Thursday’s weather forced a change of venue for the Andalusia Middle School ‘Living History’ parade. Here, students gather inside Southside Baptist Church to avoid the rain.
In its last official meeting, the current administration of the City of Andalusia on Tuesday amended its personnel by reassigning responsibilities of the former director of leisure services.
When former director Dwight Mikel retired last year, Mikel’s former responsibilities were split between John Thompson, city clerk, and Andy Wiggins, director of planning and development.
The council formalized the arrangement this week, giving Thompson responsibility for the public golf course at LBW, the library, and the adult activity center, and Wiggins responsibility for parks and recreation and youth sports.
Mayor Earl Johnson said that this move brings the city and the utilities department to a total of about eight positions eliminated by attrition over the past four years, saving the city more than $600,000 annually. The list includes the job of utilities board manager. At present, the mayor serves as utilities board manager for no pay.
There also were no pay changes for Thompson and Wiggins in Tuesday’s actions, although Johnson said consideration will need to be given to that in the future.
In other business, the council reappointed Jean Bishop to the library board.
Five of the six members of the current administration were re-elected in August and will take office again in November. Councilman Jason Jewell did not seek reelection, and his seat was won by Ralph Wells.
Mild weather made for a great opening night at the Kiwanis Covington County Fair Monday.
By 6:15 p.m., almost 500 people had gone through the gates, and Kiwanians expected to count more than 900 before night’s end.
Tara Ward was crowned Little Miss Covington County Fair. First runner-up was Olivia Faith Cravey; second runner up was Madalyn Grace Bush; and third runner-up was Savana Lawson.
Gates open at 5:30 tonight.
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A fter years of planning, hoping and dreaming, the Andalusia High School’s new physical education facility is finally complete.
Late Monday morning, contractors with Bayshore Construction Co. gave newly-cut keys to school officials after the inspection of the $2.3 million project. Construction began on the facility last August.
“We’ve been waiting a long time for this,” Andalusia City Schools superintendent Ted Watson said. “We’re excited about this new facility.”
The western side of the building holds the 40-yard indoor practice field, which it will be used for many different activities, including football.
On the eastern side, new coaches’ offices, locker room, physical therapy room, visitors’ locker room, weight room and conference room await new occupants.
Outside of the athletic realm, the new facility will also be used for “general education” purposes, AHS head football coach Brian Seymore said.
“There’s no doubt a lot of people in a lot of different avenues got together and formulated a great plan, and they followed through with it,” Seymore said. “It’s going to be an asset to Andalusia City Schools.
“You’ve got so much more indoor facility, wide open spaces for physical education and a new weight room,” he said. “We have a new locker room, which was sorely needed. Just having some things that were outdated and having them be state-of-the-art, it’s going to help the overall attitude, not just for our players but our coaches and school as a whole.”
Seymore said the Bulldogs will keep using the old locker room and weight room throughout the rest of this season.
However, if bad weather occurs, then the team will take its work indoors, Seymore said.
“After the season, we’ll slowly make the move and get set up for offseason workouts,” he said.
What this new facility will do for the City of Andalusia is beyond measure, Andalusia Football Foundation board member Eddie Williamson said.
“It’s just something that I think the school will be proud of and the community will benefit from it by bringing in more people,” Williamson said.
The foundation began talking about building a new facility at the high school a long time ago when it was comprised of a few concerned citizens.
In fact, the decision to form a group to help improve the facilities came in 2007, according to The Star-News archives.
From there, 11 men from the community, many of whom were former players themselves, formed the Bulldog Foundation, which consists of Circuit Judge “Lex” Short, Probate Judge Ben Bowden, brothers Alan and Eddie Williamson, Mayor Earl Johnson, Lucky Cope, David Darby, Tim Bryan, John Jones, Dr. Bob Burkhardt and Paul Rogers.
Like Watson, Williamson said they’ve been waiting a long time for the completion of the project.
“I just think it’s a good move for the City of Andalusia, period,” he said. “It’s something that’s great for our community, and we can take pride in.”
When asked what he thinks the new facility will do for the football program at AHS, Seymore said it’s the team’s duty now to give back.
“I think the players understand that these people went above and beyond to put the Andalusia name up there with the top programs in 4A,” Seymore said. “I think we’ve got to give it back to them on the field, how we care for ourselves and conduct ourselves on a daily basis, not only just on the playing field.
“Not many programs can say that have what we have here,” he said.
The Coterie Club of Andalusia will holds its annual 5K and kids’ “Fun Run” on Sat., Oct. 20.
Coterie member Debbie Maraman, who also serves as race chairman, said this is the 12th year the local civic club has sponsored the run
Registration will be held on Fri., Oct. 19, from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. at city hall or the day of the race beginning at 7 a.m.
“This 5K run/walk is for all ages and starts at 9 a.m. in front of the First United Methodist Church,” Maraman said. “At 10 a.m., the Coterie Club will host Meredith’s Mile for children ages 3 to 16, starting in the CCB parking lot. Then, at 10:30 a.m. the tot trot for children ages 0 to 4 will be held behind the city hall. It’s going to be a great, fun-filled day.”
The registration fees are as followed: 5K pre-race $12, day of race $15; Meredith’s Mile pre-race $10, day of $12; and the Tot Trot is free. T-shirts are available for purchase without race participation for $15.
Racers will be awarded trophies, medallions and door prizes. Coterie members are also selling $1 chances where five lucky raffle winners will take home $50 cash on Saturday.
“The Coterie Club of Andalusia has contributed thousands of dollars to improve the quality of life for all children in Covington County,” Maraman said. “Last year’s event raised $11,392 for a total of $118,234 over the last 11 years.”
For more information about the upcoming race, contact Maraman at 222-8511.