Tag: Features

Ashville, Alabama

A time to celebrate 200 years of history

Story by Robert Debter
Photos by Becky Staples
Submitted Photos

It is 1822 in Alabama: statehood is still a recent memory – achieved in 1819 following two years under a territorial government after separating from the State of Mississippi. There are 32 counties, the state capital is located in Cahaba, near Selma, Israel Pickens is the newly elected governor, and the population is over 125,000.

These were the days when great men and leaders, such as Thomas Jefferson, still walked and wrote, and those who would become great leaders and better men, like John C. Calhoun, learned from them.

In St. Clair County, established in 1818, many of the distinguished and proud names, their descendants still living here, have created new lives and started families in this virgin land, hewn from the wilderness by the hands of heroes.

The Alabama Fever Land Rush and the War of 1812 had brought them here. From Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia they came: Ash, Battles, Beason, Chandler, Cobb, Cox, Cunningham, Green, Hodges, Jones, Looney, Newton, Phillips, Thomason, Yarbrough and more.

These families and others settled in and around the center of the young county, which was known then as “St. Clairsville.”

On Nov. 28, 1822, this thriving town was incorporated, and on Dec. 12, it was made the county seat. Shortly after these events, the name was changed to “Ashville” in honor of John Ash, a pioneer, early settler, and leader who became St. Clair County’s first elected judge and would later serve in the state legislature.

Celebrating 200 years

These stories of struggle and sacrifice, journeys and new life, muskets and covered wagons, and the triumphs of resting one’s boots and putting down roots in a fresh, new God-given land, were celebrated by citizens of Ashville, descendants and friends from near and far on Saturday, Nov. 5, 2022, in an impressive bicentennial event.

Great care in preparation was evident. Ashville Mayor Derrick Mostella took charge and established a bicentennial committee, co-chaired by Ashville City Councilwoman and Mayor Pro Tempore Sue Price and Becky Staples.

Working with Ashville City Clerk Chrystal St. John, they made sure the day of celebration would be nothing short of the honor deserved by those who paved this path 200 years ago. Joining them were members of the Bicentennial Committee: Robin Bowlin, Rena Brown, Jeanna Gossett, Susan Kell, Billy Price, Janice Price, Nancy Sansing, Ricky Saruse, Chad and Esther Smith, Rick and Liz Sorrell, Dr. Jay Stewart, Renna Turner, Denise Williams and Nick Wilson.

Other events became part of the celebration. In the weeks leading up to the day, a 5-K run was held, and Ashville High School seniors Joe Stevens and Rachel St. John earned the titles of “Mr. and Miss Ashville Bicentennial,” awarded to them by the Bicentennial Committee for winning the high school essay contest.

The events of the city’s celebration began at ten o’clock on the steps of the oldest working courthouse in the state of Alabama. Mostella welcomed the crowd by thanking everyone for coming out to the “greatest city in the greatest county in the greatest state.” William “Bill” Watkins, a naval veteran who served during the Korean War and is commander of St. Clair SCV Camp 308, who led the Pledge of Allegiance.

Newly elected St. Clair County Commission Chairman Stan Batemon offered prayer, followed by commencement speech by director of the Ashville Museum & Archives, who began by asking all veterans from all branches of the U.S. Military to be recognized.

Guest of honor and grand marshal James Spann

A concise history of the founding and naming of Ashville followed with a recognition of several other historic and noteworthy family names: Ashcraft, Bothwell, Box, Byers, Cason, Crow, Hood, Inzer, Montgomery, Nunnally, Partlow, Robinson, Sheffield, Teague and dozens more.

“Ashville is the type of town that Americans treasure,” he quoted from author, historian and leader Mattie Lou (Teague) Crow. “Our old homes are beautifully kept. The courthouse, built in 1844 to replace the original log building, serves well the people of St. Clair County. The natural beauty of the location of our churches and other old buildings that here for a century give the town the looks of a safe place to live, a place where people share in meaningful work and play.”

Others joined the celebration with performances by saxophonist Kevin Moore playing the Star Spangled Banner, and Chris Cash singing America the Beautiful.

Bunting adorned buildings and streets throughout the city. Patrons toured its three museums: the Ashville Museum & Archives, the John W. Inzer Museum and the Historic Ashville Masonic Lodge and Mattie Lou Teague (Crow) Museum. Reenactors gathered between the Inzer Museum and the Historic Masonic Lodge, joined by a historic fife and drum band from Rome, Georgia.

The county seat’s historic courthouse square was alive with activity, from hand forged knives display to face painting for the children to special offerings by the St. Clair Historical Society, Springville VFW Post 3229, Ashville Masonic Lodge 186, Ashville High School and Pine Forest Baptist Church.

