the trussville tri
TRANSCRIPT
Two area girls are moving onward to represent Trussville in the Miss Alabama and Miss Alabama’s Outstanding Teen Pageant.
Both the Miss Trussville Pageant and the Miss Trussville’s Outstanding Teen Pageants were held on July 26 at Hewitt-Trussville High School. Cassidy Jacks took the Miss Trussville crown while Sabrina Faire White walked away with the teen crown.
“All of the sudden you feel this weight on your head and you’re like, ‘Oh wait, what is that?’ and you realize it’s a crown,” White said. “It’s very surreal.”
The Trussville city council voted Tuesday night to expand the downtown boundaries following a request from the Downtown Redevelopment Authority.
The DRA had requested the expansion to include the former Marvins building to the south and part of the transition zone from Kay Avenue to Tutwiler on U.S. Highway 11 which will now fall into the downtown district.
The boundary is also extended northward on North Chalkville Road to include the existing antique mall. The northern boundary which extends to the Cahaba
bridge on Highway 11 did not change.“The action taken Tuesday to expand the
district a bit was done to include a few areas that we, the authority, believe are vital to the appropriate the feel of downtown as we go about recruiting developers, investors and businesses to make downtown a destination,” DRA chairman Jef Freeman said.
The expansion allows DRA to undertake projects within the boundary and coincides with the master plan.
“We hope to be able to aid and promote new development as well as assist existing businesses improve their appearance that they might gain new business,” Freeman said. “We thank the city for their continued support to achieve these goals.”
The Clay City Council voted 4-2 to take the earmark off the 5-millage ad valorem property tax originally passed July 21 of last year, possibly taking a Clay city police force or city school system off the table.
Councilman Bo Johnson proposed a resolution to amend
the tax Monday night by taking the earmarks off. The proposed resolution was not on the council’s agenda prior to the meeting.
“When we approved the 5-mill property tax, we earmarked it with a couple of things, and personally I would not have went that direction, so I’d like to propose that we remove that earmark so that that money is freed up for if we want to use
it for those things or if we want to use it for other areas, we’ll be able to put it to whatever the best use is,” Johnson said.
At the time the tax was originally passed, councilmen Ricky Baker and Kevin Small proposed using the money for a specific goal rather than placing it in the general fund. Baker proposed the money be saved while the feasibility of a city school system could be
researched. Should the school system prove impractical, he added a caveat to save the money for the creation of a city police department.
The council voted 4-1 at that time to add the earmarks, with councilman Ben Thackerson being the opposing vote.
Mayor Charles Webster and City Manager Ronnie Dixon hoped the money could go into a general fund to help cover
operating expenses, expand municipal services and put into a contingency fund in case of emergency. The mayor statedthe current school system was not what it should be and placed his support towards a school system if it proved feasible.
“I think we could do a better job than what the county does (with education) because
Here is The Trussville Tribune’s area weather forecast for the next seven days. For current
weather conditions in Trussville, Clay, and Pinson, see The Trussville Tribune weather web
page by scanning the QR code below with your smartphone.
From staff reports
According to the Alabama School Connection website, Trussville parents of middle school and high school students have paid the highest school fees in the state for students attending Trussville City Schools for four straight years.
Data provided by the organization showed that Trussville parents paid $485.26 in 2013-14, the latest year that information was provided. The state average is about $104 per student.
According to the report, the total only includes course related fees, school supplies, field trips (curricular or co-curricular), and school related fees, including technology.
Extracurricular fees for groups like athletics and band are not included in the total, nor does the total fee amount include monies from fundraisers.
The numbers used in the analysis were obtained from Alabama State Department of Education (ALSDE) financial reports for fiscal year 2010 through fiscal year 2014 reflecting collections reported by school districts under revenue code “7260,” according to the report.
1. Trussville – $485.262. Arab – $353.833. Mountain Brook – $272.834. Hoover – $260.355. Auburn –$ 232.346. Vestavia Hills – $218.327. Thomasville – $188.638. Satsuma – $181.76
by Chris Yow
Editor
The shopping is almost coming to a close and school kids are soon to be missing the free time summer offered, as Jefferson County schools begin their school year Thursday, Aug. 6.
This weekend, however, offers parents the opportunity to finish that back-to-school list with many items being offered
tax-free beginning at 12:01 a.m. Friday and ending at 12 midnight on Sunday.
