Biking St. Clair

County’s terrain, beauty draw cyclists

Story by Will Heath
Photos by Mike Callahan and Susan Wall

Something about St. Clair County keeps drawing cyclists from all around back to its roads. Perhaps it’s the winding paths that lead to unrivaled scenery, like Chandler Mountain, Washington Valley, Logan Martin and Neely Henry lakes.

Maybe it’s the feel of the wind and the solitude as you pedal one more mile and then another to get a glimpse of one more breathtaking view.

Ask a cyclist, and they will readily tell you it’s the countryside – rolling pastures, meandering creeks, an old barn, a roadside waterfall – it all keeps them coming back for more.

“There are more and more people getting involved in it,” said Jay Hollis of Pell City. “Last year and particularly the year before, there were quite a few new cyclists in the area.

A rider himself, Hollis now estimates that “probably 35-40 people” in the area ride with about 15 to 20 on a regular basis. His own group, the Pell City Cycling Club, bikes two to three times per week.

“It’s a really well-known area,” he said. “A lot of the men and women we ride with, they will pass through here, and we meet up with them when we can. They come from Irondale, Chelsea and the Shelby County area. … I ride with a group from Vestavia sometimes on Sundays. They come over about once or twice a month for 40-50 miles around the area.”

St. Clair County offers them a central meeting point, with a friendly culture and picturesque scenery.

“I love St. Clair County,” said Sherry Wilson of the Urology Foundation, which for a decade chose St. Clair for its Tour de Blue to raise money and awareness about prostate cancer. “It’s just a beautiful countryside. The people are so nice and friendly.”

 “They pitched in and helped us with our ride,” Wilson said. “We just kept going back to the same area to put on this event because the people in Moody were just fantastic – from the mayor’s office to the police department to the volunteers to the school system. We started at the elementary school and meandered around the countryside. The (administration) was just great to work with, and we just really enjoyed it.”

Although Wilson and fellow organizer, Tom Moody, said they were discontinuing the ride for the time being, “I have nothing but good things to say about the people of Moody, and the terrain was lovely,” Moody said. “The positive parts were the generosity and support of the people, particularly the mayor’s office and the chief of police and the government. And the beautiful scenery we had the riders go through it.”

That ride included a century ride – 100 miles in all – that had cyclists from multiple states biking over Blount Mountain and passing McClendon Gap, circling around Chandler Mountain, and through historic Ashville. It was a remarkable showcase for the county’s scenery, one that earned no shortage of praise from riders in various forums around the web.

“This is a ‘must do’ ride in Alabama,” said Doug Tinkham of SwimBikeRunAlabama.com

“Put this ride on your calendar,” said Dan (“Dirtdog”) Watson, creator of Dirtdogs Birmingham Cycling Google Group

“Awesome route. One of the most scenic centuries I’ve ridden,” said John Halsey, another participant

Biking is an activity that draws in participants from all over. Tim Pemberton of Trussville’s Cahaba Cycles says he sees a “steady increase” of riders from around his area.

“I think it usually starts off like, ‘I want to do something to get in shape,’” he said. “You go from riding around the neighborhood to seeing how far you can go.

“There are lot of people who ride up to Springville by the prison (St. Clair Correctional Facility in historic St. Clair Springs) and come back on 411, make a big loop there. There’s also, up in Springville to the left, you can climb Pine Mountain up there. Lots of people are riding in Springville and make that kind of loop and come back (to Trussville).” The view from Pine Mountain’s ridge is incredible.

Pemberton sees riders of all ages, particularly since Hewitt-Trussville High School added a mountain biking team. “It’s all over the place,” he said. “They go from that (high school) age to as old as you want to be.”

For his part, Hollis says he and others ride from one end of the county to the other – “all the way to Ohatchee, to sometimes the tip of Talladega,” he said. “We’ll ride down to Vandiver or Sterrett or to locations near Leeds,” also a popular destination point for scenic routes on Highways 55 and 43 (Wolf Creek Rd). “Sundays, we’re out sometimes four to five hours at a time when everyone can get together.

Hollis enjoys the Northwest section of the county just as much – “probably more toward Springville and Odenville, there are amazing rides out there,” he said, adding that the Pell City Cycling Club would like to start adding some routes to the area. We will post routes on our site and we encourage anyone wanting to start cycling or veteran cyclists to look us up and join in.

 “We like getting out, just being outdoors. A little bit of exercise while enjoying the beautiful rolling hills in the area.” Sometimes while riding I cant wait for it to end only to find myself thinking about when the next ride begins. You cant help but enjoy the fresh air and the winding backroads.

 

Safety, equipment
critical to sport

It’s more than just the ability to pedal. Pemberton said he frequently field questions from first-time riders to veterans alike. He and others at Cahaba Cycles can offer tips on safety, as well as equipment.

“There’s a different bike for riding around the neighborhood, or if you’re going to be in a big group riding on the road,” he said. “I try to tell everybody to at least have some lights to keep on even during the daytime, and some high viz clothing or helmet or something, so at least you’ll be seen.”

And as cycling numbers have grown, so has the need for more awareness about vehicles and bicycles on the road together. Hollis noted that a member, Charlie Browning, worked tirelessly and helped encourage the county to erect “Share the Road” signs to help support riders.

