THE ANNIVERSARY PROJECT: SECTION 4A forward look at Anniston’s potential

Sunday, August 17, 2008

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2008 KNIGHT FELLOWS IN COMMUNITY JOURNALISM

ANNISTON’S FUTUREThe Knight Fellows polled city leaders, residents and business

owners to get an idea of the challenges Anniston will face in the next 25 years — and how those challenges might be met.

Emily Amick Anne Anderson Jennifer Cox Jeremy Cox

Sandra Martinez Cassandra Mickens

Christina Smith Andrea Young

CONTRIBUTORS

THE PROJECT

JULY 271870s/1880s-1928, founding to year before Great Depression

AUG. 31929-1970, Depression through World War II,

Cold War and Civil Rights era

AUG. 101971-present, New South

and transition

TODAY The future◆

MONDAY Then and Now — a photo album

A LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

For the past three weeks, The Star has looked backward. We’ve marked the 125th anniversary of Anniston and this

newspaper. Each section noted suc-cess and sadness, high points and low ones.

Today, the fourth installment of the Anniversary Project hits the fast-forward button. We enlisted the help of students from the University of Alabama’s Knight

Community Journal-ism Masters Program here in Anniston. The question posed in the articles: What will Anniston look like 25 years from now?

We fully acknowledge our predictions are merely best guesses. We relied on the informed wisdom of many sources to prognosticate a possible future, not the future.

Earlier this year, when we were first planning the Anniversary Project, I sat down for coffee with David Christian, an Anniston architect and proud native of the Model City. I was looking for ideas about how our project could look back-ward and forward.

In discussing the future, David talked in terms of best case and worst case. He suggested pondering what might hap-pen if Anniston’s residents neglected its crying needs. It reminded me of It’s a Wonderful Life, Frank Capra’s 1947 movie.

The film’s lead character, George Bai-ley, meets his guardian angel. With the angel’s help, George glimpses a vision of what would have happened if he’d never been born.

Among the horrors is a completely different hometown from the one George and his family had helped create.

The bad town had a different name, Pottersville instead of the customary Bedford Falls. Even worse, it was a gritty and depressing place. The wholesome businesses were gone, replaced by seedy dives.

With George, a typical small Ameri-can town.

Without George, Sodom and Gomor-rah.

Such is Hollywood, a neat and tidy story of one man influencing his com-

munity, all wrapped up in a couple of hours.

Anniston’s future will play out according to the efforts of many and in real time, slow-moving and full of twists and turns. Good and bad accompanies that fact.

The good: The consequences, while serious, aren’t likely to be as severe as the ones in Capra’s fictional Pottersville.

The bad: We don’t have a guardian angel who can snap his fingers and show us the worst case for Anniston.

A city’s slow deterioration is easier to miss. Passers-by are lulled by the constant presence of empty storefronts. Warning signs pointing to a workforce that isn’t reaching its fullest potential can be set aside for later.

It’s only natural. Proverbs warns the road to disaster can ease upon one with “a little sleep, a little slumber, a little fold-ing of the hands to sleep.”

As City Hall candidates mentioned during last week’s forum, what’s taking root — fast-food restaurants, conve-nience stores and predatory lenders — is hardly a sign of a healthy and diverse local economy. The worry is whether the city has hit bottom, or if the worst is yet to come. No one can say for certain if Pottersville is just around the bend or miles away.

Of course, city planners and residents don’t need a special section to pose the question. Almost every city government meeting is concerned, in one way or the other, with the “what’s next?” query.

Yet, city leaders can’t carry this bur-den alone. An active and involved citi-zenry can put the wind in their sails.

Anniston’s past is filled with instances of deep civic involvement. Residents took a chance, stepped out in the hopes of making their city. The boldest stroke is Noble and Tyler’s vision of a grand com-pany town, more equitable and civic-minded than others. Other examples include efforts at racial reconciliation in the civil rights era and rich community investment in education.

Now, gentle readers, it is your turn. We invite you to contemplate Anniston’s future, and your role in it.

Bob Davis is editor of The Anniston Star. Contact him at 256-235-3540 or bdavis@annistonstar.com.@annistonstar.com.

BobDavisEditor

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

EDITORSBob Davis, Anthony Cook, Bill Edwards, Phillip Tutor

and Laura Tutor

DESIGNERTosha Jupiter

COVER PHOTOGRAPHERBill Wilson

MULTIMEDIAJustin Thurman, Gary Lewis, Brandon Wynn, Andy Johns

and Hannah Dame

Beating back Pottersville

PHILLIP TUTOR, COMMENTARY EDITOR

WHAT WOULD THE FOUNDERS THINK?

From oaks to education, we ponder Anniston’s characteristics and wonder what

Sam Noble and Daniel Tyler would think of their city today.

PAGE 16Phillip Tutor is The Star’s commentary editor and has been a reporter or editor at The Star

since 1989. His masters history project examined Anniston’s original downtown.

BILL EDWARDS, FEATURES WRITER

BACK TO THE FUTUREIn 1930 Anniston’s leaders

were still thinking about tomorrow.

PAGE 23Raised in Anniston, Bill Edwards has been a reporter or editor at The Star since 1985. He

combs old issues of the paper and compiles the daily history happenings column.

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Fighting back against violenceClasses are available to help parents learn how to deter their

children from turning to drugs and violence. A community organization, called Stop the Violence, brings

together business leaders, activists and city offi-cials to develop alternatives to crime for kids.

Truancy and delinquency are handled by well-trained social workers, not the criminal justice system.

Anniston 2030? Nope. Try Anniston 2008.Many of the tools necessary to reduce

youth crime are in their infancy in Anniston. But give them time to grow and mature and they

will make a significant dent in the city’s problems with youth crime, community leaders say.

Who will be committing crimes a decade or two from now? The answer depends on who gets to our children — even those who haven’t been born yet — first.

Positive mentors are crucial to Anniston’s future. That’s why Calhoun County is launching a juvenile day camp this summer, so youths come into contact with a case worker at a social service agency instead of a case worker in the justice system.

A court can order children into such programs, but it’s much more difficult to reach them sooner, before they get into trouble. Family Links has tried offering parents inducements to attend classes, such as taking $50 off families’ utility bills. Interest remains tepid.

The parents who are most in need of help tend to be the poor-est and, therefore, least able to spare a few hours a week getting parenting tips. They also are the hardest to reach with informa-tion about such programs.

The good news, said Robin Mackey of Family Links, is that “there are pockets of people right now in Anniston who are work-ing in the same direction.”

History tells us of cities that have endured great hardships and sprung back better than before — Chicago and its fire, San Fran-cisco and its earthquake.

Anniston’s history, however, is littered with one hardship after another, dating back to its inception. Samuel Noble and Gen. Daniel Tyler founded their company town in 1872 amid the figurative and real ashes of the Civil War. (Union Gen. Lovell H. Rousseau’s troops burned down a furnace just outside present-day Anniston that helped supply Confederate forces with iron.)

Over the next century and a quarter, change begat change. Textile mills came and went. An Army base sprouted on a hill on the north side of town and saw the city — and the country

— through five wars before withering in the sudden warmth that followed the Cold War. Meanwhile, the city’s Industrial Age metamorphosed into a Service Age.

From this progression emerged a quiet persistence. It’s in the money and energy going into Noble Street’s revival and

in the commerce at the farmer’s market on Saturday mornings at Zinn Park. This persistence will help refurbish the city’s rusting core into a hub of new technological endeavors, anchored by a symbol of the town’s past, Fort McClellan.

ANNISTON: WHAT’S NEXT?While a city’s skeleton is formed by bricks, mortar and concrete, its heartbeat lies within its people.

Residents — and their relationships with each other — will drive the direction this town takes.

1

At Calhoun County YMCA’s summer camp, teenage counselors instruct their charges not to identify each other by the color of their skin. Kids may not be as color-

blind as adults think they are, but they learn fast, coun-

selors say.For their part, local

high school and col-lege students say race isn’t as big of an issue

with their generation as it was for previous ones.

About half of today’s Annisto-nians were born after May 14, 1961 — when a white mob unleashed its fury against a bus of Freedom Riders on the outskirts of town.

Two generations later, racial tensions have by no means evaporated, but the fuse

no longer burns on this former powder keg. And the third generation — children just reaching school age who will soon inherit this city — may make the memory of the burning bus ever more distant.

If time heals all wounds, then the genera-tion after the ones at the YMCA will surely be even more progressive in their attitudes toward race. As a result, the dividing line between east and west Anniston will blur. More black city council representatives will come from areas outside of west Anniston.

Annistonians must begin at the ending by respecting the past. This is followed by a “neutral zone” where people shake off the old and begin to find a new way forward. Lastly, people enter a new beginning when they enact new ways of doing things.

Communityrelations

BY JEREMY COX ◆ Knight Community Journalism Fellow

2

In any market, supply and demand must be at least somewhat in agreement, or else you’ll end up with what economists blandly call a “correc-tion.”

A quick explanation: With the closing of Fort McClellan, the death spiral of the textile industry and the decay of west Anniston, business has been good for Anniston’s nonprofit sector.

In the bad-means-good world of social services, depressed incomes and bleak economic conditions mean one thing: grant money. And that money has poured into Anniston in recent years to help agencies that help fami-

lies during tough times.The result: There is one nonprofit for every

926 people in Calhoun County, The Star reported a couple of years ago. But privately, some local nonprofit executives complain that newcomers are siphoning away grants that are badly needed

in Anniston and spending them elsewhere in the county and the region.

As the nation spins toward recession, that source of nonprofit revenue will become less reliable. And when it does, expect to find a lot of disconnected num-bers in the social services section of the phone book.

Oddly, this will be the best thing that could have happened to Anniston.

The remaining charities will go into survival mode. Finally, they will realize that they can’t afford to be proud. Officials will work together, not because they want to but because they have to.

Charities will consolidate and become more nimble, more able to assist their clients.

The lives of the community’s poorest will improve in this new world order. No longer con-fronted by a confusing mélange of social service providers, they simply will turn to one-size-fits all organizations that will help them at any stage of their lives with however much need they have.

