Wallace State’s Quiz Bowl team members are, from left, Elivia Jones, Caleb Still, Zakk Waddell, Paul Knetter, Ross Wallace and Derik Arendall. Not pictured is Brett Hogan.

HANCEVILLE –  Wallace State’s Quiz Bowl team finished among the top colleges in the nation over the weekend, finishing seventh overall at the 2018 National Academic Quiz Tournaments’ Community College Championship held in Rosemont, Ill.

Wallace State’s national tournament team consisted of Zakk Waddell, Ross Wallace, Paul Knetter, Caleb Still and Brett Hogan. They earned 2,680 points and closed the tournament with five wins, helping them advance to the championship bracket. The championship bracket featured 24 community colleges.

Waddell placed 10th individually.

Wallace State’s team has gradually moved up the national Quiz Bowl scene over the past few years, placing 11th in 2012 and 9th last year.

Wallace State’s strong finish in Illinois capped an impressive 2017-2018 run for the Quiz Bowl team. Wallace State earned first place in all of their tournaments within the state, including at Coastal Alabama, Enterprise State and Bevill State.

Derik Arendall and Elivia Jones were also key team members this season.

Waddell, Wallace and Arendall are West Point High graduates, Knetter is from Gardendale, Hogan is from Fairview, Still is from Cullman and Jones is from Baileyton.

Physics instructor Christine O’Leary is the Quiz Bowl coach. Wallace State is a member of the Alabama College Bowl League.

If you are interested in joining the Wallace State Quiz Bowl team, contact O’Leary at 256.352.8112 or at Christine.oleary@wallacestate.edu.

For more information about Wallace State, visit www.wallacestate.edu.

CULLMAN - Cullman Christian School (CCS) has applied for accreditation with AdvancED, the governing body of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS).

“This is a significant step for Cullman Christian School,” said CCS Principal, Dr. Wayne Williams. “SACS accreditation will ensure that we have a process in place for continuous improvement as we work to provide our students with a rigorous curriculum taught from a Christian worldview.  Accreditation will provide evidence of the quality of education that takes place every day at CCS.”

To earn accreditation, a school must:  document fulfillment of accreditation standards, policies and procedures of AdvancED; host an external review team; engage in continuous improvement; and submit regular accreditation reports. 

CCS is an independent Christian school in its 11th year of operation.  The school currently serves 107 students in grades K4 through 12th grade and meets in facilities provided through a lease agreement with Seventh Street Baptist Church.

“I believe there is a more of a need for distinctively Christian education than ever before,” added Williams. “We want to provide a Christian environment for students where they can learn, grow and strive to become everything that the Lord has planned for them to be.”    

For enrollment information, contact CCS at 256-734-0734 or visit the school’s website, www.cullmanchristian.org.

Copyright 2018 Humble Roots, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Photo courtesy of Cullman Christian School.

SSGT President Johnny Lee Smith (black shirt) talks about common physical confrontations encountered by law enforcement officers. / W.C. Mann

CULLMAN - From Wednesday through next week, the Cullman County Sheriff’s Office (CCSO) is hosting classes to train law enforcement officers from all over Alabama and other states to be defensive tactics instructors in their own departments.  Thirty-one officers from as far away as Baldwin County in Alabama and the Atlanta area are attending the “Vanguard” course led by Johnny Lee Smith, president of SSGT (Strategic Self-Defense and Gunfighting Tactics) Defensive Tactics and Firearms.

In addition to four officers from the Cullman County Sheriff’s Office and two from the Cullman City Police Department, the class includes students from the:

• Alabama Board of Pardons and Parole
• Alabama Department of Corrections
• Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office
• Birmingham Police Department
• Hoover Police Department
• Wallace State Community College Campus Police
• DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office - Decatur, Georgia
• Lebanon Police Department - Lebanon, Tennessee

The course trains specific personnel in the following tactics:

• Common Grab Defenses
• Headlock Defenses
• Bear-hug Defenses
• Tackle Defenses
• Striking & Knife Defense
• Escaping from The Bottom (ground)
• Controlling a Grounded Subject from the Top

Participants, who must be certified law enforcement, corrections, military police or security officers, will be equipped to return to their home departments and teach others about such topics as reasonable use of force, effects and mitigation of survival stress, defense against common attacks faced by law enforcement officers, and controlling aggressive subjects.

The SSGT Vanguard program is the official self-defense program required in all police academies in the state of Alabama, under regulations of the Alabama Peace Officers’ Standards and Training Commission.

Smith told The Tribune, “We take training very seriously.  We believe that better training produces a better officer, and so we believe in training and providing good quality training to the officers in the field.  And that way, these guys can serve the public more efficiently and in a more safe manner.”

Including previously-certified personnel, at the conclusion of this course the CCSO will have five certified Vanguard instructors, who will teach both department and public self-defense classes.  Wallace State will have two, who will train both the campus police and the school’s female traveling sports teams, so those students can be safer when on the road.

Copyright 2018 Humble Roots, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

CULLMAN - Below are the arrests reported for March 7. All persons are innocent until proven guilty.

GJ = grand jury; FTA = failure to appear

Cullman County Sheriff’s Office

Cree, Jonathan Dwayne, 29

• second-degree bail jumping- possession of drug paraphernalia
• second-degree bail jumping- second-degree unlawful possession of marijuana
• second-degree bail jumping- unlawful possession of a controlled substance
• FTA- possession of drug paraphernalia
• FTA- unlawful possession of a controlled substance
• FTA- second-degree unlawful possession of marijuana

Hopson, Roy Neil, 50

• possession of drug paraphernalia
• unlawful possession of a controlled substance
• second-degree unlawful possession of marijuana

Pettus, Rebecca Susanne, 44

• FTA- contributing to truancy

Powers, Michelle, 42

• third-degree theft of property

Whitworth, John Charles, 33

• second-degree bail jumping- third-degree domestic violence- harassment
• FTA- third-degree domestic violence- harassing communication (2 counts)
• second-degree bail jumping- third-degree domestic violence- harassing communication

Yarbrough, Glen Leon, 76

• sexual abuse of a child under the age of 12

Cullman Police Department

Welker, Aaron G., 25

• FTA- third-degree theft of property

Hutchinson, Brittani L., 25

• third-degree theft of property

Swann, Terry W., 53

• second-degree unlawful possession of marijuana
• possession of drug paraphernalia

Hanceville Police Department

No arrests reported.