As the county continues to grow, “Hopefully they (county government) will get more behind it and make it a bit more rider friendly in the next few years,” Hollis said. It is a beautiful destination for people to come and enjoy cycling or running.

For now, though, no one’s complaining. They just board their bikes, take in the scenery and enjoy the ride.

Economic Evangelists

Lyman Lovejoy and Bill Ellison tirelessly
work to boost St. Clair County

Story by Paul South
Photos by Graham Hadley and Carol Pappas

Look around one of the top five fastest growing counties in the state, and it is hard to miss the work of two individuals who put county first and profits second. Make no mistake, both are successes in their careers, but they are strong forces for progress, envisioning what can be and becoming the catalysts to make it happen.

Lyman Lovejoy, president and CEO of Lovejoy Realty, and Bill Ellison, president and CEO of I-20 Development Inc., not only share a friendship, they share common traits – perseverance, vision, heart, emphasis on teamwork, integrity, legacy and love of community. That’s what matters most to them, and St. Clair County has become the beneficiary.

 

A cheerleader for the county

For 47 years, Lyman Lovejoy has worked in real estate and development in the county as president and CEO of Lovejoy Realty. His company has built residential subdivisions and farms and helped young couples buy their first home. But he has done more, much more.

He makes it his business to get involved with every city government in the county as well as the County Commission, St. Clair Economic Development Council and other entities that share a common goal of moving forward. He knows every mayor and council member in the county by first name, and when he sees a need, he works to fill it.

He is an essential part of the growth of Margaret, which grew by 278 percent between the 2000 and 2010 censuses. The next five years tacked on another 8 percentage points of growth. When the town needed a drug store, a dentist and a doctor, Lovejoy successfully recruited them to town. He’s done the same in other St. Clair communities.

Don Smith, executive director of the St. Clair EDC, remembers his surprising first encounter with Lovejoy, when Smith was interviewing for the assistant executive director’s role. He expected someone with a large portfolio of successes to be far different from the down-to-earth man he met.

“I expected him to be cutthroat and ruthless,” Smith said. “At the time, I thought it was hard to be that successful without kind of selling your soul a little bit. What I learned quickly was this: Lyman has one of the purest hearts of anyone I’ve ever met. He can’t lie. He tells you everything he’s thinking in the first two minutes after he meets you. He is about as transparent as anybody.”

 “We do more business in some parts of the county than others,” said Lovejoy Realty’s Qualifying Broker Brian Camp, who is also Lovejoy’s son-in-law. “But Lyman is still out promoting the county because he loves the people. He loves the life that it promotes. He just thinks it’s a great way of life out here and wants everybody to know about it. He’s just all for the county and its people.”

He has served as chairman of the county’s Industrial Development Board, on the Alabama Real Estate Commission, and been honored by the SCEDC with its Chairman’s Award. Past recipients have included retired Alabama Power executive Tommy Bowers of Pell City, Circuit Judge Bill Weathington of Moody, Spencer Wideman of Ragland’s National Cement and others.

“He believes in a better tomorrow,” Smith said. “While some people see a vacant lot, he sees it’s going to be a piece of property that’s going to be home to a lovely neighborhood, or a store to serve the community or a church that’s going to be a gathering place on Sundays for the community. That’s what he sees. He loves this community.”

For his part, Lovejoy downplays his role. He says his success came with the help of others. In turn, he works to help others.

 “Lyman would tell you he’s in the people business, not really the real estate business,” said Camp, who’s worked alongside Lovejoy for 20 years. “He digs down in every aspect of their lives, where they work, where they go to church, what they’re doing. It just naturally comes to him, helping people in their lives, then he works with them on their houses and land. He works to help people get jobs or move from one position to the other. He’s actually involved in more of people’s lives than just real estate.”

Camp added, “Ninety-nine percent of what Lyman does in the community is not about real estate. He helps and works to make a difference and stumbles into business while doing that.”

Smith agreed. “I’ve walked up behind him while he’s talking, and he’s not even talking about his properties, but about the county. He’s a one-man marketing machine for the county.”

For Lovejoy, it’s not about a transaction or numbers. Over the years, Lovejoy’s firm has owner-financed home mortgages for folks whose credit may not be up to par.

“It is about relationships,” Lovejoy said. “If people know you care about them, then the business will come to you.”

Lovejoy was beating the drum for St. Clair County decades before it became a hot property for commercial and residential development, when cold calls to bankers and others were met more with skepticism than optimism. Times have changed.

“It’s kind of a comical thing. When I first moved down here, people would laugh and say, ‘What are you going to have, hoot owls and chickens?’ Years later, they were calling me asking me to get them a little piece of property in St. Clair County. I guess we had the last laugh.”

Lovejoy, now 76, with the energy of someone half his age, seems always on the move, chatting up strangers in the grocery store checkout, performing Christmas carols or favorite hymns for residents at nursing homes, or walking property, thinking of its potential. It’s all part of learning about the county and the communities he loves.

Over the years, he has helped recruit Jenkins Brick, now ACME Brick, and large corporations; located numerous industrial and new school sites; and brought in retail, in addition to dozens of subdivisions he developed, appropriately earning him the moniker, “The Land Man.”

 

Hard work, bird dogs and a legacy

Bill Ellison was semi-retired when he moved from Kentucky to St. Clair County in 1985 after building a string of successful fast-food franchises and economic development projects.