3

The nonprofit bubble bursts

A Southern town comes to grips with race

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A literate and prosperous community won’t be intimidated by the marriage of education and technology — two words that extend well beyond the classroom and into the workplace. Fiber optics, laptop computers and classroom Internet access are on the wish lists of any school administrator, but

students have to be ready to learn, ready to use that technology.

ACCESS, Alabama Connecting Class-rooms Educators and Students State-wide, ushered in an era of innovative

learning in high schools, and other initiatives are sure to follow. But it’s up to

Annistonians to find a healthy balance between the advancements of technology and traditional teaching.

It’s a tug of war that has plagued many in the edu-cation field.

But a literate and prosperous community won’t be realized without community involvement.

ANNISTON: WHAT’S NEXT?Anniston’s schools spent the last decade of the 1900s

in an enrollment free-fall. The challenge to the city — not just its elected leaders — is to see where an educated,

engaged citizenry will come from in the next generation.

Erasing illiteracy one council at a timeThough he grew up far from Anniston, Swiss-born art critic W.

Fusselman has a local following because of six words — today a reader, tomorrow a leader. For 25 percent of Alabamians, those six words are lost on them. They are illiterate.

The Literacy Council of Birmingham has launched an initiative to establish 10 literacy

councils statewide, and Anniston is on the list of prospective candidates. The initia-tive begins in Tuscaloosa, where the West Alabama Literacy Council is in its infancy.

Subsequent councils will look to Tuscaloosa for guidance. Steered by the business community, the

council will be designed to support existing literacy programs in their respective regions. The council will provide marketing sup-port, technical support and grant-writing assistance to programs struggling to stay afloat. In Tuscaloosa, the West Alabama Lit-eracy Council has purchased airtime to raise literacy awareness. Aggressive planning and campaigning is vital to the council’s suc-cess. Community input is necessary.

The council has struck a nerve with West Alabamians who have vowed to end the cycle of illiteracy by becoming volunteer tutors. Will Anniston residents follow suit?

The support network is here. Gadsden State Community College, the United Way of East Central Alabama and the Annis-ton Community Education Foundation advocate the council’s mission and philosophy — literacy cures unemployment, and employment cures crime.

The ability to read, write and comprehend words is the first step toward an educated, socially sound community. The council has faith all Alabamians will be able to read a street sign or the label on a medicine bottle. In time, all Alabamians will be readers and leaders of their own lives. Just as Mr. Fusselman predicted.

1

Mention Anniston City Schools in 2008, expect an aggravated grunt and a roll of the eyes. Mention Anniston City Schools in 2028, expect a shriek of excitement and a glimmer in the eyes.

Anniston won’t tap into its true potential — the promise of prosperity — until the com-munity nourishes its schools. Our hearts must change. Our minds must change.

Once upon a time, Anniston schools had a cheerleading squad — myriad teachers, administrators, parents, alumni and civic leaders who vowed to be the best of the best. But somewhere

along the way, the squad lost its pep. And we all know a cheerleader sans pep is no good.

How do we reclaim and retain that spirit? Vote.

The victors of the 2008 race for the Anniston Board of Education may present an opportu-

nity for a fresh start. We must hold board members accountable, but never forget

our responsibilities to public educa-tion. We must show up at board meet-ings and parent-teacher conferences — not just football games.

Constantly badmouthing a system

that has produced a bevy of exceptional stu-dents not only deflates community morale, but also spoils the hopes of a wildly optimistic child. We must calm our inner cynic to move forward.

Once we rediscover our sense of pride and make an unyielding commitment to future generations, Anniston High School will be the school everyone wants to attend. Parent involvement will be on the rise, students will be eager to learn, teachers will be eager to teach and alumni will be eager to give back. A reputa-tion of academic excellence will be restored.

And a community will prosper.

3

Community-Supported Education makes a comeback

It’s an average day at school. Advanced biology is set to begin. Students take their seats, crack open their laptops and with the flip of a switch or the push of a button, the teacher appears on the screen.

The age of the two-dimensional teacher is upon us. Terrifying or terrific?

The 2D invasion began when Alabama high

schools were formally introduced to ACCESS, Alabama Connecting Classrooms Educators

and Students State-wide. The innovative

distance learning initiative provides access to classes

unavailable to Alabama students. Thanks to ACCESS, a teacher in Mobile can teach U.S. government to Anniston students via a projector screen.

There have been 2D sightings through-

out Calhoun County — Anniston High, Jack-sonville High, Weaver High and Wellborn High have been exposed. ACCESS is now only available in high schools, but it’s prob-able the program will reach elementary and middle schools. Soon the invasion will be complete.

And who’s to say the 2Ds won’t invite special guests to class? Perhaps an arche-ologist in Peru will talk to Anniston students via satellite about unearthing a 4,000-year-old temple. Or maybe students will probe the author of a book they read in American lit. Or maybe students will engage in a casual Q&A with the inventor of the world’s first flying car. The possibilities are endless and exciting.

But is it possible that technology will trump the flesh-and-blood teacher?

Never.Now we can all breathe a sigh of relief.

EducationBY CASSANDRA MICKENS ◆ Knight Community Journalism Fellow

2

Technology trumps the teacher?

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More healthcare options are available today in Anniston than any time in its history. That’s a rarity in an age when medical facilities are consolidating in large metropolises and moving away from smaller,

regional hospitals. In this instance, Anniston

is bucking a national trend, and officials believe ser-

vices and options will continue to grow

and improve so patients do

not have to travel

out of town or out of state for

the best care.A shared understand-

ing exists — today’s actions or lack thereof will have an

impact on the future of health care in Anniston, especially because of the predicted strain by the baby boomers.

One local official said if the right

actions and steps are not made to ensure quality health care, the entire area will suffer, especially the aging residents.

“The ‘boomers’ are going to face a situation where most of the need for care giving will fall on themselves and their family members,” Randall Frost, director of Senior Services for the East Alabama Regional Planning and Development Commission, says.

All aspects of the health care system in this community, includ-ing the area’s two largest hospitals, private doctors and government officials, must start brainstorming about ways to attract physicians and health care business owners and companies to Anniston to meet future health care needs.

It could be too late 20 years from now when the first baby boomer will be 82, and have a potential need for more medical care and a new type of housing.

ANNISTON: WHAT’S NEXT?Aging baby boomers, a shortage of family doctors and

rising healthcare costs affect every corner of the United States. Anniston’s medical community says the area’s

healthcare industry is shifting to meet the growing demand on its services.

Who’s gonna be my doctor? There is a shortage of primary care physicians — in pediat-

rics, internal medicine and family practice. This is becoming an increasing concern for Anniston officials.

Roughly 50 of the area’s nearly 180 doctors are family and inter-nal medicine physicians — of which about six will

retire at some point this year.Officials at Stringfellow Memorial Hospital

and Regional Medical Center are kicking it into high gear to recruit and retain family physicians.

Hilary Folsom, manager of physician ser-vices at RMC, said the lack of family physicians

could be due to lifestyle desires. She said many new medical school graduates do not want to be on

call 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The specialty practices give them flexibility and, typically, higher salaries.

The biggest risk associated with not having enough family phy-sicians, officials said, will be the reduction of continuous follow-up care.

Local doctors have long waiting lists and often turn away patients — a trend predicted to continue. Emergency rooms are often packed.

Corey Ewing, chief operating officer of Stringfellow Memorial Hospital, said the hospital is making a concerted effort right now to prevent a potential extreme shortage in local family physicians. By year-end, he said, Ewing hopes to hire at least nine new doctors.

“We are going to have to add doctors,” he said.One future option is to hire hospitalists, who monitor patients

in intensive care units, and internalists, who are considered critical care specialists. They are contracted employees of the hospital and are considered primary caregivers within the halls of the hospital. They do not follow up with patients once they leave.

Neither hospital has adopted the idea, yet. But the idea, if more family physicians decide to bypass Anniston, could become real-ity.

1

Anniston officials need to consider how to meet the needs of an aging population, starting now.

According to the East Alabama Regional Planning and Development Commission

Area Agency on Aging, in 2005, Calhoun County had

just over 16,266 resi-dents over the age of 65. By 2025, that num-ber will increase to just over 22,520.

If nothing changes, there will not be enough

hospital beds, adult day cares, nursing home facilities, assisted and independent living units and in-home health care help for those in need.

Mike Cassidy, owner of the private Autumn Cove assisted living facility in Anniston, said baby boomers would most likely be looking for alternative living

arrangements. He said to prevent the lack of appropriate housing, developers will have to start building — and soon — to meet future needs.

Local officials need to partner to recruit and provide incentives to new health care businesses.

To help alleviate some potential strain on the future of the area’s health care sys-tem, local officials also need to continue to emphasize preventative and alternative care methods. Frost said if more focus was placed on preventative care and training for friends and family members of the elderly now, future problems could be reduced or eliminated.

“The reality is there is not going to be enough paid people who can be caregivers,” he said. “We have to provide information to teach people to own your own healthy future.”

2

One concern about the future health care industry in Anniston is the projected rise in the need for more acute in-patient care, which, if not planned for strategically, will stretch the city’s medical facilities to their capacity, warned Dr. Igor Bidikov, a geriatrics specialist.

“As the system stands right now, there will not be enough medical beds because of the foreseen future increase in acute in-patient care the public will seek,” he said. “There is going to be a need to expand the capacities.”

Hospital officials agreed that they

will have to add services — and medical beds — to stay competitive and meet the ever-growing needs from patients.

Because more patients who are underinsured or uninsured are making more trips to the emer-gency room, hospitals will have to expand.

Officials said even today the emergency rooms are constantly filled. They believe,

however, that the future will see more patients, especially those with minor problems, using this option.

Stringfellow is considering adding a new patient tower, another operating

room and expanding the emergency room. Dates and specifics have yet to be determined.

“Who knows what is going to happen,” said Corey Ewing, Stringfellow’s chief operating offi-cer. “At one point, something is going to have to change.”

