Life is overwhelmingly beautiful. And terrible. And wonderful. And messy. And short. … But rarely is it predictable. Most people don’t get to the end of their lives and think to themselves, “Well, that went exactly as planned” just before they pass on.
That’s the thing about life…. Some things just happens to us. We aren’t always prepared. Things don’t always go according to plan. Because life often has an itinerary all its own. We can cultivate adaptability and learn to embrace changes in life… or get pulled along begrudgingly. Either way, change is an unconquerable reality.
Sometimes we get to choose it and welcome change eagerly. Sometimes we are painfully unprepared and resist. And sometimes we can get caught in the space between.
The space between ready and not. The space between changing direction and staying the course … between the problem and solution … between the known and unknown … between holding on and letting go.
It’s here, on the cusp of change, that life lends us rest and clarity is keenest if we lean in and allow it. It’s here, in that blank space between the chapters of our lives, that we can pause, take a deep breath and ready ourselves for the next thing. So if you should ever find yourself caught here, in the space between…anxiously waiting… don’t lose heart. These pauses aren’t empty voids … they are life’s way of holding space for our head and our heart to align and embrace. … sometimes we might find the space between can be our saving grace.
– Mackenzie Free –
Wife, mother, photographer & current resident of the unassumingly magical town of Steele, Alabama
Cycling through St. Clair backroads well worth the trek
Story by Roxann Edsall Submitted Photos
“Ride as much or as little, as long or as short as you feel. But ride.”
— Eddy Merckx, Belgian cyclist and five-time Tour de France winner
The popularity of biking, both traditional and E-biking, skyrocketed during the COVID-19 pandemic as the need for social distancing peaked. Outdoor gear companies like Gadsden Outfitters report a leveling off of sales this year to a modest increase, more typical of pre-pandemic growth.
The newest trend gaining speed is gravel cycling. Sales of these gravel cycling bikes rose 109% from 2019 to 2021, according to New York Times. This sport is a bit of a mashup of both road biking and mountain biking. Despite its name, gravel cycling really encompasses riding on any surface that is not a paved road.
Cycling for all ages
The bikes for gravel cycling feature the low gearing of mountain bikes with the lightweight frames of road bikes. The tires of a gravel bike are also narrower than those of a mountain bike.
The sport is popular with beginners because it is less technical than mountain biking and because gravel bikes are so versatile, they can be ridden almost anywhere.
“We’ve been looking at how to include the gravel rider in our events,” says Lloyd Maisonville, president of the Birmingham Bicycle Club. “It’s really up and coming as its own style of cycling. Many of our members have to travel a distance to do gravel events.”
Cyclists, whether their preference is gravel cycling, mountain biking or street riding, often list the adrenaline rush and beauty of the outdoors as motivators in their sport. And that ride often takes them on countryside treks through north St. Clair County to places like Ashville, Horse Pens 40, Chandler Mountain and St. Clair Springs.
Whatever the motivation, though, there is no doubt that cycling is a great low-impact aerobic activity. It’s also perfect both for those who want to be alone with nature and those who want to participate in cycling events with groups.
Nathan and Alex Tucker recently spent the day cycling at Oak Mountain State Park. The father/son duo list the trails there as some of their favorite in the state for biking.
“Oak Mountain has so many different trails. You’re always trying to do your best and get better and faster,” says Nathan. Alex agrees, adding that the variety of trails is good for all skill levels and different styles of riding.
There are many other options for cycling enthusiasts that include the Chief Ladiga Trail, Coldwater Mountain and Fort McClellan Multi-Use Trail, all in Anniston. In the Gadsden area, cyclists may want to visit the trails at Noccalula Falls Park. Other options include Red Mountain Park and Tannehill State Park.
No shortage of support along the way
This month, there are several events. The Eagle Rock Easter Classic is April 8 in Rainbow City and benefits Eagle Rock Boys’ Ranch. There is an event April 16 at Chief Ladiga Trail in Anniston. Bo Bikes Bama is April 22 in Auburn and benefits the Governor’s Emergency Relief Fund.
Get in touch with your local bike club for local rides. One such club is the Birmingham Bicycle Club (Bhambikeclub.org).