Carriage rides and a petting zoo highlighted the day’s events as did live music performed by the Martini Shakers, and Berritt Hayne, a native of St. Clair County who contended as a finalist on The Voice.

Guest of honor and grand marshal for a grand parade had historic ties himself. James Spann, the noted broadcast meteorologist, is a grandson of former St. Clair County political leader and businessman, Judge Curtis Adkins. His uncle, Joe Adkins, followed his father into the banking world and also served as mayor of Ashville.

Features

In the beginning

Fats and the flag man: Two pioneers with St. Clair ties helped plant the seeds for modern stock car racing

Story by Paul South
Submitted Photos

Before Bill France Sr. saw his dream of big-time, big money stock car racing take root in little towns like Daytona Beach, Darlington and Talladega and big cities like Atlanta and Charlotte, seeds were being planted.

Two men – Perry Edgar “Fats” Layfield and Johnny Garrison Sr., both hard working, blue-collar husbands and fathers who made a living with their hands, were two of those planters.

Layfield, the patriarch of a racing clan that drove dirt and asphalt tracks for three generations, and Garrison, who became a respected official as a flagman, didn’t know it then. But they, like the more famous Allisons, Pettys, Earnhardts and Waltrips, helped build the glitz and glamor of modern stock car racing.

“Fats” Layfield’s son, James, himself a short track driver, said it best. “All the little tracks are what made NASCAR.”

A brief history

In the beginning, bootleggers and their sons ran booze through the mountains, hills and hollows of Appalachia, from West Virginia to Alabama. Trying to outrun Prohibition and feed their families, the daring drivers tried to satisfy thirsty customers.

Then, after World War II, a booming American middle class – freed from the shackles of gas and tire rationing – pulled their old jalopies from barns and sheds and off blocks and souped them up.

The vets who returned home from war were hungry for excitement. Automakers transitioned from a war footing to a consumer culture. America became a car culture that spilled over into movies like Rebel Without A Cause and songs that went like this:

“Son, you’re gonna drive me to drinkin’

if you don’t stop driving that hot rod Lincoln.”

To satisfy the public’s need for speed, dirt and asphalt tracks sprung up – Iron Bowl between Roebuck and Tarrant City, east of Birmingham, Birmingham International Raceway at the State Fairgrounds, Sayre Speedway and Dixie Speedway in Midfield.

At Sayre, James Layfield remembered, “Go up there and fight and hope a car race would break out.”

In black and white photos, the multitudes surrounded the tracks despite the blistering sun. There were farmers in overalls and straw hats, men in heat-wilted white shirts and sweaty felt fedoras, wives and children and seemingly enough picnic baskets to feed the 5,000.

Layfield and Garrison were there in the center of it.

James Layfield never saw his Dad race. He was a big man who looked like “Hoss” Cartwright from the TV series, Bonanza. After his son came into the world, “Fats” raffled off his race car, the Number 13 “Black Cat” Ford. When he tried to give the proceeds to a local church for a new floor, he was turned away.

“They said it was like gambling. He gave it to the preacher and told him to buy himself a new suit,” James recalled.

Tears come quickly when he talks about his Dad. He still remembers that once he took up the sport, his Dad never missed a race, even after work-related back injuries confined “Fats” to a wheelchair.

“He worked hard all his life, and age just caught up with him,” the younger Layfield remembered.

The elder Layfield could tell if an engine was right just by the sound. “I’d be out there working, and he’d yell from the house, ‘You better go back to where you was at. It sounded better before.’ He was my pit crew and my crew chief.”

“Fats” was a big man with a big heart, his son recalled. He checked on his neighbors, giving rides when needed.

“If there was somebody broke down on the side of the road, he’d stop to help them,” James said. “He’d either help ‘em fix it or tell them how to fix it. Or, if they could get it pulled to the house, he’d have the car waiting on me, so I could fix it for the folks.”

His voice quivered as he talked about his Dad. “He could be kind, and he could be rough,” James said. “He was at the race track every time I went. He was crippled up, but every time I’d go to the track, he was there. He’d say, ‘Boy, you need to quit this. But he was always there.

“After he passed away, and my son started racing, I’d look up to see (Dad’s) truck, and it wasn’t there. It just wasn’t the same.”

Racing was in the family’s blood. Before Fats’ grandson, Eric, was old enough for a driver’s license, he started working on his Dad’s race car. Soon, Eric Layfield was behind the wheel. Eric and James Layfield worked on each other’s cars.

“He was 15 on a Saturday night and turned 16 on a Sunday and ran his first race,” James said of his son. Needless to say, the Layfields were nervous.

“He had a little trouble getting his mother (Peggy) to sign the release form for him. But he had a level head on him and knew what he was doing. I think he finished third in his first race. The next year, he won the (season) championship.”