An avid outdoorsman who hunts, fishes and competes at a high level in bird-dog field trials, Ellison fell in love with the woods and waters of the county. But ever the hard-working entrepreneur who would labor seven days a week in his eateries from dawn to dark, Ellison saw a need in the Pell City and sought to fill it.

“At that time, living in Pell City, entertainment, restaurants and shopping options were minimal,” Ellison recalled. “To shop for most things, we were having to go to Talladega, Leeds, Birmingham or Oxford. There just weren’t that many choices in Pell City for shopping. You would hear it in the community. People wanted more retail options.”

 Even though he had development experience, he’d never done anything on a scale to match a retail shopping center. But Ellison went to work. He cast his eye to the north side of I-20. It became the Bankhead Crossing development, anchored by a Wal-Mart, followed by Home Depot and dozens more on both sides of the US 231 interchange.

The growth seen today didn’t happen by accident. It took him 14 years to assemble the multiple properties that now comprise what is a sprawling commercial district along that corridor.

Folks learned quickly that Bill Ellison is a persistent man and he is not afraid to solicit help. He welcomes it. From partners to city and county governments to economic development officials and bankers, he skillfully put together a collaborative effort that would become the thriving commercial district you see today.

He obtained option agreements, and those, combined with the Pell City government’s realization that the future growth of the city and its tax base could be realized in that corridor, all worked together to make it happen.

Once he had assembled all the purchase agreements, he had to go to the City of Pell City for help with major hurdles like annexation and the extension of utilities under the interstate.

The city and the county officials realized that the interstate was important to their future economic growth. It was Ellison’s vision, but the city and the county, Ellison’s partners and Ed Gardner Sr., former executive director of the St. Clair EDC, all worked to make it happen.

And there were cold calls, lots and lots of cold calls, to prospective retailers. From that piece of ground with Ellison’s persuasiveness in obtaining letters of intent grew an Arby’s, a Wendy’s, a Hampton Inn, a gas station and a Western Sizzlin’. Ellison had been recruiting the steakhouse for years, and he and his partners actually bought the franchise and opened it. The others soon followed because of the success of Western Sizzlin’.

The story is important, because it speaks volumes about Ellison. It’s about persistence. It’s about teamwork. “It’s about everyone working together – the city, the county, the EDC – were all focused on what had to be done in retail development.” Look at the county’s economic growth, and you see it was a tipping point. “Because of the successes we had, the whole county realized that if every one worked together, we could achieve anything we wanted to achieve.”

“I’m a little bit fearless,” Ellison said. “Looking back on it now at 71 years old … the timing for what we did was perfect. You can work hard. You can work real hard, but you’ve got to have the elected officials believe in you. And you’ve got to have some luck. I’ve had a lot of help and luck along the way,”

He added, “We were fortunate that we had success.”

And there would be more successes to follow, translating to a broader tax base, boosting schools, helping bring new and improved parks and recreation facilities, the Center for Education and the Performing Arts (CEPA), where crowds flock to hear legends like Martha Reeves and the Vandellas bring a “Heat Wave” to Pell City.

These amenities resulted from Ellison and that cooperative effort and enhanced the quality of life not only for Pell City but the region.

“He has been one of the largest growth catalysts that Pell City has ever had, since the opening of Avondale Mills (which opened in the early 1900s),” Smith said.

Look all around Pell City to see more evidence of that. He began with the groundbreaking for an Exxon convenience store. Following, his work became responsible for Walmart Supercenter, Home Depot, Publix, Metro Bank, USAmeribank, Krystal, Arby’s, Wendy’s, Holiday Inn Express, Hampton Inn, Cracker Barrel, Walgreens, Comfort Inn, Golden Rule, Zaxby’s, Dairy Queen, Bojangles, Buffalo Wild Wings and scores of retailers and service businesses. They are not located in just one area, but citywide, benefitting everyone. His developments account for four of the city’s top 10 sales tax generators and no less than 35 percent of total sales tax base.

While Lovejoy tries to fit locals into local niches – like home-owned drug stores – Ellison’s contacts cast a wider net into larger retailers and franchises. Almost all the development on the U.S. 231/I-20 interchange was the result of decades of Ellison’s tireless work. Wal-Mart, Home Depot, a movie theater, three hotels and every fast-food eatery imaginable dot the landscape, Smith said.

“He’s constantly encouraging retailers to come to the market, three or four years before the market is ready,” Smith said. “When the market is just at the verge of being ready, they’ve already heard about Pell City and the market because of Bill Ellison. He is responsible for two of the three largest sales tax generators in Pell City.”

Ellison sometimes tells a self-effacing joke, Smith said, that speaks volumes about the Lexington, Ky., native’s persistence.

“The joke is that many times retailers come to Pell City, not because the market’s large enough, but just so Bill will leave them alone. He is tenacious.”

Big retailers may have their algorithms and mountains of software to help them analyze the viability of a franchise in Pell City, but spreadsheets often miss the mark, Smith said.

“Many times, they don’t get it right, until they just trust in Bill, because he knows that people who shop in Pell City aren’t all from Pell City. He knows there are people who come to the lake (Logan Martin) or spend their summers at the lake – and those numbers don’t show up on a census report. He knows that Pell City’s economic strength is much greater than any demographic report a retailer may run.”

Ellison calls his persistence “moving the rock.”