Find arrest reports online Monday-Friday at www.CullmanTribune.com.

Saint Bernard seniors Gigi Griffin, of Birmingham and Andrew Sweeney, of Madison

CULLMAN - Two Saint Bernard Preparatory School seniors have advanced as finalists in the 2018 National Merit Scholarship Program. Gigi Griffin and Andrew Sweeney are now in contention for some of the nation’s top scholarships awarded to high school seniors.

The National Merit Scholarship Program is an academic competition for recognition and scholarships that began in 1955.

Of the 1.6 million entrants in the 63rd annual competition, some 50,000 with the highest PSAT/NMSQT Selection Index scores (calculated by doubling the sum of the reading, writing and language, and math test scores) qualified for recognition in the National Merit Scholarship Program.

About 16,000 students of the 1.6 million entrants earn semifinalist status. These academically talented high school seniors have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 7,500 National Merit Scholarships worth about $32 million that will be offered this spring.

About 1.6 million juniors in more than 22,000 high schools entered the 2018 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2016 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT), which served as an initial screen of program entrants. The nationwide pool of semifinalists, representing less than one percent of US high school seniors, includes the highest scoring entrants in each state. The number of semifinalists in a state is proportional to the state’s percentage of the national total of graduating seniors.

A semifinalist must have an outstanding academic record throughout high school, be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, write an essay and earn SAT scores that confirm the student’s earlier performance on the qualifying test.

From the approximately 16,000 semifinalists, about 15,000 advanced to the finalist level, and in February were notified of this designation. All National Merit Scholarship winners will be selected from this group of finalists.

Griffin and Sweeney started St. Bernard Prep School as freshmen and have served in many areas of leadership, community service, athletics and more.

Saint Bernard President Father Joel Martin said, “We’re happy to see these students recognized for their gifts and hard work.”

Aziz Ihab Sayyed / Madison County

HUNTSVILLE - Earlier this week, a one-count information was filed charging Aziz Ihab Sayyed, 23, of Huntsville, Alabama, with attempting to provide services and personnel, namely himself, to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), a designated foreign terrorist organization.  Sayyed pleaded guilty Thursday.

Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C. Demers, U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town for the Northern District of Alabama and Special Agent in Charge Johnnie Sharp Jr. of the FBI’s Birmingham Field Office made the announcement.  The guilty plea was accepted by U.S. District Judge Abdul Kallon.

Sayyed acknowledged that he bought bomb-building ingredients last year, stated his aspirations to conduct ISIS-inspired attacks on police stations and Redstone Arsenal, and attempted to form a cell to conduct violent acts within the United States.  Sayyed admitted knowing that ISIS is a designated foreign terrorist organization.

Between January and June of 2017 in Madison County, Sayyed, a U.S. citizen, obtained and viewed ISIS propaganda videos depicting ISIS forces committing bombings, executions by gunshot and beheading, and other violent acts, according to the court documents.  Sayyed shared the videos and expressed his support for ISIS and for ISIS terrorist attacks around the world.

Sayyed researched and learned how to make triacetone triperoxide (TATP), a highly volatile and extremely dangerous explosive material, purchased the necessary ingredients for the explosive, and professed his aspiration to use TATP in an explosive belt and/or a car bomb, according to the plea agreement.

On June 13, 2017, Sayyed met with an individual he understood to be an ISIS member.  The person was in fact an undercover employee (UCE) for the FBI.  Sayyed and the UCE discussed the danger of TATP, ISIS’s preference for the use of certain explosives, and Sayyed’s desire to assist ISIS, according to the plea agreement.  In that meeting, Sayyed offered himself as personnel to the UCE, believing that the UCE was an ISIS member.

Sayyed’s plea agreement stipulates a 15-year prison sentence.

The FBI investigated the case in conjunction with the Huntsville Police Department and the Madison County District Attorney’s Office.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Henry Cornelius and Davis Barlow of the Northern District of Alabama are prosecuting this case with the assistance of the National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section.

CULLMAN - Why is sleep so important to your overall health? In the short term, a lack of adequate sleep can affect judgment, mood, the ability to learn and retain information, and may increase the risk of serious accidents and injury.  In the long term, chronic sleep deprivation may lead to a host of health problems including obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and even early mortality.

Join Dr. Mark Tafazoli, board-certified sleep specialist, as he discusses signs and symptoms of sleep deprivation. Learn how these problems affect the body, signs you might have a sleep disorder and receive tips for getting adequate sleep.

The Sleep Well, Stay Well Seminar will be held on Thursday, March 15 from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Colonel Cullmann Room, located in Professional Office Building 2 on the Cullman Regional Campus (1912 Alabama Highway 157, Cullman, AL 35058).

The cost of this lunch and learn program is $5 for Healthy Life members and $8 for others. To reserve your spot, register online at www.cullmanregional.com or call -256-735-5600.

James Fields talks to county Democrats about his campaign and various platform issues on Thursday night in Cullman. / W.C. Mann

CULLMAN - On Thursday evening, Democratic gubernatorial candidate, former state representative and minister James Fields took a night off from the campaign trail to stop in Cullman to speak at the Cullman County Democrats’ monthly meeting.

Before he spoke, Fields, a native of Colony, spoke to The Tribune. “The campaign is going extremely well, a lot further along than I thought we would be, because four years ago I didn’t have a primary opponent. So, we spent our time on the phone (then) raising money; now we spend our time on the road, speaking here and there.”

Just this week, Fields and his team have visited Phenix City, Auburn, Anniston, Birmingham and Huntsville.  Friday they planned to be back in Birmingham, then down to Tuscaloosa. According to the candidate, he has recently seen new support coming from the Huntsville area, and has even picked up a few voters in Winston County.  Fields said he is gaining ground in Jefferson County, and campaign workers in Montgomery and Mobile are having good results in those places. He also shared several other places around the state where he has visited and made contact with local residents.