“We love hosting rides in St. Clair County,” says the BBC’s president. “The roads and scenery are safe and beautiful, and the drivers are very courteous. We can ride freely and safely, more so than on an inner-city type ride.”
The club’s century ride, the BBC 100, is one of the longest running bicycle events in the state. The ride is Sept. 9 and starts at Ashville High School. There are four routes, ranging from 25 miles to 100 miles, designed to appeal to the variety of riders and skill levels.
In its 50th year of existence, the BBC has recovered from a pandemic membership dip, up to nearly 300 members and growing. Part of their revenue from ride fees goes to helping local communities and into educational efforts to promote cycling.
Editor’s Note: For more information on the club, go to: bhambikeclub.org
Larry Krantz reflects on storied career as photographer, video editor, teacher
Story by Paul South Photos by Graham Hadley Submitted Photos
Captivating photography – the elegant art of light and shadow – is also about timing. The same could be said of Lawrence Krantz’s fourscore plus one years on earth.
The Logan Martin Lake resident’s life may be the most compelling you’ve never heard of, taking him from his Atlanta hometown to Hollywood and into the eye of the righteous hurricane of the Civil Rights movement. It took him to the lightning-fast advancement of technology at Apple and making photos and films with phones.
Harry Belafonte in a concert for the SCLC
He rubbed shoulders with icons – the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and legendary filmmaker Roger Corman. He snapped photos in the golden age of magazines for Life and Playboy, trained at Life and National Geographic and worked as a photojournalist for news agencies like the Associated Press and Black Star.
He chronicled national grief, photographing King’s 1968 funeral and influenced pop culture behind the scenes, as a film editor for a then-unknown chef, Alton Brown, on the upstart Food Network show, Good Eats.
Krantz, now 81, crossed paths with Henry Fonda on the MGM lot, came to know Richard Roundtree and worked on films like Sharky’s Machine and Blood of The Dragon.
When it comes to capturing light and shadow, Krantz, it seems, has seen it all.
“I’m just a guy who’s had some good opportunities,” he says. “And you know, I made something with it.”
Indeed, he did.
It all started with a box camera, a 13th birthday gift from an uncle and a chance encounter with a filmmaker at Isadore Krantz’s hardware store. As a kid, young Lawrence kept his ear tuned to the police radio. When a nearby house fire or other newsworthy event broke, the teen raced to the scene, snapping photos for The Atlanta Journal. Soon, with the Journal’s help, the teen was doing “ride alongs” with Atlanta police. He also shot local dances with his best friend.
“I was doing everything I could to make dollars so I could buy equipment,” he says. “My roots were photography, but I graduated to movies and television,” Krantz says.
Coretta Scott King, with Ralph D. Abernathy, at press conference, Atlanta, April 7, 1968
While working in his dad’s hardware store in the early 1960s, he met the photo and magazine journalist and novelist William Diehl, eventually becoming his apprentice. The two worked together for the next two decades.
Diehl authored nine novels, including Sharky’s Machine and Primal Fear, both made into films. Krantz worked with Diehl and Burt Reynolds, the star and director of Sharky’s Machine. In fact, Krantz inspired a character called “Nosh” – Yiddish for “Eat” – in Sharky’s Machine. “Anybody that knows me knows I like to eat,” Krantz said.
“I worked on independent movies and became an editor for Bill,” Krantz recalled. “I loved it.”
But while he shared the MGM lot with Elvis and Fonda, craning his neck to look for Fonda’s Woody station wagon in its parking space, it was not glitz and glamor.
“We were there to work,” Krantz recalls. “At lunchtime, there were people who would stop by to see Bill and meet him. He garnered the notoriety.”
Still, for Krantz, it was a heady time. The pair often ate in the MGM commissary, rubbing shoulders with veteran actor James Hong, known today to a new generation of viewers for his roles in Seinfeld and The Big Bang Theory, as well as the director Roger Corman, who influenced noted directors Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, the late Peter Bogdanovich, Quentin Tarantino and Ron Howard.
Of Corman, Krantz says, “We knew Roger. He had this knack for making low-budget movies that made a lot of money. He was about making money.”
We would buy footage from events like speedboat races but hire different actors for close-up scenes. With the help of James Hong, Diehl bought a martial arts film from Hong Kong, looking to cash in the on martial arts madness of the 1970s.