Peggy Layfield was a racing veteran of a sort. For years, as many as four race cars were worked on in the family shop at one time.

“We’d have the engines going, and the windows and dishes would rattle,” James said. “Peggy put up with that for 45 years, and we’ve been married 52.”

And when she was 15 or 16, James Layfield recalls, even his daughter Keri got into the driver’s seat – sort of.

At the Talladega short track, she joined her Dad in a specially created, two-driver cruiser class. James steered and handled the brakes and Keri, the gas pedal.

“We were three or four laps in, and she got the stiff leg and had the gas on the floor,” James says. “We spun out between turns one and two and blew the engine. I was done.”

As for what drew him to racing, James, who also built his own engines, wanted to show the other drivers what he could do. He raced dirt and asphalt. And he had a favorite: “Asphalt is for getting there; dirt is for racing.”

He always remembered his Dad’s advice. “I’d get out in front, and he’d tell me to slow down,” James recalled. “He wanted me to let them pass, then me pass ‘em back to put on a show. But I worked hard to get in front, and I wanted to stay in front.”

James had stretches when he was out in front often. “You get out in front, and you win every weekend there for six or eight weekends, it makes you feel good to know that you’re the one they hate the most or get cussed the most. But you just keep on going.”

The flagman

John Garrison Sr. kept racers going – safely – through hundreds of races. A veteran of World War II who served on Okinawa as part of the Army Air Corps, Garrison flagged his first race after volunteering on a dare at a California short track after the war. He had flagged informal drag races on Okinawa after the allies took the island from the Japanese.

He was a master of the flags – every color was racing’s code. But Garrison brought a color all his own to the track, waving each flag with a flourish, like a ballet against the roar of an eight-cylinder symphony. One photo shows him dressed all in white, smiling and clutching a checkered flag and wearing a tam that matched the flag.

And the fans loved it.

“It was a big thing back then,” John Garrison Jr., said. “Dad saw life as an adventure. My Dad and that generation of people were just unique in the way that they were raised. My Dad was the 13^th and youngest kid in his family … In the early days, they didn’t have much. Dad was a colorful character all of his life. He didn’t take life very seriously. He always found a reason to laugh.”

Many like Garrison, had never left their hometowns before they went off to war. Survivors returned home “full of vim and vigor” and looking for excitement.

“By and large, that was the fuel for the sport of racing,” Garrison said. “Those guys were daredevils. They were adventurers. Some were pilots, many were infantry. You had a generation that didn’t want to sit on the front porch in abject safety. They lived by risk, and they wanted adventure.”

The elder Garrison, a mechanic, taught his son to work hard and risk as well. Lessons were learned not by talking, but by doing. And though he loved to laugh, flagging was serious business for his father. It could be the difference between life and death on the track.

“As a boy, I remember walking the track with my Dad at BIR (Birmingham International Raceway). Two hours before the race, he would walk the entire track, looking for pieces of metal that had come off the cars or were lying on the track. His concern was a piece of metal flying up. A lot of these cars didn’t have windshields. He didn’t want the drivers to be injured.”

Garrison Jr., who started his own structural steel firm at 40, remembered when at 16, his Dad gave him a crash course in flagging at Dixie Speedway. “Dad said, ‘Get up here. You’re going to flag this race.’

When his son pleaded that he didn’t know how. His Dad responded, “You’ll learn how. That’s the thing that he did that gave me confidence in myself. He didn’t spend a lot of time instructing me. But when he was involved, it was like that time at Dixie Speedway. Without knowing it, he was teaching me independence.”

Garrison Sr. is a member the Alabama Auto Racing Pioneers (aarpinc.org) Hall of Fame, joining the likes of Bobby, Donnie, Davey and Clifford Allison, Neil Bonnett, “Red” Farmer, Hut Stricklin, Don Naman and legendary racing writer, Clyde Bolton. In the future, “Fats” Layfield should join them.

Life’s lessons learned

The lessons learned from their fathers was like a gift handed down from generation to generation. While walking the track with his Dad looking for shards of metal may have quietly taught John Garrison Jr. independence and attention to detail so important in his future business efforts, “Fats” Layfield taught his son the power of possibility.

James Layfield was stricken with polio as a toddler. While a patient at the old Crippled Children’s Clinic in Birmingham, he would clutch his Dad’s finger and walk with him up and down the long tables where young patients were eating.

“The nurse would say, ‘You can’t do that,’” James remembered. My Dad would say, “My boy’s gonna walk out of here.”

And he did. No checkered flag win was as sweet.

Features

Chef T’s

A hometown secret of the best kind

Story by Roxann Edsall
Photos by Mackenzie Free

Family truly is the foundation for the success of Chef T’s Restaurant in Ragland. Chef Anthony Soles’s mother loved cooking, and that passion inspired him to work his way up through the food industry and spend more than a decade as an executive chef at a major hotel chain.

