILTON  — The Marion County Commission has hired an accounts payable clerk in what was a desperately needed move following the departure of former County Administrator Kalyn Moore.
This took place during a special called meeting on Monday, July 31, in Hamilton.
“In the past few months, the commission, along with Kalyn Moore, discussed the operations of the administrative office and how it could be made to be more efficient,” said County Administrator Scott Hunt.