“That’s what Bill wanted to do,” Krantz recalls. “He wanted to ride on the coattails of Bruce Lee’s Enter the Dragon.”
The result was a Diehl film called, Return of the Dragon, an overdubbed film without Bruce Lee, but with a low budget and big box office. Call the film a mix of Shane meets martial arts.
“Bill made a lot of money on that,” Krantz says.
Diehl and Krantz first worked together in Atlanta, in the early days of Atlanta magazine, where they collaborated with the late Southern novelist and Auburn alumna, Anne Rivers Siddons.
“They were great times,” Krantz says.
The pair’s pre-Hollywood work in the 1960s took a different path. Krantz accompanied his mentor to south Georgia for the United States Information Agency, where they photographed young civil rights workers being trained to face the crackle and spark, verbal and physical abuse they would face in the segregated South.
“It changed my life,” Krantz says.
“Bill and Dr. King took a liking to each other, and Bill volunteered our services to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. That included all of us.”
Krantz dined twice at the King home in Atlanta. And he would walk with the famous and the everyday to King’s earthly resting place.
It was a small slice of Krantz’s remarkable career. But it was nonetheless important. The memories of “Whites Only” water fountains are burned in his memory.
“Growing up in Atlanta, it was very segregated like Birmingham. (The work) changed me.”
He remembers one meal, when he asked King why he tried so hard to achieve racial equality, when eventually it was going to happen.
“He said, ‘Larry, I would like to see it in my time and not in my grandchildren’s time.’ That I remember.”
Larry and Mary Esther Krantz
Krantz has lived to see King’s dream move toward reality. “I feel very fortunate to have seen that,” he says.
Krantz and Diehl took different paths for a period, but the two would reunite in Atlanta for independent film work. He made award winning commercials at Jayan Productions with nationally known director Jimmy Collins. Later, Krantz would work for the Food Network, Turner Classic Movies and other television shows. After a four-year PBS show, Krantz joined Apple for more than a decade in the early days of digital photography and filmmaking. He still feels the excitement.
Now, even in retirement with his wife, Mary Esther, Krantz is at work, doing film editing for Dovetail Landing, a veteran residential community dedicated to transitioning veterans in Alabama located in Lincoln and for the new Museum of Pell City.
“I feel like I’ve been reawakened from my slumber. It’s exciting.” For Museum of Pell City, Krantz is helping edit interviews for its Living History program. He not only wants to celebrate the town’s past, but the present and future, training schoolchildren to become filmmakers with their seemingly ever-present Smartphone. For Krantz, there’s always another story to tell.
And of his life in light, shadow and time, “We were learning as we were going. I didn’t learn from school. I learned being in the trenches, on the job. And everything we did had to work. I was excited by that. I’ve had a great career,” he said.
“Life gives you opportunities, and when you get them, you have to go with them.”
Story by Linda Long Photos by David Smith, Discover Staff and submitted
In the shadow of Birmingham’s metropolitan region is what had been seen as just another small Alabama town – a crossroads people passed through to get somewhere else.
Those days are quickly fleeting with Moody soaring to Number 1 on the growth charts while managing to hold on to its small-town appeal.
It is warm, inviting and a quiet escape from the frantic busyness of city life, and its population underscores that notion with its replacement of Pell City (albeit by a few residents) as St. Clair County’s largest city.
Starbucks groundbreaking
On an early morning in March, the quiet is punctuated with the raucous sound of a jackhammer. Across the way, a dump truck lumbers along to the beeping of that monotonous warning signal. The buzz of a power saw joins the chorus. Noise to some, perhaps, but to Moody Mayor Joe Lee it’s the sound of music.
“We’re actually the largest municipality in St. Clair County now,” said Lee. “According to the latest census, we beat out Pell City. We beat them by just a few, but we are the largest.”
If the Mayor sounds proud, it’s with good reason. His city is experiencing a surge in industrial, commercial and residential growth, unlike any other in the town’s history. Ribbon cuttings, groundbreakings, grand openings are all signs of the times.
It’s hard to keep up with some days, said Lee, adding that Moody’s unprecedented growth spurt can be summed up in a single word – location.
“We have easy access to I-20. Turn right and you go to Birmingham and all the activities there. Go left, and you head toward Pell City, the Honda plant and the Talladega Speedway. We’re also convenient for folks to live here to go outside the city to work.”