Their family kitchen stories and experiences influenced Chef Anthony’s son, Cordelro, to attend culinary school and become a chef. Several other family members work in the food business as well.

Chef T’s, named for Anthony (Tony), is a family affair – kin or not. His business partner, Carl Byers, also grew up cooking for his family and friends, and his son and daughter help out in the business as needed.

Restaurant and catering manager Melissa Burnette credits her passion for food and home fries for her dedication to the southern cooking offerings at Chef T’s. One of Melissa’s favorite menu items is the Philly cheesesteak sandwich. She recommends pairing that with the home fries or onion rings.

This restaurant is the quintessential, unassuming “hole-in-the-wall,” in a building that was originally built as a convenience store.

It’s a hometown secret of the best kind. Their mainstay is the barbeque pork, and they offer a small-chopped pork sandwich for the budget-friendly price of just $1.25. The barbecue sauce is homemade and is described by Carl as a “sneaky heat, but not overpowering.” The signature Chef T’s burger is remarkable and is served with a steak knife holding it all together.

“The home fries got me,” says Melissa. “As a customer, I just kept coming in and loving them and one day Chef (Anthony) said I should come to work for him.” So, she started out as a server at their Alexandria location before moving up to her current role in Ragland. She’s one of a staff of 10 who consider themselves a family.

There’s a lot of teasing and bantering among the crew, as there is in many family kitchens.

Byers and Soles opened the Ragland restaurant in 2010, building on the success of their original Alexandria location. They purchased the building on Ragland’s Main Street that had, most recently, been a Mexican restaurant and completely reinvented it as a Southern home-style eatery with a simple hometown atmosphere. Its following has grown so much that they are waiting for the opportunity to expand into adjacent space.

They made it through the early COVID pandemic days by converting to curbside pickup only, then adding outdoor seating in the parking lot. Now they’re even talking about opening a restaurant in a third location.

Long-time customer, Kay Carroll, is a huge fan. After she orders a blackened pork chop with home fries and a chicken salad to go, she chats with the wait staff and the manager like old friends. “You can do no wrong coming here,” she says. “You won’t find a friendlier place.”

Her husband comes in at least once a week. Even though they live 15 minutes away in Ashville, it’s “definitely worth the drive,” she says.

“When people finally discover us, they always tell us they’ll be back,” says Carl. “It’s just like Ragland, though,” he says. “It’s a hidden gem. You don’t go through it. You go to it.”

Carl, a longtime city councilman, is a strong supporter of his hometown. They are firmly committed to giving back to the community that has supported them. They frequently feed the football team for in-town games, as well as help to sponsor little league teams.

Since they opened 10 years ago, they’ve fed emergency workers several times when tornadoes came through nearby towns. Chef Anthony and Carl also make it a point to work with local churches to help feed “shut-ins,” or those who aren’t able to drive to get their own food.

“They’re good neighbors,” says Ragland Mayor Richard Bunt. “As a small-town restaurant, they always jump in and help when they can. They work with the town in situations where we have to feed workers.”

“Greet ‘em, seat ‘em and feed the people” is their unofficial rally cry. In this town of 2,000 people, they’re one of only two places to eat (the other one is a convenience store deli). They take that charge seriously, opening seven days a week to prove it. From the moment a customer enters the door, the staff makes it their mission to be friendly and accommodating.

The menu variety ensures that just about anyone can find something they’re happy to eat at Chef T’s. The mayor’s favorite, he says, varies with the daily special. “They’re known for the barbecue, but I love the hamburger steak meal,” he says. “They also make great burgers.”

Catering is another aspect of their business and is supported by two food trucks. They cater for many of the large corporations and businesses in the surrounding areas.

They’ve even sent a small contingent to cater a gathering in Alaska. Obviously, that’s not the usual delivery area.

Features

Setting the standard

St. Clair schools training for the future

Story by Elaine Hobson Miller
Photos by Mackenzie Free

It’s difficult not to notice the white letters E-C-T-C on the giant Adirondack chairs at the corner of U.S. 231 and U.S. 411 in Ashville. Perched on a hill overlooking the county’s only traffic roundabout, the chairs were built by carpentry students at Eden Career Technical Center to bring attention to their school.

Despite such high visibility, the school has been called “a hidden jewel” by its principal, and “the best-kept secret in St. Clair County” by one of its teachers. Neither knows why that’s true, but it’s something they both want to see changed.

“People don’t realize the opportunities we provide to learn skills that turn into jobs that they can make careers out of,” says Trisha Turner, career tech director for St. Clair County Schools and principal at ECTC since 2018.

