GUIN - What began as a discussion regarding fire hydrants ended in a shouting match, finger pointing and the abrupt end to the Guin City Council’s Monday, April 1, meeting.
The uproar arose after mayor Max Maddox took up the third item on the meeting’s agenda--the repair of fire hydrants.
The city has been compiling a list of hydrants around the town that need repairs.
Maddox said that he had made contact with a hydrant repairman in Tuscaloosa.

WINFIELD- An otherwise routine lunch became a struggle for life when a piece of food got lodged in a chiropractor’s throat at the Pizza Bar in Winfield on Friday, March 30.
Chiropractor Todd Fetter was enjoying the ham and cheese sandwich, a well-known item on the restaurant’s menu, when he began choking.
“I couldn’t talk and I couldn’t breathe. There was no air exchange one way or the other. I was in trouble,” Fetter said.

HAMILTON - New road repair equipment could improve Hamilton’s city-road management, according to Hamilton Street Superintendent Mike Johnson.
Johnson met with the Hamilton City Council at a work session on Thursday, March 28, and was asked to give an overview of the status of Hamilton’s city-owned streets.
Hamilton Mayor Bob Page told the council that he and Johnson took time recently to drive city streets and tour the Hamilton Street Department shop.

WINFIELD -  In an effort to rein in the late payment of garbage bills, the Winfield City council passed a resolution that increases the monetary penalty on a late payment.
“Mayor, we’re having some issues with people not paying their garbage bills in a timely manner,” Winfield City Attorney Todd Atkinson said, introducing the resolution at the council’s Tuesday, April 2, meeting.

HAMILTON - The Hamilton City Council has respectfully declined an offer for a piece of Marion County history.
The council, citing the large costs involved, voted 0-6 against accepting a donation of the small, Fite Law Office, which sits nearby on the opposite side of 10th Avenue Southwest from Hamilton City Hall.
The Fite Law Office was the workplace of Earnest Baxter Fite, father of the late Rankin Fite, who later became a legendary speaker of the Alabama House of Representatives.

HAMILTON - Fishermen have been encouraged to abide by restrictions at a public pond.
Hamilton Councilwoman Tami Lewis Williams made a public announcement at a Hamilton City Council meeting on Monday, April 1, reminding anglers that fishing at the Bedford Industrial Park duck pond is not allowed.
The councilwoman said that she has received complaints about people fishing there, which has apparently resulted in some of the ducks being injured.

HAMILTON -  Hamilton High School junior Hannah Gentz, 17, earned top 10 placement for the third consecutive year at Alabama’s Outstanding Teen scholarship pageant on Sunday, March 3, at Thompson High School in Alabaster.

HAMILTON - The Hamilton Elementary School (HES) Playground Renovation Project received official approval at the most recent Marion County Board of Education meeting.
The county education board members met on Friday, March 22, at the Marion County Central Office for the board’s monthly meeting.
HES Principal Lynda Hall and HES Booster Club member Melissa Hughey were present at the meeting to formally brief the board on the project.

Smoking, obesity and inactivity red-flag health issues for Marion County residents.
In a recent report, Marion County ranked No. 28 out of Alabama’s 67 counties when considering health behaviors, local clinical care, socio-economical factors and environment.
The national county findings were released on Monday, March 18, and are a part of a nationwide report from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin’s Population Health Institute.
Neighboring counties’  rankings were as follows:

HAMILTON - County education officials and employees have received praise for the consistent success of the  Marion County Schools System despite the fact it ranks among the lowest in the state for discretionary funds.
Marion County Superintendent of Education Ann West distributed the statewide analysis reports to members of the board of education at their meeting on Friday, March 22, at the Marion County Schools Central Office in Hamilton.
West told the board that the system moved up one place in FY 2018, placing it at 131st out of 138.

HAMILTON - Marion County released 443,379 pounds of production-related waste into the air, land and water in 2017, according to an analysis published in March by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in its The Toxics Release Inventory (TRI).
The release inventory tracks the management of certain toxic chemicals that may pose a threat to human health and the environment. Certain industrial facilities in the U.S. must report annually how much of each chemical is released on- and off-site.

One financial firm has ranked Marion County as one of the 10 most financially healthy counties in the state for the second year in a row.
In a report released in March, SmartAsset, a New York-based financial technology company, named Marion County and four of its adjacent counties among Alabama’s top counties for financial health.
Marion County was listed as the second-most financially healthy county in Alabama.
Lamar County was named number one, Winston County number three, Franklin County number five and Fayette County number nine.

HAMILTON -  Anytime Fitness in Winfield and Hamilton will be collecting donations of paper products for the safe houses in Marion County  overseen by Safeplace and the Marion County Domestic Violence Task Force until the end of the month of April.
Paper product donations include:
• Paper Towels
• Toilet Tissue
• Feminine Products
• Kleenex
Every donation given puts individuals into a drawing for a free month of gym membership at Anytime Fitness.