Allen Fletcher, former head of RMC, agreed.“Facilities will have to adapt,” he said. Currently, RMC has no preliminary plans for

expansion. The idea, however, is not out of the question.

“All facilities will see expansion,” Fletcher said.

3

Where’s the growth?

The baby boomer

HealthcareBY CHRISTINA SMITH ◆ Knight Community Journalism Fellow

ANNISTON’S ATTICResidents share memories about the town we call home.

Leola Bright remembers Girl Scouts◆◆◆

Community leader Betty Carr◆◆◆

Virginia Matheny remembers her great-great-uncle◆◆◆

Th e powers that tried by Ruth Mitchell ◆◆◆

Sam Stewart remembers

MULTIMEDIA: www.annistonstar.com/celebrate125

LANDMARK LOREPhillip Tutor and Andy Johns dodge traffic, trek through vacant lots and

hang from buildings, all in the name of showing the history, quirks and warts associated with Anniston’s

landmarks and inconspicuous-but-important spots. Click on the interactive map to watch video history lessons.

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The city’s circulatory and nerve systems will get an upgrade in the next 20 to 30 years — and the frame-work of that upgrade is already heading toward the future.

What is probable for the city are new, locally grown ways to com-

municate, travel and live. Each concept will make Anniston

competitive in the world market.

As gas prices rise, innovations in

technology will make the video-

conferene a viable alternative

to getting behind the wheel. When officials do

hit the road, they’ll do so in energy-efficient vehicles on the

Eastern Parkway, which will cut rush hour drive time from Interstate 20 to McClellan from 30 minutes to around seven.

State Sen. Del Marsh, R-Anniston,

called fiber optics, the Eastern Park-way and “going green” initiatives essential to the future of Anniston. Everything needs to fall into place at once to make Anniston’s future a bright one.

With the closing of Fort McClellan in 1999, the start up of a controver-sial chemical weapons incinerator and a struggle against industrial pol-lution, the perception of Anniston’s health and vitality took some hits.

Businesses looked elsewhere, often to Oxford, sometimes to Jack-sonville, or closed forever. That I-20 corridor led to a retail and dining boom in Oxford, which pumped millions into its infrastructure in an open-for-business march along the interstate.

Anniston officials say it’s their town’s turn to work on the arteries and skeletal structure that makes a city grow in a healthy, sustainable way.

ANNISTON: WHAT’S NEXT?A city is only as sound as its bones. Anniston’s leaders say

they’re prepared to be innovative to build its communications and transportation infrastructure into a 21st-century model.

Going green and looking familiar?

Anniston will look surprisingly familiar in 20 to 30 years.City and Calhoun County officials recently embarked on a cam-

paign to “go green,” which will involve recycling and energy and fuel efficiency.

The only change may be that residents don’t detect any change at all.

City officials were recently among the first in the country to make their courthouse more energy efficient by adhering to improved heating, cooling and lighting regulations.

They will apply these standards to each city building in the coming years. The courthouse “looks just like it did years ago,”

said Calhoun County Commissioner Robert Downing. “We still have a ways to go, but we’re off to a good start.”

Additionally, new businesses are springing up to help Anniston along with its quest to become environmentally friendly.

Dick Anderson at Huron Valley Steel said his business breaks down Army tanks and vehicles and recycles the scrap metal for other products to be used locally. Recycling saves approximately 75 percent to 95 percent more energy than mining, Anderson said.

“We have a growing business in Anniston,” he said. “The busi-ness climate here is good, and we have a good, viable workforce, so I think you’ll see a lot more businesses like mine cropping up.”

County officials are also contracting with Anniston businesses to recycle kitchen waste into biofuel for the county’s diesel vehicles. With gas prices tending to rise, and forecasters pre-dicting no relief in sight, city officials are also looking to trade their gas guzzling vehicles for new fleets of energy-efficient cars and electronic carts.

1

Construction is well under way on the Eastern Parkway, which will offer travelers a direct route from Birmingham and Atlanta to north Anniston and McClellan.

If the project — scheduled for Phase 1 completion in 2010 — is a

success, it will mean the revitalization of a strug-

gling city.“In 20 years, I see

subdivisions, commu-nities, schools, retail-

ers, parks, you name it,” said Kevin Miller, whose

childhood home sits at the intersection of the parkway’s connector in Golden Springs.

“It could really be a home run for Annis-ton.”

While rejuvenation seems plausible,

even likely, some Anniston residents worry the final lick for the wounded city may be just one slip up away.

The city has received enough funding to complete the parkway’s connection to McClellan — up to Lake Yahou Road. But officials have not identified funding for the remainder of the project — tens of millions of dollars.

“It’ll be the most expensive cul-de-sac in the world. A road to nowhere,” said Bill Gann, who owns an empty lot on the park-way.

Anniston leaders spend their days in meetings brainstorming ideas for fund-ing, including the implementation of local taxes, state funding or direct contributions.

For many residents one thing is certain: The parkway will either put Anniston back on the map or wipe it off for good.

2

Imagine a virtual laboratory where Anniston school children dissect frogs online under the close supervision of Nobel prize-winning scientists.

Picture elementary students speaking Japanese with Pacific pen pals in preparation for managerial positions at the Honda plant.

And, if you can, envision technology that will allow teachers to substitute for one another via Webcam, so students don’t miss a day of work.

The future of communication in Anniston will begin with its youth. But it won’t end there.

David Land, director of technology for Annis-ton City Schools, is already at work upgrading the system’s slow-speed Internet connection to a faster fiber optics line.

“If you use a regular provider, like you have a net-work with the diameter of about a toothpick,” Land

said. “With fiber optics, you’re talking about the diameter of a water hose.

“One day, we’ll have a connection the size of a trashcan lid.”

Anniston attorney Donald Stewart con-tributed much of the $1.4 million needed to get fiber optics connections into school

computer labs.During the next decade, Anniston officials will

make fiber optics available to all city employees, linking hospital workers, planners and surveyors to their intellectual counterparts across the globe.

“Fiber optics is the future,” Stewart said. “It will connect Anniston with the outside world.”

City leaders are dreaming of high-speed uploads, video conferencing and other innovations that will push Anniston onto the world stage.

Anniston may be landlocked, but its future in communications will spread far beyond any body of water.

3

Connecting to the world

Highway to the future

InfrastructureBY JENNIFER COX ◆ Knight Community Journalism Fellow

DonohoThe

D I F F E R E N C EAcademicsThe class of 2008 received more than $2.6 million in college scholarship offers and were offered acceptance to more than thirty-five colleges and universities.

ArtsThe fine arts play an important role in the life of The Donoho School. Self expression and experi-ences in both the visual and performing arts are placed among the top priorities at the school.

AthleticsStudents enjoy participating in a variety of sports offered at The Donoho School: football, basketball, volleyball, golf, soccer, tennis, track, cross-country, baseball, and cheerleading. The Donoho School was selected by The Birmingham News to receive the 2007 AHSAA IA All Sports Championship Award.

The Donoho School is dually accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) and the Southern Association of Independent Schools (SAIS). It is an active member of the National Association of

Independent Schools and the Alabama Association of Independent Schools.

The Donoho School is located inAnniston, AL at 2501 Henry Road.

For more information, please contact Director of Admissions Sue Canter at (256) 236-4459, or visit our website at www.donohoschool.com.

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Harris-McKay Realty123 So. Quintard Avenue • Anniston, AL 36201

(256) 236-0377 • (256) 237-8100

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SundaysMorning Worship 8:30 AM

Sunday School 9:30 AM

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Internet technologies will become the foundations of a vast global workplace, and there will be many benefits for Anniston resi-dents. Job flexibility will allow more family time, and highly technical jobs will demand higher paychecks.

Groups such as Calhoun County’s Economic Develop-

ment Council will need to actively pursue com-

panies and provide incentive pack-

ages for them to relocate to

Anniston. Local develop-

ers and officials say this will require more than

tax abatements and readied land. With all of the available

placement options for a company,

Anniston will have to prove that it is the best option.

This means making Anniston a place where people want to live and raise their children.

Anniston has the opportunity to capitalize on its proximity to Atlanta and Birmingham. Inciting positive economic development requires fixing the schools, increasing parks and recreation and boosting the cultural attractions in town. What differentiates Anniston from other cities is the combination of urban amenities with the feel of small-town life.

As towns and cities in America and abroad begin to look more alike, amenities such as locally owned restaurants and shops will enhance a city’s appeal with potential residents.

ANNISTON: WHAT’S NEXT?Going global is more than a catchphrase. It means workplaces will no longer be tied to geographic regions; someone in India

could telecommute and manage an office in Anniston. Maintaining economic stability in the new economy will require active decision-making by the city government.

A new old downtownNoble Street in 50 years will not resemble what it is today. After the city government invests in a professional landscape

design, there will be a phased implementation of eye-friendly features. Trees will shade the sidewalks, and pedestrians will hear

the sound of a fountain along with the humming traffic.

The building facades will move back in time, rather than forward. The Alabama Historical Commission will again offer inves-tors free architectural design services to help accurately restore the buildings to their for-

mer glory.Restorations of the historic structures might

also be coordinated by a nonprofit revolving loan fund organization that will purchase, stabilize and sell the build-ings to new owners who will use a variety of tax incentives to restore the buildings properly.

A business recruitment and retention program headed by The Spirit of Anniston will offer amenities for small business owners such as specialized consultants and city-enacted tax abatements. The new black chamber of commerce will help black-owned busi-nesses get off the ground.

These small businesses will cull their clientele from a new set of residents. A University of Wisconsin–Madison study shows that over the next 20 years, Atlanta suburbs will expand past the Geor-gia line. These people will choose Anniston because of its small-town atmosphere and will expect an assortment of restaurants and boutiques.

In addition to more locally owned stores, there will be new cul-tural amenities: a civil rights museum, local arts center and a vin-tage bicycle museum. Noble Street and the rest of the downtown business district will be a vibrant commercial district of niche businesses, offering many opportunities for local entrepreneurs.