Part of the county school system, ECTC is celebrating its 50th anniversary during this entire school year. It was named after its first principal, John Pope Eden, who lobbied for a vocational school for five years. Pope died in November of 1972, nine months before the school opened at the Ashville Armory in August of 1973 and 14 months before it moved to its permanent campus in January 1974. The school was officially dedicated to his honor in February 1975.

The tech school started with 360 students and four programs — cosmetology, masonry, plumbing and electricity — which are no longer offered. Courses have evolved through the years due to demand in the world of trades and technology. Today, enrollment is at 315.

“When school started in August of 1973, we went to the Armory in Ashville,” says Dorothy “Sis” Wilson, 80, who retired this past May after driving St. Clair County school buses for 55 years, including 50 for ECTC. “That’s where we started the vocational and trade school. Then we hauled kids to help build the new school, and that’s the reason the office, horticulture and air conditioner (HVAC) programs are in brick buildings. (The others are made of metal.) When we got out for Christmas holidays, Mr. Griffin (Thomas L.), principal, said when y’all come back in January come to the (new) vocational school. There are no brick masons there now, but they had one (study program) there for a while.”

Those first three brick buildings were completed and furnished for $500,000, with 70% of that amount coming from Appalachian Funds, 30% from local monies, including a $20,000 grant from the St. Clair County Commission, according to a Birmingham News article from the early 1970s. When Eden began dreaming about a trade and technical school, only 12% of the county’s high school graduates attended college, the article states. Only vocational agriculture (vo-ag) and home economics were offered to the other 88% at the high schools.

County schools now offer 14 different technical programs, according to Trisha Turner, career technical director for St. Clair County Schools and principal of ECTC. “Eleven are located here,” she says. “Agricultural Science and Family & Consumer Science programs are offered at each of the five high schools. JROTC is offered at St. Clair County High, Culinary is located on the Moody High School campus, and there is a business program at Moody, too.”

Programs on the ECTC campus include HVAC (heating and air), welding, carpentry, drafting, business information technology, information technology (IT), collision repair, automotive service, health science, plant & animal science, and emergency and fire management services. JROTC is located at St Clair County High School. The latter is not a military preparation course, but a program that promotes ethics, leadership and respect for business and industry, according to Turner, who calls business and industry “the driving force behind careers in tech programs.”

To attend ECTC, a student must be in the 10th-12th grades and enrolled in a high school in the St. Clair County School System. Students are on campus at ECTC for half a school day and at their high school the other half. They are bused back and forth by drivers employed by the county school system. The courses are considered elective high school classes, but they earn credentials and certifications that enable students to get paying jobs in their fields.

“Virtual or online high school students enrolled in the county’s Virtual Preparation Academy can choose to come here for a program or two with their own transportation or take a bus from their school, if they can get to their school,” Turner says.

Career Coach Christina Puckett says the goal at ECTC is for the students to be career-ready when they graduate. “We also offer dual enrollment in two areas,” she says. “We are paired with Gadsden State for automotive and drafting and with Jefferson State for welding and for child development. In other words, the students can get college credits here for these courses.”

The automotive service program includes everything about car maintenance and repairs, from engines to tires. The collision repair program trains students to repair damage and to refinish vehicles. “The need for automotive service technicians is growing rapidly as people continue to keep their vehicles in operation longer than ever before,” a brochure about the school states.

The ECTC campus now has six buildings, with two classes held in most of them. A seventh may be forthcoming if tentative plans to build a culinary building come to fruition. “Right now, the old Moody High School’s lunchroom, which was converted to accommodate the program, is being used,” Turner says. “Chef Melissa Allphin is in charge and her kids always win in state competitions.”

Most people don’t realize they can have something built by the school’s carpentry students, like a shooting house or a tiny house, for a price. “Our xarpentry program also covers a little electrical, plumbing and masonry. HVAC covers a little bit of electrical work, too,” Turner says. “Kevin Self heads our HVAC program, and he just got some equipment that will allow them to cut ductwork. He’s passionate about getting skilled workers because he sees the need in the HVAC company he owns.”

Self is one of four teachers at the school who are graduates of ECTC, according to Sis Wilson. The others include Marcus Graves, carpentry; Jeff Parrish, emergency & fire management services; and Roger Peace, collision repair, who got the same job his father retired from several years ago.

“We’re the best-kept secret in St. Clair County,” says Jeff Parrish, who started his career with ECTC night classes and began teaching there when he retired from 25 years with Pell City Fire and Rescue.

“I don’t know why” it should remain a secret, he says. Its merits are being discovered. Three state troopers visited his program recently looking for future recruits. “One trooper was from the State Bureau of Investigation, one from aviation (helicopter & fixed-wing division of state troopers) and the other was a trooper recruiter. They were pitching jobs. The Air Force visits our classes, too.”

