EMERGENCY
The Anniston City Council passed an ordinance at their meeting Tuesday that better outlines what work the city can do after a disaster. Mayor Vaughn Stewart said that the ordinance “puts the city in a proactive status” to respond to cleanup resulting from storms. City Manager Don Hoyt said he has done research on the situation and wants the newly passed ordinance to give guidance to public works employees working on recovery efforts. Hoyt said there was “vagueness” in existing city laws pertaining to what type of work could be done on private property. The updated ordinance allows the city manager to direct public works employees in assisting with work on private property in the event of an emergency declared by the city council. The ordinance was unanimously supported by all councilmembers.
ROLANDO
A linebacker for the Oakland Raiders and A former University of Alabama player and linebacker for the Oakland Raiders has bonded out of a Decatur jail. Rolando McClain was arrested on charges stemming from a window tint violation and providing false information to police. Authorities at the Decatur City Jail tell the Associated Press that 23-year-old McClain was pulled over Tuesday because of a window tint violation. When McClain was asked to sign a ticket, police say he provided a false name and tried convincing the officer that it was his name. Officials in the Decatur City Jail say McClain was taken into custody and posted $1,000 bond. McClain was also arrested in Decatur in 2011 after he was accused of firing a gun next to a man’s head during an altercation. He was sentenced to 180 days in jail on assault charges.
MISSING
The elderly man reported missing by the Anniston Police Department Tuesday was found dead in McClellan after a search effort in the woods near his home. The Anniston Police Department released information saying 77-year old Bobby Jack Travis was reported missing on Monday and search teams combed the area until nightfall. The Anniston Police Department’s Special Response Team and Calhoun County Civil Defense searched thick woods near his apartment in McClellan the following day and used a helicopter from the Etowah County Sheriff’s Department. The Anniston Star reports that the body of Travis was found around 2 p.m. Tuesday and he apparently died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound last Thursday. Travis’s family reported him missing after phone communications became “irregular.”
RAPE
A judge has denied bond for a man who is accused of raping a 78-year-old woman in her home in October. AL.com reports that Mobile County District Judge Jay York said 45-year-old Calvin Levester Chambers could flee the area and might be a threat to the public if he is released. York says he may reconsider setting bond for Chambers in the future. Police say Chambers consented to a DNA test that tied him to the Oct. 26 incident. Authorities say he gained entry through a rear door of the woman’s home through a back door with a broken burglar bar. Police say Chambers and the unidentified victim did not know each other before the incident. Officials say Chambers could face 20 years to life in prison.
COUNCIL
The Anniston City Council met Tuesday night to unanimously approve several ordinances and resolutions, including changing an east Anniston intersection from a four-way stop to a two-way stop. A lengthy change to the city’s ordinance codes removed the four-way stop from the intersection of East 7th Street and Highland Avenue and replaced it with a two-way stop. The council also approved the acquisition of Monsanto Road west of downtown. The acquisition from the county will give Anniston the access to the Coldwater Mountain Bike Trail.
A Citizens’ Advisory Consultant Screening Committee was also formed by the city council at Tuesday evening’s meeting. The five-person committee will be tasked with narrowing a field of city planning consultants from which the city council will select. Mayor Vaughn Stewart said the committee will be dissolved after 90 days. The council approved two individual bids for pickup trucks from Sunny King. The city will purchase one super cab truck and one crew cab truck from the Anniston car dealer for nearly $45,000.
Some discussion was held between councilmembers and city officials concerning a motion to place a street light on a dead end street in a Golden Springs neighborhood. Councilman David Reddick asked to simply table the motion until more information about the area was available but the council decided to deny the motion for a street light at the end of Franklin Drive. Public Works director Bob Dean told the council that the city currently pays roughly $425,000 annually for street lights throughout the city.
AUBURN
One woman and 16 men will be interviewed to fill two openings as Auburn University trustees. The Auburn Trustee Selection Committee, headed by Gov. Robert Bentley, picked the 17 candidates Tuesday from nearly 100 who applied to fill the openings. All 17 were recommended by at least one member of the selection committee for interviews. The committee will interview them and pick two on Jan. 31.
ACCIDENT
Birmingham police have charged a 21-year-old man with two counts of manslaughter in a one-car accident that killed his wife and their son. WBMA-TV reports Brandon Levoy Smith is being held in the Jefferson County Jail on $30,000 bond. Officials say speed was a factor in a Sunday afternoon accident on Jefferson Avenue that killed 21-year-old Kayla Nicole Jackson and their son Zion Milik Jackson. Television footage of the accident shows the truck Davis was driving plowed through an overpass barrier and nearly slid over the Jefferson Avenue Bridge.
Authorities say the woman was pronounced dead on the scene and their son later died at a local hospital.
COMMITTEES
Republican House Speaker Mike Hubbard of Auburn has appointed representatives to fill committee leadership vacancies prior to the Feb. 5 start of the 2013 regular session. Republican Rep. Lynn Greer of Rogersville will replace Rep. Mac McCutcheon of Capshaw as chairman of the Transportation, Utilities and Infrastructure Committee. McCutcheon recently became chairman of the House Rules Committee, replacing former Rep. Blaine Galliher of Rainbow City. Galliher resigned his House seat to take a position on the governor’s staff. Republican Rep. Allen Farley of McCalla was named vice chairman of the Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee and Republican Rep. Barry Moore of Enterprise vice chairman of the Commerce and Small Business Committee. Hubbard named Republican Rep. Bill Roberts of Jasper vice chairman of the Committee on Boards, Agencies and Commissions.
CHEERLEADERS
Montgomery police say a charter bus carrying University of Alabama cheerleaders was involved in a wreck that left one person with life-threatening injuries. Authorities say the crash happened about 10:20 p.m. Tuesday on the Western Boulevard at Interstate 65. Police say the accident involved the cheerleaders’ bus, which was carrying 31 people; a car; and a pickup truck. Police say no one on the bus was hurt, but a passenger in the pickup suffered life-threatening injuries. Lt. Regina Duckett says that person remained in stable condition on Wednesday. Duckett says two people in the car suffered minor injuries. Police say they believe the cheerleaders were headed back to Tuscaloosa from the BCS title game in Miami but referred questions to the university. Alabama athletic officials didn’t have any immediate comment.