Tuesday, February 26 – The Haleyville City Schools Board of Education met and accepted the resignation of Dr. Erika McCoy as Principal of HHS. She will become the principal of Orange Beach High School this fall.

In other business, the financial statements and board expenditures for January were approved in the amount of $1,284,999.66. Five use of facilities, two field trips, and thirteen fundraisers were also approved.

The Board also approved the retirement of Sheynon Baggett as 4th Grade Teacher and approved Max Sadler as a volunteer Varsity and Junior Varsity Baseball Coach for the 2019 season. Photos and more. Continue reading

The 42^nd Annual Haleyville High School Leo’s Loveliest Pageant will be this Friday, March 1 for Junior Division and Saturday, March 2 for Senior Division.  The pageant will begin at 7:30 each night. Tickets are $8 and can be purchased at the Center of Technology office through Friday at lunch. Limited seating is available.

The Haleyville City Board of Education will hold a working session, Tuesday, February 26, 2019, at 5:30 p.m. in the Haleyville City Schools Pride Room (located in the basement of HHS under the band room).

The Board will hold its monthly regularly scheduled board meeting following the working session at 7:00 p.m. in the HHS Board Room (located beside the band room).

The BJCC Legacy Arena came to life Monday morning at 9:00 am when the Phillips High School She Bears took the floor for the AHSAA Class 1A Girls State Basketball Semifinals contest with the Westminster-Oak Mountain Knights.  After a back and forth first quarter the She-Bears began pulling away and took a 31 – 23 halftime lead into the locker room.  Westminster fell further behind in the third quarter and continued missing shots and committing fouls.  As hundreds of Bear Creek fans cheered the Phillips She-Bears took the game with a final score of 66 – 48.  The Championship game between Phillips and Skyline is set for Thursday, February 28, 4:00 pm at the BJCC Legacy Arena.

It was business as usual for the Phillips She-Bears as they took the Class 1A NW Regional Championship with an 81-41 dominating performance over the Falkville Blue Devils. For the second year in a row, the She-Bears move on to the Final Four and will play Westminster-Oak Mountain in the State Semifinals Monday at 9 am.

Circuit Court Judge Lee Carter presided over a jury trial this week at the Winston County Courthouse for Chase Cantrell, 30, on charges of a school employee engaging in a sexual act with a student, statutory rape, and third-degree burglary.

The victim was under the age of 16 at the time of the alleged incidents. Police reports state Cantrell allegedly entered the girls home through the child’s window while the family was at home.

Cantrell was a Double Springs Middle School teacher before being terminated after the charges were filed in February 2017. After hearing testimony from the alleged victim, then Cantrell, the 13 member jury (11 women, 2 men) never had an opportunity to make a decision.

At 3:30 Thursday afternoon, Judge Carter declared a mistrial which ended the proceedings. The reason for his decision will be posted later today.

The Haleyville City Council met Tuesday with Blue Russell absent. The Council approved the operation bills and purchase orders for January in the amount of $421,663.32. A resolution in support of the efforts of the Alabama League of Municipalities, Governor Ivey and the Alabama Legislature to enact additional motor fuel taxes to alleviate the shortfall in infrastructure funding and provide for a more equitable share of statewide infrastructure funding for municipalities was discussed but did not pass.

A variance for Greenleaf/Shadybrook apartments was approved. These facilities had been grandfathered in was a zoning variance for residential usage. The area would normally be classified as a business zone due to its location next to Highway 195. The apartment complex has applied for a grant to renovate and wanted to make sure there was no problem in their application.

The Council approved the termination of all RDS/AVNU contracts with the city. RDS has had a contract for many years to collect taxes and business license fees for the city. Mayor Sunseri stated the city had received many complaints about the company and decided to cancel the contract within 90 days.

Information about another company was presented by Phil Graves, former Mayor of Guin, to provide the same service. The Council decided to see what other options were available before making a decision for a replacement.

The next Council meeting will be on Monday, March 4, 5:30, at the Haleyville City Hall.

Workers were busy installing a new roof Monday, February 19 as part of the renovation of the old Southern Homes Plant in Double Springs as new frames await the assembly line for single and double-wide manufactured homes. Winston Homebuilders acquired the property which had been sitting unused since Southern Homes moved to Russellville in 2014. The plant already has many workers hired and plans to hire a total of 150 to 170 people to turn out as many as 8 floors per day when it becomes fully operational. The company received a $400,000 grant from the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs (ADECA) to help in the planned $1 million investment to renovate and reopen the facility. According to Double Springs Mayor Elmo Robinson, “150 new hires is great news for the town of Double Springs, which has a population of approximately 1,000.”

Thursday, the Phillips High School She Bears took the floor with a 17-7 first-quarter lead over Decatur Heritage and maintained the lead to a semifinal victory 54-36. The She Bears will play Falkville on Monday at 3 p.m. for the Northwest Regional title.