The Health Science program, taught by Deanna Hartley, RN, and Amy Stephan, a nurse practitioner, trains students for their EKG (electrocardiogram) and CNA (certified nursing assistant) certifications and their BLS (Basic Life Support) instructor licenses.

“They can become monitor technicians for hospitals and can conduct stress tests, too,” says Turner. “They actually get practical experience that helps them decide what they really want to be. For example, some of them work in nursing homes and some decide that’s not for them. This saves the parents money on education, because kids sometimes change their minds about their careers after they’ve finished college or a trade school.”

Another feature that helps kids decide on a career is ECTC’s Summer Camp for students in sixth through eighth grades. Camp takes place from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m., for three days during Memorial Day week. Parents interested in enrolling their children may call the school at 205-594-2070.

The business information technology program is for students who want to pursue careers in business administration and management, whereas the Information Technology program is for those interested in careers involving information technology security, network analysis, planning and implementation, according to the ECTC brochure.

Noah Duke, a senior at St. Clair CountyHigh School who is enrolled in the IT program, was one of the guides explaining robotics to visitors at the school’s open house in the fall. “We participate in the BEST Robotics competition,” he says, noting that BEST stands for “Boosting Engineering Science and Technology.

Sponsored by Shelton State Community College, the multi-level competition has a different theme each year but always involves building a robot. “This year’s theme is Made2Order,” Duke says. His team built a long, wooden conveyor that the remote-controlled robot rolled on. As it moved, it picked up items and loaded them into a cart. Each team got one point for each item the robot successfully loaded, and the team with the most points won. ECTC’s team placed seventh out of 14 at the first level in Tuscaloosa in October.

“We are in the process of trying to begin a modern manufacturing program on campus, pending approval by the St. Clair County Board of Education,” Turner says. “If approved, it will be a partnership with the Alabama Region 4 Workforce, also known as the Central 6.”

The program will cater to the Honda plant in Lincoln and all the periphery manufacturing plants that supply it, and to the Mercedes plant near Tuscaloosa. “The state is divided into workforce regions, and we’re in Region 4, also known as Central 6 because it includes the six counties in the center of the state,” Turner says. “The goal is for every region to have a modern manufacturing program. We’re working with others in our region to develop this program. We hope to start it next school year.”

Career-oriented night classes for adults may be a part of the school’s future next year, too. Turner says they are applying for a grant that will provide for 12-week courses to train people to earn certificates and get jobs in welding, carpentry and HVAC systems. “The grant would enable us to provide courses for free, but some of my teachers want to start it and let people or their employers pay for it,” Turner says.

Joe Whitten, a local historian, was a friend of the school’s namesake. He says all who knew “Pope” were greatly saddened that he did not live to see his dream come true. “The reality of his dream has flourished through the years,” Whitten says. “I know if he could see it today, he would be joyful that he did not fight and labor in vain for a vocational school for the students of St Clair County.”

Features

Eye on the sky

Aviation Career Day much
more than just an air show

Story and photos
by Graham Hadley

It’s not every day that you get to see a Soviet-era MiG jet fighter roar down the runway and take to the skies over the St. Clair County Airport in Pell City.

But that was exactly what scores of visitors got to see Oct. 8. Children and adults pressed up along the ropes separating the viewing area from the runway as the powerful plane – and other vintage military and civilian aircraft of all kinds – took off as part of the St. Clair County Airport Aviation Career Day and Open House.

With the airport lined with unique aircraft, the event attracted people from all across the region. The lineup included military helicopters to an assortment of fixed-wing planes, including the Soviet-built MiG-17 fighter jet, a variety of World War II planes, a private jet, vintage and kit planes, not to mention the ever-present yellow sea plane that so often graces the skies over Logan Martin.

Ant that was exactly the idea.

The Career Day has several purposes. It raises awareness about career possibilities in the aviation industry, highlights the importance the St. Clair County Airport plays to the local community, and ways the community and local governments can support the airport, said Ike Newton, a pilot, an event organizer and member of the airport board.

“We really wanted to shine a spotlight on why the airport is so important to the Pell City, St. Clair County and surrounding areas …,” he said. “We are the only general aviation airport in St. Clair County and a reliever airport for Birmingham,” and can handle a wide range of aviation needs, with the exception of large commercial airliners.

The St. Clair Airport not only provides hangars and fuel but is home to a flight school and related aviation businesses. It also handles some cargo flights and other related services.

According to a 2020 financial report, the airport had a $9-million financial impact on the region with a combined employment of over 100 people generating more than $3 million in payroll, and contributing over half a million dollars in local tax revenue, Newton said.

What’s more, the airport is a core service for the region, making it more attractive not only to people who own private planes, but also is one of the key things businesses and industries look for in any area where they are considering relocating. It also provides much-needed hangar space, something that is always in high demand across Central Alabama and surrounding areas.