1

As the area’s largest employer, Anniston Army Depot is an important part of this town’s economic puzzle.

The technological innovations of the future will drastically change the type of

product the depot employ-ees will be working on.

Lightweight titanium materials will encase tanks powered by fuel cell batteries. Already, the Army and private

industry are working on the development of these

future combat systems.As the plant expands and Depot employ-

ees become more highly specialized, the Army will start granting the Depot more contracts for production of tanks rather than just refurbishment. There will also be

an increase in auxiliary businesses that cre-ate the necessary parts for the tank.

This expansion into tank production will go hand-in-hand with an increase in jobs for research and development. These indi-viduals will help the Depot become a leader in the field of military vehicle production.

All of these jobs require a smart, knowledgeable workforce. Gadsden State Community College’s class offerings will develop with the job market — offer-ing advanced electrical and engineering training. Moreover, they will expand their cooperative education agreement with the Depot to improve the work viability of their graduates.

This educated workforce will entice employers like BAE Systems to move to Anniston, creating a community of military vehicle production industries.

2

There’s no way to look at the economic future of Anniston without considering one of its major assets, the former Fort McClellan.

Today a few properties operate there, such as Lowe’s, the golf course and The Anniston Star, but in 50 years, there will be hundreds of jobs on the property.

One major employer on the base will be a large private medical com-plex that’s in its beginning stages now. When complete, the build-ing will house everything from an outpatient surgery center to a full-

service spa.The company building the facility, Intel-

limed, expects to have between 130,000 and 180,000 square feet of space that will employ physicians, nurses and a variety of support staff. The complex will create jobs for people at

a coffee shop, food court, florist and even a woman’s clothing store, all in the goal of

creating a positive medical experience for the patient and her family.

The McClellan medical complex represents a new phase in medical care, where the mode and means of

care are directed by the patients’ needs, not a bureaucracy. Because the center will be a pri-vate business, it will be able to evolve quickly with changing medical technologies. In five years, a large part of the center will be dedi-cated to a cancer treatment clinic. In 50 years, the managers hope and expect that clinic to change to a cancer curing clinic.

Though the complex will only be a part of McClellan’s future economic force, people will always need medical care, and this complex will employ local workers for years to come.

3

Medical center at McClellan

Technological advances at the Depot

Jobs and commerce

BY EMILY AMICK ◆ Knight Community Journalism Fellow

In 1995, the Department of Defense announced it was pulling out from the land they’d been using since 1917. Land they’d bought for less than Anniston had paid for it, leaving Anniston in debt for almost 20 years.

Upon pulling out, the DoD gave the city three choices:1. We’ll clean up the land in our time, on our dime. Then we’ll turn it over

to the General Services Administration, which will sell it to the highest bid-der. Because your archaic state Constitution stymies county efforts to create zoning laws and building codes, the property could get a slaughterhouse. Could get a wood pulp plant.

2. We won’t clean up the land. We’ll “mothball” the buildings, put a fence around the perimeter and let it sit. Maybe someday we’ll reacti-

vate it. Someday. 3. You clean up the land. We’ll pay. Then you can sell it at

fair market value or whatever. It won’t be easy. There are 10 landfills and 38 buried fuel storage tanks and thousands of

acres of unexploded mortars, rockets and shells. Someone has to take over the water and sewer systems, the roads, the police and

fire protection. The buildings don’t meet your building codes, so they’ll have to be renovated.

Experts have said it takes at least a generation to see a former military base returned to a healthy, vibrant civilian use. McClellan’s rebirth is just now a decade in the making.

Who runs McClellan — and redevelops it — has become an issue in this month’s municipal elections as residents assess what’s best for that huge chunk of land on the north side of town.

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Future and Progress will be the same for all to share

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In the meantime, enjoy lots of locally grown produce, local crafts, and the relaxing atmosphere of trees, dappled sunshine, friends and neighbors.

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ANNISTON: WHAT’S NEXT?McClellan’s thousands of acres represent a

challenge and an opportunity. The city’s future is tied to the former Army base — but unlocking its potential will take teamwork and commitment.

McClellanBY ANNE ANDERSON ◆ Knight Community Journalism Fellow

Genesis of a communityFrom an infant, population zero in 1999, McClellan soon

grew to about 1,000 people.Fast-forward to 2033. Houses built in the 1920s on McClel-

lan’s western edge flow into Anniston’s eastern side, thanks to a spur off the Eastern Parkway.

And there’s a touch of magic about McClellan. Maybe it’s the Alabama Symphony that used to just visit, but now stays for the summer. Maybe it’s the Tour de Alabama bicycle race with its headquarters at the Historic Buckner Center.

Maybe it’s the low-equity housing cooperative started by developers looking at a long-distance bottom line.

Whatever it is, it’s good. Very good. Magical, even.

When many people think of this area’s natural attributes, they picture camping, hiking and biking trails. But current local recreational opportunities only scratch the surface of what could become a cash cow for Anniston and an opportu-nity for the Model City to redefine itself.

But these outdoor activities don’t extend just to tourists. This city’s parks have long been a source of pride for resi-dents — and frequently a source of debate for the city coun-

cil. Want to get folks stirred up in Anniston? Talk about closing one of their parks or community centers.

While the public sports arena has historically focused on football, basketball and baseball, several less-physical activities will be given

emphasis in the coming years. Who would’ve thought a Frisbee could become an integral part of

public recreational sports? That’s just the beginning, if you flip your calendar to about 25 years from today.

ANNISTON: WHAT’S NEXT?The city’s Parks and Recreation Department was once a draw

for families. As northeast Alabama tries to position itself as an ecotourism destination, what can the city do to revive

the recreational spirit and facilities that call this place home year round?

Anniston will become the new Chattanooga … well, sort of

Ecotourism is the way to go. So said a consulting firm to the Calhoun County Chamber of Commerce a few years

back. And since ecotourism annually brings in approximately $32 million to the county, the

chamber will continue primarily to focus its advertising dollars on what brings the most people and money to the area, said Mike Galloway, director of tourism for the chamber.

The latest ecotourism sensation is what The Los Angeles Times calls “glamp-

ing”—glamorous camping. An alternative to “roughing it” has become a vacationing option for tourists who don’t mind shelling out $700 a night to sleep in fully furnished tents draped in expensive linens and serviced by personal maids and butlers. Towns in Montana and California already have capitalized on this trend, even offering scaled-down versions for as low as $80 a night. Anniston has yet to get on board, but it has the resources.

And, Galloway said, “glamping” definitely is the future of ecotourism.

Aggressively marketing Anniston’s potential and current natural recreational experiences, such as Rails to Trails and the Noble Street Festival, will help transform the image of a city plagued by environmental racism to one of limitless envi-ronmentally friendly opportunities. Chattanooga did it. Forty years ago it was considered an environmental failure, voted the U.S. city with the worst air pollution. Today its name is synonymous with the Tennessee Aquarium and a multitude of outdoor amenities, thanks to Outdoor Chattanooga, an orga-nization developed from a communitywide effort to revamp the city’s image.

1

Ecotourism/Recreation

BY ANDREA YOUNG ◆ Knight Community Journalism Fellow

Coaches in Anniston’s Parks and Recreation Department don’t have a problem finding youngsters who want to play football, basketball, baseball and soccer.

But what about the children who just aren’t cut out for physical sports?

PARD employees have begun diversify-ing their offerings so there’s an activity available for every child—and adult—regardless of their abilities. The depart-ment is working to “exhaust children with choices”—such as archery, golf, kickball and ultimate Frisbee—and offer

reward incentives for student performance.John Baker, the commissioner of Anniston

Baseball for Youth, said he has seen a significant difference in PARD’s dedication to children in recent years. He said city leaders are recognizing

the importance PARD plays in the everyday lives of residents, and as long as such an

open-minded leadership continues, the city can expect nothing but great things for its children’s recreational development.

Baker and other volunteer coach-es are working on another aspect of

accessibility to the city’s recreational program—the opportunity to afford to participate. They plan to bring in more events, such as the Dixie Youth Baseball Majors State Tournament that was here this summer, so proceeds can be used to supplement PARD sports registration fees for underprivileged youth.

In addition, the city and several coaches transport athletes to practices and games. By leveling the accessibility playing field, PARD will “breathe new life” into youth sports, Baker said, and help divert some of the negative influences to which today’s youth are exposed.

3

Youth sports won’t look like it used to

Four thousand acres near the center of downtown Anniston sit undeveloped and virtually unused. Coldwater Mountain has the potential to breathe life into the city’s

dwindling revenue base by attracting hiking and

biking enthusiasts who have deep pockets and even deeper desires to escape the concrete

jungles of big-city America—if only for a

weekend.Parts of the mountain were

purchased from the Kimberly-Clark Corp.

in 1998 by Alabama State Parks under the Forever Wild Land Trust. Public access to the mountain has been slow in arriving.

Greg Lein, assistant division director for Forever Wild, said the state parks system will “go forward” with its efforts to develop a recreational trail system on the mountain. And the Northeast Alabama Bicycle Club has commissioned Atlanta-based Mike Riter to design a 40-mile biking trail.

These are promising starting points, considering Coldwater Mountain has taken a back seat to other issues city council has deemed more pressing.

2

Coldwater Mountain to become Anniston’s jackpot endeavor

Imagine Anniston today, 125 years after its creation, as the physical embodiment of Samuel Noble’s and

Daniel Tyler’s civic dreams.Imagine if the wishes of the city’s found-

ers had not fallen prey to economic perils, to racial strife, to a lack of industrial diver-sification, to environmental pollution, and to a century’s dependence on the military.

Imagine if their plan — the building of a model city — had worked.

Imagine those possibilities.Anniston would sit in 2008 as the quint-

essential leader among Alabama’s enlight-ened and opulent cities — not to mention one of the state’s undeniable industrial and economic leaders. Noble, the Englishman bubbling with ideas, and Tyler, the aristo-cratic and feisty Union general, would have had it no other way. Their goals and plans were more grandiose than simply building a profitable factory town.