Couple the city’s location with the city’s ownership of large and small commercial properties having interstate and major highway visibility and/or access, and it’s a winning combination for prospective business and residents.
One such property under development is a 60,00-square-foot family entertainment center off I-20. The center boasts a trampoline park, an arcade and a 16-lane bowling alley. Fall of 2024 is the projected opening date.
The entertainment center sits on acreage where “we think it will help us promote the rest of the property where it’s built, here at the crossroads. The area is built for outparcels
Two coffee shops are new in town. 7 Brews, a national chain, opened on March 6 and is located on the Moody Parkway, featuring only drive through service. Moody Chamber of Commerce Director Andrea Machen has observed that so far, business there has been “very good.”
Also debuting on the coffee scene is Starbucks, set to open on June 6. It will feature its traditional drive-through and in-house service. Appropriately enough Dunkin’ Donuts has opened nearby.
Making old new again, the mayor said, “We’ve also back-filled a 25-year-old shopping with the Fresh Value grocery store. It’s the old shopping center, where Fred’s used to be here at the crossroads. We expect more development. There are many possibilities in that shopping center. The developer is already looking at one potential investment.”
While business development is going gangbusters, residential development is not far behind.
Fresh Value Grand Opening
According to Lee, 425 new homes have been built in recent years. Presently, seven subdivisions are under construction, and 137 lots are left for development.
“People are looking at Moody all the time to open new residential subdivisions,” said Lee. “So, that market will continue.
Also under construction “even as we speak,” said Lee, “is a new 18,000 square foot Moody police station.” It will house Moody’s 30-member police force.
The city has taken on several ambitious infrastructure projects, including a $7 million sewer system, which will double its present capacity. “We had to have it to take care of the growth,” said Lee.
Plans also call for four major road improvements, including $2.2 million in improvements at County Road 10 and US 411. This project will provide turn lanes and traffic signals to upgrade Moody’s main crossroads.
Other projects will upgrade the intersections at Highway 411 and Kerr Road and Washington and Verbena. “These upgrades will improve traffic flow into the city. We’ve got to do that,” Lee said.
Perhaps the crown jewel in all this expansion is Kelly Creek Commerce Park – the only facility of its kind in St. Clair County, the mayor said. Undeniably, the park is big – 172 acres with 1.4 million square feet of building space. According to Lee, “the site is ready to lease.”
When completed the new commercial park is expected to bring with it 600 new jobs.
Those are the kind of stats Machen likes to hear. “Those 600 new jobs are what will keep our people right here in Moody and St. Clair County, so they don’t have to go outside to work. There may be some job transfers so people can be close to home and close to their kids.”
While there are no tenants yet for the park, Machen said, the ribbon has just been cut, and “we are working to fill it right now.”
The pioneers who paved the way for Alabama stock car racing
Story by John Garrison Jr. Submitted Photos
World War II had just ended, and America emerged victorious. The economic engine turned from war production to consumer production. People who, during wartime rationing of everything from rubber, gasoline, meat and butter, suddenly had plentiful supplies of everything.
American auto manufacturing had quit producing cars from 1943 to 1945 to support the war effort. American ingenuity, however, came alive after 1945. People felt good about America, and new inventions abounded and by that same year, Americans were saving on average 21percent of their earnings.
In a good economy, hard-working people like to enjoy some of the fruits of their labor with social activities, and many turned to sports events.
Couple all that with a re-emerged automobile industry, and the everyday American, blue-collar guy looked for ways to continue the good feeling that competition and another chance to win brought about.
Enter the thrilling stock car racing industry where an old family jalopy dragged from the barnyard would get a new lease on life as a racecar.
Imagine a group of guys coming together as a ragtag team to build a racecar. One might have mechanic’s skills, another as a body and fender/painter/welder type and yet another ex-soldier with courage enough to drive at breakneck speeds.
This is how a whole new enthusiasm for motorsports began in Alabama and across the nation. Despite automobile racing existing prior to this period, it was reserved primarily to a small population and cars built specifically for racing and not your typical old family coupe or sedan, thus the term “stock car.”
