BY BRIAN HAMILTON
Editor

BY DOUG SANDERS, JR.
Correspondent

BY BRIAN HAMILTON
Editor

By Doug Sanders, Jr.

The members of the Pickens County Board of Education, meeting on May 13 six feet apart at the conference room at the County College and Career Center, received an update on what the Board will do to repair the sinkhole at the Libby Hankins Football Field at Gordo High School. The Board met April 29 by Zoom and decided some details for the repairs at that meeting, but Superintendent of Education Jamie Chapman gave the Board more details on what the Board will do and what the Town of Gordo, Gordo Athletic Booster Club and others will do.

On April 13, 2020, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) wrote a letter to Governor Kay Ivey, urging her to take swift action to protect Alabama’s vulnerable water customers who are facing extreme distress during the COVID-19 pandemic through a statewide moratorium.
The letter stated that water is a human right and a basic necessity and that access to safe, affordable water is critical to stop the spread of the virus through handwashing and other recommended hygiene practices.

The April 22, 2020 Aliceville City Council meeting was conducted through a conference call, as Mayor Marva Gipson mentioned at the prior meeting that it would be the last face-to-face meeting until the coronavirus subsides.
Mayor Gipson called the meeting to order with all council members present. Councilman Terrence Windham moved for the approval of the April 8, 2020 council meeting and the motion carried with all voting in favor of the approval of the minutes.

As the Pinnacle Renewable Energy Plant in Aliceville continues to operate per guidance from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) where “critical infrastructure workers” in food and agriculture were defined as “workers who support the manufacture of distribution of forest products, including, but not limited to timber, paper, and other wood products,” the plant made facial masks mandatory. Pinnacle General Manager Ritu Linhart said that she quickly realized after mandating workers to wear masks that the masks were nowhere to be found.

We all can recall our senior year of high school, from our last year playing sports, to the sports banquets, to senior play, to senior skip day, to graduation, and then senior trip before going off to college. You wanted to go to school just to see your friends because most of you would never be in school together again. All of those are fond memories for me, as I look back on my senior year at Dora High School in 2004. Several friends and I actually spent some time discussing those times recently through social media, because frankly, we’re nostalgic and it’s human nature.

Daliyah Jones, a student at Pickens County High School, who also attends the Pickens County College and Career Center, is being called a hero after saving the life of a baby after the deadly tornadoes on Saturday, January 11, 2020.
Jones said that once the storm had subsided in the Settlement community that she and her uncle were riding around on a 4-wheeler, checking to see if anyone needed help when she heard a lady screaming that her baby was injured.
The 17-year-old then ran over to see if she could help in any way.

On Saturday, January 11, 2020, a tornado, confirmed to be an EF-2 by the National Weather Service, touched down near the Settlement community near Carrollton, claiming the lives of three individuals and destroying the homes of many more. Tyrone Spain, 51, Albert Barnett, 85, and wife Susan Barnett, 75, all lost their lives in the tornado. The NWS crews say that winds reached 132 miles per hour during the storm. The result was a mix of brick and wood-frame houses and mobile homes scattered all throughout the community.