In his address, question-and-answer and one-on-one with the Tribune, Fields addressed a number of issues.

State lottery

Fields supports a state lottery, under certain conditions, primarily that lottery revenue must go into education and must supplement, not replace, the current state education budget.  He wants that revenue to fund programs to give Pre-K parents more quality time with their kids, and to fund more Pell Grants for students in college and skilled trade training programs.  

Said Fields, “A lottery is not something that’s going to get us out of debt.  We must become more fiduciarily responsible, making sure that the legislators are doing their jobs.

“Both of my opponents talk about Pre-K and education lottery, but before they’re finished they’re already taking money out.  The lottery will never be used to replace the education budget, just to enhance it: vocational training, schools who are falling behind because they don’t have adequate supplies, and helping parents become parents with their children.”

Fields also said that he would require a certain amount of lottery money to go into programs to respond to gambling addiction.

Education

To The Tribune, Fields said, “We just want to make sure everyone understands that our platform is moving Alabama forward, not backwards, not stagnated.  And we’re going to invest heavily into public education, to make sure that every school has the necessary tools that they need to educate our children.

“The good thing about the millennials and the ‘I’ generation: they’re coming along pretty quick, and they’re going to be the ones who carry us on over.  And we’ve got to make sure that we have invested in them.”

Expanding Medicaid

Fields told The Tribune, “About the biggest thing that’s pushing now is people want good health care and education.  So, we’re pushing because, if we win the nomination and the race, people don’t even have to worry about the Medicaid expansion.  It will be signed, and we will recapture that $1.8 billion, and we’ll recapture 30,000 jobs, and we’ll be able to open up some medical facilities throughout the state where they have been closed.  We may not get them back to full capacity, but we will at least provide some beds until they can get somewhere else.”

Addressing the crowd, the candidate stated the issues with dollars and numbers, then noted the number of hospital closures over the last few years, remarking, “And what does that mean to the people in the far-reaching corners of Alabama?  What does that actually mean? It means that they can’t get health care, or they have to wait, or they die. We’ve come too far in Alabama to let that happen.”

Guns and school violence

Said Fields, “We haven’t dealt much with the gun issues, you know, the shooters in schools.  And of course, our hearts are with those families, as late as yesterday (Wednesday) at Huffman (High School in Birmingham). But we’ve got to train our law enforcement officers better; especially our school resource officers.  They’ve got to be trained, and they’ve got to have an eye and an ear for what’s going on, because some of this stuff can be stopped. It’s nice to say that you’ve got an officer there working--a resource officer--but if things continue to happen the way they are, you either need to get more, and make sure the funding is there, or make sure that they’re properly trained.  I’m not saying that they’re not properly trained, but somebody’s missing something.”

Fields took a moment to speak specifically about this week’s school shooting at Huffman High School in Birmingham:

“Listening to one of the city (councilwomen) of Birmingham, she said she had talked with the young lady who was killed yesterday (Wednesday), several weeks back.  And (the student) had shared with her that they were having problems at the school, and could she come and talk to them. Well, I don’t blame the city councilwoman--she didn’t get over there; but she should have shared that with somebody.  A school administrator says, ‘Look, y’all got a problem over there, and it’s boiling, and y’all need to tend to it, and you need to talk to this young lady,’ and it may have saved her life.”

Employment and income

“We want to create higher paying jobs,” Fields told the audience.  “And what do we mean by that? We want to make sure that every family has a living, equitable salary.  You know, if you say you’re going to raise the minimum wage to $10.10, then that may not be a livable wage for somebody in a different area of Alabama.  We just want employers to pay their fair share, and what we will do is, we will make sure that employers invest back into their community.”

Infrastructure

Fields is proposing a high-speed rail system that would connect various parts of the state, including Cullman on a line connecting Birmingham and Huntsville, and even points in other states like Nashville.  Such a system, he stated, would allow people to work in other locations without having to move out of the Cullman area.

He also addressed other infrastructure issues, including the need for broadband access for schools and businesses.

A connection between Sen. Paul Bussman, R-Cullman and Cullman’s concrete dividers?

During the Q&A that followed his address, Fields even weighed in on Cullman’s notorious concrete lane dividers on US Highway 278, arguing that the existence of the dividers is owed to bad blood between Republican state Sen. Paul Bussman and the Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT).  

Fields told the crowd, “His (Bussman’s) arrogancy ticked off the state highway director, then the state highway director came back and said, ‘Well, the federal government said that’s the way it’s going to be, because it’s a federal road,’ and just walked away.”

The candidate then related how he and others were able to talk ALDOT into removing barriers that were impeding the movement of trucks around a business in Hanceville, saying, “It’s just how you talk to people, and Bussman ticked him off, made him very angry.”

Editor’s note: The Tribune has reached out to Bussman to get his response to these allegations.

Prisons

“We’re going to reduce the recidivism rate, as far as inmates,” said Fields to the crowd.  “We must have a way to transition inmates when they come out of prison. We must have a way to acclimate them back into society (other than) just throwing them out there, because they’re going to wind right back up in prison if we do that.”

The final word

“We believe that we’re on the right track,” Fields told the crowd.  “We just need to stay on the road as much as we can--sometimes it’s 24 hours a day--but we believe that we’re going to win . . . We’ve got a long way to go, but we can do it with your help.  We just need you to spread the word, make sure that people know who we are and what we stand for, and that we’ll stand strong and hard, because it’s going to be you who take care of us in Montgomery.”

Alabama’s primary election will be held on June 5, 2018.

Copyright 2018 Humble Roots, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

In Cullman, Gov. Kay Ivey and Topre America President Hideo Shimizu cut the ribbon on Topre’s new building, and celebrated the company’s newly-announced $80 million expansion project, on Friday, Feb. 9, 2018. / W.C. Mann

CULLMAN - Site Selection Magazine has ranked Cullman as the no. 5 micropolitan in the country for 2017. The magazine released its list of 2017 Top Micropolitans this week. Cullman ranked fifth out of 550 micropolitans. This is the fourth straight year Cullman has earned a top 5 micropolitan ranking; in 2015 and 2016, Cullman ranked no. 2.  

