The Andalusia Tourism and Relocation Committee has added a new event this year on New Year’s Eve.
A celebration is planned for the court square beginning at 10:30 p.m.
The event, chaired by committee member Gwen Kelley, will feature local musicians and will conclude with a giant domino drop from the Timmerman building at midnight, complete with fireworks.
“I suggested that we try this this year,” Kelley said. “I sit at home on New Year’s Eve and watch the ball drop in New York on Eastern Standard Time. We decided to do something similar and we hope Andalusians will all go out and enjoy it.”
Bob Brooks will emcee the event. The Dixie Dandies will open the show at 10:30 with jazz music, and they will alternate with Christian Wosilek and his band.
Spiced cider and hot chocolate will be served.
The committee is working with several engineers to develop the lighted domino to be dropped at midnight.
Tourism and Relocation committee member Martha Duggan said “This is not just for Andalusia. We want the whole county to participate, and we hope to make this an annual event.”
Just in time for the inclement weather expected to accompany the arrival of Christmas, the Andalusia Police Department has a new generator that will keep its equipment humming in the event of a power failure.
Chief Wilbur Williams said the station has been using a 1967 model generator that was donated years ago by Andalusia Regional Hospital.
“We were experiencing numerous problems with the unit and had been looking to replace it since this is designated as an emergency operations center,” Williams said. “We had an estimate for $78,000 to replace the unit but funds were not available to do it.
“We found a unit through military surplus and were able to replace the 1967 model, rated at 130KW, output with a 1999 model with 350 KW output,” he said. “The 1999 model has 132 hours of run-time and should last for many years in this capacity.”
The police department spent $3,000 on the conversion, taking advantage of city resources to keep the cost at a minimum. The generator is wired to supply power to the whole building. Once each week, it runs an automatic test to ensure that it is operational.
Work has begun on the Miracle League field at Johnson Park.
On Thursday, employees with Hammer Down of Georgia were busy laying the rubberized floor for the project that will serve children with disabilities and support the city’s existing T-ball program. It is believed the program will benefit an estimated 400 players throughout Covington County.
Barbara Tyler, project coordinator, said the field should be completed in a week – weather permitting.
“It’s going to look like a traditional field,” Tyler said. “The infield is regulation size, and the outfield is maybe a little shorter than regulation size. It’s going to look fantastic when it’s finished.”
Tyler said families interested in participating in the Miracle League should contact Andalusia’s department of leisure services at 334-428-2106.
“We’re trying to keep a list of people who want to play, coach or be a buddy,” Tyler said. “The season will coincide with the regular ball season. Things are still a bit up in the air, but we’re shooting for (ML) registration to be somewhere at the end of February or the first part of March.”
Tyler said the hope is there is enough support for two teams.
“Then, we can do some friendly competition, and the teams in Troy have agreed to play us, as well,” she said.
The plan is to have one game per week, she said.
Tyler said project fundraising is still ongoing.
“We’re close to our ultimate goal, but we’re still a little short,” she said. “So, donations are welcome.”
Tyler said work on the special-needs playground will begin in February, with site prep work completed by the end of the month.
“The goal is to have a community build, where we set aside a week to come in and get things done after all the prep work is done,” she said. “Things are beginning to move along nicely.”
Those interested in making a donation may contact Tyler at 428-1127 or mail to Miracle League of Covington County, P.O. Box 1971, Andalusia, AL 36420.
Like most people in America, when Andalusia Mayor Earl Johnson heard about the deaths of 27 people, including 20 school children, in a Connecticut rampage, he was stunned.
On Friday, a gunman opened fire on Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newton, Conn., where his mother worked as a teacher. The mother was found dead at her home, and 26 people, including 20 children, died at the school as a result of his rampage. The gunman later killed himself.
Johnson has two granddaughters in elementary school in Tuscaloosa. But he also felt a responsibility for all of the hundreds of students in Andalusia, a responsibility to ensure that each of them is as safe as possible.
So on Monday, he will convene a meeting of local law enforcement and safety officers, as well as the school superintendent, each of the principals, and the school board president.