The city’s first decade of the 1880s saw the Noble and Tyler families construct visual components of both the lifestyle and attitude they wished this new city to hold. They modeled The Opera House at 10th and Noble streets after the famous Winter Garden in New York. They wanted Quintard Avenue, with its wide lanes and picturesque, tree-lined medians, to rep-resent European-style fine living in the American South. They built the doomed Anniston Inn not as a mere hotel, but as a showplace for the constant stream of visi-tors lured by the experiment conducted along the Choccolocco Mountains. Along with blast furnaces and railroads, they imported 19th-century culture and a taste of Victorian style.

If the Noble-Tyler plan had worked, Anniston today would be one of the des-tinations for Alabama sophistication and refinement, a true cosmopolitan place. The Interstate 65 megacities — Birming-ham, Montgomery, Mobile and Huntsville — would have a rival to the east. Those similar to us — Dothan and Gadsden, Flor-ence and Decatur — would no longer be as

such. The Shakespeare Festival, a child of Anniston, would reside here. Perhaps the Alabama Symphony would have a perma-nent Anniston location. Whether arts or music, entertainment or intellectual com-plexity, the current-day model of Noble’s and Tyler’s Anniston would rest at the heart of Alabama’s artistic soul.

But take that thought a step further.For the civic experiment of Noble and

Tyler to have succeeded, Anniston’s history would need a revision. Anniston’s popula-tion ballooned by more than 25 percent in the city’s first decade; today, in our imagi-native model, Anniston’s populace would compete with the state’s largest towns. The Noble-Tyler blueprint welcomed new resi-dents and recruited European immigrants with talents. There always were plans for a bigger, better, bursting-at-the-seams Anniston.

The schools that Noble created would have flourished, creating an educational atmosphere in Anniston that transcended the South’s traditional schoolhouse deficiencies; to honor Noble’s wishes, Anniston’s schools would have remained among Alabama’s best. The railroads that Tyler’s nationwide influence brought to Anniston would have transformed the city into a transportation hub for the whole South. And industry? That could have been Anniston’s future.

Noble and Tyler, businessmen both, never stopped diversifying Anniston’s industrial base — and, in turn, the oppor-tunities for workers who called the city home. That’s why they explored cotton and textiles. That’s why they built additional furnaces, changed manufacturing process-es and welcomed businessmen from other fields into their new venture. They were early subscribers to the New South credo, to the need for Southern cities to mimic the industrial and financial successes of their Northern brethren. They never stopped planning for Anniston’s future.

Had they lived longer — had their grandiose plans worked — Anniston today

would be much different: larger, more var-ied, more high-tech, more of a leader in all things Alabama.

What happened?

Of oaks and growthEach day, the granite version of Samuel

Noble stares north from his Quintard Ave-nue post. His expression hasn’t changed in more than a hundred years. Fitting, some would say.

But if we were to invite Sam Noble and Daniel Tyler back to the city of their cre-ation, imagine the parades and pageantry along Quintard. Founders riding in the open air, as did Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower when he visited the former Fort McClellan in 1947, children lining the streets, confetti and good will tossed in the air.

Noble and Tyler would welcome the reunion.

And their thoughts? What would they think of their creation?

“I’m sure that they would be pleased with the city of Anniston, especially to see that Quintard (Avenue) had been pre-served more or less as they had envisioned it, that all the trees had been left there,” says Lowndes Butler, the great-grandson of Sam Noble.

“They’d probably look at all of the fast-food places and wonder, what in the world have we come to? They’d be amazed at that.”

As it always does, time has erased our connection with figures of the past. Noble and Tyler, each gone for more than a cen-tury, each buried in Hillside Cemetery, are not immune to that reality. Left are written accounts and personal letters and handed-down knowledge of the men, and of their thoughts, but nothing more. Even relatives such as Butler — people proud of their connection with the city’s history — can only guess at the reaction of their immortalized forbearers if they returned to Anniston today.

Nevertheless, it’s an exercise worth conducting, if for no other reason than the reverence that the two men still receive.

Butler, a graying retiree, tries to put that in perspective while sitting on his Golden Springs couch. “(Annistonians) loved Noble and Tyler because they weren’t just interested in themselves making money. They wanted the people of Anniston to have all the benefits and have a nice place to live. They saw Sam Noble and Tyler as the people who started it all.”

The front windows of George Deyo’s insurance office face south, toward the hill where the home of his grandfather — Alfred Tyler Jr. — once stood. Deyo is Dan-iel Tyler’s great-great-grandson, a direct descendant of the general, a link difficult to find. He has vivid memories of his grandfa-ther, of his family’s intriguing history, and of that house, the house of his birth.

But Deyo, like Butler, can only wonder what his relative would think of Anniston today. Query either man and you hear assumptions that Noble and Tyler would be pleased with the retention of what Deyo calls the “cathedral of trees” around Quin-tard, Leighton and Christine avenues. “I think that’s one of our main assets,” he says. Deyo and Butler each mention the city’s cultural past and the continuance of the founders’ design of the downtown streets.

Butler also makes a special case for Noble and Tyler feeling a sense of pride about Anniston’s original churches, several of which hold strong ties to the founders. “I’m sure they would be really interested to see the churches they were responsible for building were still in existence,” Butler says.

Nevertheless, Noble and Tyler are not empty slates. They are not unknowns. Because Anniston historians can connect with the founders’ recorded beliefs — a value of education, hard work, industrial and financial success, and opportunities for all classes and races — we can envision what Noble and Tyler would say after their guided tour of the modern-day Model City.

They’d be pleased that their venture had weathered the many and unique chal-lenges that had often brought the city to its knees for more than a century. How would you explain chemical-weapons stockpiles, the civil rights movement, and environ-mental pollution to men who lived in an era devoid of such realities? You couldn’t. To 19th-century men, those would be unfathomable concepts.

But it’s likely that Noble and Tyler, part-ners in the Anniston experiment, would ooze with disappointment over the city’s realities, not all of which are the city’s fault alone.

Both men died in the 1880s — Tyler in ’82, Noble in ’88 — a decade in which the toddler city experienced meteoric growth in population, reaching nearly 10,000 by 1890. But the founders likely could not have envisioned the myriad issues that

The Anniston

Star

August 17, 2008

Celebrating

Anniston's

125th year

17The Anniston

Star

August 17, 2008

Celebrating

Anniston's

125th year

16

What would those utopian industrialists Noble and Tyler do with their city today? Probably what they did 125 years ago: align bedrock community anchors

such as education, sound morals and the arts with a diversified industrial base.

BY PHILLIP TUTOR

ANNISTON 2.0

SAMUEL NOBLE, ANNISTON FOUNDERPublic Library of Anniston and Calhoun County

GEN. DANIEL TYLER, ANNISTON FOUNDERPublic Library of Anniston and Calhoun County

Please see PAGE 18

stunted Anniston’s growth almost from the instant of their deaths. There’s no greater example than the 1890s, a bleak time of national depression that birthed the Panic of ’93 and sent the town of Noble and Tyler into an economic tail-spin. “Anniston,” historian Grace Gates wrote in The Model City of the New South, “never quite caught up again.”

Tyler, the proud West Point grad-uate, likely would have cheered the U.S. Army’s melding with Anniston. Not seven years after Tyler died, the Army established its first outpost, Camp Shipp, in Anniston, and the next two decades saw Anniston’s leadership aggressively recruit the military. There’s little doubt that the general would have beamed with pride over the city’s patriotism and welcoming of what became Fort McClellan. He would have had no argument with the military’s wide-ranging and deep influence on Anniston’s 20th-century exis-tence.

Two issues, however, would have raised the ire of the general and his partner: industry and edu-cation, the building blocks of their Anniston plans.

Noble and Tyler first arrived in Calhoun County, riding the hills and valleys north of Oxford, because of industrial opportu-nity. Once established, they never stopped planning for the city’s economic well-being. It was at the heart of their plans. That Anniston fell prey to the military’s departure and the quintessential Southern malaise of boom-and-bust agricul-ture and the decline of foundries and textiles — and didn’t seem to have a progressive, thought-out plan of recovery — would have dis-appointed them greatly.

And education? Most of Tyler’s family was schooled in the Ivy League tradition. Meanwhile, Noble’s views on the value of edu-cation for Anniston residents is widely known; that he started two Episcopalian-based schools, one for boys, one for girls, displays his commitment to the education ideal. He knew Anniston could not reach its potential without an edu-cated populace.

It’s not unfair to envision Noble’s and Tyler’s disappointment over the strife and struggles that have surrounded the Anniston City Schools the last two decades. As men of the 1800s, they wouldn’t have been able to understand the widespread changes that integra-tion brought to America’s schools.

Though Tyler was staunchly anti-slavery, and Noble was a strong proponent of education, it’s unlike-ly that either man could fully com-prehend the historical significance of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka.

Nevertheless, Tyler and Noble expected learning to be a bedrock of Anniston. That was their plan. That Anniston’s public school sys-tem has suffered through a difficult, trying time would displease them to no end. “It’s not something they would have dreamed of,” says Deyo, the Tyler descendant.

On that, their tour of the city they built would not be enjoyable.

But as they were wont to do, they’d forge ahead, searching for solutions.

What would Sam and Daniel do?

Let’s plant Sam Noble and Dan-iel Tyler in Anniston’s modern-day

political picture. Let’s also give them a break; the men have never ridden in a car, flown in a plane or sent an e-mail. Lay off their histori-cal ignorance, and imagine their expertise and intelligence at work on Anniston’s problems of today.

They’d plan. But to plan, you must envision; the future doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Anniston would greatly benefit from having leaders such as Noble and Tyler who not only could fix the prob-lems of today, but could also head off problems by visualizing them beforehand. That basic tenet of leadership, valued in the 1880s, still holds today.

They’d use their power and influence. They wielded clout, and they weren’t afraid to use it. When the Nobles needed the Alabama Legislature to act, they called on Tyler to send a letter to Goat Hill. The Legislature acted. Noble, his vision stretching across all parts of Anniston — government, industry,

religion — was an uncrowned king of a Southern town, his authority almost royal in nature.

