Whitney Junction

A place of memories, lore
and a storied past

Story by Joe Whitten
Photos by Wallace Bromberg Jr.
Submitted photos

Whitney Junction, lying in northwest St. Clair County at the intersection of US Highways 11 and 231, is one of the many unincorporated communities throughout the county. The original junction, however, was east of there in 1891 when the Tennessee River, Ashville and Coosa Railroad connected with the Alabama Great Southern (AGS) Railroad.

Settlers had arrived in the area long before the building of the train station in 1872, when the AGS began operation and before the US Post Office began in 1875. The station and post office were named for Charles O. Whitney, a whiskey-drinking, gambling Reconstruction Carpetbagging politician, who had been active in establishing the AGS railroad from Birmingham to Chattanooga.

Records show that James C. Ward was appointed the first postmaster on March 22, 1875. Surnames of the other postmasters ring of old St. Clair County families — Yates, Box, Beason, Early, Partlow, Sheffield and Shelton.

The First Settlers

According to Linda Moyer, a Neeley descendant, around the time that Alabama became a state in 1819, two North Carolina sisters and their husbands settled in today’s Whitney. The two couples were Elizabeth Brumfield and William McCorkle and Charity Brumfield and Thomas Neeley. Coming with the McCorkles were their daughter and her husband, Eliza Louisa and Anderson Reeves. Louisa and Anderson had 15 children.

The area grew as the Partlow, Montgomery, Sheffield, Bowlen, Allman and Harp families settled there. Children grew up, fell in love, and these families became interconnected through marriages.

Cowan Sheffield married Mary Allman, and the home they built still stands off Highway 11, just south of Reeves Grove Church. Their granddaughter, Linda Moyer, believes they built the house in the 1860s, well before the church’s organization in 1872. “The Reeves Grove Church records,” she recalled, “say that my granddaddy would start the fire every Sunday morning in the potbelly stove.”

According to Moyer, Cowan Sheffield’s uncle, Wesley Sheffield, Sr. “…rode the horse his son had brought back from the Civil War to collect money” to build the Reeves Grove Church, and that John Partlow “hewed the logs and split the shingles” for the building.

Reeves’ descendant, Joe Sweatt, recalled, “My great-great grandparents, Louisa and Anderson Reeves, donated the land to build the church on.” Sweatt told of a c1872 family letter stating that the supporting timbers of the church were cut in Etowah County, shipped down the Coosa River to Greensport, and then hauled by ox wagon to the church location.

Attendance increased in the early 2000s, and the church added a new Fellowship Hall next to the sanctuary. By 2007, having outgrown the 1872 building altogether, they constructed a larger sanctuary, connecting it to the Fellowship Hall.

Rev. Paul Alexander became pastor of the church as the new building reached completion, and he conducted the first worship service in it. A few years later, the church began Phase Two, during which they added Sunday School rooms.

Church leaders today include deacons Clarence Harris, Jerry Payne, Johnny Kuykendall and Maurice Wilkins. Jerry Payne is Sunday School director. Music director is Charles Simmons. In addition to the choir, Rev. Alexander said, “We have a group of young folks who do special singing for us.”

Three pianists serve the church: Jenny Greggs, Deb Kuykendall and Cindy Alexander. Youth Directors Zach and Stormy Davis participate in community youth services sponsored by several churches that take turns hosting services during the year.

Expressing his vision for the church, Alexander said, “Our biggest goal is to see people come to know the Lord Jesus Christ. We would love for our church to grow, but I would rather that the church grows spiritually rather than just adding numbers. We don’t focus on numbers. We focus on people getting closer to the Lord and winning folks to Christ.”

Efforts to restore the historic 1872 Reeves Grove Church are detailed in Elaine Hobson Miller’s article in the April-May 2019 Discover.

Reeves Grove School

The original deed for Reeves Grove Church stated that the Eliza Reeves hoped the building would also be a school. According to Moyer, Cowan Sheffield served as first headmaster when the school opened in the church. Later, a schoolhouse was constructed across the road to the right of where the cemetery is today.

Ashville Railroad

Montgomery’s The Weekly Advertiser reported on April 23, 1891, “The Tennessee River, Ashville and Coosa Railroad has been completed from Whitney Station on the Alabama Great Southern Railroad to Ashville, the county seat of St. Clair County. The new line is now open for traffic. The road will be extended to the Tennessee River in the north and to a point on the Southern Pacific in the south at an early date.”

Mattie Lou Teague Crow records in her History of St. Clair County that the 1890s depression forced this railroad venture into bankruptcy. She wrote, “The steel rails were ripped up for scrap iron [sic]. The old ties rotted. Today’s Whitney-Ashville highway uses most of the old right-of-way.”

The 1886 African American Church

Organized in 1886, Evergreen Baptist Church, celebrated its 133rd anniversary on Sept. 22 this year. Name are of the first members are not available, but this soon after the Civil War, they doubtless were former slaves and their children.

Rena Blunt, grandmother of current pastor Elder Paul Jones, recorded in 2007 what she remembered of the history of Evergreen Baptist. She stated that the church “was founded by the Rev. Gales and Bro. Green Neeley. The first church was a small green church facing the railroad.”

She listed the following pastors: “Rev. Woody and Rev. Shephard; Rev. Brown, 1922-1966; Rev. Bell, 1967-1968; Rev. J. C. Evans, 1968-72; Thomas Jordan, 1973; B.J. Bedford, -1990; Jerry G. Bean 1990-2016; and Elder Paul Jones, 2016-present.”

Around 1922, Mrs. Blunt recalled, the church moved to U.S. 231 where today’s BP station stands. After I-59 was created, the church moved down to its present location on Sheffield Drive.

Elder Jones, said in an interview, “The church I remember was there by the interstate where the BP Service Station is now. It was a wooden church with tarpaper siding that looked like bricks. We had boards nailed between the trees for people to sit around and eat.” The other locations he’d been told of were the one by the railroad tracks and one on Highway 11, “but its name, Evergreen Baptist, never changed.”

Elder Jones spoke of his ministry: “God called me to preach. I was teaching Sunday school in another church, and then I would come over here. For some reason, the Spirit kept leading me back here, and the next thing I knew, God had planted Rhonda and me in this church family.”