Around Birmingham, circa 1948, there was a track carved out of an old field near Roebuck called the lronbowl Speedway. The track was a dirt oval and on Sunday afternoons, crowds would gather to see the daredevil field of drivers and their home-built machines compete to be the first to the checkered flag. The hill above the track would be filled with wives, kids and neighbors with picnic baskets sitting on the hoods of their family cars taking in the spectacle. Everybody came home covered in dust.
As the early days of stock car racing in Alabama was forming, the fairgrounds at Birmingham had a 1-mile oval horse racing track built in 1906 that sometimes held an occasional motorcycle race or a car race of specially built open-wheel racecars.
During the same period as the old lronbowl Speedway, Birmingham Fairgrounds began running stock car races, as well. Then in 1958, NASCAR (National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing) brought sanctioned racing to Birmingham and other tracks in Alabama.
Checking out a wreck that was stopped by the fence
Stock car racing was being born from the crude beginnings of low-budget, homebuilt cars to a commercial industry that brought higher levels of engineering talent and corporate sponsor dollars emerging into the highly refined sport of stock car racing today. Racing was financially out of reach for the regular guy. The old days and ways were changing quickly.
There is still a group of traditionalists that have a love and devotion to the old days where it all began. Beginning days that produced such greats as Bobby and Donnie Allison, Red Farmer, still making racing appearances at 90 years old, and Neil Bonnet, who died racing stock cars in 1994 at 47 years old.
Although those became household names in the sport because of the entry into corporate racing, there were great racers that will forever have places in the hearts of the “purists” of the sport. People like Nero Stepto, Sonny Black, Fletcher Ford, Alton Jones, Fred Thompson, “Paddlefoot” Wales and those who went by aliases – drivers who changed their names so their employer wouldn’t fire them for engaging in such a dangerous sport.
There is an organization dedicated to the preservation of racing history in Alabama named the Alabama Auto Racing Pioneers (aarpinc.org) where hundreds of old photographs and stories abound on the history of racing here.
At the Talladega Motor Sports Hall of Fame, the Alabama Racing Pioneers room features photos and memorabilia from that bygone era.
Membership in the organization is only $35 a year to join. Current membership is 320 across the state and there are gatherings and banquets for those interested in preserving the history. l
Sue Turton will never forget the young girl who came to the Christian Love Pantry with her father years ago. She couldn’t have been more than 6 or 7, but she’d already experienced the hard realities of life. Her father had lost his job, the family was hungry, and they turned to the ministry based in Pell City for help.
The little girl’s eyes got wide as she looked at the groceries the volunteers had prepared for the family, Turton remembered. “Oh Daddy, look, there’s peanut butter,” the child said. “We’re not poor anymore.”
Pell City Rotarians join volunteer ranks
For more than four decades, the Christian Love Pantry, has been providing much more than just food to St. Clair County families in crisis. Based on the belief of neighbors helping neighbors, they’ve offered hope, love, kindness and compassion by the grocery cartful.
“The Lord always provides enough,” said Bob Osborn, a volunteer who serves as director of the nonprofit. “This community is wonderful that way. If we need something, they step up.”
That was certainly obvious in December when the Christian Love Pantry gave away 22,500 pounds of food during its annual Christmas in the Park event held at Lakeside Park. Area churches and civic organizations provided volunteers, and the St. Clair County Airport Authority and members of the Pell City Seventh Day Adventist Church distributed toys and treats collected during a toy drive sponsored by the Airport Authority.
“You’re helping people, and that’s what people need,” one recipient said. “There’s a lot of people who are hungry.”
In the beginning …
The Christian Love Pantry began in 1980 when three Pell City churches – St. Simon Peter Episcopal Church, First United Methodist Church and Our Lady of the Lake Catholic Church – joined forces to meet the ongoing need for emergency food distribution.
After receiving a donation of $10,000 in 1982, the Pell City Ministerial Council officially established the ministry, which was incorporated as a nonprofit in 1991 and began receiving United Way of Central Alabama funding. Since then, many more churches have come on board, helping in a variety of ways.
“The original articles of incorporation said the purpose was to help the needy in the community and to also give members of different denominations to work together for the common good and understanding of each other,” said Turton, who serves as secretary.