So, think of it in modern terms.Daniel Tyler would get the

Eastern Parkway completed. He’d wheel and deal in Washington. He’d twist arms in Montgomery. He knew presidents and world leaders, bankers in Manhattan and engineers from the Northeast. He’d use the expertise he had in building canals in New York and railroads throughout the South. He would refuse mediocre attempts and worn-out excuses. He’d find a way, and the money.

Samuel Noble would get the former Fort McClellan developed — methodically, consistently and competently. He built a town, courted investors, brought in labor from across the Atlantic, and housed grandiose plans for how Anniston should look, how it should operate and how it should develop. Who would be better for McClellan?

Those are but two examples.But perhaps the best is that

Noble and Tyler would repair Anniston’s deteriorating self-image. For myriad reasons, Anniston today hears often of its negatives, of what once was, of crime rates and job losses and leadership woes. That gloomy attitude, of some residents’ belief that the city can’t rebound, would not be part of the founders’ plan.

Noble especially wanted Annis-tonians to be proud of the city and the uniqueness it offered. He never stopped cheering the city’s suc-cesses and planning for the years to come. He would be appalled, if not enraged, that civic pride had slipped. “This was supposed to be the model city, a place where people would love to live, a beau-tiful city,” says Butler, the Noble descendent.

“They would be disappointed that we more or less have let some things deteriorate. We’ve had people leaving Anniston. (They) couldn’t imagine people moving out of Anniston. They could only imagine people moving in to Annis-ton.”

Different times, different generations, make such discus-sions both whimsical and painful. Samuel Noble and Daniel Tyler aren’t coming back. They exist as entombed figures, resting eternally on the city’s eastern hills. But their civic dreams — utopian, egalitar-ian, puritan and often grandiose — remain the possibilities for Anniston’s next generation. ◆

Continued from page 17

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I am still excited about chiropractic, about helping people, about opening doors for others. As we look forward to chiropractic in this century, I am excited about the growth potential as more people are exposed to the positive, non drug benefi ts of chiropractic health. Perhaps you should open the door to chiropractic for your better health.

Have you ever been walking

along the west side of Noble Street in Anniston, looked down and asked yourself, ‘’Hey, what’s this round, flat, metallic button, a couple of inches in diameter, doing here embedded in the concrete near the southwest corner of the intersec-tion with 17th Street?’’

A fine ques-tion it would be, were you to ask it.

That button is the center of Anniston, of course.

At least it’s where the cen-ter used to be, in 1873 when Anniston was first incorporated. Today it’s in a concrete apron next to an auto repair shop.

Back when the founders of Anniston, Sam Noble and Daniel Tyler, were getting their little compa-

ny town started, they needed a way to exactly describe the city’s boundaries.

So, says city historian Dr. Grace Gates, they did what their friends in the nearby cities of Oxford and Pied-mont had done before: they found a point and drew a circle. That was the

easiest way.Everything from

that point, a mile and a half out, was Anniston.

Why’d they draw it from there?

Another fine question — one which Gates has done a fair amount of speculation on this summer while doing research that should eventu-ally get downtown Anniston entered on the National Register of Historic Places.

Anniston was founded in a valley. A flat area between several mountains.

And since the founders wanted as much of that flat area as possible with-

in their circle of a mile and a half radi-us, they couldn’t just start drawing lines. They had to find the point where the circle’s circumference would avoid the mountains (but still include a few handy iron ore deposits).

The metal button near 17th Street marks that spot.

OK, so that was the geographic center of Anniston. What’s it doing way up there, instead of around 10th or 11th street, which arguably have the most important intersections with Noble Street?

Yet another great question. Its answer has two parts — namely, why Noble Street is where it is, and why 10th Street became important.

Noble Street was the main street because at one time its path was the road between Piedmont and Oxford. Assuming they could avoid the mountains when they drew the circle, Anniston’s founders were merely doing the logical thing when they picked a point along Noble Street to be the circle’s center.

The reason the old road followed the path it did was that it was along, or very close to, a section line. A sec-tion line is the name surveyors give to an imaginary line used to map land. The land Anniston was founded

on would have been surveyed long before a town was put on it, and it was customary, says Gates, for a county road to run along a section line so as to not cross very much of a person’s property.

That’s why Noble Street is where it is.(In fact, on the button is a small line indicating the division between sec-tion 6 and section 5. The ‘’one-fourth’’ fraction means that the button also marks the division of a quarter-sec-tion, or, halfway up that section line.)

The reason 10th Street became important was that it used to have a train depot at the western end of it, a few blocks west of Noble Street. And patterns of commerce being as they were, it was natural that the route between the existing main artery and the new depot would become impor-tant.

The reason the depot was built there was that further north, the path of the railroad sort of veered away from Noble Street.

Also in the same neighborhood as the depot were a textile mill and an iron furnace, which contributed even more to the area’s importance.

A few blocks west of 17th Street, on the other hand, was a hill. (They couldn’t miss them all.) ◆

Anniston’s center

is a little off-center

BY BILL EDWARDSOriginally printed in The Anniston

Star September 23, 1990.

501 Davis Loop • Oxford(256) 831-3995

258 W. Ft. Williams • Sylacauga(256) 249-8412

Kevin Qualls/The Anniston Star

PARKWAY TO THE FUTUREThe Eastern Parkway project cuts a swath from Golden Springs north toward

McClellan. The project, controversial from the beginning for its footprint through that neighborhood, is considered key to the county’s economic future.

The birds will keep chirping, water will keep flowing and Anniston will keep growing. At least that’s the outlook many Anniston residents hope for.

In a not-so-distant future, the city might come into bloom, into its own springtime.

That’s what many city officials seek as they focus on revitalization efforts and demolishing dilapidated struc-tures. Along the way, they take baby steps toward making Anniston a more environment-conscientious commu-nity.

Before Anniston’s spring arrives, many small steps have to be taken by both officials and residents. Anniston’s environmental issues might be seen by some local skeptics as a grain of sand on a seashore

of changes facing the global environment. The truth is that issues of the environment are everyone’s concern,

locally and nationally.In the past century, Anniston’s average rainfall has steadily

increased. In the coming decades Anniston will need to focus on water issues, such as restoring dete-

riorating pipelines. Another local concern that will contribute

to the city’s envi-ronmental health is replacing dying trees

with stronger, more suitable ones.

Planning for growth involves more than

landing the next busi-ness.

ANNISTON: WHAT’S NEXT?Anniston’s founding as The Model City was grounded in a progressive mindset that cobbled together ideas

from many sources. City leaders will have to be equally innovative and visionary to set its course toward

environmental responsibility.

Abundant water sources are vitalAnniston’s future will have a rippling effect. For the past century,

the city’s average yearly rainfall has increased. Average annual rain-fall rose by more than three inches by more than

three inches in the past 110 years.Anniston’s main water supply, Coldwater

Spring — covering nearly two acres — will continue to benefit from the heavenly liquid. Coldwater Spring has an average flow of 32 mil-

lion gallons per day, so if Anniston’s population doubled, the city would still have plenty of water,

authorities believe. Repairs are needed on approximately 700 miles of

deteriorating water pipes. Expect Anniston Water Works and Sewer Board customers to foot most of that repair bill.

1

Shade, and lots of it, from native treesApproximately 373 trees provide shade

and beauty for Quintard Avenue between 5th and 18th streets. But to keep the city’s rich tree history alive, planners, city officials and arborists need to learn from history.

Certain species of trees are simply not made to survive in this climate. As Annis-ton’s innumerous water oaks die off in the years to come, they should be replaced with White Oaks or Southern Red Oaks — trees that have longer life spans and welcome the city’s hot and humid climate.

A 2003 Urban Forestry in Alabama sur-vey found that three-fourths of the surveyed residents consider renting/buying a new home based on whether the property has trees; the same percentage said they place high value in a new community that has plenty of trees.

Homeowners should consider planting trees that are native to Alabama, which also can attract

nature’s critters, such as squirrels, butter-flies and deer.

The Anniston Museum of Natural His-tory has plenty of examples on how hom-eowners can adapt their gardens to be eco-friendly and pleasing to the eye at the same time.

Anniston is a small town with big dreams. Witness the 1976 land-use plan’s year 2000 estimate of 44,365 residents. The reality is that Anniston has never reached those numbers. But there’s potential.

The city is busily tearing down dilapi-dated buildings. Since 2006, almost 300 unsightly structures have been demolished. Calhoun County is working on a similar

continuous project, with at least 110 homes identified for destruction.

Officials believe that aesthetics for the city and surrounding areas will play a key role in attracting potential homeowners and future entrepreneurs, and will add to the

safety of current residents.

2

Shade, and lots of it, from native trees

EnvironmentBY SANDRA MARTINEZ ◆ Knight Community Journalism Fellow

EDITOR’S NOTE: In March and April 1930, the Anniston Star printed a 6-day-a-week series the editor called “Anniston Builders.” They were prose snapshots and literal pen-and-ink portraits of men who had made fundamental contributions to the city in their time here. More than forty men were chosen for the spotlight, and at the end of each entry, the subject was asked what he thought was Anniston’s greatest need at that time.

Mayor Sidney Jackson Reaves, born Sept. 26, 1893

GREATEST NEED: For the city to become a Model City in fact as well as in name.

Charles Anglin Hamilton, born Jan. 28, 1876BIO: Starting started as water boy for an ore

operation, he became president and general manager of Alabama Foundry Co. and president of the Chamber of Commerce.

GREATEST NEED: Larger faith on the part of the average citizen in his city and a willingness to back up his faith with his money and his efforts.

William Henry Weatherly, born April 22, 1854.

BIO: Business interests included wholesale groceries and banking.

GREATEST NEED: More diversified industries to increase the payroll of this city, thereby aiding the retail business of Anniston and furnishing a better market for the farm produce of the county.

Bennett Willbourne Pruet, born Nov. 21, 1876BIO: Anniston resident since Jan. 11, 1921, he

was a former mayor of Ashland and a banker.GREATEST NEED: An advertising campaign

that will bring to this city a larger farm trade from surrounding counties.