The pastor of a small congregation has more responsibilities than the pastor of a larger church. Elder Jones plays the keyboard for the singing, conducts a Thursday evening Bible study, and heads up the Sunday school, also giving a weekly review of the lesson. “My plate’s pretty full,” he observes. First Lady Rhonda adds, “We often say we both wear three or four different hats. So, whatever is going on at any time, we do what is needed.” Picking up on that theme, Elder Jones mentioned the faithfulness of Pinkie Brewster and Effie Lee Brewster. “Others may have come and gone,” he said, “but over the years, those two have been steadfast supporters of Evergreen’s ministry…When God chooses you for a task,” Elder Jones testified, “you can’t quit. The love of God will not allow you to walk away from the souls you are over.”

When asked about his vision for the church, he replied, “It’s the Word of God. I must teach with knowledge and understanding. That’s the only way — His whole Word. I wouldn’t leave anything out.” He observed that some folk skip scriptures, but Elder Jones is fervent in preaching the whole Word. “Without a vision, the people perish,” he said.

Speaking of First Lady Rhonda Mabry Jones, his wife of 42 years, he reflects that her working for the Lord alongside him was vital to his preaching effectively.

Serving Evergreen today as Deacons are Sam Blunt, Allen Looney, Henry Blunt and two Junior Deacons, Denzell Williams and Damion Jones. Elder Jones remembered two deceased deacons saying, “Deacons Robert Brewster and Earnest Brewster contributed much to God’s work here and helped make Evergreen what it is today.”

The church continues to improve the facilities as God provides. “All races are welcomed to worship together.” Elder Jones concludes, “If you’re looking for a church, come worship with us.”

Whitney, Alabama, Memories

Two articles in The St. Clair News-Aegis, Dec. 7, 1975, and July 3, 1976, record some of Nettie Lou Sheffield’s Whitney memories.

Appointed postmaster Feb. 28, 1936, Nettie Sheffield retired in 1965, and her daughter, Wanda E. Shelton, was appointed acting postmaster July 31, 1965. Official Washington, DC, records list Wanda Shelton as the last postmaster, but she was not. In 1976, Nettie Sheffield told The New-Aegis that when Wanda died soon after appointment, “The postmaster at Ashville said, ‘Take over,’ and that’s what I done. I’ve been here ever since.” Whitney Post Office was “discontinued” on March 31, 1967, and converted to a rural station of Ashville.

 “There was four stores, a train depot, a honkytonk — started out as a cafe,” Nettie said in 1975. She then added a refrain probably heard since Noah had grandchildren, “but the young people hung around, and you know how they are. Well, pretty soon it was a honkytonk!” She noted that the other four stores were owned by the Montgomery, Beason, Rickles and Baggett families.

In the 1976 article, Nettie still ran the store in the building where she and her husband first opened for business in 1936. She was a month shy of 81 and still opening around 7 a.m. and closed at 4 p.m. “I figure nine hours a day is enough for anybody to work — especially if they’re as old as me,” she said.

Joe Sweatt

Having lived in Whitney all his life, Joe Sweatt has fond memories. He grew up in the family home just below where he and wife Helen live today

 Asked about his memories, he said, “I guess the fondest is living close to Muckelroy Creek. Harold Whisenant and I rode our bicycles all around here back then. We took some old burlap sacks and filled ‘em up with dirt off the creek bank and dammed up the creek. My daddy built us a diving board. It was the nicest swimming hole you’ve ever seen. People from Etowah County used to come and swim there. We’d go down there in the mornings and ride on inner tubes until the sun came up and it got warm enough that we could get in that cold creek water.”

Enjoying his memories, Sweatt continued. “We always tried to save up a little money so we could go down to Hershel Montgomery’s store down at the crossroads. A Coca-Cola was a nickel and a pack of chips — corn curls — was a nickel, and he’d charge us a penny tax. He’d fuss if we didn’t have that penny for the tax.”

Prison Camp

 “I remember my grandmother talking about the prison camp, Camp O, they called it, up where the nursing home is now. She used to tell me tales, about when they heard the hound dogs, they knew some prisoner had run. Even back then, they used tracking dogs.”

Wayne Ruple’s fine collection of interviews titled, Remembering Whitney, has several memories about the prison camp. O.J. Moore also remembered the bloodhounds tracking a convict, saying, “Those dogs would put him up a tree. He’d come on down and go back to camp.” Wade Partlow recalled, “The prisoners did all the local road work…They used some road machines — many pulled by horses and mules.”

Tiny McKay said, “You know Number 11 was built by convicts…. They used mules and flip scrapes…231 was built by convicts.”

The prison camp discontinued at some point, and on that property a Rhode Island couple, Pat and Carol Roberson, built the Motel Linda c1960. Jimmie Washington Keith lived in Springville and worked at the motel. She recalled that many of the I-59 workers found lodging at Motel Linda. It’s believed the business ceased operation toward the end of the 1960s.

When Motel Linda closed, Whitney Nursing Home began operation there in 1969. It had been reconstructed to meet the standards of that time. When present owner, Pam Penland, took over in 1982, it was an intermediate care facility. Today it is Health Care, Inc., and is licensed as a Medicare-Medicaid long-term nursing home. In Remembering Whitney, Wade Partlow recalled Hershel Montgomery’s store at the crossroads and that across US 231 from the store “…there was a service station…and a restaurant known as Ma Washington’s Restaurant.” In a recent interview, Mrs. Washington’s daughter, Jimmie Keith, supplied additional information. Ralph Windham owned the building where her mother, Ophelia Washington, ran the restaurant in one side, and Billy George Washington, Ophelia’s son, ran the service station in the other side. Jimmie’s nephew, Joe Cox, recalled that it was an Amoco Service Station. The service station and restaurant are gone, but on Hershel Montgomery’s corner, a store still serves Whitney Junction.

Whitney on National TV

A segment of Jack Bailey’s Queen for a Day TV show was filmed in Whitney in 1956. Mrs. Dorothy Brock, the sole provider for her family, won the title with her need to stock a small store located northeast of Reeves Grove Church near the crossroads. NBC cameramen filmed while Jack Bailey emceed and crowned Mrs. Brock as Queen.

Sen. E. L. Roberts attended and officially cut the ribbon for the grand opening of the store. The Etowah News-Journal, Sept. 13, 1956, reported that 3,000 “from many states” attended the event. Entertainment was provided as well as balloons, ice cream, soft drinks for all ages, and “500 orchids were given away to the first 500 ladies who registered.”

Viola Hyatt, Ax Murderer

Three years later, in 1959, the area again made newspaper and television headlines when Ax Murderess, Viola Hyatt, threw a torso off at a vacant house in Whitney.