“We are going to review the security situation in all three schools, and discuss whether we need to do more,” Johnson said. “We need to look at what we’re enforcing, in terms of our existing policies. And we need to establish what is the maximum level of security we could provide at school and decide how far we could back away from that?”
Johnson said he wants to analyze the risks involved with every step taken back from the maximum security that could be provided.
“In view of what happened in Newton, Conn., and recently at other locations around the country in schools and other venues, we can’t rely on, ‘We’re a small community and it can’t happen here.’
“How soon we forget what happened in Samson three years ago,” Johnson said. “That very easily could have involved schools.”
In March of 2009, 11 people died in what was described as the worst mass killing in Alabama history. A lone gunman, Michael McClendon, killed his mother in the edge of Coffee County, then traveled to Samson and Geneva, taking the lives of nine others – including several family members – before shooting himself.
While Monday’s meeting is not open to the public, Johnson said he expects there might be public meetings on the topic of school safety in the near future.
Actions like those planned in Andalusia are being taken across the nation. State superintendent Tommy Bice said Alabama’s Department of Education will immediately review school safety plans.
Jeanice Kirkland was one of four outstanding educators recently inducted into the inaugural class of the University of Alabama College of Education Educator Hall of Fame.
The late Dr. Harold Bishop, Dr. Paul Hubbert and Dr. Jayne Meyer also were inducted.
Kirkland spent more than 30 years in the classroom in Tuscaloosa, Montgomery, and in Andalusia. She retired from Andalusia Middle School.
The honor is just the latest in a long association with UA.
Asked her first memory of the Capstone, the former president of the National Alumni Association said she was a sixth or seventh grader when her parents, Judge Eris and Mrs. Jean Paul, decided to take the family to a homecoming game and the dance that followed.
“It was for alumni I and students,” she recalled. “I wore what Mother called a party dress. Daddy danced with me, and before I knew what had happened, a college student tapped him on the shoulder and asked to cut in.
“Well, I thought I was the belle of the ball,” she recalled. She later learned that her father had arranged for the student to dance with her. But at the time, “I thought the University was just a heaven, and I never changed my mind.”
When she enrolled as a student, she chose education as a major, as it was one of the few fields really open to women. There was a long tradition of women educators in her family.
“I counted eight or nine females in our family in education,” she said. “Mother being a teacher probably influenced that, too.”
Kirkland earned a degree in elementary education from UA in 1964, and later completed a master’s at Troy University.
During the course of her career, she taught third-, fifth-, sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade students, including special needs, remedial and gifted students. At the time of desegregation, she volunteered to become one of the first white teachers to teach at an all black school in Montgomery in 1968. More than 40 years later, it still shocks her to think about the conditions in that school.
“They had books, desks and a chalk board,” she said. “I brought a ball from home so the children would have something to play with at recess.”
But the children were sweet and well-behaved, she said, adding that it was good experience.
She said she always told her students, “We’re going to have all Fs in this classroom.”
When that caught their attention, she’d explain that she planned to be fair to everybody; that there would be rules, and she would firmly enforce them; and that if the students cooperated with her on the first two Fs, she’d make sure they had fun.
The Kirklands’ daughter, Kimberly, followed her mother into education.
“She tried her best to do what her daddy wanted her to do and pursue a career in finance,” Kirkland said. “But it wasn’t for her. She has been a wonderful kindergarten teacher.’
Kirkland said she wouldn’t be the least bit disappointed if her granddaughter, now a UA student, chose the same career.
“I never regretted being a teacher,” she said. ”Times have changed, but a lot depends upon the rapport you build up with children.”
She still enjoys bumping into former students and celebrating their successes.
Prior to being named to the hall of fame, Kirkland received numerous honors. She was named most distinguished alumna of UA in 1998. In 1991, she was the recipient of the Outstanding Contribution to Education Award given by the College of Education. She also was named one of the 31 most outstanding women at The University of Alabama as part of a centennial celebration of women being admitted to the University.
Kirkland served as the national president of the University of Alabama Alumni Association, only the second woman in history to be chosen as president.
Her efforts brought one of the largest increases in scholarship funding for students in University history. She also chaired a committee which raised $10 million for UA’s College of Education, and remains active in many other local and university service organizations.