HAMILTON - In order to increase attendance rates, the Marion County Board of Education (MCBOE) has declared the month of September as School Attendance Month. The declaration came during the board’s Tuesday, Aug. 20, meeting.
MCBOE Supervisor Patrick Sutton made the announcement before presenting some alarming statistics to the board and suggesting ways to curb truancy and chronic absenteeism in Marion County schools.  

An upcoming gas tax increase may go virtually unnoticed due to gas prices gradually falling over the last month.
“With the prices going downward, we won’t notice it as much,” said Birmingham-based American Automobile Association (AAA) spokesperson Clay Ingram. “Having it this time of year is better than doing it in the spring when prices would already be increasing.”
Alabama’s gas will increase 6 cents beginning Sunday, Sept. 1, raising the state’s gas tax from 18 cents to 24 cents per gallon. Tax on diesel will increase from 19 cents to 25 cents per gallon.

GUIN - “I’ve gotten so used to driving here, my car just automatically turns toward Guin to get here,” said Gay Green, who is marking 45 years as a nurse at Sunset Manor Nursing Home in Guin.
“I come down here so much from Pea Ridge. This is just my second home,” she said, her laughter echoing through the lobby of the nursing home that was built five years before she started working there.
Green, 66, has worked at Sunset Manor since June 1974 and is considered an asset among the staff, said the nursing home’s owner and administrator, Lance Junkin.

TWIN - “Grandad, I’m up here in jail in Jasper.”
This is how a scam phone call began which was on its way to successfully cheating a Marion County couple out of $1,000.
Smithie Weeks, who is a councilwoman for the Town of Twin, says she wants to share her and her husband’s experience as she believes other seniors may be targeted.
On July 30, Weeks, 78, said she walked in to find her husband, James,  80, in mid-conversation over the phone with someone claiming to be their 21-year-old grandson, Caleb, who lives in Atlanta, Ga.

WINFIELD - Northwest Medical Center Chief Executive Officer Bob Henger appeared before the Winfield City Council at its Tuesday, Aug. 20, meeting to give an update on the hospital.
Henger, who came out of retirement two months ago to run the hospital, appeared before the council at the request of councilman Chris Ballard. Ballard has been requesting an appearance from the CEO for a few weeks. Henger was scheduled to appear at the Aug. 6 meeting but missed due to surgery.  

The following garbage pickup schedules have been announced in connection with the Labor Day holiday on Monday, Sept. 2:

HAMILTON -  The Hamilton City Council unanimously approved committing $36,248 from gas tax revenue to fund the 2019 transportation plan in which the City of Hamilton will stripe and realign streets within the city.
This resolution was approved on Monday, Aug. 19, during a regular meeting at Hamilton City Hall.
“This is committing funds that are projected to be collected as the City of Hamilton’s portion of the upcoming increased gas and fuel taxes for the Rebuild Alabama Act,” said Hamilton Mayor Bob Page.

GUIN - Economic development officials are optimistic concerning Marion County’s future.
Brian Hilson of Hoover,  who serves as a rural development strategist for the Economic Development Association of Alabama, reviewed the county’s economic state and potential during the Northwest Alabama Economic Development Alliance (EDA)’s annual membership appreciation luncheon on Thursday, July 25, at the Holiday Inn in Guin.

WINFIELD - “It’s all I’ve ever wanted to do,” said WKXM radio disc jockey Doug Threadgill as his eyes dart back and forth from the mixing console to a computer screen inside the cramped radio station east of Winfield.
Threadgill cues up a commercial to the fading notes of a song that was popular in the late 1960s.
“I’m probably one of the few people that spent their whole life doing the only thing they ever wanted to do.”
Threadgill’s hands are busy turning knobs, sliding faders and pressing buttons.

