The Berry Lady Wildcats defeated Hubbertville 16-0 on April 13 in the continued NAC Tournament that was previously postponed. The tournament was played at Guin. Brooke Blanton was the winning pitcher for Berry, allowing only two hits and striking out three to capture the win.

The Hubbertville Lady Lions hosted Hackleburg on Tuesday, April 23 and won a thriller by the score of 6-5. Emma Nichols pitched a complete seven-inning game for Hubbertville to record the win.

Dexter Roberts of Fayette made it through the live auditions and is still going strong after defeating two opponents in the battle rounds on this year’s “The Voice.” Roberts, a 2010 graduate of Fayette County High School, earned a four-chair turn during the auditions and picked country music star Blake Shelton as his coach. In the first battle round, Roberts performed a duet with his teammate Dalton Dover of Aragon, Georgia.

A severe thunderstorm hit Fayette County in the late afternoon and early evening hours on Thursday, April 18, and the county suffered damage in numerous locations due to straight-line winds. Fayette County Emergency Management Agency (EMA) Director Russ Taylor said that there were trees reported down throughout much of the county, with some structural damage. He said that a church in northeast Fayette County reported damage and several sheds were demolished during the storm.

The Fayette Community Foundation held its annual reception on April 11 at the Fayette Civic Center to recognize the past year’s grant recipients. William Oswalt, chairman of the Fayette Community Foundation board of directors, presented opening remarks at the beginning of the reception.

A single vehicle accident on Highway 171 approximately four miles south of Fayette resulted in injuries to the occupants of the vehicle. The vehicle left the roadway and traveled several feet before being stopped by a wooded area. Names of the occupants had not been released at press time. Both occupants were transported by ambulance to a medical facility.

Fayette Medical Center held a Community Health Fair on Friday, April 12 to help inform the residents about medical services available in the area and also to offer educational materials and services. In addition to the various agencies and departments located at Fayette Medical Center, other medical providers were on-hand to talk about the services that they offer and to provide information and demonstrations for the public.

Fayette Medical Center Long-Term Care residents hosted an Easter Egg hunt for pre-school children on April 17.

Alabama Pawn & Cash recently held a raffle to give away a Henry Alabama Bicentennial Rifle to benefit the Fayette County Animal Shelter. The raffle raised $3,000 for the shelter and the gun was won by Chris House of Millport.

The Fayette Middle School majorettes were recently selected for the 2019-20 school year.

Color Guards for the 2019-20 school year were recently selected at Fayette Middle School.

The annual Berry Heritage Festival is April 26-27, and Berry Mayor Jimmy Madison said that he is hoping this will be one of the best festivals ever. Madison said that the festival was started several years ago as a fun way to bring the citizens of the town together for a time of fellowship and fun. He said that other towns were having festivals, so the citizens of Berry decided to start a new tradition of its own.

The Kennedy-Douglass Center for the Arts in Florence presents the works of Fayette folk artist Bernard Wright from Wednesday, April 10 through Friday, May 3. A gallery talk is scheduled for Friday, May 3 at 6 p.m. Wright is a student of acclaimed Alabama artist, Jimmy Lee Sudduth and will be teaching a workshop using Sudduth’s methods in painting with mud on Saturday, May 4 at the Kennedy-Douglass Center for the Arts. The workshop lasts from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. and includes lunch.

The Berry softball team had a very successful week, winning three of the four games that the team played. Berry started off the week on April 15 by defeating Hubbertville 6-1. Brooke Blanton pitched a complete game for the Lady Wildcats, allowing six hits and striking out six batters.

The Fayette softball team had a tough week, losing four of five games including its only two games in the WAC Tournament. Fayette started the week with a 14-1 loss to Cordova. Brandy Johnson pitched a complete seven inning game to suffer the loss.

The Fayette Tigers won a best-of-three series with Oneonta to advance to the second round of the state baseball playoffs. Fayette will host North Jackson on Friday, April 26, beginning at 5 p.m. The Tigers won the deciding third game against Oneonta on Monday by a score of 3-2. No stats for that game were available at press time.

The Hubbertville Lady Lions traveled to Pickens County on Wednesday, April 17 and defeated the Lady Tornadoes by a score of 12-1. Emma Nichols pitched a complete game for Hubbertville, allowing only three hits and one run.

Convicted killer Christopher Price received a last-minute stay of execution on Thursday, April 11, just two hours before he was to have been executed at Holeman Prison near Atmore for the 1991 murder of Bill Lynn. 