Hyatt, who lived with her father in White Plains, Calhoun County, killed two of their farm workers with shotgun blasts to the face. She hacked up their bodies with an ax and scattered body parts on a road trip through Etowah and St. Clair counties.

Joe Sweatt remembered it: “We were swimming up there at the swimming hole one day, and my mother came up and said, ‘Get out; they’ve found a body up the road.’

About a quarter of a mile toward Steele from the crossroads, Viola Hyatt, the ax murderer, had dumped one of the bodies there. In those days, they didn’t secure the crime scene like they do today, and I remember we pulled off on the side of the road, and I remember looking up and seeing the body lying there.”

Fear gripped local folk and didn’t subside until Viola’s arrest. She went to trial, was convicted, and sent to prison. However, in 1970, she was granted parole. Jacksonville locals remember that she returned to the family farm and that she also ran a store in Rabbitown, and a retired Jacksonville State University professor recalled her taking classes there.

Miracle — perhaps

An article about a community should not end with a murder, so this ends with Wayne Tucker’s story of a mysteriously prevented tragedy.

“When I was a teenager,” Wayne recalled, “a Church of God minister who lived close to Whitney Junction told me and his son, my best friend, about an accident at the junction. That was a dangerous intersection before the interstate opened, as evidenced by the number of memorial crosses placed there. A bad accident happened, and several men tried to lift the car to get a man out. They couldn’t lift it. Suddenly, a big man appeared and helped lift up the car. By the time the rescuers attended to the crash victim, the big man was nowhere in sight — and nobody saw him leave.”

Just the extra man needed to lift the car or a miracle? Who can say? However, Tucker remembers the minister as a godly man who gave God the credit for the man’s rescue. A miracle is much better than a murder. Somebody say, “Amen!”

Easterseals reaching out

Helping meet the needs of everyone in St. Clair

Story by Jackie Walburn

Photos by Graham Hadley

A primary care clinic with a holistic approach, the Easterseals’ Community Health Clinic in Pell City, began and continues as a collaborative community effort to serve St. Clair adults without health insurance. 

A year after its July 2018 opening, the volunteer-staffed clinic serves 380 patients and has logged more than 1,600 office visits. Located at 205 Edwin Holladay Place in downtown Pell City, the clinic shares building space with a Community Action agency, a mental health clinic and Christian Love Food pantry, agencies that help each other serve clients’ “mind, body and spirit.

“Ten months after we got serious about it, we opened the doors to the clinic,” says David Higgins, executive director of Easterseals of Birmingham, which also operates a Pediatric Therapy clinic in Springville.

Because of the success of the Springville Pediatric Therapy clinic and the known need for services in St. Clair County, where some 12 percent of adults have no health insurance, the community clinic “seemed a logical next step as an Easterseals endeavor,” said Higgins.

He credits support and enthusiasm from Jefferson State Community College, Samford University and University of Alabama at Birmingham nursing programs, the town of Pell City, St. Vincent’s St. Clair Hospital – plus a long list of civic, church and community groups – for supporting the clinic.

Volunteers key

Volunteers, including three physicians and three nurse practitioners, staff the clinic, which is open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Thursday. Two part-time administrators – Pam Thornburg, who manages the administrative front end of the clinic, and Letisha Crow, who administers the clinical end – were hired recently. “We have good volunteers, and we want to be respectful of their time,” Higgins says.

But volunteers – including Frances Burnete, Ruth Pope and the team of medical professionals who donate their time – remain key to day-to-day operations.

 A belief in the need for the clinic prompted volunteer Burnete, who is retired after 50 years in the insurance business, to volunteer and keep volunteering at the clinic, where she is referred to as “Aunt Frances.” She says she feels “a kindness and understanding for the people who are our patients,” and believes in the work being done.

Volunteer and retired nurse Ruth Pope handles intake for new clinic patients. “This clinic was so needed,” she says, and now so appreciated. Encouraged to volunteer by friend and fellow volunteer Dr. Christy Daffron, department chair for the nursing program at Pell City’s Jefferson State Community College campus, Pope’s volunteer job is to sign up new patients.

The clinic charges $20 a visit for established patients and $30 for walk-ins, who are seen on Monday mornings. Patients are adults ages 19 to 64 without health insurance or Medicaid whose income falls within federal poverty level guidelines. Because Alabama is one of 14 states that have not expanded Medicaid, the state has a population of adults, many who work, who fall into a “coverage gap” and do not have health insurance coverage.

The doctor is in

Pell City native Dr. James Tuck is one of three physicians who volunteer and regularly see patients at the clinic.

 “The people we see are in desperate need of this service,” says Dr. Tuck, who grew up across the street from the clinic location. “It’s easy to see the need and the appreciation.”

Tuck’s family roots are in St. Clair County, and he has been in medical practice in his hometown for 36 years, now working with a local urgent care clinic. His first job out of medical school was in the current clinic building, he recalls, when the building housed the St. Clair County Health Department’s obstetrics clinic. “This is kind of bringing the past and present together for me.”

Mind, body and spirit

The clinic targets overall wellness with a holistic approach, Higgins says. “It’s primary medical care, but we look at root causes and what we can do to make life better for every patient,”

New patient intake includes a complete health assessment covering medical, social psychological, family, work, diet and living environment. “All these things help get a good handle on what’s going on with patients,” Higgins says, and may identify other needs patients have.

The clinic offers physical therapy, health and wellness education classes, chronic disease management for things like diabetes and COPD, as well as high blood pressure, and high cholesterol.

The clinic also works with a volunteer pharmacist, Elaine Hagler, who provides a discount list for many maintenance medicines, including access to insulin and other expensive maintenance medicines.  While it helps patients find affordable maintenance medications, the clinic does not stock or prescribe controlled medications or narcotic painkillers.

Preventing disabling conditions

Easterseals, which celebrates its 100th anniversary this year, has always emphasized services to people with disabilities of all kinds. And, Higgins says holistic and preventative medical care through clinics like the one in Pell City can prevent medical conditions from becoming a debilitating disability.

 “Some medical conditions, left undiagnosed or untreated, can result in complications that lead to disabilities,” says Higgins. Diabetes is a good example and is listed among conditions recognized by the ADA, the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act.

Untreated diabetes can affect all major organs and result in blindness, kidney problems and increased risk of stroke and heart attack.

“Diabetes is something that can be regulated, but keeping it regulated can be expensive,” Higgins notes.