HAMILTON -  The Marion County Commission has announced that it will be holding an electronics recycling event on Saturday, April 13, from 8 a.m. to noon at the CDL testing site on Dr. Pyle Drive in Hamilton.
During the event, individuals are welcome to bring old electronic devices to be recycled.
Items that can be recycled include:
• Copiers;
• Fax machines;
• Printers (desktop or floor size);
• Computers;
• Telephone equipment;
• Power backups;
• Servers;
• Small appliances;
• Televisions; and

HAMILTON -  The Marion County Relay for Life will be held on Saturday, April 27, at Bevill State Community College-Hamilton.
After taking place for over a quarter of a century, citizens will again gather from across Marion County to celebrate and remember those who have battled cancer.
Relay for Life is a fundraising event in which individuals will take turns walking on a track or path in honor of those who have battled cancer as well as those who have acted as caregivers.

WINFIELD - An investigation into an armed robbery led to the arrest of a Hamilton man and a Winfield store clerk on theft of property charges, the Winfield Police Department reported last week.

BRILLIANT - The body of a Carbon Hill man missing since January was found by a land-owner clearing a four-wheeler path north of Brilliant on Sunday, March 24.

HAMILTON -  Bevill State Community College (BSCC) has received a $4,900 grant from Alabama Power through their Good Roots campaign at Bevill‘s Hamilton campus on Friday, March  1.
These funds will be used to plant trees and fund various landscaping projects on each of the five campuses.
Bevill’s Hamilton campus received $1,000 from the grant and used the money to purchase seven Crepe Myrtles.
Dr. Kim Ennis, president of BSCC, expressed her thanks to Alabama Power for supporting the campuses with the grant.

HAMILTON - This Friday, April 5, the Hamilton Area of Chamber of Commerce will be kicking off the first of three “First Friday” downtown shopping events.
The event will take place from 6-9 p.m. with local and satellite vendors setting up booths lining the city square and downtown businesses extending their usual hours to host shoppers.
Food will be available for purchase during First Fridays at Leonelli’s First Avenue Grill, Coffee Buzz and potentially other food trucks.

WINFIELD - Winfield Park and Recreation Department Director Gina Bryant announced that the Fifth Annual Park Fest will be held on Saturday, April 13, at the Ivan K. Hill Recreational Park in Winfield.

HAMILTON -  Hamilton High School students conducted the Third Annual Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA) Prom Promise mock wreck on Wednesday, March 20, in which students performed a mock car wreck to provide a sobering reminder for students to make good decisions during the night of prom, Friday, March 22,  at Hamilton High.

HACKLEBURG -  The Hackleburg Town Council unanimously voted to donate $500 to the Hackleburg youth baseball team when the council met during a regular session on Monday,  March 25, at the Hackleburg Town Hall.
Hackleburg youth baseball treasurer David Ray appeared before the council to request financial assistance for the team’s equipment. He mentioned that while the team had been making some money through concessions, it was not enough to meet their needs.

MONTGOMERY - Marion County’s unemployment rate was marked at 4.6 percent in February, according to Alabama Department of Labor Secretary Fitzgerald Washington, six points lower than January’s rate of 5.1 percent.
Meanwhile, the State of Alabama’s unemployment rate continues to break records as it has now decreased to the lowest recorded rate on record, 3.7 percent—one point lower than January’s 3.8 percent, which also set the record.

WINFIELD - Great first impressions are hard to make, but the City of Winfield succeeded grandly last week when the Alabama Speaker of the  House, Mac McCutcheon, came to town.
McCutcheon, along with District 17 Rep. Tracy Estes, met with local leaders at a Winfield Chamber of Commerce meeting to discuss issues affecting the town.
“I really enjoyed the event, McCutcheon said. “It was good to sit down and meet with local leaders as well as leaders in the business community.”

 MONTGOMERY -  Winfield resident Gail Spann, the mother of Johnny Micheal “Mike” Spann, appeared on the floor of the Alabama State House on Thursday, March 21, to express her opposition to the early release of Taliban fighter John Walker Lindh.
Lindh was a prisoner at the Qali-I-Jangi fortress where Micheal Spann was killed on Nov. 21, 2001, after a prison uprising.
Spann was the first American killed in combat after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

GUIN - The Guin City Council voted to do away with cumulative voting as the method of electing council members at the council’s Monday, March 18, meeting.
Cumulative voting is a form of voting that allows each voter to cast multiple votes for one candidate. The method allows for a low population of racial minorities in a certain district the chance to gain representation on a governmental board or council.  

MONTGOMERY - The state Senate has voted 23-7 to repeal Common Core Standards from public school curriculums.
Common Core, also known in Alabama as Alabama College- and Career-Ready Standards, is a set of academic standards for English and math adopted by 41 states.
Both Marion County senators, District 4 Sen. Garlan Gudger, R-Cullman, and District 6 Sen. Larry Stutts, R-Tuscumbia, voted in favor of the repeal, also known as Senate Bill 119.