The cities of Clay, Pinson and Trussville will each participate in the tax-free weekend, making many important school items less expensive than normal. An example of the items parents can stock up on are clothing items, such as shirts, shorts, caps and shoes, less than $100 per item. Computers are also tax exempt this weekend. Almost any type of stationary
August 5 — 11, 2015 50¢
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The Trussville TribuneThe Trussville TribuneYour news source for Trussville, Clay and Pinson
Clay nixes earmarks on tax slated for schools or police force
see CLAY page 4
Trussville parents pay the highest school fees in Alabama
Tax free weekend for back to school shoppers
Another Husky signs a football
scholarship, page 10
Authorities search for family of man found
dead in Pinson, page 4
8 63150 00000 5
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Inside The Tribune:News – pages 2 – 4Lifestyle – pages 5 – 6Calendar – page 7Opinion – page 8Sports – pages 9 – 10
see MISS TRUSSVILLE page 3
see BACK TO SCHOOL page 4
Tribune AreA WeATher
by Lee Weyhrich
Staff Writer
Small crowns give local girls big platform
Trussville expands downtown district
Photo by Chris Yow
Trussville City Council voted to extend downtown revitalization to the Trussville Antiques and Interiors building on North Chalkville Road.
by Scott Buttram
Publisher
submitted photo
Miss Trussville 2015 Cassidy Jacks
By Erik Harris
Sports Editor
Page 2 August 5 — 11, 2015 | The Trussville Tribune
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From staff reports
A man has been arrested in connection to a Thursday burglary in Center Point. 41-year-old Brian Key has been charged with Burglary in the second degree, and is currently being held at the Jefferson County Jail on $60,000 bond.
The Center Point man is believed to have forced his way into a residence in the 400 block of Argonne Drive at around 11 a.m. on Thursday.
An elderly woman alerted authorities that she had heard an intruder downstairs while she was home alone. According to police, the woman saw a young man coming up her
stairs. He fled the scene upon his discovery.
Once on the scene, deputies discovered that the back door to the residence had been forced open.
Key was discovered by deputies walking a few blocks away from the
home and was eventually charged for the break in. He told deputies he had been in a nearby creek trying to catch snakes and tadpoles. However, he didn’t have anything to catch them with or carry them in.
Center Point man in custody for burglary
file photo
A Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office police cruiser
From staff reports
Congressman Gary Palmer will be the guest speaker at the Trussville Area Chamber of Commerce August luncheon.
Next month’s luncheon will be held on Thursday, Aug. 20 at the Trussville Civic Center, which is located at 5381 Trussville-Clay Road in Trussville.
Reservations to the luncheon, which are $17 per person, are due by Tuesday, Aug. 18 at noon. First Commercial Bank will serve as the event sponsor.
The chamber’s network development time is scheduled to begin at 11:30 a.m. on the day of the
gathering. According to a press release, lunch will be served at noon, followed by Palmer’s presentation at around 12:30 p.m.
The chamber will also
recognize its August Customer Service Award recipient.
More information can be found at www.trussvillechamber.com.
TACC welcomes congressman for August luncheon
submitted photo
Sen. Jeff Sessions, left, with Gary Palmer
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August 5 — 11, 2015 | The Trussville Tribune Page 3
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By Taylor Ryan Elliott
Special to The Tribune
Vitiligo.The word rolled off the
doctor’s mouth with such ease – without her even missing a beat.
Last Tuesday I was diagnosed with a rare skin disease that changes the pigmentation of my skin. Basically, the skin cells in my body that make pigment (or color) are being destroyed and patches of white spots have started to appear on my skin.
Before I dive too deeply into where I am today, let me rewind and tell you a little about who I am. My name is Taylor Ryan (as if that wasn’t obvious by the name of this blog) and I am eighteen. I am your typical teenager – I love hanging out with my friends, I love to shop, and college can’t come soon enough. I worry about all the things most teenage girls do – how I will perform in college, whether people at school will like me, and (whether I
like to admit it or not) my appearance.
Last November, I competed in Miss Alabama Teen USA. It was my fourth year competing and my last shot at winning before I went to college. After a lot of hard work and a stroke of luck – I won! I was ecstatic and I hit the ground running in order to get ready to compete at Miss Teen USA.
Then Tuesday happened. When the doctor diagnosed me with vitiligo on Tuesday, I had a million things running through my head. How quickly would it spread? What would people think of me? How do I make it stop? The truth is – there isn’t anything that can stop
of the process of vitiligo. There are treatment options, yes, but none are guaranteed to work. My appearance will likely change and I will have to get used to that.
During my time reigning as Miss Alabama Teen USA, I have spent a lot of time telling girls that their outer appearance isn’t what defines beauty – that true beauty is more than just skin deep. Now is the time for me to prove that I actually believe it.