“Every day you try to move the rock,” he said. “Every day, you try to have a positive push somewhere. Some days you push the rock, and the rock doesn’t move, but some days you push, and the rock does move. But you’ve got to try to move the rock every day. And it’s not just one rock. You have to multi-task.”

Timing, tireless work, teamwork and more than a little luck, made the developments happen, Ellison said. But at its heart, the growth began with countless cold calls, not over days and weeks, but years.

And he had help along the way from the late Don Perry, chairman of the board for Metro Bank, who over the years believed in him, helped him and encouraged him. “I can’t say enough about Don’s leadership, Metro Vice President Richard Knight and the bank’s philosophy in general about putting community first.”

First Bank of Alabama and its president, Chad Jones, have given him help along the way, too, he said.

He cites a lesson he learned in the restaurant business as a key that translated into his success in economic development efforts.

“Restaurants (are) a people business,” he said. “I’m no better than (the dining experience of) my last customer. In the development business it’s the same way. You’re no better than your last transaction. You’ve got to treat people right. You must be honest. You must be fair. It’s about satisfying your customer every single transaction of the day.”

He added, “I want to do something the right way.”

Like Lovejoy, Ellison seems constantly in motion. Ellison fills pages of a legal pad with his weekly to-do list. He works hard, and he plays to win, constantly listening, looking and learning.

That “can-do” work ethic can be traced back to his childhood, he mused. He described himself as a hyperactive child, and when his grandparents would babysit him to allow his parents to go out for the evening, they kept him occupied with puzzles.

The problem solver seen today in Ellison’s approach to business stems from those puzzles he figured out as a child. “Economic development is like a puzzle you have to figure out, making sure all the pieces fit in the right place,” he said.

Finding a way through the obvious maze of economic development in and of itself can be stressful. His release comes in the field, with his bird dogs. On the 2017 United Field Trialers Association circuit, Ellison has the two highest point amateur dogs in the nation. “I get to go out and shoot my gun and let the stress melt off. That’s what I use my bird dogs for.”

Like his dogs, development is a passion.

“Real estate is a business, but it’s a love that I have for chasing things and trying to bring more businesses in here. It’s something I love doing,” he said.

Ellison has an unmistakable love for St. Clair County. And he’s the same kind of cheerleader for the county that Lovejoy is.

“We’ve got a great county,” Ellison said. “My pitch is, St. Clair County is a great county today, and it’s going to be even better in the future.”

With Ellison and Lovejoy leading the effort, that prediction looks to be a self-fulfilling prophecy.

ACES

This ain’t your granddaddy’s Extension System

Story by Elaine Hobson Miller
Photos by Michael Callahan

Perplexed about when to plant kale or collard greens? The Alabama Cooperative Extension System has a workshop for that.
Want your teenagers to learn money-management skills or more about healthy eating? Alabama Extension has programs for that, too.
Need to touch up your job skills? Alabama Extension can help you do that as well.

Many folks remember St. Clair County extension agents coming to their farms to advise gramps about those pesky weeds in the cow pasture. They may recall home agents telling grandma that to safely can her green beans she must use a pressure canner not her hot water bath canner. But money management and job resumes? Clearly, this isn’t your grandparents’ extension service any more.

“Most people know us simply as the Extension Service, but our name officially changed from service to system in 1995 after a landmark federal court ruling, making ours the nation’s first unified Extension program,” says Lee Ann Clark, coordinator for Alabama Extension’s St. Clair County office since 2005.

“Originally, program services centered primarily around agriculture and home economics-related topics. The 4-H Clubs, which began in 1909 as Corn Clubs (for boys) and Tomato Canning Clubs (for girls), laid the foundation for today’s 4-H program. It is still one of our flagship programs, but we’re so much more today.”

For 90 years, the bulk of extension programs were carried out by county agents—generalists who kept abreast of many different subjects and delivered a wide-variety of programs.

By the onset of the 21st century, there were fewer farms, changes in public expectations and the World Wide Web, which changed how information was being delivered. In 2004, these changes prompted a reorganization and switch from using the generalist agents to regional agents who specialize in one of 14 extension program priority areas.

Regional agents now cover several counties, advising third-generation farmers and the newcomers who just moved out of the city. However, despite the growing emphasis on regional agents, Alabama Extension continues to operate offices in all 67 counties.

Funded by federal, state and county governments, Alabama Extension is an extension of land-grant colleges, according to Henry Dorough, extension coordinator for Talladega County and a former regional agent for animal science and forage in St. Clair County.

Land-grant colleges were established by the federal government under the Morrill Act of 1862, which granted 30,000 acres of federal land for each member of Congress each state had. Southern states were prevented from participation until after the Civil War. The Hatch Act of 1887 established agricultural experiment stations in conjunction with the land-grant colleges. In 1890, the second Morrill Act extended land-grant status to black colleges in the South, which included Alabama A&M and Tuskegee University.

Today, there are 16 research centers in Alabama, along with Auburn University and Alabama A&M, that feed research-based information to Alabama Extension.

“The basic premise for Cooperative Extension actually began at Tuskegee Institute, now Tuskegee University,” Dorough explains. “Dr. Booker T. Washington, the university’s first president, mandated that all professors spend time out in the community educating the public, especially the poor and in rural areas, teaching citizens where they lived. He coined the phrase, ‘taking the university to the people,’ which is what Alabama Extension does.”

