Don Fletcher

Swinney’s speech a tribute to McCorvey
By DON FLETCHER News Staff Writer When Dabo Swinney accepted the National Sports Media Association’s Paul “Bear” Bryant Coach of the Year award last week, his acceptance speech was not the standard fare of such events. Instead of extolling the virtues of his team and its accomplishments (The Tigers became the first-ever collegiate team to post a 15-0 season with their win over Alabama in the National Championship contest), Swinney…
$600K paving project set
By DON FLETCHER News Staff Writer Atmore City Council members awarded during their January 14 meeting the engineering bid for a massive, city-wide street paving project that will put new surfaces on parts of eight streets. According to documents provided by City Clerk Becca Smith, the total projected cost of the project, including $17,500 for “mobilization and traffic control,” is $645,734. The list of streets scheduled for new surfaces includes…
Jackson sworn in as sheriff
By SHERRY DIGMON News Staff Writer “As a little boy, I was told that if I didn’t change my ways, my parents would be sitting in a courtroom crying one day,” Heath Jackson said. Friday, January 11, they were indeed in the courtroom, but they weren’t crying. They were there to see their son sworn in as the sheriff of Escambia County. They were joined by dozens of other folks,…
Reward offered for information
Was Freemanville house fire arson? By DON FLETCHER News Staff Writer A California woman, shortly after finally securing a judicial ruling that she was the rightful owner of a Freemanville Drive home, was notified on Christmas Day that she now owns nothing more than an acre of land on which there is a pile of ashes and charred rubble. The 1,443-square-foot brick and wood home that once stood there was…
Work-release escapees recaptured
By DON FLETCHER News Staff Writer   Two inmates who escaped Friday, January 11, from the Escambia County Sheriff’s Work Release Barracks were back in jail before the weekend was over. According to a press release issued by Escambia County Sheriff Heath Jackson, the two — Christopher Ladale Pugh and Christopher Blake Moye, both 27 and residents of Brewton — discovered “a design flaw with the building” and were able…