Charles Renfro Bell, born around 1881BIO: Raised in Lincoln and educated at Oxford

College, he helped organize Commercial Nation-al Bank.

GREATEST NEED: A combination YMCA and YWCA for the young men and young women of the city.

Luther Brooks Liles, born March 31, 1890BIO: A native of Helena, Ala., he joined law

firm of Knox, Acker, Dixon and Sterne in 1914. He’s also a former juvenile court judge.

GREATEST NEED: Paving of the two trunk-line highways leading out of Anniston, a modern fire-proof hotel and a superlative 18-hole golf course, which he believes will bring many tourists to the city.

Niel Paul Sterne, above, born Dec. 25, 1883BIO: A Georgia native who had at the time

lived in Anniston for four decades, he worked as a lawyer.

GREATEST NEED: More widespread partici-pation on the part of our citizens in the task of town-building.

Thomas Wilkes Coleman, born Dec. 19, 1868BIO: A judge, who received a law degree at age

19. GREATEST NEED: Building up of the agricul-

tural interests in the surrounding territory and the encouragement of closer cooperation between the city and county.

Robert Bryan Carr, born Dec. 1, 1884BIO: A judge who at the time had lived in

Anniston for 12 years. GREATEST NEED: Larger appreciation by the

citizens of today of the services rendered this city by its founders and an emulation of their example by those living here now.

Davis Clay Cooper, born May 21, 1866BIO: President of First National Bank of

Oxford, business owner and the mayor of Oxford since 1912.

GREATEST NEED: Greater cooperation on the part of the citizens of the county.

George Gass Britton, born Oct. 26, 1864BIO: Tennessee native and local businessman. GREATEST NEED: Abiding faith on the part of

its citizens in Anniston’s present and future.

Ross Blackmon, born March 5, 1877A native of Cedartown, Ga., who was a lawyer

and owner of Alabama Hotel. GREATEST NEED: A more pronounced unity

of action on the part of business and professional men of the city in the interest of the common good.

Cecil Hugh Young, born March 20, 1882BIO: South Carolina native attended school

in Anniston. He was lawyer and secretary of the board of education.

GREATEST NEED: Demonstration of faith in Anniston by those who have made their money in this city.

Col. Henry Franklin Williamson, born Feb. 14, 1867

BIO: The Massachusetts native had worked at Blue Mountain’s American Net and Twine since 1897; he was at the time its manager and a direc-tor.

GREATEST NEED: Closer cooperation on the part of all citizens, each taking a more optimistic view, with a firm determination to promote the welfare of each individual and industry. Self-interest should be subversive to the interest of the whole.

John Dandridge Bibb, born in February 1892BIO: Lawyer who moved to Anniston in 1892. GREATEST NEED: For citizens to have more

faith and optimism in their city, which they might manifest by organizing new textile plants with local capital.

Robert Perry Warnock, born in 1891BIO: From a long line of merchants, his first

business was a furniture store on West 10th Street in 1917.

GREATEST NEED: A radio broadcasting sta-tion, as many paved roads as possible leading into the city, a better hotel, a first class YMCA and a greater appreciation for the business generated by the Federal Phosphorus Co.

THE FUTUREIn 1930, Anniston’s city leaders were still thinking about tomorrow.

An Anniston Star series asked them to identify the area’s greatest need. Th e answers, which ranged from paved roads to a new hotel to teeth-brushing, are instructive.

BACK TO

Please see PAGE 24

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Charles Lee Buchanan, born Sept. 23, 1900

BIO: A Texan who moved to Annis-ton in 1924; he managed the J.C. Pen-ney store, which had the highest rev-enue of any Penney’s in Alabama.

GREATEST NEED: A YMCA, a city auditorium and a children’s play-ground with a wading pool and super-visor.

Samuel Edgar HodgesBIO: Born in Charlotte, N.C., he had

pastored Anniston’s First Presbyterian Church since 1910.

GREATEST NEED: Growing con-sciousness of the real and potential value and an expression of that con-sciousness in terms of loyalty to Annis-ton and her institutions.

Hugh Davis Merrill, born Dec. 20, 1877

BIO: Came to Anniston in 1902 as a lawyer. He was a former state legislator and former Anniston city attorney.

GREATEST NEED: An absolutely free public school system equal to the best of any city its size in the United States and free text books for students in elementary grades.

Julius Pinckney Hagerty, born Dec. 13, 1898

BIO: Moved to Anniston in 1923;

He was district manager of Alabama Power.

GREATEST NEED: An up-to-date YMCA.

John Floyd Williams, born Feb. 1, 1876

BIO: Born on a Weaver farm, he became a bookkeeper for Joseph Saks. Later he served as multi-term Annis-ton city councilman and Calhoun County tax collector.

GREATEST NEED: Stronger spirit of home loyalty, to be expressed in the patronizing of home merchants and manufacturers instead of going out of town to secure those things which can be purchased locally.

James Fitzgerald King, born in 1894

BIO: Owned several area Ford deal-erships with his brother, E.D. King.

GREATEST NEED: YMCA and a modern hotel.

Spurgeon Earl Alverson, born May 22, 1892

BIO: Native of Georgia, was Annis-ton City School superintendent.

GREATEST NEED: Execution of a 10-year school expansion program, a YMCA for the older boys and public recreation grounds for students in the city schools.

Walter Benjamin Merrill, born April 5, 1873

BIO: Graduate of Calhoun County’s Oxford College, was a lawyer, state senator and Anniston resident since 1927.

GREATEST NEED: Larger recogni-tion of the part that the layman can play in maintaining law and order and of the influence that is exerted by the churches in this matter.

Josiah Phillip Whiteside, born Oct. 14, 1895

BIO: Alabama Presbyterian Col-lege graduate, worked as a lawyer in partnership with H.D. Merrill and R.E. Jones.

GREATEST NEED: Continued activ-ity on the part of all our citizens for the further promotion of the city’s growth along the same lines on which it has been developed heretofore.

Earnest Clayton Lloyd, born April 7, 1894

BIO Came to Anniston in March 1919 from Cedartown, Ga. Bought the bakery of the late Charles Nonnenm-acher on West 11th St.

GREATEST NEED: Modern, fire-proof hotel to be built where the Ala-bama Hotel now stands.

DeWitt McCargo, born Oct. 29, 1891

BIO: Trained as a lawyer, he was

experienced as a circuit court clerk, bank teller and part-owner of Chevro-let dealership at 12th and Gurnee.

GREATEST NEED: Cooperation between the people of the city and the farmers of Calhoun County in the growing of more livestock, including cattle, hogs, sheep and chickens.

Walker Reynolds, born Sept. 12, 1888

BIO: Born on the Talladega County estate Rendalia, he was brought to Anniston by his parents two years later. Was plant manager of Union Foundry and vice-president of Alabama Pipe and former Anniston city councilman.

GREATEST NEED: YMCA.

Jesse Lane Wikle, born in 1855 BIO: After coming to Anniston in

1880 as a physician, he became one of the city’s first mayors. He built one of first brick buildings on Noble Street.

GREATEST NEED: Larger realiza-tion on the part of the younger men of the city of the greater opportunities for success that they enjoy over their elders, who had to build here a city where, when they began their work, there were only forests, farming tracts and ore mines.

Continued from page 23

Please see PAGE 25

George Houston Leyden, born June 27, 1884

BIO: Millport native was a dentist. GREATEST NEED: More and better

schools and a paid dentist to look after the teeth of the school children of the city who cannot afford to pay for it.

Neal Edwards Sellers, born Jan. 17, 1881

BIO: Moved to Anniston in 1916 to buy the hospital that relatives had begun here in 1907.

GREATEST NEED: Full realization on the part of each citizen of the part he must play in the building up of this community.

Walter Wade Robinson, born March 19, 1898

BIO: Anniston native was Georgia Tech graduate. Was developer of the Sunset subdivision just east of the city limits.

GREATEST NEED: Legislation that will enable the city to foster airport development.

Jerre Watson, born Oct. 9, 1885BIO: Moved to Anniston in June,

1916 to work as doctor and surgeon. GREATEST NEED: Extension of the

sanitary system and development of the hospital, the latter of which will bring health, comfort and financial

independence to a class of citizens who have heretofore not enjoyed such blessings.

Lloyd Ernest Morton, born June 14, 1886

BIO: Duluth, Ga., native moved to Anniston in 1918. A physician, in pri-vate practice and for the Swann Corp, was promotied tennis as a recreation and athletics for Annistonians.

GREATEST NEED: YMCA.

Edward Stanley Bobbitt, born Feb. 20, 1894

BIO: Nebraskan had lived in Annis-ton early 1920s for Alabama Pipe Corp.

GREATEST NEED: First-class 18-hole golf course and a modern hotel to attract rich tourists.

Crawford Haralson Cleveland, born Aug. 1, 1888

BIO: Physician, major in the medi-cal reserve.

GREATEST NEED: Encourage newcomers, especially those locating an industry in the city. Above all, we should see to it that our young people have the best of educational advan-tages along with recreation and enter-tainment.

Henry Hutcheson Booth, born June 26, 1887

BIO: Moved to Anniston some-time after graduating from college in

Auburn. He was businessman and city councilman.

GREATEST NEED: New city hall with an auditorium suitable for the entertainment of conventions.

Frederick Bert Caudle, born April 15, 1880

BIO: Indiana native moved to Anniston in 1922. Organizer of Dixie Stage Lines, the largest bus company in Alabama.

GREATEST NEED: Paved roads radiating in all directions and an unlimited supply of water for factories.

William Murray Field, born Dec. 12, 1897

BIO: Anniston native (one of only three men chosen for this series to have been born in Anniston) who was a lawyer and city councilman.

GREATEST NEED: Thorough appreciation among its citizens for the opportunities available in and for the city, and the fostering of small, sound industries with the idea of their ulti-mate expansion.

Thomas Lyde Smith, born Sept. 15, 1880

BIO: Arkansan moved to Anniston in 1904, to serve as a dentist.