 
Early days

The roots of the county extension agent go back even further, to the ‘movable school’ George Washington Carver established through Tuskegee University in 1906. Named after Morris K. Jesup, the Jesup Wagon was a horse-drawn demonstration wagon used by Thomas Monroe Campbell, who later that year received a federal appointment as a farm demonstration agent.

The same day Campbell got his assignment (November 12, 1906), William Crider Stallings of Texas became the first extension agent to serve a single county. “The way I see it, the sun rises in Tuskegee before it does in Texas, making Campbell the first County Agent,” says Dorough. “I think it’s significant that a black man at a black college in Alabama was the first extension agent in the country.”

Tuskegee is a private land-grant college with its own extension program. “Tuskegee opted out of Alabama Extension to preserve its history and unique identity, but they are a partner in the system,” Dorough says. We call on each other and work with them, even though their name isn’t on our letterhead.”

 
Casting a wide net

The regional agents covering St. Clair County go far beyond what Booker T. Washington or George Washington Carver could have imagined. Angela Treadaway, regional agent for food safety, preservation and preparation, heads up the ServSafe program, a certification class for restaurant workers and owners required by the county health department. Her class on cottage industries keeps people who want to sell foods from their own kitchens from running afoul of the health department.

Vikki Blalock of Lincoln learned some jelly-making techniques at a recent Jams and Jellies Workshop hosted by Treadaway. “These new techniques will save me time and will produce a better jelly,” she says.

Sallie Lee, urban regional extension agent for home grounds, gardens and home pests, has lots of programs for older folks, like Grow It to Eat It, a catchy name for container gardening. Emily Hines, regional agent for family resource management and workforce development, conducts workshops and advises individuals on budgeting and finance, along with job preparation skills like resume writing.

Nancy Graves is the 4-H Foundation regional agent, while Becky Staples serves as a 4-H agent assistant for St. Clair County. Staples goes into local schools with various programs like Skins & Skulls, a science program that gives fourth-graders an up-close-and-personal look at the structure of wild animals in the woods of St. Clair County. She also conducts a Classroom in the Forest program and takes a group of kids to 4-H camp every summer. Graves is in charge of all volunteer-led clubs, including the 4-H after-school club and specialty clubs that focus on horses, archery and shotguns.

Through the 4-H Innovators Program — the only one of its kind in Alabama — Staples uses STEM-based (science, technology, engineering and math) projects that expose kids to critical thinking and teamwork. Spaghetti Towers, for example, gives students 18 minutes to take 20 pieces of uncooked spaghetti noodles, three feet each of masking tape and string, and a marshmallow to build a freestanding tower that will hold the marshmallow.

 Donna Shanklin, regional agent for human nutrition, diet and health, holds workshops on diabetes education and various other health and nutrition-related topics for the general public. She also works with soon-to-be released prison inmates, providing them information on nutrition and public health.

Bethany O’Rear, regional agent for home grounds, gardens and home pests, conducts classes on gardening, landscape and rain barrels. Every other fall, she teaches the 12-week Master Gardener course, which will be available again in September 2018.

Joan Belzer attended O’Rear’s Fall Gardening Tips lunch-and-learn workshop in December 2017. “That was the first one I’d gone to,” says the Steele resident. “I made notes about what I needed to do, and one was about the care of equipment before winter. I also made notes about how much rain and mulch new plants need and how to get my soil tested through Auburn. I’ll probably go back to other events because I learned enough to make it worthwhile.”

As forestry, wildlife and natural resource agent, Norm Haley hosts workshops on invasive plant control and pond management and creates and posts videos on the Alabama Extension YouTube channel, focusing on wildlife management, trapping and drainage control.

If military veterans need assistance in accessing their benefits, they can call Wayne Johnson, who heads up Veterans Outreach, a pilot program developed in St. Clair County. “Many veterans don’t know what their benefits are,” Johnson says. “I go to different events, visit the veterans home and churches, spreading the word and touching base with our vets to see what they need. One of their biggest needs is where to go to access their health and other benefits, but they are also looking for support groups and assistance with job training.”

 The Extension office has two vehicles to help vets get to and from medical appointments and sponsors a support group for PTSD victims. “I’m finding a lot of the older veterans don’t have any family or close friends around,” Johnson says. “We also help our homeless vets. Right now, I have two families I’m helping to find housing.”

 
New to the job

Cori Harris and Alex Tigue are the two newest agents who serve St. Clair County. Cori is a SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps) Educator. She goes into qualifying St. Clair County schools using an iPad program called Body Quest to teach kids about making healthier choices. To promote fruits and vegetables, youth participate in weekly Warrior Tastings, where they taste a variety of crunchy fresh produce. Physical activity, sleep hygiene and family engagement also are promoted with recipes provided for parents to try at home.

Tigue works with farmers as an animal science and forage agent covering St. Clair, Jefferson, Marshall, Blount and Calhoun counties. One day he may be in Ashville or Guntersville, another day he’s working with a cattle producer in north Blount County or helping other agents conduct a workshop at Auburn University for backyard poultry producers. “All of our agents are like this,” he says. “We’re wide open all the time.”

Seventy percent of the calls Tigue gets are about weeds taking over pastures or bugs eating up someone’s field. “People go on the internet and aren’t confident about the answers they’ve found,” he says. “They want someone who can tailor an answer to their specific problem and not a one-size-fits-all. Our specialty as Alabama Extension agents is finding individual answers for individual people.”

