Show a friend how much you care – send them to jail.
“After all, it’s for a good cause,” said Brandy Smith, Andalusia Police Department secretary and organizer of this year’s Arrest a Friend, the department’s annual Relay for Life event. “In the past, we’ve had a great response to our fundraiser, and we’re hoping for another great year. Relay for Life is a wonderful event, and all of our proceeds go to benefit it.
“We’ve raised more than $25,000 with this project,” she said of last year’s event.
The event will be Wed., April 6, from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. Smith said some improvements have been made to how the day will work.
“This is to make the experience more enjoyable and entertaining,” she said. “In years past, warrants have been mostly obtained on the day of the event. This has proven difficult to ‘serve’ all of the warrants.”
Smith said there will now be a two-and-a-half day period to purchase warrants – Mon., April 4, and Tues., April 5, from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. at the police department on Opp Avenue.
“Those who wish to sign a warrant on Wednesday can do so by coming to the court Square between the hours of 9 a.m. and noon,” she said. “No warrants will be accepted after noon.”
Warrants are $2 each, and a “bond” is set for release, she said.
“There are a few things you will need to sign a warrant,” she said. “The $2, of course, and the name of the individual and where we can pick them up from. In addition they will need to know what time of day is best to serve the warrant – morning or afternoon.”
Once the warrant is served, the arrestee also has two options, she said.
“No. 1: go to ‘jail,’ or No 2: pay their bond to the arresting officer and they will be released on scene,” she said. “If you choose to go to ‘jail,’ you will be booked in and placed into our Andalusia Police Department ‘jail.’
“This year, the department has been working on creating an actual jail cell for prisoners to be held in,” she said.
Pictures will also be available for purchase at the event for $2 and can be received when bond is made.
For those who are afraid that someone might be out to put them under the “jail,” a $25 “get out of jail free” card is available.
“There’s a limited amount of cards available, and they are only good for one warrant of equal or lesser value,” Smith said.
Those are available for purchase on April 4 and 5 at the police department.
For more information, contact Brandy Smith, (334) 222-1155, ext 3106, or Judy McCord at ext, 3104.
Those looking to dispose of unwanted TVs, VCRs, computers or any other electronic item will have a perfect opportunity on April 29 during a free disposal event.
Janet Wofford with the Conecuh-Sepulga and Blackwater Rivers Clean Water Partnership is working in conjunction with the City of Andalusia and Andalusia High School Key Club for the event.
“Personally, I have a ton of old computers, phones, cameras, VCRs and such stored in my children’s playhouse,” Wofford said. “There is just something that won’t let my conscience throw these items in landfills. I’d heard of larger towns having days similar to this, which were very successful.”
Wofford said Andalusia is fortunate to have a curbside recycling program in place, and the electronics recycling event will take recycling one step further.
“Recycling electronics is important because electronics are bulky and take up valuable space in the landfills,” she said. “While landfills are lined and carefully monitored, electronics can leak hazardous and toxic materials.
“Not to mention, these items are often illegally dumped in rivers, streams and along roadsides just to get them out of the way,” she said. “So, if we can get people to bring them to recycling day that is big step. Also, any time items are recycled, that means less new materials must be manufactured – which in turn, reduces amount of items to be discarded in future and also help to reduce amount of natural resources used in manufacturing new products.”
There is a $10 fee for televisions and $5 for computer monitors.
The event will be held from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. at the Andalusia Fire Department. Members of the AHS Key Club will serve as volunteers during the event.
Collected items will be sent to Ecovery LLC, a Loxley, Ala., company that provides recovery solutions for the valuable materials found in automotive and electronic waste.
“They basically strip down and separate the parts and sell them to salvage and manufacturing companies,” Wofford said. All electronic items are welcomed and there is no fee to dispose of the items.
Ever wanted to hunt for four-leaf clovers, visit a real Irish pub or kiss the Blarney Stone?
If so, then the City of Andalusia’s Department of Leisure Services’ Adult Activity Center’s upcoming trip to Ireland is the thing for you.
AAC director Dianne Jones said the eight-day Irish spirit tour will depart Sept. 3. Price is $2,475 and includes airfare from the U.S., six nights in a hotel room, 11 meals and a host of activities.
“We’ll arrive in Dublin, travel to Kilamey and Galway before heading back to Dublin,” Jones said. “It’s going to be such great fun.”
High-lights of the trip include a traditional dinner and show at Abbey Tavern and trips to visit Trinity College, the Ring of Kerry, the Cliffs of Moher and Rathbaun Farm, as well as a catamaran cruise.
“And of course, we’ll kiss the Blarney Stone,” she said.
There are only 31 available seats remaining on the tour.
“We’ve already sold 25, so if you want to go, you need to jump on it,” she said.
The tour is being conducted by C.I.E. Tours International, one of the leading tour groups in Ireland, Jones said.
For more information or to register for the trip, call Jones at 334-222-6891.
The City of Andalusia has installed signs which enhance the enforcement of its ordinance prohibiting smoking in all outdoor recreational settings. These settings include any place designated for physical activity within the city limits.
The Alabama Department of Health (ADPH), Healthy Communities Branch has supplied signs that are in place at various locations to remind the public about the policy. ADPH and Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM) have partnered on this initiative to help make all outdoor areas for physical activity in the state tobacco free.
Tobacco-free outdoor areas are important because secondhand smoke is harmful. There is no safe level. In addition, children model adult behaviors and cigarette butts are hazardous and dirty.
Secondhand smoke contains more than 4,000 chemicals. Two thousand of those chemicals are poisonous and 69 cause cancer.
Children exposed to secondhand smoke are more likely to suffer from upper respiratory and ear infections. Secondhand smoke is especially harmful for children and adults with asthma and other chronic diseases. Smoking in outdoor venues may expose nonsmokers to levels of environmental tobacco smoke as high as or higher than received in indoor spaces where smoking is allowed.
When children see adults smoking in family-friendly places such as parks and playgrounds, they see smoking as acceptable. Parks are about clean air, natural beauty and engaging in healthy activities – tobacco just does not fit in. With this policy, Andalusia is sending a better message to our children.
Cigarette butts are the most littered item in the world. Small children can pick up littered cigarette butts or discarded tobacco plugs and put them in their mouths, which can cause choking, burns, or nicotine poisoning; not to mention the many germs that are associated with these two items. Cigarette butt cleanup is costly to tax payers, and the butts make parks and playgrounds look dirty and uninviting.
Assistant State Health Officer for Personal and community Health, Dr. Tom Miller, said, “Preventable health risk factors such as tobacco use and exposure, insufficient physical activity, and poor nutrition contribute greatly to the development and severity of many chronic diseases. This effort will protect the most vulnerable among us – our children and those with heart disease and breathing problems such as asthma – from a preventable cause of disease and premature death.”
Andalusia is among many other communities in the state that have enhanced or created policy to help keep the exposure of secondhand smoke away from our children.
The City of Andalusia will sponsor a giant indoor rummage sale Saturday at the Kiwanis Community Center from 7 a.m. until 2 p.m.
Billy Jo Stallworth will cook up catfish dinner plates from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m for $8.
For more information call Johnson Park at 334-428-2103.