WINFIELD - A Hamilton man is being held on a $150,000 bond for charges of sexual abuse of an 11th-month-old child.
Daryl Baker, 30, is being charged for sexual abuse of a child less than 12 and remains in the Marion County Jail in Hamilton.
Winfield Police Department Lt. Dustin Hulsey said he responded to the Northwest Medical Center’s Emergency Room in Winfield on Sunday, Aug. 11, in response to a complaint by the infant’s grandparents.

HAMILTON - New marriage laws enacted this past Spring by the Legislature will become effective on Thursday, Aug. 29. However, a county official is saying there are still serious questions in the air that need answering.
Marion County Probate Judge Paige Vick posted on Facebook on Tuesday, Aug. 13, saying with the change, there may be some complications for those currently considering or planning to acquire a marriage license.

HAMILTON - The Hamilton recreation and senior center renovation project is now two-and-a-half-months past its original deadline.
The Hamilton City Council discussed the prolonged work at the E.T. Sims Neighborhood Facilities Building during a work session on Wednesday, Aug. 15, in the Hamilton City Hall Tea Room. The council did not meet in the council chambers due to air conditioning issues.

HAMILTON - Democrat Sen. Doug Jones (D) hosted a town hall meeting in Hamilton on Monday night, Aug. 5.
Jones drew a moderate crowd of about 60 people from around the Marion County area to his meeting at the old city hall building in Hamilton (the current police department), where he gave a brief Congressional update and then opened the floor for questions, comments and concerns.
Jones openly encouraged both Democrats and Republicans and others to attend his meeting, saying any question was fair game.

WINFIELD - School is back in session and the lazy days of summer have ended.
The Pastime Theatre in Winfield wants to invite everyone to attend an “End of Summer” concert featuring two area acts.
“If we must say, ‘Goodbye,’ to summer, then let us say, ‘Goodbye,’ with a fantastic concert that is economically-priced, too,” said Pastime Theatre Board Chairwoman Mary Hyche.
The Winfield theater will be presenting the “End of Summer” concert on Saturday, Aug. 24, at 7 p.m.

HAMILTON - Sen. Doug Jones (D-Ala.) hosted a town hall meeting in Hamilton on Monday, Aug. 5.
The two-hour meeting took place at the old city hall building (Hamilton Police Department) and there were roughly 60 people in attendance.
Jones said the Senate is currently on recess until the week after Labor Day (Sept. 1). The U.S. House recessed one week prior.

WINFIELD - The Winfield City Council took action at its Tuesday, Aug. 6, meeting to address the issue of unsightly homes and businesses within the city.
The council voted to appoint three new members to the Winfield Housing Code Abatement Board. Mayor Randy Price said he would like to see the board become more active.

GUIN -  The Guin City Council voted to contract with Dixie Paving in Haleyville to pave three streets at a cost of $50,000 during the Monday Aug. 5, council meeting.
The streets are 14th Avenue East, 10th Street and 15th Ave. E that connect Alabama State Highway 43/278 with County Road 44.
Guin Mayor Max Maddox said he had spoken with a few different street pavers and they all quoted him near the same amount for the job.

HAMILTON -  Brent Oliver, owner and chief executive officer of the Tuscumbia-based mobile drug testing company Valley Source Drug Test, appeared before the Marion County Commissioners to present his company as a drug testing option for the county during a work session on Thursday, Aug. 8, in Hamilton.
Valley Source Drug Test operates as a strictly mobile drug testing facility that travels to the site in which the county would need drug testing to take place.
The company offers urine, hair, saliva, DNA testing and background checks.

HAMILTON - Extensive lawn care work at the Hamilton Cemetery each month is estimated to cost the city roughly $1,000 a month during the summer.
City officials are wondering if a different approach could result in savings.
The Hamilton City Council discussed the topic during a work session on Wednesday, July 31, when it was introduced by councilman Wade Sullins.
“Instead of our people having to take out from their jobs and go over there and mow and weedeat, maybe put it out for bid and let someone else take care of it,” Sullins said.