Area garden clubs, the Roanoke Rotary Club and volunteers have plans to beautify downtown Roanoke.The City Beautification Committee is comprised of Dorothy Tidwell, Freddie Hill, Suzanne Kniffen, Doris Handley, Ann Hammond and Evelyn Norton.Representatives of the Roanoke Garden Club, the Crape Myrtle Garden Club and the Magnolia Garden Club met to discuss replanting the planters…

The Handley girl’s basketball team had an encouraging start to its season in the Auburn Tipoff Tournament. Although Handley dropped the first game to Auburn, 51-30, the Tigers fought back beginning in the second half against Auburn and earned two more wins in the tournament. Handley was without senior point guard Sylvia Staples against Auburn,…

7 a.m. The Farm-City Breakfast will be at The Hub Restaurant in Wedowee. Plates are $3. State Sen. Kim Benefield will be the speaker. 4 p.m. Roanoke Utilities Board meets at the board office. 4:30 p.m. Wadley Town Council meets at Wadley Town Hall. 5 p.m. Wedowee Town Council meets at Wedowee Town Hall. 7…

No one likes dead lawns, dirty cars and empty swimming pools, but that’s what we get as we respond to the Southeast’s worst drought in more than a century with a total ban on outside watering. A little more than 27 inches of rain this year in Alabama when the normal average level is more…

RANDOLPH COUNTY, ALABAMA IN RE: WANDA R. CLACK, DECEASED NOTICE TO FILE CLAIMS Letters Testamentary on the estate of Wanda R. Clack, deceased, having been granted to the undersigned on the 13th day of Nov., 2007, by the Judge of Probate of said County, notice is hereby given that all persons having claims against said…

(BREMEN, Ga.) John Leonard Clifton Sr., 57, Bremen, Ga., died Nov. 13, 2007. Mr. Clifton was born in Randolph County on April 5, 1950, to Charles R. Clifton of Quinlin, Texas, and the late Mae D. Hogan Clifton. He was a construction worker. Besides his mother, he was preceded in death by his wife, Carolyn…

On October 12, 2007, Southwest Radio Church of the Air, Inc. tendered to the Federal Communications Commission an application for a construction permit for a new Class A FM radio station to operate on 91.5 MHz, serving the community of Roanoke, AL. The call letters of this station have not yet been assigned. The proposed…

Roanoke City Schools Superintendent Chuck Marcum hopes students will be playing on new softball fields by spring. Strain Construction has been hard at work at the site on Schuessler Street. “My goal is to play on it this year. We might have to have portable restrooms and a tent,” he said of the multi-phase project.…

(ROANOKE) James Bell, 58, of 949 County Road 611, Roanoke, died Monday, Nov. 12, 2007, at East Alabama Medical Center, Opelika. Services will be Nov. 15, at 1 p.m. at First Baptist Church, Riley Street, Roanoke. Burial will be in East Roanoke Cemetery. Survivors include his mother, Mary T. Bell of Roanoke; a brother, Mac…

Handley 28, Trinity 14; Wadley 21, Brantley 20; Piedmont 37, Woodland 13 Handley 28, Trinity 14 The Handley Tigers advance to the third round of the 4A state playoffs after beating Trinity 28-14 Friday night. Trinity took advantage of a blown coverage early in the first quarter and scored on a 79-yard touchdown pass with…

(LAGRANGE, Ga.) Mrs. Clyde Inez Still, 96, of LaGrange, Ga., died Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2007, at West Georgia Medical Center, LaGrange. Mrs. Still was born May 6, 1911, in Roanoke, daughter of the late Sidney and Lola Dodgins. She had lived in LaGrange most of her life and was a member of Hillside Christian Church.…

(BOWDON, Ga.) Darrell Bobby Wortham, 46, of Bowdon, Ga., died Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2007, at Tanner Medical Center, Carrollton, Ga. He was born in Carroll County, Ga., on March 16, 1962, the son of Finis B. and Effie Mae McLeod Wortham. Mr. Wortham was retired from Chrysler Corporation. He was preceded in death by a…

(MURFREESBORO, Tenn.) Catherine Woodall Pearson died Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2007. Born Nov. 27, 1912, in Abanda, Mrs. Pearson lived most of her life in Alabama and Georgia and moved to Sunnington Assisted Living in Murfreesboro, Tenn., in 2003. After graduation from high school, she entered Montevallo University as a young 16-year-old. On Oct. 24, 1928,…

(ATHENS, Tenn.) James Bryan Gray, 67, of Athens, Tenn., died Thursday, Nov. 15, 2007 at his residence after an extended illness. He was a native of Wadley, son of the late John Bryce and Frances Lorene Bence Gray. He was a graduate of Auburn University with a degree in civil engineering, a U.S. Army veteran…

(ANNISTON) Graveside services for Lula B. Hollis, 79, of Anniston were at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 11, 2007, at Levens Chapel Cemetery in Randolph County with the Rev. L.C. Harris officiating. Ms. Hollis died on Thursday, Nov. 8, at Regional Medical Center in Anniston. She is survived by her sons, William L. “Bill” Hollis…

It’s easy to kick a guy when he’s down and that’s exactly where Alabama quarterback John Parker Wilson is at the moment — down. He’s been the target of fan abuse since last Saturday when he gift-wrapped a game and handed it to Mississippi State. After his team had controlled the first half and had…

Arrests Nov. 10 – Billy James Pike, 20, of Five Points – DUI on Bud Cummings Road Nov. 10 – James Matthew Erwin, 30, of County Road 661, Rock Mills – probation violation Nov. 9 – Laurence Aloysius McGuirk IV, 28, of 3050 County Rd. 79, Roanoke – four counts of failure to appear in…

Veterans Day. While watching Ken Burns “The War,” I got to wondering what my father, a veteran of WWII, would have said if they had interviewed him. Not much I suspect. Though he landed in Europe in the fall of 1944, went into the line, fought in the Battle of the Bulge, and was there…

Rain is desperately needed. We all hope God will bless us with rain; not enough so we have to build an ark but enough to fill our lakes and soak into the soil to build our water table back up. But, no matter how bad the situation, is there not usually something positive if you…

The signs along I-20 say the speed limit is 70 miles per hour, but unless road construction or a highway accident slows the flow down, few vehicles traveling the interstate are moving this slowly. The same is true of I-85, I-65 and other major corridors in Alabama. A big contributor to this excessive speed has…