Since the rankings started in 2001, Cullman has been ranked a top 20 micropolitan 13 times. The Site Selection Magazine rankings are based on the number of projects that meet certain criteria. Cullman had nine qualifying projects in 2017.

Qualifying projects must meet one of the following requirements:

• 20 or more new jobs created
• 20,000 or more square footage added
• More than $1 million of capital investment

“Five out of 550 communities this size is remarkable,” said Cullman Economic Development Agency Director (CEDA) Dale Greer. “I think it’s a real positive statement about what we’re doing in our community.”

Top US Micropolitans

Micropolitan- Total Qualified Projects

                Micropolitan                    Projects

1             Findlay, Ohio                     21
2             Batavia, N.Y.                     17
3             Wooster, Ohio                   15
4             Shelby, NC                       10
T5           Cullman, Ala.                      9
T5           Richmond-Berea, Ky.           9
T7           Ashland, Ohio                     8
T7           Manitowoc, Wis.                 8
9             Jefferson, Ga.                     7
T10         Cedartown, Ga.                   6
T10         Angola, Ind.                        6
T10         Bardstown, Ky.                   6
T10         Danville, Ky.                        6
T10         Frankfort, Ky.                      6
T10         Tupelo, Miss.                      6
T10         Kinston, N.C.                      6
T10         Tiffin, Ohio                          6

Cullman also had a large climb in the Economic Strength Rankings from POLICOM, rising 113 spots from no. 229 in 2016 to 116 in 2018 out of 550 micropolitans.

“Climbing the rankings so quickly indicates that our community is making great strides in providing (a) stronger economic base, a consistent economy that is healthier for business growth, and a higher standard of living for our citizens,” said Stanley Kennedy of CEDA. “Being a top 150 micropolitan indicates that our citizens have access to more opportunities and a better quality of life that nearly 80 percent of similar sized communities. These strides are made by bringing higher paying jobs, providing quality community services, and giving high quality community support to all types of local businesses.”

According to Kennedy, “POLICOM rankings are more than just a project count. POLICOM addresses the condition of an economy from the viewpoint of its impact upon the “standard of living” of the people who live and work in an area. POLICOM takes into account all economic growth including retail, government, construction, medical, and agriculture. Small business success is counted. POLICOM also considers the wages Cullman workers make compared to other micropolitans. Lastly, POLICOM considers negative economic factors such as amount of money spent and people on welfare and other government assistance, which reflects poor economic growth. The combining of these three factors and measuring how consistently the economy has grown over a 10-year average is how the rankings are determined.”

Link to Site Selection Magazine Top Micropolitans for 2017

https://siteselection.com/issues/2018/mar/top-micros-2017-crowning-achie...

Link to POLICOM 2018 Micropolitan Rankings

http://policom.com/rankings-micropolitan-areas/

Copyright 2018 Humble Roots, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

CULLMAN - Below are the arrests reported for March 8. All persons are innocent until proven guilty.

GJ = grand jury; FTA = failure to appear

Cullman County Sheriff’s Office

Beebe, Davon Treshawn, 19

• FTA- no tag/ tag not plainly visible (2 counts)

Diffy, Milton Leon, 47

• FTA- owner allows operation of motor vehicle without insurance

Downs, Trevor Clayton, 22

• first-degree theft of property

Frederick, David Ryan, 22

• possession of drug paraphernalia
• fourth-degree receiving stolen property

Newsome, Michael Lee, 32

• probation violation- unlawful possession of a controlled substance

Pickering, Joshua Braxton, 22

• FTA- possession of drug paraphernalia
• FTA- second-degree stalking

Pilgrim, Nathaniel Scott, 26

• failure to register quarterly- SORNA

Richards, James Hardie, 31

• FTA- harassment
• FTA- violation of protection order (2 counts)

Sanders, David Eric, 29

• probation violation- third-degree burglary (2 counts)

Sanford, Christopher Lee, 33

• probation revoked- unlawful possession of a controlled substance

Stricklin, Terri Hicks, 56

• harassment

Tidwell, Carlos Lyle, 39

• first-degree bail jumping- unlawful possession of a controlled substance

Wallace, Gregory Wade, 47

• probation violation- unlawful possession of a controlled substance

Williams, Daniel Glenn, 47

• probation violation- unlawful manufacture of a controlled substance

Williams, Tanjanika Lea, 35

• judge’s order- unlawful possession of a controlled substance

Young, Jimmy Lee, 46

• harassing communications

Cullman Police Department

Downs, Trevor C., 22

• FTA- second-degree unlawful possession of marijuana
• FTA- possession of drug paraphernalia

Gendron, Mary M., 48

• FTA- driving without a license
• FTA- insurance violation

Wingo, Robert J., 36

• DUI

Ford, James A., 26

• possession of drug paraphernalia

Alexander, Doris A., 46

• second-degree unlawful possession of marijuana
• possession of drug paraphernalia

Beebe, Davon T., 19

• giving false information to a law enforcement officer

Hill, John D. Jr., 34

• DUI

Rasmussen, Tiffany M., 19

• fourth-degree theft of property

Hanceville Police Department

No arrests reported.

Find arrest reports online Monday-Friday at www.CullmanTribune.com.

Dianne Wood was recently named the ACF’s Birmingham Chapter Student of the Year. Wood will graduate from Wallace State in May.

HANCEVILLE– Dianne Wood was ready to pursue a passion.

After two decades of juggling different jobs and being laid off in one industry, Wood decided to enroll in Wallace State’s Academy of Culinary Arts at 45 years old.

She’s flourished ever since and was recently named the Student of the Year by the Alabama Chapter of the American Culinary Federation (ACF). The recognition is truly icing on the cake for Wood as she has already completed the necessary studies for her associate degree in Culinary Arts. She will graduate from Wallace State in May.

“The award was a total surprise. It makes me feel important and shows that a lot of hard work has paid off. I have two very good instructors who work with me as well,” Wood said. “I’m thankful I took advantage of the door that opened once I was laid off. Culinary Arts was something I was always interested in. It has turned into something I have a passion for and something I want to do for the rest of my life.”