“That’s where our patient assessments come in,” and where the clinic’s efforts to help patients with access to affordable maintenance medicine, including insulin, are making a difference in many patients’ lives.

Clinical training, too

Teaching is also a part of the clinic mission, as nursing and nurse practitioner students from colleges, including Jefferson State Community College and Jacksonville State University, volunteer and complete nursing clinical training at the clinic.

Higgins says it was conversations with Dr. Daffron at Jeff State and Debbie Duke, Congregational Health Program director at Samford University, both nurses and nursing professors, that helped spark the clinic’s formation. Providing healthcare in St. Clair County was something they wanted to do.

Both schools and others continue support. And, Project Access at the University of Alabama at Birmingham partners with the clinic when patients need referrals and appointments with specialists.

Coming together for worthy cause

As the clinic begins its second year in operation, Higgins says one of the most rewarding aspects of the new effort was “seeing how people came together to make change happen with a goal of being able to serve people who need help.”

A plaque listing the names of clinic founders and supporters is crowded with names of people and organizations that helped Easterseals Birmingham bring its first community health clinic to St. Clair County.

The list of 2018 Foundational donors “who believed in us when we were only a vision” includes: Area Health Education Center, Benjamin Moore Paints, Bill Hereford, City of Pell City, Cropwell Baptist Church, Dispensary of Hope, Empowered Church Health Outreach, H2H Golden Design, Hattie Lee’s, Home Depot, Jefferson State Community College, Jerry’s Carpet Service, Ken Knight, Morning Star Storage, Rick’s Custom Painting and Wallpaper, Room by Room, Samford University, Scotty Gray Flooring, St. Clair County Baptist Association, St. Vincent’s St. Clair, Susan Bush, UAB Project Access and Wally Bromberg Photography.

Perfect location prepped by volunteers

The clinic’s location in downtown Pell City, in a city-owned building, came about through “graciousness” and hard work by volunteers, says Higgins, a retired Moody police officer who lives in St. Clair County.

The worse-for-wear offices needed painting and new flooring, all provided by volunteers with donated supplies. The volunteer workers converted the offices into three exam rooms, several offices and a providers’ room and meeting area that the volunteer medical professionals use when needed.

With community resources just next door, the location proved perfect for the clinic with accessibility and a history as a former county health department site.

Easterseals: Taking On Disability Together

Clinic sponsor, Easterseals of the Birmingham area, is one of eight rehabilitation facilities owned and operated under the Easterseals Alabama, Inc, according to its website at eastersealsbham.org.

Easterseals has served metro Birmingham and the state since 1950 when the program Alacrafts began vocational training for disabled individuals. That program grew into the Spain Rehabilitation Facility near UAB that focused on physical medicine, rehabilitation research and education.

Higgins notes that the Pell City clinic is a first community clinic for Easterseals’ Birmingham area organization, and he hopes that it can be “a model to be replicated” elsewhere.

In addition to the new clinic, services offered and managed through Easterseals of the Birmingham area include:

Camp ASCCA, Alabama’s Special Camp for Children and Adults, a year-round camp on Lake Martin that offers rehabilitation and recreation for more than 7,000 people annually.

Two pediatric clinics – one in Pelham and the newest in Springville – providing speech, occupational and physical therapies, including early intervention, for patients up to 21 years old.

An adult program at the Birmingham headquarters on Beacon Parkway that provides evaluations, vocational training, job readiness and placement, computer skills training for adults, in addition to transition services for high school graduates.

A medical assistance grant program that helps individuals and families purchase medical equipment and make needed home modifications.

100 years of service

Nationally, Easterseals celebrates 100 years of service in 2019 and is America’s largest nonprofit health care organization, serving some 1.5 million people annually. In addition to serving children and adults living with disabilities, Easterseals also serves transitioning military disabled and other veterans since World War II.

Easterseals was founded in 1919 as the National Society for Crippled Children, the first organization of its kind. Founder Ohio businessman Edgar Allen, who lost a son in a streetcar accident and helped build a hospital in the child’s honor in his hometown, founded the organization to address the lack of services for children with disabilities who were then often hidden from public view.

An annual Easterseals fundraising campaign initiated by the society in 1934 introduced specially designed “Easter Seal” stamps that donors used on envelopes and letters. By 1967, the group’s work was so associated with Easterseals that the national society officially adopted Easterseals as its name. Today, the organization headquartered in Chicago with 69 affiliates nationwide.

St. Clair medical community growing

More services on the way for region

Story by Scottie Vickery

Photos by Graham Hadley

and Submitted

Just five months after Northside Medical Associates opened its ACCEL Urgent Care Clinic, Pell City veterinarian Ken McMillan had a potentially lifesaving visit there in April.

He’d had eye surgery for a detached retina in Birmingham the week before and wasn’t feeling well. Since his primary care doctor at Northside was out of the office, McMillan saw Dr. Jeremy Allen, medical director at ACCEL. When McMillan’s lab work was abnormal, Allen ordered a CT scan at the facility’s onsite imaging center. That’s when he discovered the blood clot in McMillan’s lungs.

“We were lucky he was as diligent as he was and had the technology available to do that,” said McMillan, who received treatment and is on the mend. “It could have ended up saving my life.”

The story is one example of how St. Clair County residents are taking advantage of the first-class medical services being offered close to home. All over Pell City, practices are growing, offices are expanding, and technology is being added and utilized at a rapid pace as local health care providers continue to invest in their patients’ well-being.

“We want our patients to be confident that the care they’re getting here is as good or better than anywhere else,” said Dr. Rock Helms, CEO and president of Northside. “I’m proud to say that, in this rural area, we’re providing state-of-the-art care.”

PCIFM expanding

Providing better and more convenient care for their patients is also the driving force behind Pell City Internal and Family Medicine’s expansion, according to Dr. Rick Jotani. The practice, which has a main office in St. Vincent St. Clair’s Physicians Plaza, is building a much larger facility on property adjacent to the site of its satellite office next to Publix on U.S. 231 in Pell City. “This will allow us to consolidate our two locations under one roof, making things more convenient for our patients,” he said. “Every service they need, whether it be labs or imaging, will be there.”

The new office, which should be completed by the end of the year, will be double the size of the two current locations combined, Jotani said. The new facility will allow the practice, which currently offers family and internal medicine, women’s health and wellness, sports medicine, pediatrics and aesthetic procedures, to expand.

