Coach Chris Musso will become the new Haleyville High Football Coach this week replacing Coach Todd McNutt who resigned from the position recently. The official hiring should take place during a special called meeting of the Haleyville Schools Board of Education at 1:30 pm on Friday. The Board has reviewed and interviewed several applicants before deciding to hire Musso. Coach Musso will be moving from Locust Fork, AL, where he has been the head football coach for 6 years. Musso, in the photo below with his son, a Freshman QB, his wife, an elementary school teacher, and daughter.  More photos and information on Coach Musso will be available Friday after the official hiring.

In front of the State Capital Building

Passing the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church (Martin Luther King’s Church)

In an Area game, the Haleyville Lady Lions defeated the Curry Yellow Jackets 50-31 Tuesday night.

The Varsity Boys defeated Curry 46-30. Congratulations to both teams!

Congratulations to the Haleyville High School Band, which, along with the 8th Grade Band members will travel to Montgomery on Monday to participate in the inaugural parade for Governor Kay Ivey. The City of Haleyville is very proud of this group of great award-winning musicians who will represent our town and area so well.

The Haleyville City Council met with Royce Benefield absent on Monday, January 7. The extremely short meeting only had one item on the agenda, approving the regular Council meeting minutes of 12/17/18, Mayor Sunseri announced a grant from Homeland Security was approved in the amount of $39,952.56 for the purchase of new digital radios for the Haleyville Police Department. Once approved by the County Commission, the radios will be ordered.

The next scheduled meeting of the Haleyville City Council will be on Monday, January 21, 5:30 p.m. at the Haleyville City Hall.

Hundreds of pounds of old computers, TVs and even cable TV boxes were picked up from behind the Haleyville City Hall on December 27, 2018, and transported to a recycling company in Tennessee. Most companies charge for picking up electronic equipment but working with the city, HBTV.us and Paradise 92.7 was able to get it done at no charge to individuals or the city. Six huge overflowing boxes were hauled away. It was one of the largest pickups made according to the recycling company driver. Thanks to everyone who brought their computers or other electronic equipment and to Barry Farris of the Haleyville Street and Sanitation for his assistance. Plans are to do this again in a few months, perhaps tied to a “spring cleaning” campaign. Don’t throw your old computers in the trash, save them and watch for the next opportunity to help keep electronic items out of a landfill.

Monday morning December 31, around 11 a.m. Gene Edwards was driving his Buick Century toward town on Newburg Road at 27th Street when the car left the road, hit a culvert in a ditch and flipped upside down. Edwards, who was wearing his seatbelt, received a cut across his forehead, but otherwise appeared to be in good condition. He was transported from the scene by ambulance to Lakeland Community Hospital ER.

Neighbors saw smoke coming from the eves of their neighbor’s house on County Road 3409 just after 1 p.m. Sunday, December 30 and called 9-1-1. The Haleyville Fire Department was dispatched first, then Bear Creek, Delmar, and Pebble Fire Departments. Firemen, wearing air tanks entered the house and fought the fire through the ceiling. Meanwhile, a fireman went on the roof and cut a hole in the roof to access the fire which appeared to be contained in the attic. The fire was extinguished but the house did have very extensive smoke and water damage. The owners of the house, Darrel and Becky Underwood were not at home at the time of the fire but were notified and quickly returned.

One year ago, the Lakeland Community was on the verge of closing. With only a 45 day notice, the City of Haleyville was informed the hospital would close on December 31, 2017. Closures of small, rural hospitals were becoming commonplace everywhere, but Haleyville and Winston County was no common or ordinary place.

Mayor Ken Sunseri and the City Council and the people who lived in this area did not want the hospital to close and actions were immediately taken to keep it from happening. With an extension to the closing date, the city was given a little breathing room to organize and make a plan. The Haleyville and Winston County Hospital Authority Board was formed, a new management agreement implemented, and a one-cent sales tax passed with half committed to ensuring a bond could be issued for funding of the hospital.

Barry Farris had great compliments and praise for Lakeland Community Hospital. On Friday, December 21, his daughter, Emily Farris, 23, was doctoring one of her horses and while leading it back to a stall, the horse raised up and came down, hitting her on the top of her head with an iron horseshoe. She was taken to the Lakeland Emergency Room, examined, treated for the open head wound, and spent the night in intensive care.

Barry stated all the personnel, including the COO who came to personally check on her, were professional and attentive. He stated he was extremely proud of the hospital and was glad it is open and operating. Farris stated: “I have been to in many hospitals in my lifetime, and Lakeland was every bit as good as most and better than some.

Presently, the hospital is making plans grow to a level of self-sufficiency with new services and reinstate some of which had been previously discontinued.