The Birmingham Chapter of the ACF annually recognizes a top student, chef, educator and apprentice within its organization. Wood was nominated for the award by her instructors.

“We are particularly excited because this award stretches across the entire state. There’s a lot of competition, so it’s very special to Dianne and to us,” said Wallace State Chef John Wilson. “Dianne is a wonderful student. She came to us from the steel industry and has absolutely excelled. Whenever you ask for volunteers, she’s the first one to arrive and the last one to leave. It’s great when you have students with Dianne’s mentality.”

Wood, a resident of Corner, can indeed be found across campus or in the community promoting Wallace State’s Academy of Culinary Arts program, including sharing the department’s delicacies with visiting students. One of her favorite aspects is the Wednesday lunches the Academy of Culinary Arts serves to the public. The lunches are available to students and the community from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. during the fall and spring semesters with various themed-meals throughout.

“This program is great. It’s accredited by the ACF and allows you many networking opportunities. When I get my diploma, I’ll already be a certified culinarian through the ACF,” Wood said. “Not only are you taught how to cook, but you are taught how to be in charge, whether you’re owning your own restaurant or an executive chef of another place. You need the background taught here in order to work your way up.”

Wood has persevered through her journey to Wallace State. She dropped out of high school at 17 and worked various jobs, including in restaurants and at a chicken plant, while also earning her GED. She worked at a steel mill before enrolling at Wallace State.

Along with her most recent achievement, Wood earned a silver medal last year in the state SkillsUSA Culinary competition. She also works at Publix in Gardendale.

As Wood wraps up her Wallace State story over the next two months, she’s even more excited to walk across the stage at Tom Drake Coliseum to receive her associate degree.

“I’ve never truly graduated from anything before. It’s going to be another special moment,” Wood said.

For more information about Wallace State’s Academy of Culinary Arts program, visit www.wallacestate.edu/programs/technical-division/culinary-arts.

For more information about Wallace State, visit www.wallacestate.edu.

Guests look over items in the live auction Friday night. / W.C. Mann

CULLMAN - The Cullman Rotary Club held its 45th annual fundraising auction Friday evening at the Cullman Civic Center. An average of around 175 Rotarians and local citizens have attended recent auctions, and this year’s attendance may have reached 200. The event is the club’s only fundraiser, and it raised more than $56,000 last year. This year’s numbers won’t be known for a little while, but Cullman Rotary Club President Perry Shields hopes to exceed the 2017 total.

“Cullman comes out and supports the Rotary,” said Shields.  “I’ve been in Rotary nine years now; they come out and support the auction very well.  Each year, we make more money that we get to put back into the community.”

The president went on to talk about what the funds raised by the auction will do.

“What we do with this is we help organizations within Cullman County and outside of Cullman County also, similar to CCCDD (Cullman County Center for the Developmentally Disabled), The Link (of Cullman County), organizations that help other people, too.”

Fundraising Chairman Eli Howard added, “All the money that we raise stays here in Cullman, from this auction.  It goes to support local projects . . . We obviously support The Link, Childhaven, Good Samaritan Health Clinic, Cullman Area Workforce Solutions, and we provide books to area school libraries and scholarships for high school seniors.”

In addition to local causes, all Rotary clubs contribute to the international organization’s common cause of polio eradication.  Since the organization’s first mission in 1979, during which vaccines were administered to children in the Philippines, the number of Polio cases around the world has dropped by more than 99 percent.

Friday evening, multiple rows of tables were covered in items for a silent auction, while higher-end items for a live auction lined tables at the front of the auditorium.  Live auction selections included firearms and ammunition, firepits and grills, gardening supplies, home spa supplies, watches and other jewelry, furniture and bedding, a bicycle, 32- and 60-inch televisions, landscape and lawn care tools, garage and household tools, various retail and restaurant gift certificates, golf packages, meat bundle packages, recreational passes, a guitar, house paint and even packages of authentic Cuban cigars.

The auction was an all-hands-on-deck event for the Cullman Rotary Club’s 66 members, along with food servers from The Link and 25 to 30 members of Wallace State’s Rotoract Club.

“Rotary is about service above self,” said Shields.  “Rotarians are generally just business people in the area: owners of companies, owners of businesses, managers, whatnot.  They give back; they give back to the community.”

When asked if there was something he wanted to be sure Cullman knew about his club, Howard responded, “There’s not just one thing.  I mean Rotary is full of amazing people from Cullman that truly care about it and just want to help in any way possible. It’s not one thing; it’s all the things that Rotary does.”

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Chief Edward Reinhardt took The Tribune on a tour of Cullman Fire Rescue’s newest station on Alabama Highway 157. / W.C. Mann

CULLMAN - Cullman Fire Rescue Chief Edward Reinhardt recently announced that his department’s newest station, Station 3 on Alabama Highway 157, is near enough to completion for firefighters and staff to begin operations during the week of March 12.  Though the station still awaits a few finishing touches, the chief took The Tribune through the facility for a tour ahead of the official opening.

The new station sits behind Merchants Bank on the east side of what used to be Piggly Wiggly. Bidding for the construction of the new station began back in June 2016.

“It’ll serve the northwest and northeast section of the city,” said Reinhardt, “which also will give us a third truck in service, which now we’re required to respond two trucks and a ladder to all structure calls.  So that’ll give us a backup truck still in service if we have another call.

“It puts all the northwest section that was over the 5-mile limit from a station, it’ll put it within that 5 miles.  ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) looks at your property annexed into the city, and how much of it is supplied with hydrants, okay, and then they go like a mile and a half for a pumper from a station that you’re supposed to pick up.  So, we were over the mile and a half, obviously, in this area up here. This is going to pick up 80 percent of the coverage area up here that was not within the mile and a half.”

It’s up to inspectors and outside officials, but every business and house within 5 miles of the station could potentially see improved ISO ratings and lower insurance rates.

The north section of the facility will serve as the department’s new administrative office.  In addition to space for officials, the building includes a training room built with reinforced walls and its own generator and bathrooms to serve as a FEMA-rated severe weather safe room and self-contained emergency command center.  The room also has a camera system linked to the department’s other two stations, allowing personnel at those locations to take part in classes held at the office while still being ready to respond to emergencies in their areas.

