Don Fletcher

Atmore not participating in weather tax holiday
Alabama’s sixth annual Severe Weather Preparedness Sales Tax Holiday will be held Friday, February 24, through Sunday, February 26, in communities across the state, but only one of Escambia County’s taxing municipalities will take part. A provision in the Severe Weather Preparedness Sales Tax Holiday law allows counties and municipalities to join the state by removing their own local sales and use taxes from the same items during the same…
D4 commissioner: ‘Proposed gas tax hike a necessary evil’
Brandon Smith doesn’t like taxes. Neither does he like the condition of the rural roads he and many other rural residents travel each day. But Smith, the Escambia County Commission’s District 4 representative, grudgingly agrees that the proposed statewide gasoline tax increase might be the only solution to the second problem. “Nobody likes a tax, and I don’t either, but at some point you’ve got to figure out a way…
Gossett guest of governor
Atmore resident Frank Gossett began administering his Breaking Every Chain ministry as assistant chaplain of Holman Correctional Facility four years ago. When he assumed the position he brought with him a desire to help inmates in the notorious prison, where the state’s most hardened criminals, including those who reside on Death Row, are housed, find a path out of their respective lives of crime. It wasn’t that long ago, though,…
School Bus Road-e-o – Drivers test skills on precision-based obstacle course
Driving a school bus is serious business. That’s what makes the annual School Bus Road-e-o so much fun for those charged with delivering students to school in the mornings and taking them back home in the afternoon. More than two dozen professional child chauffeurs tested their driving skills Monday (February 20) on an obstacle course laid out in the parking lot of Escambia County High School, where competitors guided their…
Train hits car at Main Street crossing – UPDATED
The driver of a 2009 Hyundai Tucson that was sent flying by a southbound freight train at Atmore’s Main Street crossing early Friday morning, February 17, was arrested by city police and charged with driving under the influence of alcohol. Dmitri Hansen, 22, of Monroeville, was arrested after the incident, during which the vehicle was airborne for an entire block before it crashed to earth, upside-down, at the Trammell Street…