Marion County has not faced an alcohol referendum in about 20 years, but such will change in 2010 as at least two of the county’s municipalities will conduct such a vote.

Winfield and Hamilton have scheduled alcohol votes for early February--although the legality of such votes have now been called into question with uncertainty still surrounding a similar vote conducted over in Carbon Hill in early December still raising eyebrows.

The process began earlier in the year as the state Legislature approved a plan lowering the population requirements for cities in dry counties to hold such votes.

Previous Alabama law called for a population of at least 7,000 for conduct a vote in a city located within a dry county. Legislation passed in 2009 lowered the limit to only 1,000--much to the dismay of more conservative Alabama residents.

To begin the year, votes in Winfield and Hamilton are still expected to move forward.

The Winfield City Council met with officials from the Alabama Beverage Control Board in December with the Hamilton City Council set to do the same later this month.

In Winfield, the meeting answered some questions while serving to introduce others.

Other communities that would qualify to hold a wet-dry vote by meeting the population requirements include Guin, Hackleburg and Bear Creek. Guin has not reached the minimum number of petition signatures required to schedule a vote, and Bear Creek and Hackleburg officials indicate no names have been turned in at all.

The new state law stated at least 30 percent of the number of voters from the last municipal election must petition for such a vote to be held. Signatures must be certified by the city clerk prior to approval by the respective city council.

Such minimums were met in Winfield and Hamilton. Only time will tell whether the votes will be held in February or in June in conjunction with previously-scheduled general elections.

Stay tuned.

Marion County was certainly not immune to poor economic conditions in 2009.

The jobless rate climbed to almost 18 percent at one point last year--placing within the 10 highest county jobless rates in the state numerous times.

The unemployment rate had fallen to 15.4 percent by November--the most recent numbers available.

December numbers are not typically released until early February.

The Journal Record reported one in six county residents were now living on food stamps as jobless rates continued to come in at 15-18 percent for much of the year.

A study in September revealing an even more disturbing trend. Based on a review of the most current jobless rates at the time, almost 6,500 fewer residents in Marion and Winston counties were working in 2009 than in the same period in 2000.

While high jobless rates in 2009 were a legitimate point of concern for local residents, the fact such a significant smaller number of residents held a job over the nine-year period was an even greater worry.

Fewer workers mean there are fewer residents earning a paycheck and shopping locally, resulting in a loss of revenue for school boards, councils and county commissions.

An announcement in early 2009 resulted in the loss of more than 75 jobs in Winfield with the closure of Performance Fiber. An announcement on Dec. 28 foretold the loss of 302 more jobs with the February 2010 closure of the Sitel facility in Winfield.

The slowing economy only served to lower revenue for the county and city governments.

Faced with growing total expenses and declining revenue, officials questioned whether or not to raises sales tax to cover at least a portion of the shortfall.

Within the 12-month cycle, three city councils eventually voted to raise taxes--two for a remedy for a suffering fiscal budget and the other to aid the local schools.

A fourth city council opted to bypass a tax increase, trying to pay the bills using only the current revenue stream.

The Hackleburg council would approve a one-cent sales tax increase with the resulting revenue earmarked for the two local schools. No new revenue was set aside for town use.

The tax increase was debated during a series of council meetings in March and early April before the council eventually voted to approve the measure.

The Hamilton council, faced with a $300,000 deficit, voted in December to increase its overall sales tax to 9 percent, tying with Guin to have the highest rate in Marion County. Winfield charges 8.75 cents, which was the highest rate in the county coming into 2009.

The move to increase Hamilton’s share of the sales tax from two cents to three was made to aid Hamilton officials in making payments each month as revenue had failed to maintain pace with the rising cost of operating the city.

The council, which debated its finances for several months and delayed adoption of its fiscal 2010 budget, also made a number of budget cuts.

In Guin, the city council there in July raised the sales tax by a penny to 9 cents overall to deal with the economic downturn, saying it was a temporary solution.

The Guin council also agreed to reduce the amount of revenue it gave to the schools by half. It had charged the equivalent of full cent for local schools needs, but reduced it to a half cent because of economic problems.

The lone rejection of sales tax increases came in Winfield. Brief discussions were held as to whether or not the council should simply raise its 8.75 percent to an even 9 percent, making the calculation process a bit easier for local merchants while increasing revenue. In December, the council said the measure was no longer on the table and open for debate.

Municipalities were not the only government level with the need for new revenue in 2009.

The Marion County School System and the Winfield City School System, as well as other school systems in the state, were impacted by the latest decline in revenue for schools.

School boards across the state were struggling to make ends meet as the slowing state economy was producing less sales tax revenue--the primary source of funding for schools in Alabama.