The administrative building also includes a Cullman Police Department substation, making Station 3 a full-service emergency response center for north Cullman.

Just to the south of the administrative office sits the station house, with separate bedrooms to provide each firefighter and EMT on duty a little personal space.  A large common room has recliners and a large screen television, with a small work station room on one side for computers. Reinforced walls and doorways between it and outer windows allow the common room to serve as a second safe room.  A spacious kitchen and dining area adjacent to the common room looks almost like a professional chef’s workspace.

A tower on the front of the building serves double duty.  A hoist attached to the ceiling can raise wet hoses up to hang for air drying, and firefighters can practice rappelling indoors from a platform at the top of the tower’s staircase.

At the facility’s south end, a large open bay can house up to eight trucks.  Large overhead exhaust pumps automatically activate when their sensors pick up a certain level of carbon monoxide in the bay, and rooms off the bay allow plenty of storage and house equipment to clean and dry equipment and turnout gear after calls.  A large generator just outside can power the entire facility, if need be.

Chief Reinhardt was clearly proud, both of his department’s new building, and its achievement.  He told The Tribune: “We’ve been working for quite a few years trying to get a third station; and then, of course, with the SAFER (Staffing for Adequate Fire & Emergency Response) grant, then we got the 12 additional people that they pick up for two years on the salaries.  That kind of allowed us to get off the ground, and get it running. So with that, we started working toward building the station and getting where we need to be, and here we are now.

“We’ve got a super good fire department; we’ve come a long ways.  And they’re really good, and I give all the credit for that to the guys themselves, because they make it what it is.  I don’t. I set the goals and try to lead them in the right direction, but if they don’t go, then it don’t work.

“It’s a team effort, the mayor and council supporting it, to lead us to get to where we are today: running an ALS (Advanced Life Support) department, and also being at a II in ISO rating I think says a lot for the city--the government of the city, and the department itself.”

The city will cut the ribbon and officially open the station on March 19.

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Daylight saving time in Alabama will begin at 2 a.m. on Sunday, March 11. Don’t forget to set clocks forward one hour before you go to bed Saturday night. This is also a great time to check the batteries in your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.  

Fairview Fair Queen Pageant contestants are, left to right: Meagan Miller, Kennedy Chambers and Bailey Parker. Not pictured: Angelina Wallis / Fairview High School

FAIRVIEW -  The Fairview High School Fair Queen Pageant is scheduled for Friday, March 16 at 6 p.m. in the Fairview High School auditorium. Admission will be $6. All proceeds go to support Fairview Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) projects and activities.

Fairview Fair Queen Pageant contestants are Meagan Miller, Kennedy Chambers, Bailey Parker and Angelina Wallis.

The Fairview High School Miss Fairala Pageant is scheduled for Saturday, March 17 at 6 p.m. in the Fairview High School auditorium. Admission will be $6. All proceeds go to support Fairview FCCLA projects and activities.

Miss Fairala Pageant contestants are: Kaitlyn Ford, Bailey Parker, Ella Tankersley, Daylia Dean, Anna Scott, Shayla Denney, Madison Harris, Morgan Haynes, Larissa Leathers, Emma Gardner, Alex McDonald, Averie Harris, Abigail Free, Lauryn Tankersley, Callie Humphries, McKinna Yearwood, Macie Burgin and Kennedy Chambers.

Copyright 2018 Humble Roots, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Left to right: Danny Tucker, Billy Warden and Allen Mickle / Cullman County Sheriff’s Office

CRANE HILL -  A search warrant executed at a Crane Hill residence on Friday resulted in three men being charged with trafficking meth, according to the Cullman County Sheriff’s Office. Investigators, along with agents with the Cullman Narcotics Enforcement Team (CNET), executed the warrant at the home of Danny Ray Tucker, 50, on County Road 335 in the Crane Hill community close to Miller Flats.

Agents allegedly recovered approximately 235.2 grams of methamphetamine and $4,566 in cash.

"I am glad these three are now behind bars and we were able to recover that much meth before it was able to make it into the community," said Sheriff Matt Gentry.

Along with Tucker, Billy Wayne Warden, 66, of Hayden and Allen Mickle, 46, also of Hayden, were arrested and charged with trafficking in methamphetamine and unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia.

All three mean are being held at the Cullman County Detention Center, each on a $1 million bond.

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Cullman attorney Randy Hames, shown here in his mugshot from Saturday, March 10, 2018, has been charged with additional counts of human trafficking. / Cullman County Sheriff's Office

Updated 3-10-18 at 10:05 p.m.

CULLMAN - Local attorney Randy Allan Hames, 75, was arrested again today, Saturday, March 10, and charged with additional counts of human trafficking, according to Cullman County Sheriff Matt Gentry. The charges are first-degree human trafficking and second-degree human trafficking. Gentry said Hames was booked on an $80,000 bond. He has already made bond and has been released.

Authorities have not confirmed whether Saturday's charges relate to the same victims whose accusations led to his arrest on March 5, when Hames was charged with two counts of second-degree human trafficking, a Class B felony.

The March 5 human trafficking charges stem from the circumstances that led to Hames being arrested back on Feb. 22 for two counts of second-degree stalking and two counts of promoting prostitution, misdemeanor charges.

Hames was out on bond and practicing law inside the Cullman County Courthouse when he was arrested March 5. He made bond that same day. Bond was $15,000 property for each count of human trafficking.

Kayla Carreker and Tomeka Bartlett have accused Hames of requesting sex for rent payments. The two lived at Hames Trailer Park, owned by the accused. Carreker and Bartlett also accuse Hames of making crude sexual remarks to them.

A CCSO spokesman said the Cullman County District Attorney's Office decided to move forward with the human trafficking charges after reviewing the case and speaking with the victims and others.

Local attorney Champ Crocker is representing an unknown number of alleged victims in a civil case against Hames.

What is human trafficking?

According to the Alabama Criminal Code, Section 13A-6-153:

(a) A person commits the crime of human trafficking in the second degree if:

(1) A person knowingly benefits, financially or by receiving anything of value, from participation in a venture or engagement for the purpose of sexual servitude or labor servitude.