ATI Physical Therapy will be part of the new building, and Jotani and his partners, Dr. Barry Collins and Dr. Ilinca Prisacaru, have plans to add more primary care physicians and sub-specialists over time.

“This will give us the space and flexibility to be able to do that,” he said. “Dr. Collins and I started the practice in 2012, and we’ve been very well-received by the community. This is a reflection of that. We’ve continued to grow and get better and will hopefully continue to do that for many years to come.”

Northside setting pace for growth

Northside has been growing since opening its doors in 2001 with four physicians. The practice now has four locations and a staff of more than 150, including 12 doctors and 13 nurse practitioners, Helms said. Patients can receive primary, specialty and emergency care, get lab work and advanced diagnostics, and pick up prescriptions all under one roof.

Over the past year, they’ve added 3D mammography, the urgent care component and have formed an independent lab, expanding the menu of screenings they offer, not only to their own patients but to those with other doctors, as well. “If you see a primary care physician or a specialist somewhere else, you can come here and get labs, and we’ll send them to your doctor,” Helms said. 

Additions like the urgent care and 3D mammography have made a significant impact on patient health, he said. “With the 3D method, you get multiple images that are so much more detailed,” Helms said, adding that the technology is especially helpful for patients with dense breast tissue, a history of cancer or implants. “If you put the images side by side, you can see a tremendous difference. It’s much easier to pick up cancers.”

Urgent Care a new component of primary care

In a new trend in health care, Northside opened an urgent care center on its campus. The ACCEL center is open seven days a week and allows patients to quickly see a physician for things like strep throat, bronchial infections, abdominal pain and sprains.

Patients who see a primary care physician at Northside have the added benefit of knowing the urgent care staff has access to their charts and medical histories.

“It provides a much more seamless transition,” Helms said. “We saw an opportunity to better serve our patients, and it has been well-received. We’ve had patients come and thank us for doing this.”

More growth, more services

Here’s a look at how other providers are striving to meet the growing demand for health care in St. Clair County:

St. Vincent’s St. Clair recently earned a 5-star rating for hospital quality from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The 40-bed facility, which opened in 2011, is the only hospital in the county and one of only five in Alabama to earn the distinction.

The rating is based on 57 different benchmarks in six areas, including patient experience, effectiveness and timeliness of care, and efficient use of medical imaging.

Lisa Nichols, a registered nurse and the hospital’s administrator, said the distinction is the result of the staff’s commitment to providing quality, compassionate care.

“I’m so very proud of the work of our leadership and of our associates to ensure that quality and patient safety remains at the forefront of everything we do,” she said.

You don’t need 20/20 vision to see that the new home for James W. Bedsole Eye Care building, currently under construction on an outparcel site in front of Publix, promises to be state-of-the-art. “We want to be a destination for eye care,” said Bedsole, adding that the building should be finished by year’s end. “It’s going to be unique,” he said.

The new facility will be about twice the size of Bedsole’s current office downtown and is designed to accommodate new technology and an expanded optical gallery. The building will be handicapped accessible and easier for older patients to navigate. In addition, Bedsole will be hiring more staff and will eventually add another doctor to the practice.

“Hopefully, we’ll be able to provide a better experience for our patients,” Bedsole said. “We offer a full scope of services now, but this will give us the ability to deliver those services in a more efficient manner,” he said.

UAB Callahan Eye located a satellite in Physicians Plaza in 2017 next to St. Vincent’s St. Clair, and it continues to thrive as a regional source for ophthalmology and optometry services in its Suite 240 location.

The clinic offers comprehensive adult and pediatric ophthalmology and optometry, plus an in-house optical store featuring a wide selection of designer eyeglasses and sunglasses from brands such as Ray-Ban, Coach, Maui Jim, Tom Ford, Costa del Mar, Burberry and Vera Bradley. Specialty eye services include glaucoma and cataract evaluations and screenings.

Fortunate Son

Duff Morrison’s life a story of blessings, hard work and “The Bear”

Story by Paul South

Photos by Wallace Bromberg Jr.

Three words course through Duff Morrison’s 80 years: “lucky, fortunate, blessed.”

 Chat with him, and clearly, he has been. A member of legendary Coach Paul “Bear” Bryant’s first Alabama team and first national championship team, Morrison excelled in engineering and business, working for some of American business’ best-known companies.

In his 50s, despite a body battered by his years as a multi-sport prep and college athlete, the Memphis native and St. Clair County resident was an internationally competitive racquetball player. Shoot, Duff Morrison was even a championship duck caller in Tennessee.

You name it, it seems, and Duff Morrison, the adopted son of Leonard Duff Morrison, one of the South’s most successful painting contractors, and a homemaker Mom, Bernice Turner Morrison, has done it – and done it well.

And no matter what he did, even today, the voices of his father, and of his “second Daddy” Bryant, echo in Morrison’s head and heart.

“My Daddy and Coach Bryant told me the same thing. ‘I don’t care what you do. But whatever you do, do it the best you can every time.’ That was the teaching that I grew up in.”

Three words course through Duff Morrison’s 80 years: “lucky, fortunate, blessed.”

 Chat with him, and clearly, he has been. A member of legendary Coach Paul “Bear” Bryant’s first Alabama team and first national championship team, Morrison excelled in engineering and business, working for some of American business’ best-known companies.

In his 50s, despite a body battered by his years as a multi-sport prep and college athlete, the Memphis native and St. Clair County resident was an internationally competitive racquetball player. Shoot, Duff Morrison was even a championship duck caller in Tennessee.

You name it, it seems, and Duff Morrison, the adopted son of Leonard Duff Morrison, one of the South’s most successful painting contractors, and a homemaker Mom, Bernice Turner Morrison, has done it – and done it well.

And no matter what he did, even today, the voices of his father, and of his “second Daddy” Bryant, echo in Morrison’s head and heart.

“My Daddy and Coach Bryant told me the same thing. ‘I don’t care what you do. But whatever you do, do it the best you can every time.’ That was the teaching that I grew up in.”

Morrison followed the teaching to the letter, graduating from Treadwell High in Memphis at 16. He attracted the attention of college and pro scouts. The New York Yankees, New York baseball Giants and St. Louis Cardinals tried to hook Morrison with the lure of what then were considered big-money contracts. But Morrison – who neighbor kids called Duff Lujack after the Notre Dame great, Johnny Lujack – went to Alabama not only to play baseball and football, but to do more.

“I wanted to be an engineer,” Morrison says plainly.