Reports indicated where the Marion County system had enough in reserve to operate for almost a month should all revenue from the state be eliminated in a worst case scenario. Meanwhile, the city school system had almost three months operating money on reserve.

The plummeting economy removed any and all optimistic hopes as the county system dwindled down to less than three weeks of bank reserves. The city system was down to less than two months in reserves.

Decisions were made at the local school board level to not fill some positions opened due to retirement. The systems also elected to operate with practically no local teaching units.

In other words, the systems decided to fill the positions as paid by the state while using no--or very little--local monies to hire what is defined as local units.

Proration was declared in 2009, meaning schools had even less to operate than had been previously projected and the same is now underway in the 2010 Fiscal Year. Little hope has been given the state or national economy will show improvement for fiscal 2011, beginning on Oct. 1.

Early in 2009, members of the Alabama Army National Guard 877th Engineers Battalion were deployed to overseas duty in Afghanistan. Many of the same troops had served a tour of duty in Iraq in response to the terror attacks on the U.S. in 2001.

The first 12-month tour began in March 2003 while this most recent tour began in March 2009--at least for those assigned to 166th Company in Winfield.

These troops shipped out after a send-off ceremony held by the community on March 2. The remainder of the 877th would follow in May after a similar ceremony conducted in Hamilton.

The Journal Record has since published stories on the 877th’s tour overseas. Some of the stories have included one-on-one interviews with officials connected to the battalion, while others have been written by authorized personnel within the group.

Hamilton resident Marlon Holloway has also played a key role in allowing readers to stay abreast of the current events involving the 877th in Afghanistan. While serving as a linguist for the government in the region, Holloway has maintained regular contact with the 877th, while relaying much of the information back home for publication in the Journal Record (most recently on Dec. 23).

While the many of the same soldiers are overseas serving their county, the same family and friends stand watch back home in Marion County with the hopes their soldier’s tour will end safely and soon.

Marion County fell victim to the swine flu in 2009, as did much of Alabama and the U.S. after preliminary bouts with the illness was contained to Mexico.

Late spring introduced the United States and the world to a term not commonly known before the outbreak. The swine flu began in Mexico and, while altering vacation plans for a few heading south of the border or on a Caribbean cruise, the inconvenience was expected to be restricted to those regions.

However, the first few cases began to be confirmed in the U.S. and even in Alabama. A small number of cases were confirmed within local schools, while school officials took steps to help prevent any widespread attack.

Vaccinations arrived slowly across the country as some states suffered substantially more than others, but Marion County was in the mix.

While the threat of swine flu was not eradicated over the course of the year and will continue to be a story in 2010, the major threat appears to have subsided for now. Some national health officials have warned it could return during the winter months.

Not all Marion County news in 2009 was bad, as one of the most heart-warming stories of the year arrived in December.

With Hamilton pharmacist Sandy Sandlin directing yet another effort to raise monies for needy children across the county for the holidays, news arrived the need for assistance would be greater than ever.

Not only was a much larger number of local families being impacted by the economy, but another local charity serving children in the extreme eastern portion of the county was also closed.

In short, Sandlin and his loving elves were faced with what was shaping up to be an almost insurmountable task. The number of children in need of assistance had reached almost 600 and the amount of money needed to meet such needs rose overnight from $40,000 to $47,280.

Yet even in these most dire of economic times, the people of Marion County discovered a way to lend a hand.

Whether pooling donations at various work places or small Sunday school classes or by handing over a few dollars to Sandlin directly, the need was met.

As of Dec. 23, a total of $48,244.94 was raised over the course of the fundraiser, which only began in early November.

Gifts were delivered to more than 591 children in time for the holidays due to the hard work of one pharmacist, a few close friends and a county whose heart remained open even in tough times.

Even with construction on Future Interstate 22 no longer being an issue in Marion County, the talks of highway construction were not dormant in 2009.

On a negative note, news came of a delay in constructing the massive interchange to be build to link I-22 with I-65 in Birmingham.

This project will bring to an end the Corridor X project, as it has been known since the 1970s when work began on the four-lane highway under the assistance of the late U.S. Rep. Tom Bevill.

Delaying the projected $241 million project is the fact the slow economy has prevented Congress from passing a new federal highway bill.

For Marion County drivers who travel to Birmingham, the previous year did result in one positive development for the I-22 project.

The 1.8-mile stretch of the interstate to Coalburg Road opened in early December. The move now allowed motorists to travel almost two more miles into Jefferson County before leaving the ease of interstate travel.

The new exit directs traffic southward for two miles to Daniel Payne Drive before a lefthand turn and a half-mile connection with I-65.


	The Journal Record is a member of the Alabama Press Association.