The Berry Wildcats faced the Meek Tigers in their last regular season home game. The Wildcats received turnovers from the defense, and touchdowns on special teams and the offense to take control of the game. The Wildcats walked away with a 43–6 victory, and finished undefeated in region play for the first time since 2015.
A Tuscaloosa man has been charged with attempted murder in relation to a shooting that happened at a party in Fayette County last month. Members of the U.S. Marshals’ Gulf Coast Regional Fugitive Task Force tracked Ruben Hedgemon, 21, to a location on Ormond Street in Tuscaloosa, and took him into custody on Thursday, Oct. 15. He is accused of firing multiple rounds as he left a party on New Hope Church Road in southern Fayette County during the early morning hours of Saturday, Sept. 26.
Scottie Carl Porter filed a motion in Fayette County Circuit Court on Oct. 8, seeking to nullify Virettia Whiteside’s election on Oct. 6 as the Ward 1 Fayette City Council member. Porter claimed in his complaint that Whiteside was not eligible for the Ward 1 seat due to “misconduct, fraud, or corruption,” and that her residency is not in Ward 1. He claimed that Whiteside’s proper address is in Ward 3, and that she owns a house located in that ward.
A group of local, state and national leaders toured the SHOWA Glove Manufacturing facility in Fayette on Oct. 14 to get a glimpse of the future of world-class glove manufacturing. SHOWA has just completed the outside of a 43,000 square-foot, six story tall building that will house new state-of-the-art equipment for glove manufacturing. The expansion should double or possibly triple the glove manufacturing capacity of the facility, and will add approximately 100 - 170 new jobs to the Fayette economy.
An accident occurring at the intersection of Highway 43/171 and Highway 18 on October 6 left two people injured with possible charges pending from the accident. According to the accident report filed by the Fayette Police Department, a 1999 Chevrolet Silverado, driven by James Edward Watkins of Fayette, was stopped in the inside west-bound lane of Columbus Street East, waiting to make a left turn into the Chevron parking lot. Watkins said that he had signaled his intention to turn.
Berry High School celebrated its homecoming on Friday, Oct. 16 with a parade and a huge 36-13 region win over the Brilliant Tigers.
The Glen Allen town council met on Tuesday, Oct. 6 at the town’s community center. Council members Gail Bircheat and Bobbies S. McCraw were not in attendance for the monthly meeting.
Despite playing at a high intensity level throughout the game, Fayette lost 25-0 to its regional rival, the Gordo Greenwave. Due to an injury to Fayette’s starting quarterback Langston Strawbridge, backup Blake Johnson played the entire game at quarterback for the Tigers.
Homecoming is always an exciting time of year. This year in addition to wanting to win for returning alumni, a win would clinch the region championship for the Wildcats. With that in mind, the Wildcats welcomed the Brilliant Tigers to Fred Webster Stadium. The game was close at the half, but the Wildcats took control of the game in the second half and secured a 23-point victory for Berry.
The Hubbertville Lions continued in Region 6 play on Friday night, hosting the Marion County Red Raiders. Winning the coin toss, the Lions elected to receive the opening kick. Seth Knight’s kick came to a rolling halt at the 13-yard line, setting quarterback Gage Key and his offensive front up for the opening possession.
Virettia Whiteside made history last week by winning the Ward 1 council position and becoming the second minority member of the newly-elected Fayette City Council. Whiteside defeated Steve Herring on Oct. 6 in the Ward 1 runoff election by a vote of 184 to 104. Whiteside received 126 absentee votes and 58 regular votes to Herring’s 13 absentee votes and 91 votes on election day.
The Belk Volunteer Fire Department held its official dedication for its heliport on Sunday, Oct. 4. Belk VFD Chief Charlie Dale Jones had a vision to build the pad, along with other members of the fire department. That vision became a reality when the heliport was completed in Oct. 2018.
The need for the landing pad was quickly realized when an employee at the nearby Georgia Pacific facility was seriously injured in Dec. 2018. Air Evac used the landing pad to transport the employee to a medical facility for treatment.
Haleigh Ingle and Julia Nolen are carrying on a proud tradition of majorettes from Fayette County High School twirling for the Million Dollar Band at The University of Alabama. No other high school has produced more Crimsonettes than Fayette County High School, earning FCHS the well-deserved title of “Crimsonette High.”
Radford Hester, former principal of Fayette County High School, is the owner of the four-year old world grand champion horse. His horse, “The Finish Line,” won the title at the 49th annual Racking Horse World Celebration, held Sept. 18-26 at the Morgan County Indoor Horse Arena. The Finish Line was the unanimous choice by the judges for the four-year old title. Hester, who said that he has always loved horses and has owned horses since 1964, bought The Finish Line in February. The horse is trained by Jamie Lawrence of Vinemont, and The Finish Line is housed at Lawrence’s stable.
A fire at 113 11th St. SW caused moderate damage to a single structure home at approximately 4:45 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 8. The occupants of the home were not present at the time of the fire, and the fire was extinguished quickly upon the arrival of the Fayette Fire Department.
In less than three weeks, on Nov. 3, local voters will decide on their choice for president, a U.S. senate seat, a Congressional House seat, President of the Public Service Commission, two county commission seats, state amendments and one local amendment that will affect only Fayette County. During the “Year of the Coronavirus Crisis,” many voters will exercise the option allowed by Alabama Secretary of State John Merrell to vote an absentee ballot. However, thousands of other Alabama voters will gather at the polls on election day to cast their ballots in person.
Fayette Middle School celebrated its homecoming on Oct. 6 with a football game against Caledonia Middle School and with other festivities throughout the week.
The Haleyville Lions scored four first half touchdowns and used a strong rushing attack to control the tempo of the game to defeat the Fayette Tigers 28-6. The only bright spot of the game for Fayette was an electrifying 70-yard kickoff return for a touchdown late in the first half by freshman Dylan Schloerb. Fayette gained no first downs in the first half and had zero net yards at halftime. For the game, Fayette recorded two first downs and only 41 net yards, while allowing 23 first downs and 398 net yards for Haleyville.
Hubbertville continued its winning ways on Thursday night, winning an all out cat fight with the Brilliant Tigers by the score of 40-33. The Lions won the coin toss and elected to receive the opening kick. Kade Bryant’s kick was recovered by T.J. Keeton, setting the Lions’ offensive front up for its first possession of the game. Utilizing runs by Gage Key and Gage Alexander, the Lions advanced the ball across midfield to the Tigers’ 42-yard line.
The year was 1934. Franklin Roosevelt was in the White House, there was no such thing as World War II, and the Berry Wildcats defeated Pickens County. Few people would have guessed that 86 years later, the Wildcats would travel to Reform in hopes of picking up its second win against the Tornadoes. In a closely contested game, Berry scored touchdowns on offense, defense, and special teams to walk away with a 29-28 victory over the Tornadoes.
