(ANNISTON) Services for Maggie Lois Smith, 83, of Anniston will be 1 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2005, at Mars Hill Baptist Church with the Rev. George Bates officiating. Burial will be in Eden Hills Cemetery.The family will receive friends from 6 to 7 p.m. Monday at the funeral home. Miss Smith will lie in state…

(BLUE MOUNTAIN) Services for Marlin Horace Stewart, 70, of Blue Mountain will be at 11 a.m., Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2005, at Gray Brown-Service Chapel. Burial will follow at Maple Grove Cemetery. The family will receive friends on Tuesday from 6 to 8 at the funeral home. Mr. Stewart died Monday, Oct. 24, at UAB. Survivors…

Funeral services for Bernadette Duke Scott, 84, of Alexander City will be at 2 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2005, at Radney Funeral Home Chapel. The Revs. Mark Seals and Ira Jones will officiate. Burial will follow at Jackson’s Gap Cemetery. The family received friends from 5 to 8 p.m. Monday, Oct. 24, 2005, at Radney…

While many noted the passing of Rosa Parks on Monday, members of Randolph County’s Marable family will truly mourn her passing. The Marables were related to Mrs. Parks’ late husband, who was from Randolph County. Johnny Marable and wife Bobbie of Roanoke and Joe Marable and wife Evelyn of the Broughton community were cousins of…

MONTGOMERY – In what can rightly be called a dramatic turnaround, a recent poll by the Mobile Register and the University of South Alabama shows incumbent Gov. Bob Riley with a commanding lead over any of the candidates in the 2006 gubernatorial race. Riley had a near-landslide lead in the poll over former Chief Justice…

Arrests Jackie Lee Shelton Jr., 35, of 243 County Rd. 422, Graham, was arrested on Oct. 24 and charged with failure to comply with judge’s orders. Angela Michelle Rodgers, 24, of Bowdon, Ga., was arrested on Oct. 23 and charged with second-degree theft of property. Mose Oliver Cameron, 39, of 68 Betty St., Roanoke, was…

WEDOWEE – Waste Management will make its final rounds of picking up trash in Wedowee on Thursday, Dec. 1. At this time, the company will also remove its trash containers. Waste Management normally would come on Monday, Nov. 28, but will skip that Monday in preparation for this big Thursday pickup. During last week’s Wedowee…

WEDOWEE – At the recommendation of county engineer Burrel Jones, Randolph County Commission accepted the annual bids for items used by the highway department. These include: gasoline and fuel – Handley Distributing Company; traffic signs – Traffic Signs Inc.; asphalt – Hunt Refining; guard rails – Alabama Guard Rail; traffic striping – Hornsby Striping Co.;…

No mention has been made of it, but state and local governments have been operating for the past month with a new state open meetings law. The new law doesn’t alter the ideal of all public meetings being open to the public. What it does do is add specifics to the original 1915 law under…

Two Roanoke city employees, in separate incidents, may be on their way to termination after personnel policy procedures are completed, according to Mayor Spec Bonner. The council held an hour-long executive session at their Monday night meeting to discuss the good name and character of the employees outside the presence of the press and public,…

I have never been much for visiting graveyards at night. Back when I was younger a group of us boys, having read The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, thought there might be some profit in it. It had to do with warts. Tom’s friend, Huck Finn, had a tried and true remedy for curing ’em, a…

Roanoke police arrested Germain S. Humphrey, 19, of Jasper, and charged him with misdemeanor theft in a shoplifting incident at Wal-Mart. He was arrested at 8:08 a.m. Tuesday at the store. Police arrested Amanda Louise Bogart, 28, of Greenville, Ga., and charged her with felony forgery of checks at Small Town Bank. She was arrested…

(CARROLLTON, Ga.) Nathan Heard, 89, of Carrollton, Ga., formerly of Graham, died Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2005 at Pine Knoll Nursing Home, Carrollton. Services were Sunday, Oct. 23, at 2 p.m. at Victory Cathedral in Woodland, with interment in Saint James Cemetery in Graham. Mr. Heard is survived by a son, Lawance Heard of College Park,…

(ROANOKE) Lera Lee Winston, 67, of Roanoke died Saturday, Oct. 22, 2005 at her residence. Services will be Saturday, Oct. 29, at 1 p.m. at Sweet Home Baptist Church in Five Points, with the Rev. L.B. Houston officiating. Interment will follow in the adjoining cemetery. The family will receive friends at the chapel of Roanoke…

(ROANOKE) Services for infant JaKale LaJuan Greathouse were Monday, Oct. 24, 2005, at 2 p.m. at the Chapel of Roanoke Funeral Home, with Bishop Lathonia Wright officiating. Interment followed in the East Roanoke Cemetery. The infant died on Wednesday, Oct. 19, at Columbus Regional Medical Center in Columbus, Ga. He is survived by his father,…

MONTGOMERY — The death of Vivian Malone Jones a few days ago brought back a tidal wave of memories for this newsman. As you surely know, she was one of two young blacks — the other was James Hood of Gadsden — who were the first of their race to enroll at the University of…

With all of the abandoned, rapidly deteriorating buildings in Roanoke, it was hard to see how it could be made less attractive. Yet we’ve figured out a way. The downtown greenery was downtown’s only attractive feature. Now it’s gone, except for the many not-so-attractive trees and bushes actually growing inside some of the buildings. Someone…

(LAFAYETTE) Cathleen Adams, 87, of LaFayette died Friday, Oct. 21, 2005 at George H. Lanier Nursing Home, Valley. Services will be Monday, Oct. 24, at 2 p.m. at Pleasant Grove Christian Church, Union Hill, with the Rev. Barry Brooks officiating. Burial will be in the church cemetery. Miss Adams was a native of Chambers County,…