So far, they’ve remained true to both goals. Seven churches – the original three, plus Cropwell Baptist, Harvest Center, Pell City Seventh Day Adventists and First Baptist – still have members on the Christian Love Pantry’s board of directors. Another nine or 10 congregations provide volunteers, financial support, or food donations. “We are all different denominations, but we are all Christians and believe in Jesus,” Osborn said. “The unity we get from hanging out with one another and volunteering together is special.”
Providing daily bread
The organization, which serves thousands of people each year and is completely staffed by volunteers, is not a substitute for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), often referred to as food stamps. Instead, it is designed to help families during emergency situations. For some, that’s the loss of a job or a health diagnosis resulting in high medical bills. For others, it’s a broken car transmission, a heating unit in need of repairs, or grandparents who have taken in a grandchild and haven’t started receiving benefits.
Getting everything ready for distribution a team effort all enjoy
“We give them enough food to get through a crisis,” Turton said. Typically, the Christian Love Pantry offers two emergency services per family each year in addition to providing food during special giveaway events usually held in the spring or summer, at Thanksgiving, and before Christmas. Clients are referred by other agencies, churches, the 211 directory, or family, friends and neighbors.
All recipients must live in St. Clair County, meet federal poverty guidelines, or be facing a special circumstance. The average family served has 2.5 members and an income of about $1,200 a month, which is well below the federal guidelines, Turton said.
Twice a year, families can receive enough food to last a week, if not more. The bounty, based on the number of people in the household and the food available in the warehouse includes a variety of soups, stews, vegetables, peanut butter and jelly, beans, pasta, rice, crackers, powdered milk, flour, corn meal, and more. In addition, recipients get fresh produce such as apples, oranges, carrots and potatoes, as well as meat and chicken. Publix donates bread and pastries daily, and the pantry also provides items such as diapers and pet food when available.
“Some families come every six months, and some you may see every five years,” Osborn said. “We don’t send anyone who’s out of food and hungry away,” Turton said, adding that partial services can be provided when necessary.
In addition to the twice-yearly services, the Christian Love Pantry also hosts several special event distributions each year. In December, for example, 250 families received over 90 pounds of food, including a 6-pound ham, 8 pounds of chicken, ground beef, as well as a variety of canned goods, breads and staples.
So how does it all happen? It takes a lot of partnerships, Osborn said. United Way is still the ministry’s top funder, providing about 40 percent of the budget. The rest comes from grants, churches, individual donations, fundraisers and civic organizations.
The Community Food Bank of Central Alabama in Birmingham is an important partner, as well. The agency serves as a hub for food pantries, homeless shelters and children’s programs, and Christian Love Pantry volunteers can buy food, including meat, for 16 cents a pound through the Food Bank so they can distribute it to their clients. “We get a lot of good food for very little money,” Osborn said. “It allows us to give generously.”
In addition to bread and pastries, Publix donates pallets of food a few times a year. Fresh Value offers a discount on food, and fresh produce is harvested from Gateway Community Garden. In addition, local farmers donate fresh eggs. The volunteers also provide recipes and information about other social services available.
Meeting the need
At its peak, the Christian Love Pantry provided nearly 3,000 families with regular services in a year. In 2020, the numbers dropped since clients received relief payments from the government, but since then the numbers have been on the rise again. In 2021, the ministry served 1,150 households with 2,961 people, Turton said. Last year, 1,406 families with 3,607 people were served. About 30 percent of those were children.
Although volunteers currently number about 100, there’s always room for more, according to Debbie Parmenter, who is a former volunteer coordinator and current Board chair. Volunteer opportunities range from working directly with clients for screening and food distribution, stocking donations, using pallet jacks to move large quantities of food and picking up daily donations at Publix. Only one shift per month is required, but many volunteers look forward to helping more often.
“We all have our niche,” Osborn said. “This is one little thing we can do once or twice a month that contributes to the community at large.”
Many of the volunteers are retired and have supported the ministry financially for years, but they are now enjoying a more personal commitment now that their children are grown, and job commitments have ended. “Many of us for many years had more money than time to help,” Turton said. “It’s indescribably better to be on this side of it and provide more than financial support.”
For information about receiving assistance, call (205) 338-2358 during the ministry’s business hours, which are Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 9 a.m. to noon. To learn about volunteer opportunities, message them on The Christian Love Pantry Facebook page.