As a teenage girl, so many things try to tell us what beauty is. Magazine covers tell us to be paper doll thin, television shows tell us true beauty lies on the outside, and high school guys reiterate the belief that beauty lies in the outer appearance (whether they mean to or not). In fact, in a study commissioned by Girls, Inc., seventy six percent of girls say they worry about their appearance – they worry about their ability to look skinny, dress right, and whether people at school think they’re pretty. I have
worried about these same things. So, it was time to figure out if I really believed that beauty is more than just skin deep. After my diagnosis, my mother asked me to write down everything that I found beautiful in her, my sisters, my grandmothers, and my best girl friends. I made my list (reluctantly) and wrote down all the qualities I found beautiful in all of the women in my life. My list (photo below) answered my question – I have always admired inner beauty over outer beauty. Of all the qualities I love about the women in my life, not once did I list their hair, eyes, the size of their jeans, or, even, their skin. I don’t love the most important women in my life because of their outer beauty. Instead, their inner beauty is what makes me love them. However, I have to admit that I haven’t always judged myself by those same standards. I have countless times told myself that my outer appearance was what defined how pretty I was. I have spent
hours working on my outer appearance so that people would think I was pretty. How sad is that? I have wasted all this time thinking I had to lose that extra five pounds or had to buy that extra concealer in order for others to find me beautiful when what I find beautiful in other people has nothing to do with their exterior. My focus from here on out is going to be on my internal beauty – how can I be more like the beautiful women I know? Throughout my life, I have worked on my internal beauty. I have tried to be kind, I have tried to be caring, I have tried to be thoughtful. My focus needs to remain on building this interior beauty I see in myself.
In two weeks I will head to Miss Teen USA. The competition will be focused on external beauty and I will be competing against girls who are unarguably gorgeous. Over the past week, I have wondered about how I will be compared to them by judges who have just
met me. Would a judge really be able to find a girl with an odd skin disease pretty in comparison to other contestants who have perfect skin? The truth is – I don’t know what the judges will think. I don’t know whether they will notice the spots on my shoulder, back and stomach and wonder what it is. However, I know that my true beauty lies within. And I won’t ever fall back into my old habits of judging myself based on my exterior. I am beautiful, despite any skin spots, because I have worked on my internal beauty and will continue trying to improve my beauty from the inside. I am anything but simply skin deep.
Taylor Ryan Elliott: Anything but skin deep
submitted photo
Taylor Ryan, who was recently diagnosed with a rare skin disease, has found beauty in deeper places.
submitted photo
Taylor Ryan reminds herself of what real beauty is.
Jacks will now prepare to compete in next June’s Miss Alabama Pageant. White will be back on the stage in March as she represents Trussville in the Miss Alabama Outstanding Teen Pageant.
“I am very much looking forward to [the Miss Alabama Outstanding Teen Pageant],” White said. “It involves a bunch of going and getting ready
for talent and it’s mostly a lot of polishing to get ready for it and just confidence building.”
The two young ladies will soon begin working as ambassadors for the City of Trussville, where they will spend time promoting their personal platforms. Jacks, a 2012 graduate of Springville High School and upcoming senior at the University of Alabama,
will take the platform for Feeding America.
White is currently entering her junior year at Moody High School and is expected to pursue a platform based around establishing sexual assault survivor support clubs. As a young lady with personal experience with the crime, White believes it is imperative to let female victims know they aren’t
alone in the battle against sexual assault.
“Me telling my own personal story will be able to make other people realize that they are not the only ones, White said. “The statistics of this going on is too high, but I want to focus on making other survivors understand that there are other people out there that understand what’s going on and want to help.”
She wants to empower fellow survivors by giving them the strength to open up about their experience with the crime.
“You don’t want to tell people. It goes around in your head again and again, and just hearing somebody that has the faintest bit of a story that is like yours allows you to understand that you can open up,” White said.
submitted photo
Miss Trussville Outstanding Teen 2015 Sabrina Faire
White
MISS TRUSSVILLE continued from page 1
Page 4 August 5 — 11, 2015 | The Trussville Tribune
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will be tax exempt as well.Pinson and Clay
schools will be in full swing starting this week, while Trussville City Schools wait one more week to bring in students. Trussville schools are set to begin Aug. 12. Jefferson County school students will have a few days of class to determine what supplies they will need throughout the year.
Teachers and staff members reported to the schools Tuesday, and soon the halls and classrooms will be full of students as
well.Trussville City Schools
begin a week later this year, and Hal Riddle, who was named calendar committee chair said the reason was simple.
“Our parents, our kids and our teachers want to start school as late as possible, but they don’t want to get out in June,” Riddle said. “We take into consideration the opinions of parents and teachers when making the schedule.”