 
All about learning

A couple of years ago, Emily and Mark Taylor of Ashville attended a hay and forage workshop, a four-class series held in different places. Emily is a member of the St. Clair County Farmers’ Federation board of directors and chairperson of its women’s committee. She and Mark raise cattle on acreage once owned by Emily’s parents. “I’ve been to several of the lunch-and-learn workshops for gardening and fruit trees and fermentation,” she says. “Those things are very helpful to your farm and household.”

Lee Ann Clark, whose enthusiasm for her job shows in her animated conversation and the 4-H memorabilia in her Pell City courthouse basement office, uses several means of getting the word about Alabama Extension programs and services out to the public it serves.

The St. Clair office has two Facebook pages (St. Clair County, AL, Extension Office and St. Clair County, AL, 4-H); a web page (www.aces.edu/StClair); writes a weekly column for local newspapers; and offers a free, bi-monthly newsletter. Anyone who wants to get on the newsletter mailing list may call the Extension Office at 205-338-9416.

“Currently, we have more than 1,800 families on our mailing list,” says Clark, a St. Clair County native and former 4-H’er who has worked for Alabama Extension here since 1998. “The newsletter is available on our web page and via an eNewsletter, but we realize that not everyone has internet access or prefers to read it online.”

In addition, Clark spearheaded a project that put kiosks about Alabama Extension outside her office door and at the Moody and Springville libraries. Her goal is to place one in all other libraries and the courthouse in Ashville. Born of her idea to create an information center based on the Red Box movie rental-type box concept, the Extension kiosks — the first of their kind in the state — provide all a person needs to know about the county Extension office in one easy-to-access place. “I believe that our tagline on the bottom of the kiosk, ‘Cooperative Extension. Extending Knowledge. Changing Lives,’ quite simply sums up what we do,” she says.

Clark’s current project is setting up an aquaponics class in St. Clair County. Why aquaponics? “Because people have requested it,” she says. That’s reason enough for her. 

Restoring History

Cropwell marker, others tell county’s storied past

Story and Photos by Jerry C. Smith

As Alabama celebrates its Bicentennial over the next three years, it seemed an ideal time to refurbish and rededicate a decades-old monument in Cropwell that had fallen victim to age.

It is a fitting example of devotion to history known as Cropwell Memorial Park, and it was funded by a grant from the state’s Historic Marker Refurbishment Program. The marker was unveiled in a special ceremony in July, celebrating the history that has taken place there. Others throughout St. Clair County, a county older than the state, are undergoing the same improvements, taking note of and preserving the county’s history.

In Cropwell, following a series of prayers, music and inspirational addresses by local civic leaders, the restored historical marker was unveiled, followed by a 21-musket salute and Pledge of Allegiance to the American flag. The marker has an Alabama state flag at the top with the words: “Cropwell Historical Park and St. Clair County Alabama” and notes that the post office there was established in 1834 as Diana. The name changed to Cropwell in 1837.

Speaker Gaston Williamson explained to attendees that the Cropwell Park Committee, composed of local citizens, built the park in 1975 with private funds on land donated by the St. Clair County Commission. He pointed out that all five structures making up the monument area are of local sandstone, specially chosen for shape and matching colors.

The henge-like array consists of four waist-high boulders set into a brick courtyard surrounding a tall, irregular obelisk. Each stone bears bronze plates describing various events and information about what happened here and elsewhere in Cropwell.

In June 1861, some 200 men enlisted in Company F of the Tenth Alabama Infantry Regiment. Local legend says they mustered under an apple tree near the park site, then marched 75 miles to Montevallo to catch a train and join Gen. Robert E. Lee’s forces in Virginia. This regiment fought in 29 bloody battles, including Harpers Ferry and Gettysburg.

A long bronze plaque on the obelisk lists names of those who enlisted, including substitutes hired by wealthy draftees to fight in their stead, a common practice in those days.

 Besides the tribute to Southern soldiers, other bronze markers commemorate various facets of Cropwell history. One tells how the town began as Diana in 1834 and was renamed Cropwell in 1837, the Masonic Lodge’s charter in 1857, and the coming of the Birmingham and Atlantic Railroad to Cropwell in 1887.

Another speaks of the charter of the local United Daughters of the Confederacy in 1914, and the impoundment of the Coosa in 1946 to form Lake Logan Martin (although this date is a typographical error; should be 1964). A third plaque mentions a cotton gin startup in 1883 and Cropwell Baptist Church in 1889; and the fourth tells of Andrew Jackson’s crossing of the Coosa near Cropwell during the Creek Indian Wars of 1813-14.

Among the re-dedication celebrants were a contingent of re-enactors from Ashville-based St. Clair Camp No. 308 of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, resplendent in authentic uniforms as well as homespun garments usually worn by soldiers from less-affluent families.

Pell City Manager Brian Muenger, when approached by a local resident several months previous about the park’s condition, sent an application to the state’s Historic Marker Refurbishment Program, which was created by the Alabama Department of Tourism in connection with Alabama’s Bicentennial.

There are many such markers in Pell City and St Clair County. For those who wish to visit these sites, GPS coordinates are provided in an accompanying box.

HISTORIC DOWNTOWN PELL CITY, on the southwest corner of the courthouse lawn, spells out in great detail the city’s founding and development.