HAMILTON -  Rita Robertson Gilmore, 70, will be retiring after 51 years as a cosmetologist in Northwest Alabama.
“I’m looking forward to (retirement), I haven’t had a Saturday off in a long time. I’ve really enjoyed serving the people here, now it’s time to hang it all up,” said Gilmore.
She expressed that her favorite thing about working in cosmetology was the opportunity to better the self-esteem of her clients, one of which was Willa Dean Spratlin of Detroit, who has been a loyal client of Gilmore’s for over 50 years.

WINFIELD - The Winfield City Council moved to table a vote on a resolution that would cap the towing and storage fees for towing companies on the city’s rotation wrecker service at its March 19 meeting.
At the March 5, meeting the council voted to allow city attorney Todd Atkinson to draft the resolution that would cap the fees. The resolution would cap the towing fee at $150 and the storage fee at $35 per day.

HAMILTON -  The Alabama Association of Resource Conservation and Development (RC&D) council  gathered for its quaterly meeting to provide the annual report for 2018 on Thursday, March 21, at Oh! Bryan’s Family Steakhouse in Hamilton.
Hamilton Mayor Bob Page was present at the meeting, along with several other local officials from Marion County.

HAMILTON - The recently-passed 10-cent statewide gas tax increase will increase the City of Hamilton’s gas tax allocation for city streets by an estimated $60,000 dollars.
House District 17 Rep. Tracy Estes, R-Winfield, was in attendance during the Hamilton City Council’s meeting on Monday, March 18, and answered questions concerning the tax increase, named the Rebuild Alabama Act.

HAMILTON - The Pride of Hamilton Aggie Band will be hosting its first-ever car and bike show fundraising event.
The Hamilton High School Band’s Inaugural Car Show and Motorcycle Exhibition will take place rain or shine on Saturday, April 6, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on the band’s practice field in front of Hamilton Middle School and will be open to all cars, trucks and motorcycles.
From noon to 1 p.m., a barbecue lunch will be available in the Hamilton High School cafeteria and will cost $8 per person.

HAMILTON -  The Marion County Extension Office will be holding parenting classes once every week throughout the month of April.
The classes will be held on Tuesdays, April 9, 16, 23 and 30, beginning at 1:30 p.m.

These classes will set out to teach parents and guardians how to create a healthy environment and relationship for the children under their care.

HAMILTON  - The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently released updated star ratings, and North Mississippi Medical Center (NMMC)-Hamilton received a five-star rating.
The ratings are a composite metric of one to five stars, with five being the best. They intend to convey the overall quality of nearly 4,000 hospitals in the U.S. and are posted to the CMS Hospital Compare site.

MONTGOMERY - Gov. Kay Ivey has awarded more than $260,000 to five agencies in north Alabama to continue efforts against domestic abuse and sexual violence.

TUSCALOOSA- West Alabama Works (WAW) has received a grant of $1,459,335 from the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC).
This grant is a part of ARC’s $22.8 million to expand and diversify the economy of coal-impacted communities in nine Appalachian states.
In partnership with the West Alabama Chamber of Commerce, WAW will use the grant to deliver training and employment opportunities to coal-impacted communities such as Bibb, Fayette, Hale, Jefferson, Lamar, Marion, Pickens, Shelby, Tuscaloosa and Walker counties.

HAMILTON - Nights will be brighter in the City of Hamilton.
The Hamilton City Council unanimously voted during its meeting on Monday, March 18, to move forward on a project with Alabama Power which will replace all 661 of its city street lights with LED bulbs.
The city’s power bill, which currently averages roughly $6,900 per month, will increase by $108, or about $1,300 annually, to pay for the lights and installation.

BAKU, Azerbaijan - Ramp pastors Samuel Bentley and Micah Wood, both of Hamilton, were two of 12 U.S. evangelical pastors who traveled to the country of Azerbaijan as guests of its president.
Azerbaijan is a predominately Shi’ite Muslim country on the Caspian Sea, located north of Iran and south of Russia. It is one of the few Muslim nations to maintain cooperational ties with Israel.

HAMILTON - Miss Hamilton Lauren Reaves and the Hamilton Fire Department have partnered together  to provide a special class to train public safety workers on how to communicate with individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).

HAMILTON - The 27th Annual Breaking the Cycle of Abuse (BTCOA) conference will be held on Friday, April 5, at Bevill State Community College- Hamilton.
This year’s event will mark the first time that two doctors will give presentations as previous years the conference had featured only one doctor. Dr. Carin Richard Kiser and Dr. David Bernard of the UAB Department of Pediatrics will be speaking at this year’s event.

MONTGOMERY - The Alabama Senate voted 28-6 in approval of the Rebuild Alabama Act, which levies an additional 10-cents per gallon on fuel sales.
The state House of Representatives passed the referendum with a few amendments on Friday, March 8. The Senate voted the tax through on Tuesday, March 12, sending it to Gov. Kay Ivey’s desk, who signed it into law later that afternoon.

HAMILTON -  The Bevill State Community College Diversity Committee invited LaToya Cosby, the director of the Education Opportunity Center at Bevill’s Jasper and Sumiton campuses, to speak about her life experiences and encourage students during an event honoring African-Americans on Thu