The Tour of Honor, which benefits veterans’ charities, is bringing bikers to Andalusia, and specifically to the Covington Veterans Memorial, this spring.
The event is a season-long, self-directed ride to memorials and monuments in the continental United States, Alaska and Hawaii. The event opened on April 1, and participants have an opportunity to win trophies by being among the first three to visit all memorials in a state. A director for each state chooses the memorial sites, which change each year.
John Morton and Bert Williams of North Carolina were well on their way to claiming two of those trophies when they made a stop in Andalusia at mid-morning on Friday.
The memorial sites for each state posted at 12 a.m. on Friday, April 1. The North Carolinians started just after midnight, and had visited memorials in Talladega, Fort Payne, Gadsden and Linden before arriving in Andalusia at about 10:30 a.m. Friday. They were headed to sites in Mobile and Dauphin Island in hopes of claiming the Alabama trophies this year.
Morton and Williams, both sons of veterans, said the rides are a great way to support charities for veterans and first responders and to see the country.
This year, the organization is supporting Fisher House Foundation, Gold Star Family Memorial Foundation, and Gary Sinise Foundation First Responders Outreach.
For additional information, visit tourofhonor.com.
About the monument
The Covington County Veterans monument was dedicated on Veterans Day in 2004.
The stainless steel obelisk is an original construction by William Merrill and his assistant at Wilco Welding in Andalusia. The 5,000-pound obelisk took approximately four months to construct, and was moved from Merrill’s shop on South Cotton Street to the park area adjacent to Andalusia City Hall via a flatbed trailer, then lifted into place with a crane.
Andalusia this week moved a step closer to the new Heritage Park, which is planned for development at the intersection of South Cotton Street and Tisdale Street near the old depot.
The City of Andalusia’s planning partners from Concordia unveiled their concept drawings to the Andalusia City Council in a meeting on Tuesday. Concordia, an architectural, planning and community engagement firm based in New Orleans, used surveys and town hall meetings in Andalusia to secure input from more than 400 area residents before designing the proposed park.
“The participation and interest were great,” Steven Bingler told the council. “We think we’ve included all of the ideas in our planning.”
The resulting concept includes a plaza entryway featuring a fountain that can double as a small splash pad; an amphitheater; walking and biking paths; a pond; picnic pavilion; fitness stops and a carousel.
Bingler said the fitness stops and the trails give the park a health component.
“If we identify the trees we plant, the whole thing turns into an arboretum,” he said. “People don’t learn everything in the classroom.”
Mayor Earl Johnson said the park will make Andalusia even more attractive as a destination.
“These are the kinds of things we’re doing to make Andalusia a destination city,” Mayor Earl Johnson said.
Concordia also has developed concepts that show the park hosting the parts of Candyland that currently occur at Springdale, with the idea of keeping the two sites – the Court Square and the park – closer together for visitors.
Bingler said the next step is to work with CDG Engineering and Associates to develop an engineering plan for the water features and other aspects of the park. The park can be developed in phases, he said, adding that portions of it may qualify for grant funding.
After reviewing the concepts, the council authorized city personnel to move forward with the next step in the planning.
State history was made in Andalusia in 1955 when then-Circuit Judge Bowen Simmons impaneled an advisory jury of six women and six ministers to decide the future of a child in a custody case that involved a well-known young couple. It was the first time women had ever served on the jury in Alabama.
Andalusia native Marianne Merrill Weber has written a fictionalized play based on the true story which Roger Powell is staging this spring through a new arts organization, ReAct Theatre & Arts. The cast had the first read-through of “Ladies of the Jury” Thursday night, with the playwright on hand.
Weber, who lives in Prattville and is a frequent visitor to her hometown, thanked both Powell and the cast for agreeing to do the project.
“You can write until doomsday, but until somebody says, ‘I’ll read it,’ it doesn’t come to life,” she said.
She was a child growing up on College Street at the time of the actual case, and has no recollection of the story, she said. But much of what she wrote about, she does remember from the time. She also has done extensive research on the actual case.
ReAct will present the play in the Andalusia City Hall Auditorium on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, April 22, 23 and 24th, and other special activities are being planned around the event.
Cast members include:
Bernard Reeves – Ben Bowden
Forest Martin – John Peek
Julia Martin – Barbara Peek
Lindsey Martin – Hayden Howell
Junior Martin – Lucas Brown
Lelia Bell Martin – Pat Murphy Carlton
Pearl Brandon – Valarie Shakespeare
Billy Joe Brandon – Harold Jones
Ralph Watley – Frank Shaffer
Suzie Watley – Kay Hugghins
Tom Watley – Christian Pate
Zeke Carver – Leyton Kidd
Nancy – Cathy Powell
Fay Barrett – Casey Athearn
Madge Hardy – Carol-Ann Mullins
Vicky Braswell – Darlene Hogg
Melton Reynolds – Margo Russell
Mary John Reece – Hannah Cross
Dottie Wilson – Tiffany Kidd
Mrs. Levin – Lori Godwin
Mack Johns – Tyler Peacock
Lena Jones – Robynn Wiggins-Cowan
Rita Jones Bradford – Maggie Holmes
Lucas Bradford – Skip Enzor
Sheriff – David Wiggins
Policeman – Leyton Kidd
Rev. Jefferson – Arthur Carlton Jr.
Rev. Merriman – Robert Foreman
Rev. Avery – Chris Reynolds
Rev. Williams – (to be announced)
Rev. Johnson – Don Cotton
Rev. Barrett – Larry Popwell
The Andalusia City Council on Tuesday took steps to help the Andalusia Police Department recruit and retain officers.
Chief Paul Hudson told the council he currently has eight openings for officers and one opening for a police sergeant. He proposed leaving four of those jobs unfilled for the next three budget years and using the monies budgeted for those jobs to provide pay increases for all current police department employees.
Chief Hudson said the move will put the pay for Andalusia police officers above competing law enforcement agencies in the county, and in line with what the City of Enterprise and City of Greenville are paying officers.
The council agreed to amend the employee strength plan for the APD to grant the requests.
The council also agreed to purchase two litter vacuums, to help address the continuing problem of litter.
One of the units is a giant vacuum that sits on the back of a truck. The manufacturer, Madvac, says it is five times more efficient that manually picking up litter. The second unit is an all-terrain litter vacuum designed to easily address litter in parks, on sidewalks and in parking lots.
The council agreed to use funds from the American Rescue Plan Act to purchase the units, which should be delivered in July.
The 2021-22 City Ambassadors were recognized by the Andalusia City Council at the council’s Tuesday night meeting. The ambassadors, directed by Mrs. Jerri Stroud, represent the city at official functions.
Ambassadors shown are (from left) Aidan Vines, Sophia Jones, Connor Dalton, Adeline Fischer, Cooper Taylor, Emma Taylor, Abigail Lee, Tucker Glenn, Meleah Treadaway, Cameron Johnson and Griffin Kennedy. Not shown is Marion Starnes, who is representing Covington County at the state Distinguished Young Woman event in Montgomery this week.
Ambassadors are governed by a committee led by Mrs. Stroud. The committee accepts applications in the spring, interviews applicants, and selects ambassadors for the following school year.
Mayor Johnson expressed his appreciation to the ambassadors, Mrs. Stroud, and the committee for their work.