The Fayette County Community-Wide Fall Festival, held on Oct. 28 at the Fayette Multi-Purpose Complex was a tremendous success. Hundreds of children of all ages attended the event to enjoy a time of masquerading, food, candy and fun. The event was sponsored by area churches, with many other organizations and individuals helping to host the event.

The Fayette City Council hired a new full-time fireman for the Fayette Fire Department during its Oct. 23 meeting. All council members were present for the meeting. Fayette Fire Chief Shannon Taylor recommendee to the council that Russell Oswalt be hired as a new fireman. He said that Oswalt has worked the past 1 1/2 years as a volunteer fireman with the department and has been an exemplary fireman in that capacity. He said that Oswalt is the kind of person that he feels good about promoting to full-time fireman.

A structure fire occurring on 6th Ave. SW in Fayette on Oct. 23 resulted in damage to a single residential home. Two occupants were home at the time, but managed to leave the home uninjured. The Fayette Fire Department responded to the fire and was able to quickly get the situation under control. According to Fayette Fire Chief Shannon Taylor, the home suffered moderate fire and smoke damage.

The Fayette County Commission hired Holly Duckworth as the new payables clerk during its Oct. 22 meeting. All commissioners were present for the meeting.
 More than 40 applications were received by the commission for the payables clerk position and after interviews were conducted, the selection committee reccommended that Duckworth be hired for the position. The payable clerk will work with County Administrator John Gordon’s office.

Sometimes, one play and just a few seconds make a difference in a football game. That was the case in Fayette’s game last Friday night against Good Hope. With 36.3 seconds remaining in the game, Fayette appeared to be in pretty good shape to win its region and the number one seed in the region for the playoffs. Good Hope’s quarterback, Bailey Quick, had just intentionally grounded the football while attempting to avoid a sack on third down near the Fayette goal line.

Hubbertville closed out region play by traveling to Reform to meet the Tornadoes of Pickens County. The Lions won the coin toss electing to receive but were held to three and out on its opening possession. Facing fourth and seven from its own 33-yard line, Ethan Nichols punted the ball away. The Tornadoes began its opening drive from its own 49-yard line and quickly advanced the ball downfield utilizing the passing game. Facing second down and nine, AlJaron Edwards connected with his receiver in the endzone for the first score of the evening.

The Berry Wildcats ended its 2018 campaign by traveling to Guin to face the Marion County Red Raiders. The Wildcats had three second half touchdowns, but turnovers would be the difference in the game. The Red Raiders took advantage of the three Wildcat turnovers to win the game 42–18.  Marion County won the toss and elected to receive. The Red Raiders returned the kickoff to the Berry 34-yard line to begin play. Marion County had the ball for seven plays before the Wildcats’ defense forced a punt on fourth and 11 from the Berry 49-yard line.

The “Snake Show” came to Fayette Middle School last week, and offered thrills and education about reptiles to the students.
Yarborough Educational Reptiles presented a show that sought to show children that not all snakes and reptiles are bad. The show also brought examples of both venomous and non-venomous snakes, along with several other exotic animals to gibe the students an up-close encounter with nature.

The Fayette County Board of Education met for its regularly scheduled meeting on Oct. 16 at the Berry Elementary School library. The meeting was the board’s annual trip to Berry High School and Berry Elementary School for a tour of the facilities. All board members were present for the meeting. The board elected Steve Sawyer to serve as the new principal at Berry High School, filling the vacancy left when Trevor Kribb left the position near the beginning of the school year to take a similar job with another school system.

The Nov. 6 general election will decide several key offices, not only throughout Fayette County but also in the state. The sheriff race in Fayette County will have three candidates on the ballot. Incumbent Rodney Ingle will be seeking his fourth term as sheriff of Fayette County and will be on the ballot as independent candidate. He will be challenged by current Alabama State Trooper Tierre Agnew as the Democratic candidate and current Fayette policeman Byron Yerby as the Republican challenger.

The Fayette County High School volleyball team celebrated its Senior Night on Oct. 16 with a regional match against Cordova. The seniors on this year's team are Mary Kate Ballew and Aleah Byars.

The Fayette County Fair, held Oct. 16-20  had rides, exhibits and something for just about everyone. The fair is held annually and distributes the profit from the fair to several local organizations.

Fayette scored the first 27 points of the game and coasted to a 33-14 regional road win over the Haleyville Lions. Haleyville received the opening kickoff near midfield and moved inside Fayette territory before a fumble was recovered by the Tigers’ Zack Ingle at the Fayette 30-yard line. The Tigers proceeded to methodically march down the field, with Ingle running the final eight yards on the 11th play of the drive for the touchdown. A two-point conversion run failed and with 3:19 left in the first quarter, Fayette led 6-0.

Hubbertville celebrated its homecoming last week and capped off the festivities with a 41-24 football victory over the Brilliant Tigers.

Hubbertville celebrated homecoming Friday night by welcoming the Brilliant Tigers to Wiley Hollingsworth Stadium. Winning the coin toss, the Lions elected to receive the opening kick, starting its first offensive possession from the 34-yard line. Runs by Zach Hubbert, Gage Key and Blake Anthony quickly moved the ball to midfield and two plays, later Z. Hubbert took the handoff from Ethan Nichols to the endzone for a 47-yard rushing touchdown with 9:18 showing on the clock. The PAT kick by Z. Hubbert was perfect and the Lions were on the scoreboard.

The Berry Wildcats finished up its home games at Fred Webster Stadium by playing host to the Pickens County Tornadoes for Senior Night.  The Tornadoes got off to a quick start and opened up a lead that would prove to be too much for Berry to overcome. The Wildcats fought hard all night but fell 51–7 to Pickens County. The Wildcats returned the opening kickoff to the Berry 39-yard line to begin play, but was unable to advance and piunted the ball away. 

Anne Perry-Uhlman spoke to the Fayette Progress Club on Oct. 11 at the Fayette County Memorial Library. Perry-Uhlman told the club members that there are several events planned during the next few months that will celebrate Fayette County’s role in the state’s 200th anniversary celebration.

The Fayette City Council held its regularly scheduled meeting on Oct. 9 and passed its budget for the 2019 fiscal year. Councilman Jason Cowart and Councilman Jerry Nichols were absent from the meeting. Prior to the start of the business session of the meeting, Fayette County Baptist Association Director John Killian introduced Jim Zeigler, state auditor, as a guest speaker for the meeting. He was allowed five minutes to address the council before the meeting started.

Danny Raines, former coach at Berry High School, is having a remarkable season at a school that was known for its sub-par football teams prior to his arrival. Raines became the head football coach at Headland High School in 2017, following his controversial dismissal as the head football coach at Berry after the 2016 season. When Raines arrived at Berry in 2003, he inherited a football program that had not had a winning season during the previous five years, nor had Berry been to the playoffs during that period of time.

The Fayette County Commission hired two new employees for the county road crew during its Oct. 8 meeting. Billy Rodgers was absent from the meeting with all other commissioners present. County Engineer Chris Howell requested that the commissioners approve the hiring of the two new employees, as was discussed in previous meetings. The employees would fill vacancies on the road crew staff, and the money for the employees was allocated in the recently passed budget for fiscal year 2019.