A Drive to Excel

There’s a backstory here worth telling, a story Morrison didn’t hear until he was 38. His biological father was a Memphis police officer, and his birth mother was a Native American woman. The couple put the baby up for adoption.

Some folks may have been shaken by the news but not Morrison.

“There’s never been a luckier little boy than me,” he says.

Indeed, his father, who would employ more than 100 in a painting firm with clients from the Carolinas to Louisiana and his mother made sure their boy had a comfortable life. But he also learned the value of work and faith.

“On Saturdays, if I didn’t have a ball game, I was up and in the car by six in the morning going to work. I was baptized when I was 10, and my folks had me in church every Sunday.”

Things didn’t change at Alabama. Morrison was recruited to the Capstone by Coach J.B. “Ears” Whitworth, a good man, Morrison recalls, who never won at Alabama.

In 1958, a new coach with a new way of doing things, arrived in Tuscaloosa from Texas A&M. Alabama football would be forever transformed.

Marlin “Scooter” Dyess, an Alabama star who was also part of the same 1956 signing class as Morrison, recalls the impact of Bryant’s arrival. Dyess is now a Montgomery businessman.

“When he came in, it was like going from darkness into the light,” Dyess says. “When he came there, he pretty well established an attitude. As he told us one time, ‘I don’t want to ever hear about a past coaching regime. The problem with this program is sitting right here in this room. Those that stay will be part of rebuilding.’ He was absolutely right. He demanded respect and he got respect.”

Morrison recalls one of his first practices in the Bryant era. In the days before the NCAA restricted the number of players, some 300 were on the practice field for Alabama.

“Twenty-five boys quit that day,” Morrison recalls. “I went from 179 pounds to 163 that day. Coach Bryant tried to work you to death.”

“We thought he (Bryant) was crazy, trying to run everybody off,” Dyess said. “When we played LSU mine and Duff’s junior year, we only had 33 players because we had so many to quit. But he stuck to his plan, and it worked.”

Comparing Alabama’s fourth-quarter conditioning, Morrison described Alabama’s opponents by panting like a St. Bernard in a steam room.

“Every time that we played a ball game and got in the fourth quarter, the other team would be panting real hard. And we haven’t started to break a sweat. We were in better shape than anybody we ever played against. Coach Bryant worked your butt off.”

Like Dyess, Morrison never forgot that first meeting with Bryant, more than 60 years on.

 “The very first meeting with Coach Bryant, he says, ‘Every time that ball moves on the football field, you do everything you can legally to help your team to win. Two, you go to every class and study as hard as you can because you’re not going to play football for the rest of your life. And number three, I don’t want any cheating in school, I don’t want any breaking rules or laws. If you can’t stand up to these things, get the hell out of here now.’

 Keep in mind, the Crimson Tide’s previous three seasons were a collective nightmare, with a combined four wins from 1956-58, including a 40-0 loss to archrival Auburn in 1957.

But 1958 offered a glimpse of the glory to come for the Crimson Tide. Bryant’s first team beat 19th-ranked Mississippi State, defeated Georgia Tech and tied a ranked Vanderbilt team. Alabama almost upset Heisman winner Billy Cannon and LSU at Ladd Stadium in Mobile. In that game, a bleacher collapsed, injuring several fans.

Morrison had a big defensive play against the Bayou Bengals. Some remember it as an interception, others as a fumble plucked out of the air.

“Billy Cannon went around the right end and cut back,” Morrison remembers. “I hit that son of a gun so hard, that the ball flew up in the air, and I caught it at the 45 and ran back to the LSU 4.”

Dyess remembered the play as an interception that Morrison plucked from the air after it bounced off his helmet.

“We kidded Duff, that’d we had never seen anyone intercept a ball with his helmet. But it was a big play in the game. Duff is a great guy.”

Alabama would lose to the eventual national champs. But Dyess saw a change in the Tide that day.

“It was amazing,” Dyess recalls. “That’s what Coach Bryant turned around. We didn’t know we were no good. He made you feel like you were just as good as the team you were up against. In your mind, you sincerely believed that.”

And in 1959, Alabama, thanks in part to a sterling defensive effort by Morrison, the Tide upset Georgia Tech, 9-7. The previous Saturday, the Ramblin’ Wreck had upset nationally ranked Notre Dame in South Bend. Alabama was on the rise. Bryant called the ’59 squad his “turnaround team” that ended the season nationally ranked. The Tech game was pivotal.

“I had nine tackles in the first quarter,” Morrison remembers. “Coach Bryant gave me the game ball. But somebody stole it from my dorm room after the game.”

Dyess says Morrison was an important part of the 1959 squad, playing both offense and defense.

“Duff was probably our best defensive back in the secondary. He was a guy who was a real leader. Nobody outworked him. Coach Bryant would take hard work over ability any day. Duff was an important cog in our ’58 and ’59 teams.

In an injury-plagued career, including a broken back in 1961, Morrison missed most of the national championship campaign in 1961. But Bryant never forgot the kid from Memphis.

“After we beat Georgia Tech in 1961, he gave me a game ball,” Morrison remembers. “He knew mine had been stolen. I still have the ball on my shelf.”

Bryant is never far away from Morrison. A treasured photo of the two, taken weeks before the legendary coach’s death in 1983, is prized. Morrison keeps extra copies of the photo to give to friends and fans who love to hear his stories.

But Bryant had an impact off the field as well. Morrison, juggling two sports as well as a demanding engineering course load, was having trouble in a course in the midst of baseball season. Worried, he called Bryant at home and explained his problem.

“He had a tutor in my room in 30 minutes,” Morrison recalls. “Hey, he cared about the ballplayers. He didn’t cheat. He wanted you to learn how to win and pay the price to win and do it the right way.”

He adds: “He felt like his job was to teach you to do the right thing in all aspects of life, not just on the football field.”

Morrison still holds the boys of Bryant’s first teams in his heart. Like Morrison, many went on to success in business, others in medicine and the law. While many have passed away, they are not forgotten.

“Those guys were about as good men as I’ve ever seen. It’s like you win World War II or something like that, and these were the members of your company. They went through all the battles and everything. I feel honored to have been with those boys.”

Dyess agrees. “There were some good people in that crowd, there really were.”

Of Morrison, one of his closest friends at Alabama, Dyess describes him as “one of those hard-working guys who was important to the team. He was a great teammate and friend.”

Off the Field

Morrison’s life after Alabama had its beginning in his last semester, when an advisor asked what he wanted to do after graduation.

“I want to be an engineer,” he says. “And I want to be the boss.”