(2) A person knowingly recruits, entices, solicits, induces, harbors, transports, holds, restrains, provides, maintains, subjects, or obtains by any means another person for the purpose of labor servitude or sexual servitude.

(3) A corporation, or any other legal entity other than an individual, may be prosecuted for human trafficking in the second degree for an act or omission only if an agent of the corporation or entity performs the conduct which is an element of the crime while acting within the scope of his or her office or employment and on behalf of the corporation or entity, and the commission of the crime was either authorized, requested, commanded, performed, or within the scope of the person's employment on behalf of the corporation or entity or constituted a pattern of conduct that an agent of the corporation or entity knew or should have known was occurring.

(4) Any person who obstructs, or attempts to obstruct, or in any way interferes with or prevents the enforcement of this section shall be guilty of a Class A misdemeanor.

(b) Human trafficking in the second degree is a Class B felony.

The Tribune reached out to Kathy Wilson, the chair of the Cullman County Human Trafficking Task Force for her thoughts. Here's what she had to say:

"Human trafficking is defined as modern day slavery and involves the use of force, fraud or coercion to obtain some type of labor or commercial sex act. People often confuse trafficking with human smuggling, which involves movement of persons. These are not interchangeable terms. Smuggling is transportation-based and trafficking is exploitation-based. I wish the language could be changed to 'Human Exploitation.'"

About Hames' charges, Wilson said, "It appears his charges are using force or coercion to obtain some type sexual acts from his victims. Our society has been led to believe that human trafficking is based on the movie 'Taken,' which is just not true. (The CCHTT) encourages people to research and educate themselves as to the signs of human trafficking. We welcome concerned citizens to our meetings. Follow us on Facebook at Cullman County Human Trafficking Task Force."

For more information, visit www.cullmansense.com/keyword/human-trafficking to see all of the articles The Tribune has published on human trafficking.

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Dale Greer / Tribune file photo

CULLMAN - When lots of people are working and unemployment rates drop way down, that’s known as a tight labor market, and right now it is seriously tight!  The current US unemployment rate of 4.1 percent (steady since Oct. 2017) represents a 17-year low, meaning that more people are working today than at any point during the average high school student’s lifetime.  Alabama’s rate beats that, down to a record low of 3.5 percent.

Cullman Economic Development Agency Director Dale Greer observed, “The governor is bragging that we’ve got over two million people working, like 2,090,000 or something, only the second time in history we’ve reached that number.”

If you break that statewide number down into regions, things get even better in our part of the state.  

Greer continued, “Typically, 25 to 35 percent of the new job growth and industrial development in the state occurs in the TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority) region, which is the 13 north Alabama counties out of the 67.  So, a lot of the growth is up here. The north Alabama region has an unemployment rate of 3.2 percent, even lower than the state. So it’s just been very, very successful, got a lot of growth, got a lot of development, creating a lot of jobs.  The (Alabama) Department of Commerce, everybody’s touting all the jobs we’ve created. And automotive growth is doing some, and Airbus, and Boeing, and it is just really great economic development times.”

You can even take that focus down to Cullman County, and find almost unbelievable results.  The county’s current unemployment rate sits at an astounding low of 2.8 percent.

When those numbers get that low, it’s good news for the economy: people are making money and spending money, businesses make money and contribute more to the local community through taxes.  Contributions by individuals and businesses to charities go up while the number of people in need of charity goes down.

There is a challenge, though, and it falls to the businesses and industries.  With more people working, the labor market has fewer people available to hire, especially for lower end jobs.  Employers have to think bigger.

“I’ll tell you what happens when you get fewer people and it’s harder for the companies to find the right people they want,” said Greer, “then I think that becomes more competitive, and it is more an employee market than an employer market.”

A Cullman area fast food restaurant had small signs in its windows a few months ago advertising $8 an hour to start.  More recently, a banner on its lawn offered $9. Across the country, employers are getting creative. Home Depot streamlined its application process, while Lowe’s has begun offering funding to help employees train for credentials in skilled trades.  The Wal-Mart corporation has announced across-the-board raises and/or bonuses. Hiring of disabled workers is on the rise, and even applicants with criminal records are finding it easier to get their feet in the door. And bosses seem to be making more time to develop their employees, giving them more opportunities for advancement and raises, to keep them on the payroll.

Greer related, “When I was a kid, you had a lot of people who were unemployed, so if you didn’t want to work, they had somebody else to bring into your place pretty quick, and they didn’t have to worry about you as much.  Well, as your market gets tight, they know that if they’re unhappy with you and want to run you off, there’s not tons of people out there, standing in the doorway to take your job. So I think they spend a little more time and energy making you a better employee, as far as skills and jobs, and things that let you move up in the system.  

“If I go in there and what I do for a living is load these boxes, and I go in there and I go, ‘I need more money,’ well, you know if you want more money, this job doesn’t pay more money.  You’ve got to learn a little more, do a little more, move into this section, have a little more responsibility. And I think those are the things that you do to do some things, which isn’t particular programs.  But I just think you end up with, as they make more money and do those things (with) more responsibility and more skills, I think they just are able to better themselves, their families. And I think that is just a positive, overall.”

Alabama’s current unemployment rate, 3.5 percent in December 2017 (this is a preliminary figure and is subject to revision), is the lowest on record. Cullman County’s December 2017 rate, 2.8 percent, is the second-lowest in the state for December, down markedly from December 2016’s rate of 4.9 percent.

January’s unemployment rates are scheduled to be released on March 12.

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Good Hope High School Fair Queen contestants are, left to right: Chrissi Smith, Bailey Swann and Lindsey Couch.  / Good Hope High School

GOOD HOPE - The Good Hope High School Fair Queen Pageant and Miss Heritage Pageants will take place on Saturday, March 17 in the school’s gymnasium.

The Fair Queen Pageant will begin at 4 p.m. Admission is $10.

The contestants are Chrissi Smith, Bailey Swann and Lindsey Couch.

The Miss Heritage Pageants will begin at 6 p.m. Admission is $10.