And if what was on display at the Aviation Career Day is any indication, St. Clair County Airport is perfectly suited to the task.

“This airport we have here is a little jewel,” Newton said.

More than just an airshow

While all manner of unique planes lined the airport and flew in stunning aerial displays overhead – with regular overpasses by visitors taking rides in a helicopter – vendors lined the parking area and other parts of the property. Inside the airport building proper, presenters lined up to talk about careers in aviation and other topics of interest, like the roles women have played in the industry over the years.

Civil Air Patrol units from around St. Clair were especially on hand to help educate people, especially the younger crowd, about all the options open to them in the field of aviation and how to get involved.

Tomaze Jackson’s first time next to a jet

Major Richard Caudle with the Civil Air Patrol, with assistance from Cadet Staff Sgt. Luke Davis, manned the booth for the Springville Squadron 129 of the Civil Air Patrol. Touting the success of the program, especially the number of young members who have received their pilot’s licenses, the major showed off their displays of aviation information. It also featured tools, like model rocketry, they use in their training programs.

One of the key goals is to educate young people on the huge diversity of aviation careers available and the opportunities open to them for getting started with the programs from a young age.

And it’s not just airplanes and helicopters that the CAP and similar organizations are working with. Drone technology is becoming more important in both the civilian and military sides of aviation, and demand is high for people with those skill sets, they said.

While the vendors were busy talking to visitors outside, presenters in the airport were giving programs on all the career opportunities for people going into aviation, and there was something for everyone.

Holly Row, a retired air traffic controller and pilot, gave a class on Careers for Women in Aviation, followed by Lewis Holder, owner of Holder Aviation in Pell City, on Careers in Aviation Electronics. Other classes involved flying large commercial planes, aviation maintenance, military aviation and much more.

All about the aircraft

As much as the vendors and educators kept people informed, the biggest draw of the day was the aircraft – helicopters, seaplanes, personal jets and vintage aircraft of all shapes and sizes were on display – both on land and in the air.

As the various planes, particularly the vintage military ones, lined up and sped down the runway, people flocked to the dividing ropes to catch the takeoffs. Followed by demonstrations of formation aerial demonstrations, low passes just off the runway. It was particularly impressive when the MiG fighter jet did its flybys, followed by tight formations flying over the crowds, trailing streamers of smoke for all to watch.

Wave after wave of pilots showing off their very best skill held the constant attention of everyone on the ground.

For the planes on display, visitors got an up-close-and-personal view of some amazing aircraft.

Koley Thompson looks inside the Commemorative Airforce’s Fairchild PT-19 cockpit.

Tomazz Jackson of Pell City posed in front of a private jet on display and was quick to point out that was the first time he had ever been near a jet. The owner allowed people to walk through the small, twin-engine private jet and get a feel for what flying in one would be like.

Koley Thompson of Alpine got to see firsthand what a vintage open cockpit of a trainer airplane from World War II looked like up close and personal. The beautifully restored and maintained blue and yellow Fairchild PT-19 is maintained by the Commemorative Air Force unit in Birmingham.

Allen Pilkington and Andrew Kennedy from the Commemorative Air Force Birmingham Escadrille were thrilled to show off the plane, a great source of pride for both men. Compared to the cockpit of the jet or even some of the newer propeller planes, the controls for the Fairchild were about as simple as you can get – the bare minimum necessary to fly a plane. Because of that and what Pilkington and Kennedy described as one of the smoothest flying planes they had ever been in, the Fairchild PT-19 made for the perfect pilot trainer during the war.

As popular as the vintage planes were, one of the biggest draws of the day, especially for the youngest future aviators, was the UH-72A Lakota helicopter from the National Guard Unit in Birmingham.

The pilots had disconnected the batteries, and children were allowed full access to the military chopper, including the cockpit. The pilots said this helicopter is mainly used for scouting missions in the United States – everything from border patrol assistance to search operations and other support roles after hurricanes and other emergencies.

Looking to the future

Airport Manager Wendy Watson and Newton classified the day as a huge success.

“We had a good turnout this year. Every year we have been growing, and that is definitely the direction we want to continue,” she said.

Newton noted the event does an excellent job of highlighting the important role the airport plays in many aspects of quality of life for the area and in the economic success of the region.

Likewise, both cannot stress the important role the community and local governments can play in the success of the airport enough.

Aviation Career Day plays a vital role in doing all those things – in addition to being a great, family friendly way, to spend a sunny Saturday.

“It’s a win, win, win situation for everyone involved,” said.

And with everything it takes to put the event together, they are already looking ahead to next year, with expectations of an even bigger crowd. l

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Little Art Tree

A place to ‘grow’ artists thriving in Ashville

Story by Scottie Vickery
Photos by Richard Rybka

Jess Lauren Alexander sees art in everything. When she looks at coffee filters, she sees flower petals. Colorful yarn looks like the bristles of freshly dipped paintbrushes, and in her mind, plastic bottles have the potential to become sculpted human figures.