Jefferson County schools will receive
an entire week off for Thanksgiving break. Students will not return from Christmas break until Jan. 12. Conversely, Trussville schools will only have three days off the week of Thanksgiving, and will return from Christmas break on Jan. 6.
The last day for students in Clay and Pinson will be May 27, while Trussville City Schools will dismiss students at noon on May 24 with graduation set for that evening.
BACK TO SCHOOL continued from page 1
they’re focused on a lot of schools,” Webster said at that July meeting.
In the mean time, Jefferson County Schools Superintendent Craig Pouncey began addressing some of the mayor’s and council’s complaints. Pouncey took office in June and began meeting with Clay officials not long after the initial tax vote in July.
In an August meeting last year, a last-minute item - Ordinance 2014-07 - appeared on the council’s agenda attempting to change the earmark for more general use to, “support the contract for providing five Deputy Sheriffs and support through grants issued to the Clay Elementary School, Clay-Chalkville Middle School, Clay-Chalkville High School.”
At that time Baker voiced his concern that
passing a tax based on one set of criteria, and later changing it, set a bad precedent.
“The way it is worded right now (in the proposed ordinance) I think changes everything we voted for last time,” Baker said at the Aug. 4, 2014 meeting.
The mayor cited Pouncey’s commitment to Clay schools as being one of the reasons behind the change, but Baker remained unconvinced.
“I’m not going to change the vote because some man down in Homewood says some nice words and says, ‘I promise I’m going to help you,’” Baker said. “I’ve heard it before. They’ve promised before.”
In the September 2 meeting last year, the council held a work session to discuss the 5-mill tax, at that time Webster said that he would
like for the council to determine their priorities, and that he would like to hear from the community regarding their wants and needs. It was then determined the discussion would be resumed in six to eight months.
That wait-and-see holding pattern officially ended Monday when, with little discussion and no public input, the council voted to completely remove any earmarks from the tax.
An obviously upset Baker objected.
“I feel like this decision has been made before we ever got here myself,” Baker said. “That’s just my opinion - I could be wrong. We debated this, we went over it for a very long time, and now we’re going to announce it - not even put it on the agenda - and we’re going to announce it. We’re going
to change it at a meeting? I think it is wrong. If you are going to do it, do it right. Put it on the agenda and put it up for debate.
“When we first voted, a public hearing was held to enact the tax. People came and expressed their viewpoint,” Baker added in a phone interview. “We voted on the tax and put conditions on it. If we’re going to change it, I believe there should be a public meeting.”
The mayor stated he was against the earmarking of the funds from the beginning, and by opening up what the funds could be used for, a certain portion could still go into a contingency fund for a police force or school system in the budget.
Johnson said he made the motion because on the night the ordinance was originally passed and earmarked he was in
the audience thinking it was a bad decision by the council.
“That’s not against looking into a school system or looking into creating a police force, (but) to me that was just a bad idea from day one,” Johnson said. “That’s not to say that we can’t budget the money for those things if that’s what’s determined as the best course to go, but we’ve got a whole lot of other things going on in the city and a whole lot of things that could potentially use that money.”
Johnson went on to say that a school system was a “pie in the sky” thing for the distant future when there are other things necessary right now.
Small said he believes a school system should be a top priority for the council. While he acknowledges the
county, under Pouncey’s direction, has made great improvements, he does not believe the long term track record of the county is enough to place full trust in them.
Small believes having the money earmarked gives the council leverage in negotiations with the county.
“Our school system is so different than what it was when I bought my first house in Clay,” Small said. “When I bought my first property in Clay, my property values went up significantly because of the schools, but now that’s kind of flat-lined, and I feel like the county has not paid as much attention to its schools until this last year it seems.”
Small and Baker both voted against the change to the ordinance.
CLAY continued from page 1
From staff reports
A Jefferson County man has been dead for over a week and police have been unable to find his family.
The man, 56-year-old Richard Neal Floyd, was found dead in a home in Pinson early on the morning of Wednesday, July 29. His body was discovered at 5191 Hickory Drive.
According to reports, Floyd was a homeless man who had been staying with friends. Authorities expect no foul play in his death.
Floyd had previously lived in Irondale and on Clairmont Avenue, but both locations are now empty.
Police are now searching for the man’s next of kin, as his body has been prepared for burial. Anyone with information on his family is asked to contact the coroner’s office at (205) 930-3603.
Authorities search for family of man found dead in Pinson
file photo
Pinson City Hall
August 5 — 11, 2015 | The Trussville Tribune Page 5
LifesTyLe
When the power goes out, you don’t have to. Natural gas cooktops work even when your electricity doesn’t. Natural gas. Nothing else compares.