The Greek philosopher Plato was quoted as saying, “Necessity is the mother of invention.” A local resident found that saying very applicable and proceeded to invent an implement that will help not only himself, but other farmers and gardeners who own smaller tractors.

The Fayette City Council approved the hiring of an additional police officer at its April 9 meeting. All council members were present with the exception of Councilwoman Linda McCraw. Fayette Police Chief Danny Jenkins said that he had an additional vacancy on his staff due to the resignation of Sargeant Adam Smith. Smith resigned to take a position with the Fayette County Sheriff Office as the jail administrator, effective May 1.

The 13th annual Cattlemen’s Association Rodeo in Fayette was a huge success, with a near-capacity crowd on each night of the event.

The Fayette County Commission voted at its April 8 meeting to use a Homeland Security Grant to purchase 10 radios for the Fayette Sheriff Department and five for the Berry Police Department. All commissioners with the exception of Commissioner John Underwood were present for the meeting.

The Glen Allen Town Council held its regular monthly meeting on Tuesday, April 2 at the Town Hall. All council members were in attendance for the meeting. Addressing an item which had been tabled from the March council meeting, Mayor Allen J. Dunavant asked each councilor to submit a nominee to serve on the Glen Allen Community Club Committee. Following discussion among the council, the following individuals were agreed upon and appointed to serve:  Tracie Hubbert, Virginia Tucker, Candice Shipp, Crissy Youngblood, Shirley Jones and Sue Hubbert.

The Fayette Tigers lost three crucial area games to the Haleyville Lions during the past week.
On Thursday, April 11, Fayette was defeated by the Lions 11-1. The Tigers managed its only run of the game in the sixth inning, while the Lions scored four more runs in the bottom of the inning to cap its victory.

Hubbertville had a dramatic finish to its game with Marion County, grabbing a 4-3 victory thanks to a three-run, walk-off home run in the bottom of the seventh inning by the Lions’ Gage Alexander.

Berry defeated Hubbertville and Hackleburg in the NAC Softball Tournament and lost to Marion County before the games were postponed to a later date due to rain. Berry opened the tournament by defeating Hubbertville 6-0.

The Berry baseball team played Hubbertville on April 1 and defeated the Lions 12-4. Tyler Smith pitched 6 2/3 innings to earn the victory. Tyler Smith allowed only two earned runs and struck out 13 batters. Isaiah Kizzire pitched the final 1/3 inning of the game for the Wildcats.

The Lady Tigers defeated Curry on April 6 by a score of 4-0. Brandy Johnson earned the shutout win for Fayette, allowing only three hits to record the victory.

The Hubbertville Lady Lions played Pickens County on April 11 and won by a score od 16-5. Emma Nichols pitched a complete game to earn the victory for Hubbertville. Haylee Pollard had two hits, one RBI, and scored four runs for Hubbertville. Allie Voss and Chelsea Porter each had two hits, scored two runs and had two RBIs.

Bevill State Community College hosted league-leading Snead State on Thursday and split the two game set, winning the first game and losing the second one. The Bears won the first game 4-3 as Walker Nolen hit a walk-off home run in the eighth inning to give Bevill the victory.

Mike Lutzenkirchen, executive director of the Lutzie 43 Foundation, spoke to the students at Berry High School on April 4 about making sound decisions in their lives, especially when driving or riding in a motor vehicle as a passenger.

The Fayette Cattlemen’s Association will host its 13th annual Professional Cowboy Association (PCA) sanctioned rodeo on Friday, April 12 and Saturday, April 13 at the Fayette Multi-Purpose Complex. The rodeos will begin each night at 7:30 p.m.

Lindy Hindman, a senior at Fayette County High School, was presented the Fayette Garden Club’s 2019 “Outstandin Community Service Award” during the Fayette Chamber of Commerce’s “First Tuesday” luncheon on April 2.

The Berry Town Council held its regularly scheduled monthly meeting at the Berry Town Hall on April 1. Councilman Troyce Townsel and Councilman Chris Rice were absent from the meeting with all other council members being present.

Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) is a career and technical student organization that functions as an integral part of the Family and Consumer Sciences education curriculum and operates within the school system.  It provides opportunities for active student participation at local, state, and national levels. 