The contestants are Chrissi Smith, Emily Creel and Micah Beard, Skylar Tucker, Hali Ortiz, Taryn Collins and Callie Sterling.

Miss Heritage Princess (ninth and 10th graders) contestants are Bethany Bynum, Kayden Shockley, Brooklyn Ward, Alexus Buckelew, Julee Turner, Sidnie English, Alexis Perry, Makayla Lynn, Hannah Adams, Victoria McCluskey, Emma Brock, Sara Owens, Violet Owens, Leah Bailey, Cassie Overton, Lona Shelby and Destiny Powe.

Ushers for the evening will be Caleb Hutcheson, James McWhorter, Lucas Hill, Lawton Farr, Josh Shikle, Justin Crumpton, Will Flynn, John King and Eli Pugh. Not Pictured: John Standridge and Landyn Freeman.

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Wardrobe (Jamie Myers), Cogsworth (Brendan Williamson), Chip (Parker Lawrence), Mrs. Potts (Kim Harbison) and Lumiere (Micah Coucke) get ready for dinner. / W.C Mann, Cullman Tribune

FAIRVIEW - This past week, West Point High School’s Performing Arts Department (WPPA) put on Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast,” and took the show on the road to Fairview High School’s high-grade auditorium.  There they put on multiple shows between Thursday and Sunday, for student groups and the general public.

WPPA Director Ty Parker shared on Saturday, “We’ve had incredible crowds here to see the show. The community has graciously driven to Fairview to support the kids, and they’ve enjoyed the show.  And I think they’ve realized what we can do with the facilities that are here, and I hope someday we can have those facilities at West Point as a theater department, an arts department. It’s been amazing to watch the play come together, and watch the kids grown and transform as actors, performers, and singers, and soloists.  It’s been an incredible experience to see them grow like that.”

He continued, “Working with Kim Harbison and Jimmy Harbison--they’re actually Maurice and Mrs. Potts, and their daughter Riley played Chip, too--they’ve been an incredible help as faculty members at West Point, to put the play on. And we look forward to working together in the future as an arts department in, hopefully, our new arts wing that we’re going to build, where we’ll teach choir, theater, dance, instrumental music and visual art.”

Parker had special kind words for Fairview High School. “They’ve so graciously let us stay here and use their facilities, and Chris Gambrill, (Fairview’s) principal, has been amazing to work with.  They fed us breakfast Friday morning! They’ve just been incredible hosts.”

Between Thursday and Sunday, WPPA put on shows at Fairview High School for students from all West Point schools, Good Hope High School and Good Hope Primary, the Child Development Center, Harmony School and Cold Springs schools.

Said Parker, “This theater’s been packed several times. They’ve been bussing them across the county to see the production, and that has meant so much to me as a teacher, to see the other county schools come and support what we’re doing at West Point.  It’s been incredible!”

After the show, The Tribune caught up with Micah Coucke, who had just given an appropriately over-the-top performance as the impetuous Lumiere.  “It was so much fun!  I just liked being able to perform at Fairview.  It was one of, like, the great blessings, because a lot of us had never experienced it that much.  But then, for them to give us the blessing to be able to perform on this stage and so many people come and see us, it was awesome!  

“We had so much support this year, and I feel like we did so much better than last year.  It was awesome! We had a little bit of improvement from last year, so we took on a bigger play.  We decided, you know, that we were ready for the challenge.”

Continued Coucke, “We’re growing every year, and every year we’re bringing in new people. That’s why we do a lot of the shows for the younger kids, to just show them, hey, that we’re serious about this, we want this program to grow and we want it to be better.  And all these kids came, and they were like, ‘Oh my gosh! This is just so amazing.’ We had girls coming up to all of the guys and giving them hugs; all the guys asking, ‘Was that really a kiss?’  And we’re like, ‘I don’t know’ and things like that. They had so much of a blast, and we’re just hoping that they’ll be able to grow up, get older, and see that this is actually something they’ll want to do.”

Cast and crew

The show’s cast included multiple actors for most of the roles.

Belle - Leah Smith, Sara Hudson, Anna Armstrong

The Beast/Prince - Colby Tyree, Carson Partain

Gaston - Jaiden Philyaw, Joshua Couch

LeFou - Joshua Couch, Tekoa Walker

Cogsworth - Brendan Williamson, Judd Douglas

Lumiere - Micah Coucke, Luke Sellers

Mrs. Potts - Kim Harbison

Chip - Rylee Harbison, Parker Lawrence

Belle’s Father Maurice - Jimmy Harbison

Babette - Presley Palmer, Ashley Mann

Wardrobe - Jamie Myers, Tamela James

Asylum proprietor Monsieur D’Arque - Kellen Drinkard

Silly Girls - Katie Coleman, CarrieAnn Douglas, Carly Wren, Anna Armstrong

Townspeople/Ensemble - Annalyse Cole, Haley Hickok, Rylan Jones, Piper Lawrence, Victoria Leonard, Kylee Marks, CJ Patton, Sam Scott, Garrett Thrower, Jon Trammell, Beth Waldrop

Danceline - Alexia Adair, Kelce Byram, Angel Carter, Kathryn Cleckler, Maddie Davis, Kaitlyn Harding, Breanna Hillburn, Taylor Jenkins, Ashley Mann, Macy Millsap

Stage Crew - Gabriel Aufderhaar (stage manager), Katie Campbell, Logan Eady, Billy Ellis, Nathaniel Ferster, William Ferster, Alyssa Garrett, Lisette Hernandez, Michelle Herrick, Alexis Livingston, Kohler Lovett, Tyler Sinyard, Chris Smith, Caroline Thompson, Chris Waldrep, Lilly Whitesell, Alex Wood

WPPA’s season isn’t over!  “Camp Rock” moves to the front burner

Shortly after the sets are struck and the costumes put away, WPPA will begin rehearsal for Disney’s “Camp Rock,” coming up in April.  This production is unique in the history of Cullman County Schools’ performing arts programs, with auditions having been open to students from all the county system high schools.  Approximately 30 students have joined the cast.

Performances will take place on April 26-29 at Fairview High School.

See a full photo gallery here.

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