Another, at Second Avenue and 21st Street North, adds more early history under the title PELL CITY’S HISTORIC RESIDENTIAL DISTRICT.

A COUNTY OLDER THAN THE STATE, on the corner of 19th Street and Cogswell Avenue, provides some interesting facts concerning St Clair’s earliest days and is matched by a sign of the same title on the courthouse lawn in Ashville that adds history of that city’s founding.

PELL CITY, ALABAMA, in front of City Hall, tells of the founding of the city by Sumter Cogswell and of the industries that followed. THE MILL VILLAGE, posted on Comer Avenue at 26th Street, gives a thumbnail history of Pell City’s chief industry, Avondale Mills, and the community it created for its workers.

All are within comfortable walking distance, and together they nicely sum up Pell City’s early history.

Other markers around St Clair County are CAMP WINNATASKA on Winnataska Drive in the Prescott Mountain area, delineating that facility’s development. JOHN LOONEY HOUSE, on County Road 24 between Ashville and Greensport, tells of a pioneer family’s pilgrimage and their impressive double-dogtrot log house, which is open for annual fall festivals.

FORT STROTHER on US 411 near Neely Henry Dam, commemorates a site used by Andrew Jackson during the Creek Indian Wars of 1813-14.

A history of the founding of HARKEY’S CHAPEL UNITED METHODIST CHURCH is posted on AL 144 near No Business Creek Road, and SITE OF THE COOK SPRINGS HOTEL, near the rail tunnel on Cook Springs Road, describes a late 19th century luxury spa that once drew visitors from all over the South.

In his address to the crowd in Cropwell, Muenger noted, “Monuments like this serve to remind us of where the community came from … and to look back and appreciate all the great things that happened in the history of St. Clair County and here in Pell City.”

Speaker David Jackson is the son of W.D. Jackson, who had worked on the original Park Committee along with George Williams, James Ingram, Charles Abbott and Mary Mays. Jackson said, “We all hope that future generations will recognize this park as far more than rocks, plaques and brick walkways. It represents the history of the Cropwell community and the memory of those from here who volunteered for military service.”

As a child, Jackson helped his father work on the park. “It was a hot, muggy day, and threatening rain, just like today,” he said. “I wanted to give it up and go home, but Dad said that it was the best kind of day for this work because the rain and warmth would help the newly-sown grass to grow.”

Ostensibly as a patriotic gesture, the rain held off until a few minutes after the ceremony was concluded. l

Town and Country

Impressive opening for an impressive project

Story by Carol Pappas
Photos by Wallace Bromberg Jr.

It had an exciting ring to it: “Welcome to the newest Ford store in America: Pell City Alabama!”

And in the moments that followed, there was no mistaking the excitement. NASCAR racing legend Jack Roush was there to cut the ribbon. So was Henry Ford’s great grandson, Edsel Ford. Coupled with the throng of well-wishers and public officials from around the region, opening the doors to the new Town & Country Ford signaled a new day for the automotive industry in Pell City and St. Clair County.

After all, they were partners in the project that had its share of delays but was no less welcome when it finally became reality.

General Manager Doug Bailey thanked the city and county “for all have you done for us over the years to reach this point for our customers.”

Co-owner Bill Sain offered thanks to “the whole team. You believed in your brand. It’s a great market, and we think it will really grow.”

His partner, Steve Watts, thanked all as well, noting that the community had welcomed the dealership with open arms.

Goodgame Company built the facility that stands at the entrance to Pell City on US 231, projecting a new, more progressive image for the city. Vice President Jason Goodgame talked of the reinvestment Town & Country has made in Pell City.

A tremendous amount of growth is happening all around the city, and Goodgame rightly calls Town & Country and others’ investments “a regrowth. They are putting money back into the town.”

Following a decade of new growth, “You’re seeing locals spending money on what they have. They are reinvesting in their physical location,” Goodgame said. He called the Town & Country project “a highlight. It’s high end. They did not cut corners. It’s the nicest thing you’ve ever seen. The finished product is really a beautiful project.”

According to architect Trevor Matchett of Hendon Huckstein architects, “The owner was dedicated to the idea of a first-class facility for Pell City from day one. Ford Land brought some specific new branding elements, which we incorporated into the owner’s vision for a destination facility for customers and employees alike.”

During the design process, Matchett said, “the owner constantly emphasized the value of both his employees and his customers. Ensuring the employees have safe and healthy working conditions throughout the facility was as important as the customer interface areas.”

The project wasn’t without its hurdles, he said. “One of our greatest challenges was accommodating and coordinating the myriad systems and vendors that go into a dealership like this. From the high-tech video components to the oil delivery systems, all have to work together seamlessly. In a sense, the dealership itself is like a well-tuned Mustang. It’s a beautiful, slick, modern, shell, plus all the necessary systems working in concert ‘under the hood’ to efficiently and effectively generate the power behind this great dealership.”

From the expansive showroom to the state-of-the-art service center to quick lane services, it all spells customer service, according to Bailey.

“We wanted to create an environment that customers and employees want to be in,” he said. “I think we pulled it off.”

Town & Country has tripled its capacity for parts and is increasing that inventory to have more in stock and available for more retail at the parts counter to provide a quicker turnaround for the customer.

Again, with the customer in mind, it’s only 26 minutes from beginning to end for an oil change, tire rotation and inspection, said Bailey. “And it’s priced below market value.”