GREATEST NEED: Daily tooth-brushing drills in all public schools to protect children’s health and a YMCA .

Carter Durwood Poland, born Dec. 6, 1888

BIO: Texan came to Anniston in 1920s. Founded Poland Soap Works.

GREATEST NEED: More odors and more smoke, which indicate industrial activity and the prosperity it brings.

Eugene Constantine Cooper, born June 11, 1901

BIO: Oxford native was president of Nu-Grape Bottling Co. and connected with the family business , Cooper and Sons Motor Co..

GREATEST NEED: Paved main trunk line highways and a new hotel.

Virgil Cornelius Adams, born Aug. 5, 1896

BIO: Came to Anniston in 1927, to organize Adams-McCargo Chevrolet.

GREATEST NEED: Cooperation between the people of Anniston and those of the countryside; a good sup-ply store would develop that trade.

Clarence Martin Jesperson, born in 1889

BIO: Minnesota native moved to Anniston in 1916. He was treasurer of the Swann Corp.

GREATEST NEED: A modern hotel.

Researched and compiled by Bill Edwards

301 East 18th Street • Anniston, AL (256) 235-8900 • www.SMHhealth.com

CONGRATULATIONSto the City of Anniston for 125 years of growth

from Stringfellow Memorial HospitalWhere Everyone Comes 1st

For the past 70 years, Stringfellow Memorial Hospital has been a vital part of the progress and growth of the city

of Anniston. Beginning as a small tuberculosis hospital in 1938, we have grown into a fully accredited general acute care facility, compassionately serving the healthcare needs of our community.

We are still building and growing to better serve you.

We are proud of the part Stringfellow Memorial Hospital plays in serving the residents of our community and join with the citizens of Anniston in the celebration of 125 years.

Continued from page 24

1. The geographic center of Anniston is marked with a disc at:

(a) Fifth and Quintard(b) 17th and Noble.(c) 10th and Noble(d) Fifth and Leighton

2. What’s the name of the state’s distance learning program, which is designed to connect teachers and students across cyberspace?

(a) ACCESS: Alabama Connecting Classrooms Educators and Students Statewide

(b) READS: Reading Education and Develop-ment System

(c) ACT: Alabama Cooperative Technology(d) SMART: Statewide Math and Reading Tech-

nology

3. Before the Woodstock 5K wound along the streets near Anniston High School, this footrace was inspired by the Shakespeare festival and fol-lowed much of the same route in the early 1980s:

(a) Bill’s Morning Run(b) The Globe Trot(c) Mid-Summer Morn’s 5,000(d) Run for the Arts

4. Daniel Tyler and Sam Noble modeled Anniston’s Opera House after this classic perfor-mance hall:

(a) New York’s Carnegie Hall (b) London’s Covent Garden(c) Memphis’s Orpheum Theatre(d) New York’s Winter Garden

5. Anniston’s population in 1890 was:(a) 10,000 (b) 5,000(c) 20,000(d) 1,500

6. By 2025, the number of Calhoun County residents over age 65 will be:

(a) 22,520(b) 15,000(c) 4,500(d) 30,000

7. This state-legislated entity made it pos-sible to set aside part of Coldwater Mountain as a park:

(a) Alabama Preservation Land Trust(b) Forever Wild Land Trust(c) Cahaba Wilderness Act(d) Alabama Department of Environmental

Management

8. Anniston hosted this youth sports championship this year:

(a) Dixie Pee Wee Football Championship(b) Alabama Youth Soccer Association Cham-

pionship(c) Sunbelt Indoor Tennis Federation Champi-

onship (d) Dixie Youth Baseball Majors State Tourna-

ment

9 The summer concert series at McClellan is headlined by:

(a) The Jacksonville State University Marching Southerners

(b) The Alabama Symphony Orchestra(c) The Gadsden City Symphony(d) The Montgomery Chamber Orchestra

10 Phase I of the Eastern Parkway is scheduled to be completed in:

(a) 2025(b) 2015(c) 2010(d) Your guess is as good as ours

QUIZ

Anniston’s future: Test your knowledge

ANSWERS ON PAGE 28

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SUNNY KING HONDA’S USED CARS

Sunny King Honda2580 US Hwy 78 East • Anniston, AL

(256) 835-1000 • 1-800-423-4074 • www.sunnykinghonda.com

NEW 20O8 ACCORD LX4DR , Automatic, CP2638EW

ESTIMATED

CITY 21/HWY 31*

NEW 20O8 FIT4DR , Automatic, GD3848EW

ESTIMATED

CITY 27/HWY 34*

NEW 20O8 CIVIC LX4DR , Automatic, FA1658EW

ESTIMATED

CITY 25/HWY 36*

* Based on 2008 EPA mileage estimates, refl ecting new EPA fuel economy methods beginning with 2008 models. Use for comparison purposes only. Do not compare to models before 2008. Your actual mileage will vary depending on how you drive and maintain your vehicle.

now two locations to serve you better:

OXFORD Y FOR NOWOXFORD Y FOR NOWHWY 21 South Oxford • (256) 832-YMCA

YMCA OF CALHOUN COUNTYYMCA OF CALHOUN COUNTYDowntown Anniston • (256) 238-YMCA

GET BOTH LOCATIONS FOR 1 LOW PRICE

IF THE HECTIC PACE OF LIFE HASIF THE HECTIC PACE OF LIFE HAS LEFT YOU OUT OF BREATH,LEFT YOU OUT OF BREATH,

ALLOW US TO HELP YOU CATCH IT.ALLOW US TO HELP YOU CATCH IT.1. (b) 17th and Noble.

2. (a) ACCESS: Alabama Con-necting Classrooms Educators and Students Statewide

3. (c) Mid-Summer Morn’s 5,000

4. (d) New York’s Winter Garden

5. (a) 10,000

6. (a) 22,520

7. (b) Forever Wild Land Trust

8. (d)Dixie Youth Baseball Majors State Tournament

9. (b) The Alabama Symphony Orchestra

10. (c) 2010

QUIZ ANSWERS

So, how’d you do?

Have you missed a quiz?There has been a quiz in each Anniversary Project Section.

If you haven’t tested your knowledge yet, give it a go. It’s fun.

Need copies of the quizzes?Call The Star’s Circulation Department at

235-9253 or 1-866-814-9253

Paid for by Committee to Elect Dawson PO Box 1163 Anniston, AL 36202

A Native Annistonian...David was born and raised in Anniston. He graduated from Wellborn High School and went on to pursue degrees from JSU and UAB. David and his wife, Carol, have two daughters; Taylor and Sarah. David is a member of Anniston Pathology.

Extensive Community Involvement...- Planning Commission, Chairman 24 years- Calhoun County Coroner’s Office- Founding Member of the Berman Trust Foundation- South Trust/Wachovia Bank Board of Directors- Member of Parker Memorial Church

Positive Ideas...- Respect for and use of proper political decorum among council persons, mayor and staff- Capitalize on the positives; work to minimize the negatives- Encourage trust among racial lines- Quarterly Citizen Ward meetings and listening sessions- Strengthen downtown business core while developing McClellan, the Eastern Parkway and South Quintard- Be aggressive with business tax abatements, and in-kind assistance from the City; Provide incentives when possible- Offer the same incentive packages to existing businesses with expansion ideas Include perks for job retention and development of city workforce and staff- Conduct open meeting with respect and proper decorum adhering to Roberts Rules of Order- Explore options for our current school system to ensure the students are receiving the best possible education and citizen’s tax dollars are being used in the best possible manner- Explore recycling option with garbage contract- Remember and learn from our past successes and failures- Explore new ways to do things to better our city- Revitalize the Model City mantra as we move forward

- Gamecock Athletic Club Board Member- Cerebral Palsy Chairman; VIP Fund Raising- Calhoun County Chamber of Commerce- JSU Alumni Association- UAB Alumni Association- Alpha Tau Omega - Fraternity

Dawson Anniston Council Ward 4

www.mdaviddawson.com

Please vote David DawsonAnniston City Council Ward 4

on August 26th.

CELEBRATING 125 YEARS: THE ANNIVERSARY PROJECTJULY 27

1870s/1880s-1928, founding to year before Great Depression

AUG. 31929-1970, Depression through World War II,

Cold War and Civil Rights era

AUG. 101971-present, New South

and transition

AUG. 17 The future◆

AUG. 18 Then and Now — a photo album

Give yourself, or someone you love, an anniversary present.

Special Offer

The 125th Anniversary PackageDon’t miss the opportunity to receive all five sections

packaged together in one commemorative bundle. Available Aug. 18 for $7. Mailed copies are $10.

To request copies of any of the anniversary sections, please contact The Star’s Circulation Department.

235-9253 or 1-866-814-9253

Helping Anniston Build Relationships

456 Jones Road • Anniston

Phone: 256.835.0033 • Fax: 856.835.0043

www.forsythbuilding.com

ABS Business Systems Anniston Country Club Noble Bank of Oxford Anniston 1st Baptist Church

“Proudly serving Calhoun County“Proudly serving Calhoun County and its Cities and Towns.”and its Cities and Towns.”

P.O. Box 1087 • 1330 Quintard Ave. • Anniston, AL 36201www.calhounchamber.com

256.237.3536 • 1.800.489.1087

ToyotaPresidentsAward presented to Sunny King Toyota for the 14th

time in the past 16 years. Recognized by Toyota for achieving the highest level of Sales, Service and Customer Satisfaction. Only a few Toyota dealers in the southeastern United States can boast this level of success and Sunny King Toyota is consistently recognized for its outstanding professionalism and dedication to customer satisfaction.

SUNNY KING TOYOTA/SCIONSUNNY KING TOYOTA/SCIONON THE “NEW MOTOR MILE” IN OXFORD •ON THE “NEW MOTOR MILE” IN OXFORD • WHERE THE CUSTOMER IS KING WHERE THE CUSTOMER IS KING

2570 US Hwy 78 East • Oxford • 1-800-365-3001Visit our web site: sunnykingtoyota.com or E-mail us: sales@sunnykingtoyota.com