The advisor directed him to Alabama’s School of Commerce. But engineering was always part of his professional life. In his first job, as a management trainee for American Brake Shoe, Co., he ascended to become a supervising engineer in less than a year.

 He designed electronics plants for Emerson and poultry plants for Pillsbury. He was the top vacuum packaging salesman in the world for W.R. Grace for two years running and worked closely with companies like the Winn Dixie grocery chain and Bryan Foods.

“It was a grand life,” he says. “Two years in a row, that’s pretty good.”

He excelled in selling insurance, working for firms like Equitable Life. He also ran restaurants, like the Birmingham area mall locations of Sbarro’s Italian eateries.

While working full time during the day, he was a racquetball teaching pro at night. He helped design duck calls. And he supported and helped rear his family.

“I’ve had some real good jobs,” he says. “I got a good education and when you know the skills of engineering and management and you’re fair with people, and you do people right, they want to do good for you.”

If there is a dark cloud that lingers over Morrison’s blessed life, it’s the death of his son, Tim.  Like his Dad, Tim Morrison played for Alabama, but was killed in a tragic auto accident in 2012. He was 44.

Duff Morrison calls his son’s passing, “the only bad thing” in his life. He holds fast to the belief that he will see his boy again.

“At least he didn’t suffer,” Morrison says.

Now at 80, Duff Morrison tries to stay busy, helping neighbors, building birdhouses, telling stories of Bryant and Alabama to anyone who will listen. He wrestles with aches and pains related to athletics and doesn’t go to games like he used to; stadium seats are too painful.

 But he’s always quick to remind how fortunate his life has been. Many folks his age, he’s quick to remind, are in a wheelchair or shut in. As he looks back on life, gratitude flows. He looks forward to the day he will see his son again.

“God has played an important part in my life. I don’t take credit for any of this. I was blessed. Most people haven’t had the blessings I’ve had.”

As he would like to say, his years have been a grand time. He hopes he will be remembered for his dedication to doing a job well.

“I enjoyed it. I liked to work hard. My Daddy taught me a long time ago to do the job, do it right and work as hard as you can. If you’re going to go through life (halfway) doing stuff, why bother?”

Bridal Special

From New York to an island paradise, the sky
is the limit when you are willing to travel

Story by Linda Long
Submitted photos

Planning on attending a wedding anytime soon? Then, you might want to don some traveling duds and pack a suitcase. Destination weddings are a hot item these days, according to Joanie Mardis owner of Seasons of Adventure Travel in Moody.

From Half Moon Bay, Calif., to Tucson, Ariz., adventurous couples are hitting the road for hot places to get hitched. Among the top 10 in the U.S., says Mardis is, “anywhere in Florida – from San Destin to the Keys. “The closest to us for a wonderful wedding is San Destin with beautiful green waters and sugar white sand beaches.”

Other can’t miss destinations include Cape Cod, Napa Valley, Newport, New York City, Aspen and even as far north as the state of Maine. “And, of course, Las Vegas, where almost anything goes,” says Mardis. “Although, I can honestly say, I’ve never booked the Elvis Presley Wedding Chapel for anybody,” she laughed.

According to Mardis, the Caribbean is also a popular place to go where an all-inclusive resort is a favorite choice. At some venues, the wedding package is actually free of charge. The most familiar is Sandals Resort with options in Jamaica, Antigua, Saint Lucia, Bahamas, Grenada and Barbados.

“They have a basic wedding package that includes the ceremony (on the beach, in a garden, in a gazebo, day or night),” said Mardis. Add a bouquet and boutonnière of orchids, reception, decor and wedding cake, all in a standard color scheme of fuchsia and yellow, and you’ve got all you need.”

Mardis says the bride and groom can customize these weddings with different styles, ideas, colors, flowers and decor. The couple can have a larger, more elaborate reception for as many guests as they choose to bring. The more guests to stay at the resort with them, the more perks the couple gets, such as a welcome celebration, spa themes bridal party and a room category upgrade.

Another great resort for the free wedding offer, according to Mardis, is the Couples Resort in Jamaica. “A couple can choose from three locations for a dream wedding, free for the bride, groom and four guests staying in the resort for three days or more. These weddings can be customized for only the bride and groom, called the Runaway Bride Package for $350 all the way up to a Private Island wedding for up to 40 guests for $4,750.

Another popular wedding destination – a ship – from a private yacht to a cruise ship.  According to Mardis, cruise ship weddings take place, usually, before the ship sails. The wedding party boards the ship as soon as the ship is ready for passengers. A venue is already set up. The ceremony and reception take place. Then, those not sailing depart the ship before sailing time, and the bride and groom go on a honeymoon cruise.

But why are brides and grooms choosing destination weddings instead of traditional church wedding at home among family and friends?  There could be any number of reasons, says Mardis.

“It might be a second marriage for the bride and groom, or the couple may have families in different places. Instead of one family traveling, everyone travels. You get a great family vacation along with the wedding. Many times, the family only stays about 3 days (before, day of and day after the ceremony), then the bride and groom remain for several days for the honeymoon. Sometimes the bride and groom do not necessarily want a huge wedding, so they only invite a few people to join them in the destination of their choice. Or maybe, it’s just the thing to do these days.”

Mardis has one bit of caution, however, for couples planning a wedding outside the country. Requirements can vary from location to location. As Mardis explained, “Some places require you to be on the island for a select number of days before you can apply for your marriage license, anywhere from one to seven days. Some islands charge you fees to get married or to obtain your license, which can be up to $450 or maybe less than $100 depending on the island you choose.”

Couples also will have to have proof of ID, divorce decrees or a spouse’s death certificate if previously married, or parental consent, if under age

For more of Discover St. Clair’s special wedding coverage, read the full magazine in print or online at ISSUU

BEI Lighting and Warning

Retired policeman turns on “blue light” for business

Story by Jackie Romine Walburn
Photos by Graham Hadley

Retired police officer Ed Brasher has found his ideal after-retirement avocation.

Brasher – a former police chief and regional drug task force officer – combined an innate mechanical ability and career-honed knowledge about emergency equipment with a passion for the adrenaline boost of fast, cool vehicles to create a growing electronics, lighting and warning equipment and installation business in Odenville.

BEI Lighting and Warning (BEILW), previously Brasher Electronics, outfits police, fire and emergency vehicles with lights and security features, produces graphics and detailing for business and public vehicles and, most recently, is marketing its own line of LED lighting and sirens.

