Don Fletcher

City to spend portion of stimulus funds on sidetrack
By DON FLETCHERNews Staff Writer Atmore City Council members approved during their Monday, May 9, meeting three resolutions related to a railroad sidetrack that will serve the new Coastal Growers peanut shelling plant, including an agreement to use nearly $1 million of the city’s federal stimulus money to cover the agricultural co-op’s shortfall in funding the rail siding itself.The first resolution was to authorize the private sidetrack agreement between the…
Drugs in baby’s system, mom charged
Powers By DON FLETCHERNews Staff Writer An Atmore woman was arrested May 2 on a chemical endangerment charge, more than eight months after her newborn baby was found to have cocaine in its system.Police Sgt. Darrell McMann reported that Daphne Powers, 33, was booked into the Escambia County Detention Center on one count of chemical endangerment of a child.Under Alabama law, chemical endangerment of a child is a Class C…
Registration under way
A.C. Moore will be home to new pre-K program By DON FLETCHERNews Staff Writer Since A.C. Moore Elementary School was closed in 2017, the building has mostly been vacant. That is going to change in the near future.Escambia County Superintendent of Education Michele McClung posted on the school system’s Facebook page that the school building would soon be home to the Alabama First-Class Pre-K program, a statewide voluntary pre-kindergarten plan.The…
Candidates gearing up for May 24 primaries
By DON FLETCHERNews Staff Writer Local Republican and Democratic candidates are scurrying from one end of their respective districts to the other — some from one end of the county or state to the other — in an attempt to convince voters that they are the best person for the office they are seeking.Campaign signs have been displayed on roadsides and in the yards of area homes for months, and…
Mental Health Awareness Walk
More than 40 people, including a few in strollers, either walked or were strolled from the former YMCA building on Pensacola Avenue, to Tom Byrne Park, as part of the 2nd Annual Mental Health Awareness Walk, held May 7. The walk was organized by Marlo Young, who heads up the county school system’s mental health programs and services. Young and others, who also manned an information booth at Mayfest, were…