Fresh Souther+ Green Beans 2 lbs fresh green beans – snapped and washed 1 ½ cups chicken broth (enough to cover the beans) 2 slices bacon (chopped) ¼ cup bacon drippings 1 small onion (chopped) op>onal Red Pepper flakes (a good shake) Salt and Pepper to taste Cover beans and bring to a boil and then simmer for 1 ½ to 2 hours. S>r frequently. Start tas>ng aGer the first hour and modify spices to your liking.
Image via tachmesmd.com
The culprit behind many people’s health problems is
diet and poor food choices. Last time, we highlighted when to eat carbohydrates, proteins and fats. This time, let’s talk more specifically about what to eat. Our bodies are designed by God to take in the right nutrients, vitamins and enzymes on a daily basis. I do not expect you to have a perfect eating plan or to totally cut out the foods you love. One thing we
have to try to do, though, is to eat food as natural as possible as much as we can. Our bodies function so much better and develop so much better when they receive the right fuel. Let’s talk about certain carbohydrates, proteins and fats to consume.
Carbohydrates are our energy foods. That is why it is a great idea to start your day with fruit. Fruit is full of water and has many vital nutrients. It is good to have some type of protein
with or around having fruit to help with glucose levels. Starchy vegetables are also good carbohydrates. Some of these starchy vegetables include corn, squash, peas and sweet potatoes. There are many other vegetables like asparagus, spinach , broccoli, string beans, etc. that have certain levels of carbohydrates with other vital components in them.
Protein is our healing food. As you use your body through the day, and it breaks down, it is a
smart idea to add protein. Some good proteins are organic, free-range chicken or turkey breast and lean beef. Eggs are
great to start your day and to eat throughout your day, preferably from organic, free-range chickens. Fish is a good source of protein, and a few good examples are salmon, halibut, tuna, grouper, etc. We have to be careful not to consume too much fish, though, due to toxicity in our water sources.
Fats are our sustaining foods. They help sustain our cells, organs and brains, as long as they are good fats. I recommend
sprinkling nuts and seeds through the day. Almonds, walnuts, Brazil nuts, flax seeds, sesames seeds and sunflower seeds are a some nuts/seeds you can eat that are good fats and have some protein as well. Almond butter, avocados, fish oil, extra virgin coconut oil, and organic fats in grass and vegetable-fed beef, egg yolks and chicken help also to give your body necessary fats to work optimally.
What to eat: the good carbs, protein and fats
Dr. Channing King
From staff reports
The Miami Beach Plastic Surgery Center and Medspa has conducted a survey to find what people would want to change most about their bodies for a day on the beach, and data revealed interesting findings in Alabama.
Nationally, people had a particular urge to narrow down their waistline, but Alabamians had something different in mind. Patrons of the Yellowhammer state proved to be uncommonly interested in tightening their midsection.
“Nearly a third of all Americans wanted to whittle down their waistline. Broken down by state, it gets even more interesting, with Alabamian tummy-
targeters coming comfortably above the national average,” read an email from brightcherrymedia.com.
“47.8% of men and women from the Yellowhammer state would like to shake off all that finger-licking fried chicken and maybe
even sell their soul to try and slim down from all that, well, tasty soul food!”
The survey found the national average for
men and women most interested in sliming their stomach area to be 32.9 percent, 14.9 percent below Alabama’s mark.
Alabama natives also proved to have a high interest in nose alterations. 12 percent of state participants listed their nose as the body part they would most like to change. The national average for nose was 4.7 percent.
“Americans across the country are hoping to tone up these particular areas,” confirms Dr Tachmes of the Miami Beach Plastic Surgery Center and Medspa. “And the good news is that they’re all very easy to improve. Switching to a healthier lifestyle – eating well, upping how often you exercise, ditching bad habits like
junk food, alcohol and laziness – can result in huge improvements, in a relatively short space of time.”
However, Dr Tachmes understands that some people will seek more drastic measures as a last resort. “If you’ve made big changes in your life, but you’re still unhappy with your progress, then you can consider aesthetic treatment to help give you the body you’ve always wanted. Techniques such as liposuction can remove stubborn areas of fat that exercise is, ultimately, not shifting.”
Look to the picture provided by tachmesmd.com for more of the survey’s findings.
Body image survey reveals Alabama’s problem areasPARTS OF THE BODY ALABAMIANS WOULD MOST LIKE TO CHANGE
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STOMACH (47.8%)
THIGHS (4.3%)
BUTT (4.5%)
NOSE (12%)
ARMS (5.6%)
BREASTS/PECS (4.0%)www.tachmesmd.com