Today, the business Brasher and son Trey started in 2003 in the family’s two-car garage is the largest supplier of emergency equipment in Alabama with 5,000 square feet of custom work space and three employees.

And, as they expand the business with a new line of lighting and sirens and a growing list of services and clients, the father and son are continuing a family tradition of owning a business – begun by Ed Brasher’s businessman father.

Law enforcement career

After a very short tenure training as a butcher apprentice (too cold and messy, he recalls), Brasher began his three-decade career in law enforcement as a policeman in the small St. Clair town of Whites Chapel, a community that’s now part of the town of Moody. Next, he moved to the Odenville police department and served as police chief for Odenville from 1987 to 1990.

Joining the Pell City police force in 1990, Brasher served as night shift patrolman, then sergeant. He spent the mid-90s as part of the 30th Judicial Circuit’s Drug Task Force. Eventually promoted to captain then assistant police chief with Pell City Police, Brasher officially retired in 2014.

While a police officer, Brasher continued to drive trucks for his father’s business. “Some days I’d park the patrol car at the end of a shift and get in the 18-wheeler for a long haul, then return to start over again,” says Brasher, who noted that many police officers and firefighters supplement their incomes with additional work. “You do what you have to do when you are raising a family.”

Family tradition

Born in Birmingham, Brasher moved with his family to California and spent his childhood on the west coast where his father operated one of his businesses. Returning to Alabama with his family when he was 16, Brasher attended Hueytown High School for six months, then settled in at St. Clair High School, where he would meet his future wife on his first day.

“I sat down behind her in homeroom. I saw this beautiful girl and fell in love,” he says of his wife of 38 years, Kathy Foreman Brasher. “I told my best friend then that I was going to marry Kathy one day.”

And, he did marry Kathy Foreman, who it turns out shares Brasher’s mechanical bend and “adrenaline junkie” passion. They raised two sons, Trey, 33, and Shannon, 30.

Before becoming a police officer and as a sideline income since, Brasher drove long haul trucks for his father’s business, including delivering natural gas in 18-wheel rigs.

While Brasher worked as a police officer and sometimes truck driver, Kathy worked for the St. Clair sheriff’s department as a 911 dispatcher for 10 years and today manages the county’s pistol permit program.

Fast cars, motorcycles and an airplane

Always an “adrenaline junkie,” Brasher first flirted with speed and daring as a drag racer in California as a teen. He’s since had fast cars – a favorite being a 1969 AMX hot rod – and motorcycles, enjoying both the rides and the tinkering with engines and anything mechanical.

When their sons were young, Ed and Kathy Brasher loaded the boys up on their his-and-her big motorcycles and traveled on vacations to the west coast and Canada. Trey recalls these trips with fondness and admits to inheriting the mechanical adventure spirit from his parents.

 Brasher recalls with Trey, who is co-owner of BEILW and the company’s graphic expert, the time his parents had a 350 Chevy V-8 engine up on blocks in the living room, rebuilding it.

Since then, there have been other fast cars, a Piper 235 airplane that he and Trey are both licensed to fly and a new Gold Wing motorcycle, purchased as Brasher’s retirement present to himself.

Try this

The catalyst for what became BEILW was a friend who was selling police equipment but didn’t install the equipment. “He knew I had a background in electronics and asked if I was interested in the installation side of the business,” Brasher says. The friend knew the products would sell better if installation was part of the deal.

One day, Brasher came home to find a Crown Victoria in the driveway with equipment in the seat and a note, “Try this.”

Brasher and Trey installed the equipment on the Crown Vic. Then there were two or three more police cars in the driveway. They soon set up shop in the family garage.

Four years later, in 2007, they built the lobby and first workspace at the current location on Oakley Avenue in Odenville. In 2015, a graphic workspace was added. Then, in 2017, the company added its giant warehouse addition designed to accommodate fire trucks and ladder trucks, even 18-wheelers, with a 12- by 16-foot door. Upstairs is a break room and Brasher’s office. There’s also a parts room. The most recent workspace addition is a converted garage outfitted for painting and powder coating equipment.

Lights, sirens, graphics

Brasher’s company serves a specialty market, installing lights, sirens and other equipment on police, fire and emergency vehicles. The services and products include prisoner partitions, equipment consoles, radar, gun racks, laptop connections and push bumpers for police vehicles. They add towing bars and safety lifts on wreckers. The company creates graphics for the exteriors of emergency vehicles and for Realtors and others businesses. The graphics side of the business also produces signs and banners for the general public as well.

As each job on a vehicle begins, the business digitally records the VIN number and image of each vehicle they work on, before and after. This video databank helps with quality control, warranties and being able to reproduce exactly what the customer wants again.

In addition, video security cameras – and screens in Brasher’s office – work 24/7 patrolling the areas around the business to protect the expensive equipment and the customer’s vehicles.

Smart start

Another service offered by the company is installation, testing and removal of “Smart Start” ignition interlock systems in vehicles as part of court-ordered alcohol monitoring of drivers convicted of driving under the influence. The company is one of the state’s certified installers of the system that analyzes the driver’s breath and locks up if alcohol is detected. The Smart Start program is operated by Alabama’s Department of Forensic Sciences.

LED lights a game changer

LED lights that last longer and shine brighter have changed the world of emergency lighting, Brasher says. “They are compact and more reliable and use less power.”

The company’s new line of lighting and siren products, called BEILW and for sale online at BEILW.com, include products designed by Brasher and son with installation and use in mind. “They are more installer friendly, more functional and more aesthetically pleasing,” Brasher says. The line includes siren speakers, beacon lights, light bars and dash lights.

Emergency lighting on vehicles is color coded. Red is for firefighting vehicles; blue is for police, and amber is for emergency vehicles. “It’s always been against the law to have colored lights on civilian vehicles. The type of lights might change, but the color code is consistent, at least regionally. But, it’s the opposite “up north,” Brasher says, with fire being blue and police red.

Investing back in the business

When Brasher still worked with the police department as the company ramped up, he made sure he met all ethics requirements to not do business with police department he’d work for, and he made sure to funnel company proceeds back into the young business. Today, he says, the company is debt free as it continues to grow and add services. Before he retired and went to work there full time, “we invested everything back into the business,” he says, noting there were many what seemed like “43-hour days and 23-day weeks.”

But now the retired police officer tries to hold his work days to five-day weeks, leaving him time for adrenaline-inducing fast cars, motorcycles and airplane rides.