“I don’t think I’ve ever not done art,” she said. “My mother’s side of the family is very artsy, and I just took up with it.”

Alexander, who grew up in Ashville, wants children to have the same opportunities she did to explore different artistic mediums, unleash their imagination and develop their creativity. That’s why she opened Little Art Tree on the Courthouse Square just over a year ago.

“It’s a need I don’t think is being met,” she said, adding that art is no longer a regular part of Alabama’s school curriculum. A former substitute teacher, Alexander always had students asking her how to draw different things. When she realized how many children had the desire to learn, she started an afterschool art program at the elementary school. More than 60 children signed up, but the class was short-lived because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

She began teaching again in 2021 and opened the studio that September. “To me, art is not just something to do or a possible career. It’s therapy; it’s an outlet,” she said. “My middle school students deal with so much. Sometimes they just come in here and start drawing and talking, and it’s a release. It gives them a chance to just chill, draw and decompress.”

Alexander, who is married to Andrew and is mom to 12-year-old Dawson, teaches six classes a week to nearly 50 students ranging in age from 4 to 18. She also offers the occasional adult class – a group recently made door hangers – and she’s looking for another teacher to join her so adult classes can be a more regular occurrence. “It’s hard to switch my mindset from children to adults,” she said.

Besides, helping children and teens fall in love with art has become Alexander’s passion. “I teach techniques, but it’s mostly about giving kids space and a place to come and explore art,” she said. “Anyone can be an artist. It’s just finding the style and medium that fits your personality.”

She uses her own family as an example. Her mother, Beverly Burnett, paints landscapes with oils, makes quilts and crochets. Her great-aunt is an abstract painter in Birmingham and works mostly with acrylics. Alexander, whose style is “semi-abstract,” prefers to mix things up a bit, often combining watercolors, acrylics, and ink with non-traditional materials, such as coffee grounds, in her artwork.

To help her students discover their own talents, Alexander’s classes focus on a variety of mediums. “We do a little bit of everything – painting, drawing, mixed media, clay,” she said, adding that she hopes to add a kiln to her ever-growing list of offerings soon. “Some of the kids have just extraordinary talent for such a young age,” she said.

Alexander knows that art lessons can be out of reach for many families, but she wants to make them accessible to as many children as possible. She’s reaching out to individuals and businesses who may be interested in sponsoring a child for $100 a month, $500 for half a year or $1,000 a year. All the materials are provided, and classes are held August through May, she said.

Sparking imaginations

Alexander’s studio, in a historic building that has taken many forms, including a feed store and a beauty parlor, is the perfect backdrop to showcase the students’ work as well as some of her own. Paintings hang on an exposed brick wall, and Alexander loves knowing that the building has a history of inspiring budding artists. Christine McCain, whose family owns the building, was an artist and once taught art classes there, as well. Alexander’s mother was one of her students.

“I fell in love with the building,” Alexander said. A colorful mural of flowers, mushrooms and a tree that Alexander painted on the back wall is a nod to the studio’s name, as well as its mission. “We grow artists here,” it reads.

The classes have proven to be a big hit with the young artists. “I like art,” 10-year-old Jayden said in one recent class. “You can paint and use your imagination.”

Her sister, Kadence, 12, said drawing is her first love, but she loves painting and learning other skills, as well. “I love doing stuff like this,” she said, using a palette knife to paint the black markings on the trunks of birch trees. “I’ve never done this before, and I love creating stuff. When I was little, I loved to draw. I have notebooks full of drawings.”

The same can be said of Alexander, who found her inner artist with a how-to-draw horses book as a child. “I would take paper and that book and sit and trace and copy for hours,” she said. “I did it so much I got to the point where I didn’t have to trace anymore.”

Alexander said she’s studied pretty much all forms of art over the years, including painting, drawing, sculpture and pottery. “I’m always taking classes and workshops to learn new things,” she said.

Although she loves introducing new techniques to her students, Alexander also allows them free time to work on whatever they want. Some paint, some draw, some sculpt with clay and they have access to all of the art and craft supplies she keeps on hand.

Alexander has three cans marked “Theme,” “Description” and “Color” the students can use if they get stuck. They can draw an idea from each of the cans to give them a direction or starting point. Alexander recently drew “fish” for the theme, “stressed out” for the description and “warm colors” for the palette.

“It’s usually something silly, but it will spark an idea for them to work on,” she said, adding that watching them explore is one of her favorite things to do. “Everyone has a medium they’re better at and they enjoy more, and I want each of them to find their thing. When they do, I get teary-eyed. It just gives me the most joy.”

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