The 27,200 square foot facility replaces the 8,000 square foot dealership, which is now – with cosmetic changes – the headquarters for pre-owned vehicles, some servicing, new and used inspections, heavy engine work, cleanup and detailing.

When Bailey first helped plan the new building, he thought about its size and how to keep it from feeling empty. They pulled that off, too. The expanse of glass, LED features, halo digital graphic accent lighting and even music – “It’s more welcoming when you walk in.”

The waiting areas have common tables equipped with iPads for games and movies, and large screen monitors surround.

More features abound in virtually every corner. A specially equipped camera system allows the customer to watch his vehicle being worked on. In the service department, customers are greeted by a service coordinator with an iPad. Photos and addresses are uploaded in the system, giving the ability to track maintenance.

Town & Country has now gone from 32 employees to 54, and the dealership situated on 13 acres leading into the city, creates an impressive entrance to Pell City. “It’s exciting,” Bailey said.

Recumbent Trikes Return

A turn-your-head-sight

Story and photos by Jerry C. Smith

It’s a sight guaranteed to cause double takes – vintage men riding giant tricycles, backwards. But for Joe Dorough and Jerry Burns of Pell City, it’s more than recreation, it’s survival. These weird contraptions may have actually saved their lives.

Officially known as recumbent trikes, they come in two basic versions and a host of sub-types. Some are in standard tricycle configuration, with two wheels in back and one out front, but Joe and Jerry’s machines are known as ‘tadpoles,’ with two wheels up front and a long rear-wheel ‘tail.’

Riders sit in an ergonomically-correct recliner seat, with legs outstretched in front to work a pair of standard bike pedals. Steering, braking and gear shifting are controlled via an opposed pair of handlebars, much like a zero-turn yard tractor. Drive effort is delivered to the single rear wheel through a long bicycle chain running through carbon fiber tubes.

There’s nothing ordinary about them. They’re cleverly-designed, precision machines, capable of delivering amazing road performance. Indeed, with proper lighting and accessories, they are actually highway legal, but both men agree that off-road riding is much preferred, even though there’s still danger where riding trails cross roads.

Joe says they are the ultimate riding machine. “You can’t turn one over unless you really work at it, although Jerry actually flipped his once. After you get the hang of it and learn the gears, you develop a kind of pedaling pattern that gets you over the ground quickly and almost tirelessly.” To illustrate his point, he took a warm-up ride while waiting for Jerry to arrive and was out of sight in less than 30 seconds.

Joe says, “We usually toot our air horns and say something like, ‘Old men riding tricycles behind you’ as we approach walkers from behind. Brightly colored flags on slender poles make them more visible when crossing roads shared by cars. Jerry adds, “When you get tired you just pull over and rest in a comfortable recliner seat.”

Jerry, a native of Greene County, moved to St. Clair in 1976 following a work career that included the Navy, Gulf States Paper, Alabama Power and the mobile home business. After moving to Pell City, he worked for Liberty National Insurance Company and Kilgroe/Leeds Funeral Home before retiring.

Around 2007, he endured back, heart valve and shoulder surgeries, all within a year and a half, leaving him in a semi-convalescent condition. His son Steve, a bike enthusiast, bought Jerry’s trike from a shop in Canton, Ga., hoping it would help rehabilitate him. Jerry quickly warmed up to his new machine and began riding it four to five days a week. The results were remarkable. Joe says, “Jerry recovered from back surgery faster than you can imagine.”

Joe, a Pell City native who worked at Cisco Auto Parts for 30 years, is semi-retired while serving as a director and loan committee consultant for Metro Bank. He had become a virtual cripple due to multiple diseases that kept him in ICU for 12 days. Joe says, “At one point they had given me up for dead.”

During a long, painful recovery, he literally had to learn to walk again. Impressed by Jerry’s example, he ordered a trike online to help strengthen and re-train his legs through repetitive movement.

 “When I ride my trike, I can feel its action reverberate through my legs, and the pain just goes away,” he says.

Both men are married fathers whose spouses and children marvel at the almost miraculous results they’ve seen.

Currently, theirs are the only two in the area, but they hope others will soon join them. The average price range is $900 to $1,600, depending on options, well within reach of most riders, and much cheaper than clinical rehab. Joe’s machine is a Rover, made by TerraTrike, and has an eight-speed shifter in the rear wheel hub. Jerry rides an E-Z Tad SX, made by Wrench Force, which sports a 27- speed derailleur shifter.

 Jerry at age 73 and Joe at 76 are quite hale and hardy today, riding their trikes together at every opportunity, usually at Pell City’s Lakeside Park. They’ve ridden amazing distances together, including several 26-mile jaunts from Anniston to Piedmont on the Chief Ladiga Trail, and plan to go from Piedmont to Cedartown, Ga., this fall.

 Quoting silvercomet.com, “The 34-mile long Chief Ladiga Trail is Alabama’s premier rail-trail. It is located in Cleburne and Calhoun counties, in east-central Alabama … and connects to Georgia’s Silver Comet Trail to the east.

“The Chief Ladiga and Silver Comet travel over 95 miles when combined and form the longest paved trail in America. Both trails are non-motorized and are great for walking, bicycling, rollerblading, hiking and dog walking.”

Knowing their determination, it wouldn’t be hard to imagine Joe and Jerry riding its entire length – both ways. l