Fayette Middle School has an unusual situation in the halls of the school this year. Although they are not identical, there are nine sets of twins from grades five - eight: one set in the fifth grade, two sets in the sixth grade, four sets in the seventh grade and two sets of twins in the eighth grade. The FMS yearbook is doing a feature page on this rare group of twins, highlighting each set of twins.

The Fayette Tigers baseball team swept Cordova last week to head into the area championships on a winning streak. Fayette defeated the Blue Devils 3-1 in a pitchers’ duel at home on Tuesday, April 4. Cordova scored first in the top of the fourth inning, but that would be the only score that Cordova would notch in the game.

Hubbertville baseball started out the week by falling to Berry by a score of 12-4. Gage Key started the game for Hubbertville, pitching five innings and allowing only one hit and one run. Key struck out six batters. Ethan Nichols and Brodie Porter pitched in relief for Hubbertville.

The Sipsey Arts Alliance (SAA), a nonprofit organization, was formed in 2014 and is dedicated to the purpose of promoting the arts in both the community and in the local schools. Volunteer artists/members of the group present art classes in the Fayette County schools without any cost to the schools or the students.

Hubbertville’s softball team traveled to Brilliant on April 1 and defeated the Lady Tigers 16-9. Dixie Moye was the winning pitcher in relief for Hubbertville.

The Bevill State Bears had its easiest win since the revival of the program in 2018, traveling to Tuscaloosa and defeating Stillman College 25-1. Davis Vails pitched three perfect innings for the Bears to earn the victory.

Berry’s softball team traveled to Fayette on April 1 and was defeated by the Lady Tigers 10-3.
Brooke Blanton started the game and pitched 4 1/3 innings before being relieved by Kyla Edmonson.

After being closed for the past four years, the Fayette County Public Lake had a successful reopening on Thursday, March 28, much to the delight of numerous anglers in the area.
The 60-acre lake had been restocked with bluegill, shellcracker, bass and catfish, and the fish were eagerly awaiting the hooks and baits being thrown into the water by the patrons who had waited so long for the lake’s reopening.

The return an old Cessna airplane to Fayette brought back fond memories for a few men who remember taking numerous rides with Bud Carroll, the former pilot and owner of the aircraft. Earnie Duckworth is an aircraft painter stationed at Richard Arthur Field in Fayette. He said that a few months ago, he was contacted by the current owner of the plane, Blackstone Aviation in Hartselle, to do a total repaint of the aircraft. Duckworth said that he knew immediately when he heard the plane’s call letters that this was the plane that had started him on his love of airplanes.

A local resident addressed the Fayette City Council at its March 26 meeting concerning the condition of the streets on Martin Luther King Drive and the speed of vehicles traveling the streets. Councilman Jerry Nichols and Councilman Eddy Campbell were absent from the meeting.

The Fayette County Commission voted to hire a part-time aging director during its March 25 meeting. All commissioners were present for the meeting. The commissioners approved a motion to enter an executive session at the beginning of the meeting to discuss personnel issues at the request of Commission Chairman Mike Freeman.
Following the executive session, Freeman announced that the county road supervisor, Tim Whitson, had resigned from his position effective immediately.

The Fayette Medical Center (FMC) and the FMC Long-Term Care facility have been recognized as among the top healthcare facilities in the nation. FMC achieved a five-star rating from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the federal agency that administrates Medicare. FMC is one of only five hospitals in Alabama and one of 293 nationwide to receive this rating, placing FMC in the top 6.5 percent of the nation’s 4,500 hospitals.

The issue of substance abuse goes far beyond just addiction. A meeting of the minds between local, area, state and federal officials was held Wednesday, March 20, to seek solutions to bridge the gap between recovery from drug abuse and the successful placement of those who find themselves facing addiction back into society.

The Fayette Medical Center Foundation recently announced this year’s recipients of its “Nutrition Fuels Fitness” scholarships. Selected as this year’s recipients were Bevill students Cade Harris, Madison Dunn and Hunter Reynolds. Each received a $1,000 scholarship that can be used at any college that they choose to attend.

On Feb. 16, a day that he will never forget, Nolen Dean Sanders of Fayette received an “Ambassador of Peace” medal for his service in the Korean War. The medal was issued by the government of the Republic of Korea and presented to Sanders by two members of the local VFW Post, Post Commander Jerry Fulmer and Skip Hocutt. The certificate from the Korean government stated: “We cherish in our hearts the memory of your boundless sacrifices in helping us reestablish our Free Nation.